Examining the Text of The Gospel of Judas:
We know that The Gospel of Judas1 (hereinafter, The Gospel of Judas) is a pseudo-history that sought to insert late second century ideas into earlier events and dressed fictional characters in the garb, and names, of earlier people.
Let us set out to glean certain categories of information from this text:
1-We must consider what this non-biblical source claims about Jesus, and whether it substantiates anything that the biblical text does say.
2-We must consider the controversial aspects of the text, the pseudo-Judas and his actions.
3-We must consider other claims that contradict the text of the New Testament.
4-We must consider what is either esoteric wisdom that is truly the deep and hidden knowledge of revealed mysteries or else it is incoherent babble.
Substantiation:
The Gospel of Judas affirms that Jesus existed, that He had apostles, that He preformed miraculous works, the He came as savior of humanity, that He had the ability to prophecy, that He was exalted as the son of our god, that He came from an eternal realm, that there is an afterlife, and that Judas received some money.
“When Jesus appeared on earth, he performed miracles and great wonders for the salvation of humanity.”
“He began to speak with them” His disciples “about the mysteries beyond the world and what would
take place at the end.”“They said, ‘Master, you are […] the son of our god.’”
“Judas [said] to him, “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, barbeloth or barthenos is an intermediary realm between the pure spirit of God’s realm and the material realm. This realm is often hypostatized as a mother-father figure or the highest Godhead’s female aspect.
“When these people, however, have completed the time of the kingdom and the spirit leaves them, their bodies will die but their souls will be alive, and they will be taken up.”
“Judas answered them as they wished. And he received some money and handed him over to them.”
Pseudo-Judas:
The Gospel of Judas exalts Judas up, above and beyond any of the other apostles.
Jesus said:
“‘[Let] any one of you who is [strong enough] among human beings bring out the perfect human and stand before my face.’ They all said, ‘We have the strength.’ But their spirits did not dare to stand before [him], except for Judas Iscariot. He was able to stand before him, but he could not look him in the eyes, and he turned his face away.’”
Jesus said to Judas:
“you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”
I would not think that Jesus is talking about whacking His tailor the man that clothes me, but that this is a metaphor for his physical body, His humanhood.
“Judas [said] to him, ‘I know who you are and where you have come from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo.’”
This, apparently, simply demonstrates some of Judas’ gnosis.
“[…] Their high priests murmured because [he] had gone into the guest room for his prayer. But some scribes were there watching carefully in order to arrest him during the prayer, for they were afraid of the people, since he was regarded by all as a prophet. They approached Judas and said to him, ‘What are you doing here? You are Jesus’ disciple.’ Judas answered them as they wished. And he received some money and handed him over to them.”
Other Contradictions:
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas 2:3-5, the writer of which does not even claim to be the Apostle Thomas but identifies himself as a philosopher, is a shameful work that has the child Jesus using His divine power, His miracles, in a capricious and malicious manner. The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour likewise retells many of the same malevolent deeds. The Gospel of Judas seems to play off of this concept in stating that:
“Often he did not appear to his disciples as himself, but he was found among them as a child.”
This actually seems to be nothing more than a faulty Gnostic tradition very, very loosely based on the New Testament witness regarding Jesus’ interactions with, and comments about, children.
New Testament passages such as the following.
Matthew 18:1-6:
“At that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greater in the kingdom of Heaven? And Jesus called a little child to Him and set him in their midst, and said, Truly I say to you, Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore whoever shall humble himself like this little child, this one is the greater in the kingdom of Heaven. And whoever shall receive one such little child in My name receives Me. But whoever shall offend one of these little ones who believes in Me, it would be better for him that an ass’s millstone were hung around his neck, and he be sunk in the depth of the sea.”
Matthew 19:13-15:
“Then little children were brought to Him, that He should put His hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Allow the little children to come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of Heaven. And He laid His hands on them, and departed from there.”
Mark 10:13-16:
“And they brought children to Him, so that He should touch them. And His disciples rebuked those bringing them. But when Jesus saw, He was much displeased and said to them, Allow the little children to come to Me and do not hinder them. For of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter into it. And taking them up in His arms, He put His hands on them and blessed them.”
Luke 18:15-17:
“And they also brought infants to Him, that He might touch them. But when the disciples saw, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them and said, Allow the little children to come to Me, and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no way enter into it.”
Now back to the pseudo-Gospel of pseudo-Judas:
“Jesus said to them, ‘How do you know me? Truly [I] say to you, no generation of the people that are among you will know me.’”
Simply stated, many knew Him and followed Him.
“[S]eth, who is called Christ” is one of “the five who ruled over the underworld, and first of all over chaos.”
Be that as it may, this is not the Biblical Christ.
An “angel, Saklas, also came from the cloud. So Nebro created six angels-as well as Saklas-to be assistants, and these produced twelve angels in the heavens, with each onereceiving a portion in the heavens”
“Then Saklas said to his angels, ‘Let us create a human being after the likeness and after the image.’”
Here we have angels that have the prerogative of creation. This also incorporates an old, and faulty, explanation of why the monotheistic God would use terms such as we and us. In the Jewish and Gnostic concept, it is not because the one true God is a triune being but because God was talking to angels. This is something that the Bible does not state and which is an unviable inference, since Biblically, angels cannot create. Therefore, no let us create nor does the Bible state that we are created in the image of God and angels therefore, no in our image.
Wisdom or Babble?:
Now for the moment of truth, where we learn the deep mysteries and receive the light of the gnosis, behold!
“‘that generation does not come from […] which has become […]. The generation of people among [you] is from the generation of humanity […] power, which [… the] other powers […] by [which] you rule.’ When [his] disciples heard this, they each were troubled in spirit. They could not say a word.”
“Jesus said [to them], ‘Stop sac[rificing …] which you have […] over the altar, since they are over your stars and your angels and have already come to their conclusion there. So let them be [ensnared] before you, and let them go [-about 15 lines missing-] generations […]. A baker cannot feed all creation [42] under [heaven]. And […] to them […] and […] to us and […].”
“Adamas was in the first luminous cloud that no angel has ever seen among all those called ‘God.’ He [49] […] that […] the image […] and after the likeness of [this] angel. He made the incorruptible [generation] of Seth appear […] the twelve […] the twentyfour […]. He made seventy-two luminaries appear in the incorruptible generation, in accordance with the will of the Spirit. The seventy-two luminaries themselves made three hundred sixty luminaries appear in the incorruptible generation, in accordance with the will of the Spirit, that their number should be five for each. ‘The twelve aeons of the twelve luminaries constitute their father, with six heavens for each aeon, so that there are seventy-two heavens for the seventy-two luminaries, and for each [50] [of them five] firmaments, [for a total of] three hundred sixty [firmaments …]. They were given authority and a [great] host of angels [without number], for glory and adoration, [and after that also] virgin spirits, for glory and [adoration] of all the aeons and the heavens and their irmaments.”
“The multitude of those immortals is called the cosmos-that is, perdition-by the Father and the seventy-two luminaries who are with the Self-Generated and his seventytwo aeons. In him the first human appeared with his incorruptible powers. And the aeon that appeared with his generation, the aeon in whom are the cloud of knowledge and the angel, is called [51] El. […] aeon […] after that […]”
“Jesus said, ‘Truly I say to you, for all of them the stars bring matters to completion. When Saklas completes the span of time assigned for him, their first star will appear with the generations, and they will finish what they said they would do. Then they will fornicate in my name and slay their children [55] and they will […] and [-about six and a half lines missing-] my name, and he will […] your star over the [thir]teenth aeon.’ After that Jesus [laughed]. [Judas said], ‘Master, [why are you laughing at us]?’ [Jesus] answered [and said], ‘I am not laughing [at you] but at the error of the stars, because these six stars wander about with these five combatants, and they all will be destroyed along with their creatures.’”
They will fornicate in my name and slay their children? I warned you about their debauchery!
“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, saying, [58] […] great generation […] … image […] [-about five lines missing-].”
Jesus came to His disciples and found them:
“gathered together and seated and offering a prayer of thanksgiving over the bread, [he] laughed. The disciples said to [him], ‘Master, why are you laughing at [our] prayer of thanksgiving? We have done what is right.’ He answered and said to them, ‘I am not laughing at you. [you] are not doing this because of your own will but because it is through this that your god [will be] praised.’”
The National Geographic Society (hereinafter, NGS) quotes Andrew Cockburn as claiming that in instances such as this Jesus refers to “‘your god,’ meaning the disastrous god who created the world.”2
It appears that skeptics and liberals (we refer to liberal scholars who hold to double standards of evidence) have not noticed that The Gospel of Judas is homophobic (as they would label any such statement in the New Testament) in retelling a vision that the apostle had:
“‘the priests…sacrifice their own children, others their wives, in praise [and] humility with each other; some sleep with men; some are involved in [slaughter]; some commit a multitude of sins and deeds of lawlessness. And the men who stand [before] the altar invoke your [name], [39] and in all the deeds of their deficiency, the sacrifices are brought to completion […].’ After they said this, they were quiet, for they were troubled.”
Amongst such horrendous acts is a mention of priests who sleep with men. Apparently, since this text helps skeptics and liberals besmirch Christianity, this homophobia is a forgivable sin.
The text then has Jesus stating:
“Why are you troubled? Truly I say to you, all the priests who stand before that altar invoke my name.”
Then Jesus refers to them as, they who have:
“planted trees without fruit, in my name, in a shameful manner.”
The NGS quotes Andrew Cockburn as claiming that in instances such as this Jesus refers to “the mainstream church.”3
Now Jesus interprets the vision and applies the priests to the apostles themselves and explains:
“The cattle you have seen brought for sacrifice are the many people you lead astray.”
Jesus then refers to the “minister of error,” and again, the NGS quotes Andrew Cockburn as claiming that in instances such as this Jesus refers to “the mainstream church.”4
Judas had a vision in which:
“the twelve disciples were stoning me and [45] persecuting [me severely]. And I also came to the place where […] after you. I saw [a house …], and my eyes could not [comprehend] its size.”
Jesus interprets the vision for him and appears to explain that Judas’ has a reserved spot in the house. The House turns out to be a place where:
“No person of mortal birth is worthy to enter the house you have seen, for that place is reserved for the holy,” who will “abide there always, in the eternal realm with the holy angels.”
I grant that since I refer to aspects of The Gospel of Judas as babble some may claim that I am merely betraying my own ignorance. But my point in referring to these texts as such is not mere floccinaucity. Rather, the point is that the meaning is largely lost to us, to even the most erudite with regards to Gnosticism.
This is so for at a few reasons:
1-We simply do not have much information about what the Gnostics believed.
2-By keeping their beliefs as secrets they are responsible for our lack of information about them.
3-Many of their writings have been destroyed by time (or their wicked oppressors) and some may be waiting for us to find them.
4-Ironically, a lot of what we do know about Gnosticism is due to the early and orthodox church’s citations of their beliefs. Thus, the very people incorrectly blamed for stamping out Gnosticism are the same people whom we can thank for preserving their teachings.
The apostle Paul stated, “…I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery…” (Romans 11:25). The Gnostics stated, “Mystery it remains (at least to the uninitiated).”
Why do you suppose that the text of The Gospel of Judas is peppered with ellipses points and bracketed editor’s comments to the effect of how ever many lines missing here? Primarily, it is because of the fragile nature of the manuscripts, which lends to the damage of the material upon which it is written. Yet, there is a lot more to be said which is that it is moreover, because of the shocking lack of manuscript evidence. When we compare The Gospel of Judas to the New Testament we have a scale of 1 to 24,000.
In our essay Misconceptions in Reason and History, we discuss that it is this overabundance of manuscripts that allow us to compare manuscripts that may be damaged, have misspelled words, contain different names for locations (since, for instance the names of cities change), or even variant readings and yet be able to produce a very accurate text due to the collaboration and corroboration of these various manuscripts.
In the case of The Gospel of Judas and virtually all and any other Gnostic gospels such as The Gospel of Phillip (see “Their Own Whims and Lusts” Liberal Scholars and Jesus’ Marriage) we have one single manuscript and so if it is damaged and lines are missing they are simply missing until, if ever, more manuscripts are found.
Now you understand why virtually all references to, and discussions of, The Gospel of Judas focus on one thing-namely that the New Testament better watch out because there in a new contender for our allegiance that is just as factual and just as reliable. No one seems to want to tackle the rest of the text because the rest of the text is peppered with missing info and, even worse, contains much info that would quickly discredit any attempt to accredit this cacophonous concoction of conspiratorial confusion.
Let us reverse the popular acceptance of The Gospel of Judas as an alternative to the New Testament and simply make the following statements:
1-Since the New Testament gospels do not claim that Jesus did not conspire with Judas, though Jesus knew what Judas was up to, this poses a powerful challenge to The Gospel of Judas. A challenge by a much, much, much more well attested text.
2-Skeptics must deal with the fact that we now have yet another text that shows just how early Jesus was known to be the Son of God.
3-Skeptics must deal with the fact that we now have yet another text that shows just how early Jesus was known to have performed miracles.
4-Skeptics must deal with the fact that we now have yet another text that shows just how early Jesus was known to have the ability to prophesy.
5- Skeptics must deal with the fact that we now have yet another text that shows just how early Jesus was referred to as the savior of humanity.
6- Skeptics must deal with the fact that we now have yet another text that shows just how early Jesus was said to have come from an eternal realm.
7- Skeptics must deal with the fact that we now have yet another text that shows just how early Christians believed in the afterlife.
8-Since the overwhelming majority of The Gospel of Judas contains incoherent babble (and much of it is simply missing) we must turn to much earlier sources, much more well attested sources, much more clearly written sources, much more well preserved sources. In other words, we must turn to the text of the New Testament.
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