The Ebionites were a heretical sect who believed Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. They did not accept his divinity, however, and they continued to keep the Mosaic law.
Those who are called Ebionites agree that the world was made by God. But their opinions with respect to the Lord are similar to those of Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They use only the Gospel according to Matthew. They repudiate the apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the Law. . . . They practice circumcision and persevere in the observance of those customs that are commanded in the Law. They are so Jewish in their style of life, that they even adore Jerusalem as if it were the house of God. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.352
The Ebionites, who use only Matthew’s Gospel, are refuted out of this very same work, making false suppositions with regard to the Lord. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.428
[The passage] is not as some allege . . . “Behold, a young woman will conceive and bring forth a son.” For this is as Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted it, and Aquila of Pontus—both of whom are Jewish proselytes. The Ebionites, following these men, assert that He was begotten by Joseph. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.451
Vain also are the Ebionites, who do not receive by faith into their soul the union of God and man. Rather, they remain in the old leaven of [the natural] birth. They do not choose to understand that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.527
In his epistle, John especially designates those as antichrists who “denied that Christ had come in the flesh,” and who refused to think that Jesus was the Son of God. Marcion maintained the first teaching; Hebion [i.e., the Ebionites] maintained the second one. Tertullian (c. 197, W), 3.259
Again, there is an answer to Ebion in the Scripture, “Born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Tertullian (c. 210, W), 3.541, 542
The Ebionites . . . conform to the customs of the Jews, alleging that they are justified according to the Law. They say that Jesus was justified by fulfilling the Law. They also say that it was because of this that He was called Jesus and the Christ of God, for no one else had observed the Law completely. . . . In short, they assert that our Lord Himself was a man in a like sense with all of us. Hippolytus (c. 225, W), 5.114
I do not understand this expression as do the Ebionites, who are poor in understanding. They think that the Savior came especially to the carnal Israelites. Origen (c. 225, E), 4.371
The physical Jews, and the Ebionites (who differ little from them), reproach us for transgressing the commandments about clean and unclean meats. Origen (c. 245, E), 9.440
The word ebion signifies “poor” among the Jews. And those Jews who have received Jesus as Christ are called by the name of Ebionites. Origen (c. 245)
There are some of them who accept Jesus, and, because of that, they consider themselves Christians. However, they regulate their lives in accordance with the Jewish Law, like the Jewish multitude. There are two sects of Ebionites. One of these sects acknowledges with us that Jesus was born of a virgin. The other sect denies this and maintains that He was begotten like other human beings. Origen (c. 248, E), 4.570
There are certain heretical sects that do not receive the epistles of the apostle Paul—such as the two sects of Ebionites, as well as those who are called Encratites. Origen (c. 248, E), 4.571
The Ebionites maintain that the Son of God was a mere man, begotten by human pleasure from the joinder of Joseph and Mary. Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c. 390, E)