Reflections on the Gospel of Judas (Part 1)

While The da Vinci Code mania continues to develop and grow throughout the world and while "other gospels" and "alternative Christianities" have become popular, we now see revealed to us yet another "lost gospel," the Gospel of Judas. The National Geographic Society has done a good job of marketing this discovery and are profiting heavily from it; the media splash guarantees that it will be the topic at many a water cooler in offices throughout America. Since there is such a great commotion regarding this discovery, it is good to spend some time examining this Gospel of Judas.

Origins and Discovery

The Gospel of Judas that has been found is part of a codex, a term used to describe ancient "books" of folded paper, a codex entitled Codex Tchacos after the father of the antiquities dealer who transferred the document to scholars for preservation and safekeeping. The Gospel of Judas is not the only text on this codex: it also contains what is being called the Apocalypse of James, the Letter of Peter to Philip, and the fragments of the Book of Allogenes. So far the Gospel of Judas has been the most popularized; we may learn more of the other documents at a later time.

The codex was discovered near El Minya, Egypt in the 70s, and eventually wound up in the United States where it remained until purchased by the previously mentioned antiquities dealer in 2000. The manuscript will eventually be delivered back to Egypt and placed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo.

The codex itself dates to around the late third century or early fourth century CE. While we can have no firm dates as to precisely when the Gospel of Judas was written, we do know that it must have originated before 180, for Irenaeus in his work Against Heresies writes regarding the book the following:

[some] 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*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 fictional history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas, (Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., I. 31. 1).

While it is possible that there was another work styled the Gospel of Judas, most believe that the manuscript found concords to the work concerning which Irenaeus spoke. It should also be noted, therefore, that although we did not actually possess any copies of the Gospel of Judas previously, people knew about it through Irenaeus' citation above.

The Authorship and Provenance of the Gospel of Judas

No one really doubts the group of people who are responsible for the creation and promulgation of the Gospel of Judas: it comes from a group of Gnostics. Judas Iscariot was by no means its author, nor could he ever have been the author-- the text comes far later than his demise. In 1945, a similar find was made near Nag Hammadi in Egypt, where some Bedouin came across many codices of mostly Gnostic texts also written in Coptic and dating from the same general timeframe as the Gospel of Judas (it should be noted that Egypt was not the only place where Gnostics flourished; the discoveries of texts there are on account of the happy circumstance of Egypt's dryness, which tends to preserve ancient documents better than in other, wetter places). Many different types of Gnostic texts, along with some parts of Plato's Republic, were discovered in this find, including many gospels such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of Philip, and so on and so forth.

Ethan R. Longhenry
evangelist@norwalkchurch.org

Scriptures of Encouragement

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear." But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, (Hebrews 12:15-24 ESV).

The church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio

Thank you for reading the electronic version of our bulletin, Good News for Norwalk. If you live in Norwalk or happen to be traveling in the Norwalk area, we would certainly love to have you visit one of our assemblies!

Our location:

386 North Edgewood Drive (just off US 250 just north of Norwalk's city limits)
Norwalk, Ohio 44857

Our assemblies:

Sunday morning assembly: 10:30am
Sunday evening assembly: 6:00pm

Our Bible studies:

Sunday morning Bible study: 9:30am
Wednesday evening Bible study: 7:00pm

For More Information

If you have any questions or comments about anything you have read here, or desire more information, please contact our evangelist, Ethan Longhenry, at evangelist@norwalkchurch.org.

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