Resources > Ask Jeff What is the Gospel of Judas? Posted by CCC CyberMinistries on Apr 12, 2006, 10:21

What is The Gospel of Judas?

The Gospel of Judas is a portion of a centuries-old codex (book) written in Coptic (an ancient Egyptian language). Included in this codex are other documents known to be Gnostic. It is safe to assume that the contents of the Gospel of Judas may well be Gnostic, an assumption confirmed by the evidence of the text.

The Gospel of Judas does not claim to be a firsthand account by Judas. He is not the narrator, but a chief participant, along with Jesus. The other disciples appear in this gospel. They are insignificant and in fact condemned by Jesus Himself.

The Gospel of Judas is not new or this is surely not the first time the contents were made known. Say what? The Gospel of Judas was known among second-century orthodox Christians. Really…so this information has been around a long time. Irenaeus of Lyons, who wrote an influential refutation of what he considered to be heretical Christian ideas, said this in Against Heresies i.31.1:

Others again declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves. On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury. For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself. They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.

It seems likely that the Irenaeus describes a document close in content to the one we have. This may mean that the Gospel of Judas was written no later than the late second century A.D.

Can We Learn Anything from the Gospel of Judas?

The Gospel of Judas fills in a blank in our understanding of second-century (and later) Christian Gnosticism. It confirms, once again, the basic reliability of Irenaeus, though he wrote to oppose Gnosticism. But, more importantly, it gives us first-hand knowledge of what some Gnostic Christians who identified with Judas actually believed. This is very helpful to scholars of early Christianity, who rarely get to examine newly discovered primary documents.

Of course knowledge of second-century Christian Gnosticism matters to academics who care about such things, but it scarcely makes headlines. Yet the release of the Gospel of Judas has, indeed, made the first page of many leading newspapers. Why? Because some have suggested that the Gospel of Judas provides access to new historical data about Judas, and, more importantly, about Jesus Himself. In some circles and water cooler discussion there are those that are saying, “This document debunks Christianity!” It does not…and the people who are making that statement obviously have not read a translation of the document and if they have, they surely have not tried to put it into historical context.

Does the Gospel of Judas Give New Information about the Historical Judas and the Historical Jesus?

The National Geographic website makes this claim:

The Gospel of Judas gives a different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, offering new insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Unlike the accounts in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in which Judas is portrayed as a reviled traitor, this newly discovered Gospel portrays Judas as acting at Jesus' request when he hands Jesus over to the authorities.

This is squirrelly scholarship at best…downright silly at the least . Surely the Gospel of Judas offers a different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, but to believe that it offers "new insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus” is actually a statement of faith.

 It does indeed show us what some Gnostics, writing a century after Judas's death, thought of him. But it's highly unlikely that the Gospel of Judas tells us anything about the actual Judas, or the actual Jesus, for that matter.

This is the perspective of James M. Robinson, one of the world's leading scholars on Gnosticism, and the editor of the Nag Hammadi Library. In an AP story, Robinson said, bluntly:  "Does it go back to Judas? No." Expanding on this point, the AP story continues:

[Robinson] says the text is valuable to scholars of the second century but dismissed the notion that it'll reveal unknown biblical secrets. . . . "There are a lot of second-, third- and fourth-century gospels attributed to various apostles," Robinson said. "We don't really assume they give us any first—century information."

What Do We Find in the Gospel of Judas?

You can now buy a copy, which has been released by National Geographic in a book format. A few things in the Gospel of Judas are intriguing… notably the reference to Jesus's miracles, which rarely if ever get mentioned in Gnostic "gospels." You also might be intrigued by the extent to which the Jesus of the Gospel of Judas denounces the other disciples as followers of the wrong god. Apparently only Judas understood truly which God Jesus represented:

"I know who you are and where you have come from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo. And I am not worthy to utter the name of the one who has sent you."

Barbelo, by the way, shows up commonly in the list of Gnostic gods. Because of Judas's unique knowledge of Jesus identity and origin (common Gnostic themes), Jesus promises to reveal to him "the mysteries of the kingdom"

These mysteries have largely to do with the origin of the universe, and they are commonly found in Gnostic treatises from Nag Hammadi.

The Gospel of Judas is typical of many Gnostic writings, with its notions that salvation comes through the knowledge of one's divine origin, that salvation is exclusive and offered only to the elite, that the majority of Christians are caught in error and serving the wrong God, that physical existence is bad and needs to be transcended, and that Jesus was a revealer of esoteric truths that bear almost no resemblance to anything a first-century Jewish prophet would have thought or said. It is the stuff that many televangelists have taken, twisted, and tried to spiritualize in the culture today…while untrue and false, still it makes for interesting reading.

Why is Judas Special According to the Gospel of Judas?

We might wonder why the writer of the Gospel of Judas would have considered Judas to be so special. The title of the Gospel alone lets one know who the “star” of this narrative is. Other Gnostic documents give priority to Thomas, Mary, John, or James. So why Judas?

A clue is to be found in the line of the document that is getting the most press. In this line Jesus says to Judas: "But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me"  Gaps in the manuscript don't allow us to identify precisely those whom Judas exceeds (the other disciples? the generations? angels?). Many have assumed with no evidence that the reference is to the other disciples. There is nothing in the text itself to give you an answer.

Yet it is clear that Judas is special because he will be the one to "sacrifice the man that clothes me." His action will insure the death of the physical body associated with Jesus.

Note: in typical Gnostic fashion, Jesus is not identified with His body. Rather, He dwells within this body, and will be happy when He is set free from it. This Gnostic devaluation of the body is both central to Gnostic theology and is in polar opposition to the world-affirming theology of Judaism, Jesus, and orthodox Christianity.

What would be the reason that the Gospel of Judas was written?

This is not that tough if you look a history itself. Second-century Gnostic Christians were accomplished at taking biblical stories, either from the New Testament or from the Old, and turning them on their heads. For example, in Gnostic stories of creation the world and humankind are created by an evil god. But the good serpent comes to reveal knowledge to people so they can escape the evil creation. This is Genesis turned on its head. Similarly, a creative Gnostic writer refashioned the New Testament story of Judas, making him the hero because he was responsible for the death of the (bad) body of Jesus. Along the way, this Gnostic author was also able to denigrate the other disciples of Jesus, those upon which orthodox Christianity based its doctrine and authority. Holding up the reconfigured Judas, therefore, plays perfectly into the Gnostic agenda.

Does the Gospel of Judas Make a Difference for Christians?

The Gospel of Judas itself has nothing to offer to Christians, except that it fills in a tiny blank on the map of Christian history. But it offers no new insights into the historical Jesus, nothing for people who follow Jesus.

The excitement over the Gospel of Judas will be hot and heavy for a few days, and then it will die out. During this time certain scholars and pseudo-scholars will suggest that, somehow, the Gospel of Judas gives us new insight in the real Judas and Jesus, and that somehow this calls into question orthodox Christianity.

Only the uninformed and the unscholarly can make that kind of claim. There is no new information about what happened on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, or Easter. If you actually read the Gospel of Judas, you will see there is not much there.

Why is This Being Released Right Now?

You may wonder why the National Geographic Society has waited to this moment (Spring of 2006) to release the document and to air the television program. James Robinson offers what is a telling insight. In an AP story Robinson " speculated the timing of the release is aimed at capitalizing on interest in the film version of "The Da Vinci Code" — a fictional tale that centers on a Christian conspiracy to cover up a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene." There is the answer as to what lies behind the timing of the release of the Gospel of Judas and the related television program. This is good marketing.

Some media critics see these actions as a plot against orthodox Christianity, and I expect there may be some in the secular media who would love to knock Christianity down a few pegs. But I believe that many others simply think of Easter and Christmas as an opportune time to put out controversial material about Jesus. Interest will be sky high, both from promoters and from critics. Apart from any anti-Christian agenda, a Holy Week release sells ads, books (of which the National Geographic Society has offered at least two), and DVDs. If you don't mind offending a few Christians, then Holy Week is the best time of year for such revelations.

One More Bit of Silliness

There is a rumbling that somehow these Gnostic revelations, of both the Gospel of Judas and Gnostic writings in general make it easier to understand Jesus or believe in Him. Actually that could not be more wrong and misguided.

There is no rational way anybody could read the Judas document, with its esoteric Gnostic revelations, with its devaluing of the body, and with its absence of genuine human warmth, and say that the Jesus of the Gospel of Judas is more human than the Jesus of the biblical gospels. There's no question whatsoever that the Jesus of the Gospel of Judas is less human. Judas is the good guy because his action in handing Jesus over leads to the death of the body of Jesus, that which only "clothes" the real Jesus.

Nothing cures naïve affection for Gnosticism more than actually reading Gnostic works. Most people don’t, won’t, or really aren’t THAT interested. They are just looking for a shortcut to undermine the history of Christianity. It is not going to happen, so if you are one who holds to good scholarship and the historicity of the Christian faith relax. If you are looking for shortcuts, you already don’t like this article and will continue to search for the definitive proof that unravels faith. This proof that continues to be offered is the stuff of fictional works…like the DaVinci Code. It does make for great reading and Christians don’t need to panic over it at all.

To explore the document itself click below
http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/document.html

To explore more about the National Geographic findings or to find out more information about the book they released (pictured above) click the following link

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/index.html