The Gospel of Judas
The Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic gospel that was discovered in the 1970s, in a cave in Egypt. It was made public in 2004 and released in 2006. But the circumstances of the discovery have been shady. It is believed to have been written in the second century by Gnostic Christians and not by the protagonist Judas. The only copy of it known to exist is a Coptic language text that has been carbon dated to AD 280, plus or minus 60 years. This gospel relates the story of Jesus’s death from the viewpoint of Judas and it consists of 16 chapters.
In contrast to the canonical gospels, which presents Judas as a betrayer who delivered Jesus to the authorities for crucifixion in exchange for money, the Judas in this gospel is presented as the only one of Jesus’s disciples who correctly understood the words of his master. And it claims that Judas’s act of betraying Jesus was done in obedience to instructions given to him by Christ.
But if Jesus instructed Judas to betray Him, why would He state that Judas was the “son of perdition” (John 17:12) and adds that it would have been better if Judas had never been born (Matthew 26:24)? And If Judas was really obeying Jesus’ instructions, why would he commit suicide after Jesus was condemned (Matthew 27:5)?
The Gospel of Judas contained ideas that had contradicted the belief of the Scriptures and the early Christian church. For example, the author stated that God is a “luminous cloud of light” who exists in an imperishable realm and that mankind can be divided into two groups. The first groups consists of those who are furnished with the immortal soul, like Judas, who can come to know the God within and enter the imperishable realm when they die.
And the second group consists of those who belong to the same generation of the other eleven disciples but cannot enter the realm of God for they will die both spiritually and physically at the end of their lives. This is clearly a falsehood and a contradiction to the books of the New Testament.
Most importantly, the gospel of Judas, unlike the Biblical Gospels teaches that the sacrifices and the symbolic consumption of Jesus’ flesh and blood is abhorrent to God. And it adds that this sort of substitutionary justice pleases the lower gods and angels but not God the Father who is gracious and does not demand any justice and sacrifices. This is clearly a heresy that goes contrary to the teachings of the Old and New Testament regarding God’s plan of redemption to man.
It is very clear that the Gospel of Judas is a heretical forgery for it espouses a Gnostic viewpoint of Christianity.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
