Rethinking the Date of the Gospel of the Ebionites

The Gospel of the Ebionites that is quoted seven times in Epiphanius's Panarion is commonly dated to the first half of the second century CE. The justification for dating it within this window is that it was likely composed after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE and the composition of the Synoptic Gospels, yet it may have been written before the harmony of the Synoptic Gospels with the Johannine Gospel in Tatian's Diatessaron. Some scholars find earlier references to the Gospel of the Ebionites in the writings of Irenaeus, Clement, or Origen. On the contrary, I will argue that it should not be dated any earlier than the late second century CE.