Gospel of Judas: The Truth Behind the Hype

 

The headlines were splashed across the media in early April of this year (2006) announcing the finding of a new gospel called the “Gospel of Judas.” For example, one headline read “Just-Revealed Scroll Tests Usual View of Judas.”[i]All the hype about the discovery was very well orchestrated by the National Geographic Society, which was heavily involved in the restoration of the Gospel of Judas. One report stated “Religious scholars consider it to be the most important theological discovery in the last 60 years.”[ii] With all the attention being paid to it, and the grandiose claims being made about its importance, we at the Discerner felt it would be helpful to examine the significance of this “Gospel of Judas.”

 

Dating the Gospel of Judas

 

The Gospel of Judas is dated by most to the middle of the second century and stands in the Gnostic tradition. Darrel Bock states “This gospel is likely from the mid- to late second century because of the description of Creation that reflects developed Gnosticism.”[iii]

 

The dating is fairly certain since this “gospel” was referred to by the great church father, Irenaeus in about the year 180, and so must have been written prior to that. Marvin Meyer states, “Probably around the middle of the second century. This date becomes more secure on the basis of a statement of the early church father Irenaeus of Lyon, who referred to a Gospel of Judas in his work Against Heresies, written around 180.”[iv]

 

Though the gospel was originally written about the middle of the second century, (likely in Greek), the recently found manuscript is from the fourth century,[v] and “is written in Coptic, an Egyptian text.”[vi] Rockwell tells us that the Gospel of Judas “was discovered buried along the Nile River near the city of El Minya, about 100 miles south of Cairo, in the 1970s and languished on the black market until 2000 when the preservation and translation process began.”[vii]

 

Gnostic Background

 

It is essential to understand the Gnostic background of the Gospel of Judas. Gnostics in general held to a platonic dualism which viewed the material universe as the creation of the demiurge, an inferior spiritual being. Gnostics believed that this demiurge was the “god” of the Old Testament, but was not the true and highest God.  Since the world is the creation of this inferior god, Gnostics view matter as evil, and our human bodies are likened to prison houses of the soul.

 

In Gnosticism, salvation comes through knowledge. Mayer states it well: “In the Gospel of Judas, as in other Gnostic gospels, Jesus is primarily a teacher and revealer of wisdom and knowledge, not a savior who dies for the sins of the world. For Gnostics, the fundamental problem in human life is not sin but ignorance”[viii] What humans are ignorant of is explained in various ways by Gnostic groups, but they generally involve discovering the divine element or spark within us. Whereas, the demiurge seeks to keep man trapped in ignorance in this material world, Jesus helps us to know who we really are. With this knowledge, we are “saved” and set on a course to unity with the ultimate. 

 

For Gnostics, Jesus, like others was trapped in the prison house of the material body. In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus gives Judas special insight into Jesus’ need to escape from his body. Judas “helps” Jesus by “betraying” Jesus to the authorities knowing that they will indeed kill Jesus, setting his soul free from the body. The Gospel of Judas has Jesus say to Judas “But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me”[ix]

 

In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus warns Judas that he will be rejected and hated by many, but that God will greatly reward him for his great act of faithfulness (the Betrayal); “You will be cursed by the other generations—and you will come to rule over them.”[x] The Gospel of Judas even gives Judas his own transfiguration experience, “Judas lifted up his eyes and saw the luminous cloud, and he entered it. Those standing on the ground heard a voice coming from the cloud.”[xi]

 

This certainly does turn the truth of the biblical witness on its head. I am reminded of the powerful words of the prophet Isaiah who said “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). The biblical assessment of Judas’ betrayal is clear “Woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born” (Mark 14:21).

 

The Sethian and Cainites Gnostic Sects

 

Darrell Bock gives important background information about the specific Gnostic group that produced the Gospel of Judas: “It belongs to the Gnostic sect of the Cainites, who consistently rehabilitated individuals the Bible had rejected, figures such as Cain, the Sodomites, Esau, and Korah. This is a subset of Sethian Gnosticism.”[xii]

 

Since the Cainites believed that the ‘god’ of the Old Testament was essentially evil, anyone who was perceived to be an enemy of that god was actually good. Hence their positive outlook on such notorious Old Testament failures as the Sodomites and Korah. Furthermore, the Gospel of Judas teaches that the twelve disciples still worshipped the evil ‘god’ of the Old Testament, which eventually led them to condemn Judas. But the Gospel of Judas reveals that it is Judas alone who understands the truth, and to whom Jesus taught the mysteries of the universe; “Knowing that Judas was reflecting upon something that was exalted, Jesus said to him, ‘Step away from the others and I shall tell you the mysteries of the Kingdom.’[xiii] This rehabilitation, if not exaltation, of Judas, is perfectly consistent with these Sethian and Cainite Gnostics.

 

Marvin Mayer adds that: “The Gospel of Judas makes mention of Seth, well known from the biblical book of Genesis, and concludes that human beings with the knowledge of God belong to the generation of Seth. This particular form of Gnostic thought is often described by scholars as Sethian. In . . . Genesis, Seth, third son of Adam and Eve, was born after the tragic violence in the dysfunctional first family, which left Abel dead and Cain banished. Seth, it is suggested, represents a new beginning for humanity. That is the good news of salvation in Sethian texts like the Gospel of Judas.”[xiv]

 

The Gospel of Judas, then, has a Jesus that will teach knowledge about the mysteries of the universe, and those who partake of this knowledge will be apart of a “new humanity” and a “new beginning” for those who have found this “salvation.’

 

 

 A Bad Ending!

 

The translators note at the closing of the gospel of Judas states, “The conclusion of the Gospel of Judas is presented in subtle and understated terms, and there is no account of the actual crucifixion of Jesus”[xv] What is amazing is that the translators in their note do not mention that Jesus’ resurrection is also left out of the Gospel of Judas. Bart Ehrman’s comments are insightful; “It will strike many readers as odd that the Gospel of Judas ends where it does, with the so-called betrayal. But it makes perfect sense given the views [of the Sethian Gnostics] . . . There will be no resurrection. This is perhaps the key point of all. Jesus will not be raised from the dead in this book. Why would he be? The entire point of [Gnostic] salvation is to escape this material world. . . A resurrection of the body is the very last thing that Jesus, or any of this true followers would want.”[xvi]

 

Now, a gospel that does not include the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a gospel without the gospel! In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the apostle Paul defined the gospel: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” In the same chapter, Paul declared that the bodily resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of Christianity; “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Since the Gospel of Judas does not contain the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, it is indeed a false gospel!

 

What does this all mean to Christians?

 

It is crucial for Christians to understand the danger that is looming in the church regarding the debate over the origins of Christianity. Reaction to the discovery and publication of the Gospel of Judas is a microcosm of the battle that is being waged in academia concerning the origins of the Christian Church.

 

 Traditional View of Christian Origins

 

Conservative Christian scholars hold to traditional ideas concerning the origins of Christianity. The biblical gospels convey an accurate account of the life of Jesus Christ, including his death, burial, and resurrection, which are true historical events. The Bible was written under the guidance and authority of Jesus’ apostles and was completed by the end of the first century. Christians in the generations after the close of the apostolic period collected these writings, and formed the canon of the New Testament. These same Christians faced challenges from false teachers, and reacted with evermore-precise doctrinal statements, culminating in the great creeds of the fourth and fifth centuries. These creedal statements did not add new teachings, but merely refined the basic teachings that Christians had believed from the beginning.

 

 

New School of Christian Origins

 

But this traditional understanding of the origins of Christianity is under attack from a new group of New Testament scholars and church historians who have come to be known as “the new school.” Some of these scholars are well known as prolific authors and advocates of their new view of Christian origins such as Elaine Pagels, Bart Ehrman, Karen King, and Richard Valantasis. It is the views of this “new school” that are prominently featured in the novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and the movie of same name. Therefore, it is important that we understand the new school’s claims and how to respond to them.

 

Whereas the traditional understanding held that there was overwhelming consensus and unity on the fundamental teachings of the church, the new school advocates claim that rather than unity, there was great diversity in the early church. Yes, there were many of what we might today call evangelicals, yet at the same time, there were many Christian movements that held views that today would be viewed as heretical. The “new school” says that it is unfair to suggest that one of these groups deserves to be considered the true church and all the others false. Rather, they advocate that all these early groups should be viewed as valid and diverse expressions of Christianity.

 

 

What About the New School’s Claims?

                                   

For the New School, then, the Gnostic writings like the Gospel of Judas, should be viewed as equal expressions of true Christianity alongside of the biblical gospels, and not as heresy. Is this a fair reading of history? Certainly not! Speaking of such Gnostic gospels as those found at Nag Hammadi, the great Roman Catholic scholar Raymond Brown said that they were, “rubbish of the second century . . . its still rubbish today.”[xvii]

 

Another way of looking at this is to imagine if someone buried several of our grocery store tabloid magazines, and they were discovered 1500 years later. Does the fact that they were buried for 1500 years add any credibility to their bizarre claims? Of course not! Consider headlines like “Adam and Eve Found Living Under the Atlantic Ocean” or “President Bush Having an Affair with Space Alien” or “Several “Bigfoots” Attend Billy Graham Crusade.” Such stories may make for a good laugh, but no current observer takes them serious, and no historian examining them in 1500 years should take them serious either. The Gospel of Judas pales in comparison to the biblical gospels in the same way a light bulb compares to the sun.

 

The biblical gospels were produced under the authority of Jesus’ own apostles and contemporaries did not challenge the sober history they recorded. History provides strong evidence to support the traditional understanding of the apostolic authority behind the gospels (Matthew and John being apostles themselves; Peter behind Mark and Paul behind Luke).

 

On the other hand, there is no evidence to support claims of apostolic authority behind the Gnostic gospels, including the Gospel of Judas. They are clearly pseudonymous (“An author who attempts to pass off his own writing as that of some other well-known person”[xviii]) writings that the evidence shows were products, not of apostolic times, but of the second or third centuries and beyond. Bock summarizes the evidence: “Pagels is right that scholars debate these points about authorship, but the case that the Gospels are rooted in apostolic connections is far greater for the four Gospels than for any of the other alternative gospels, a point the new school often leaves unmentioned.”[xix] After noting the apostolic authority behind the biblical Gospels Bock declares, “No such potentially plausible claim has ever been made for the alternative texts.”[xx]

 

 

Irenaeus Contributions

 

Irenaeus (ca.130-202), the great church father made the same points over 1800 years ago as described by Pagels: “Orthodox leaders, including Irenaeus, accused the Gnostics of fraud . . . the heretics were trying to pass of as ‘apostolic’ what they themselves had invented.”[xxi] Pagels then quotes Irenaeus accusing the Gnostics of “putting forth their own compositions . . . They really have no gospel that is not full of blasphemy. For what they have published . . . is totally unlike what has been hand down to us from the apostles.”[xxii] Pagels sums up Irenaeus’ view, “What proves the validity of the four gospels, Irenaeus says, is that they actually were written by Jesus’ own disciples and their followers, who personally witnessed the events they described.”[xxiii] On the other hand, Irenaeus says that false teachers, “introduce an indescribable number of secret and illegitimate writings which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish people, who are ignorant of the true scriptures. He quotes some of their writings . . . and he refers to many others including . . . even a Gospel of Judas.”[xxiv]

 

These are powerful arguments from an authority such as Irenaeus, who was in a far better position to judge the situation than the new school critics are today. Indeed, Irenaeus was a student of Polycarp, who in turn was a student of the apostle John himself.[xxv]

 

Further, Irenaeus stated, “I have made a collection of their [the Sethian Cainites] writings”[xxvi] which he described as, “Wicked and indigested doctrines.”[xxvii] One of these writings was the Gospel of Judas about which Irenaeus stated, “They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.”[xxviii] Irenaeus described this “fictitious history”, “They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things [Sethian Cainite doctrines], and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal.”[xxix]

 

Irenaeus was thoroughly acquainted with this Gnostic material, including the Gospel of Judas itself, and strongly rejected it as being inconsistent with the teachings of the apostles as they had been faithfully handed down in the Scriptures and the teachings of the church universal. We do well to follow Irenaeus’ example, rejecting satanic imitations like the Gospel of Judas, and placing our faith and confidence in God’s inspired and infallible word.

 

Steve Lagoon