Reflections on the Gospel of Judas (Part 2)

(continued from last week)

All of these texts help us better understand the nature of the beliefs of the Gnostics. In many ways, it is as difficult to generalize about Gnostic beliefs as it is to generalize about Christian beliefs, since they disagreed amongst themselves in many ways. They never called themselves "Gnostics" proper; such was a nineteenth century term to describe the variant belief systems that emphasized secret knowledge (Greek gnosis) and the idea that by knowing these secret things will lead to salvation. Gnosticism overall represents an attempt to assimilate Christian ideas into Hellenistic philosophies. The Gnostics tended to envision a spiritual world with many gods on different levels, and a "Demiurge", or creator god, at the bottom, foolishly believing that he is the only god. The Logos, a "higher god", so to speak, comes to earth to help give those humans who can understand the special knowledge so as to get around this creator god and be saved. To this end, most Gnostics considered all physical things to be evil and were generally known for their ascetic practices. Gnosticism flourished from the second through fourth centuries, and despite its decline had a significant impact on various sectarian groups deep into the medieval era. Many ancient authors-- Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and others-- wrote extensive tractates condemning the doctrines of the Gnostics, and until recently represented the only knowledge we had regarding such groups.

The Gnostics that seem to be behind the Gospel of Judas, at least according to Irenaeus, would perhaps be called "Cainites," since they believed that they had some association with Cain and other such persons. The Gnostics behind the Nag Hammadi documents tended to be of the Sethian version, believing and speaking regarding the "great Seth"; other groups included the Valentinians, the Carpocratians, the Encratites, the Marcionites, and others. Despite the differences in these groups, we can see many common Gnostic themes permeating this Gospel of Judas, as can be noted below:

1. In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus mocks the disciples for offering thanks for their bread to their god, acting as if he is not his son (Gospel of Judas 34); this corresponds to the general Gnostic attitude that put Jesus at odds with the God of the Old Testament.

2. In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus mentions a figure named Barbelo (35), who is present in the Apocryphon of John and other texts discovered at Nag Hammadi.

3. In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus mentions the "corruptible Sophia" (44), who is also mentioned in many of the Gnostic versions of creation.

4. In the Gospel of Judas, Judas sees a vision and Jesus confirms for him that only he could see it and understand it (44-46), correlating well to the general Gnostic idea of secret spiritual knowledge.

5. The Gospel of Judas has Jesus present a discussion of the creation, and in said discussion speaks of the creation of Yaldabaoth, or Nebro ("the rebel"), who was to rule over the "chaos and the underworld" (50-51); this is also consistent with the Gnostic versions of creation, perverting the Hebrew Yahweh into "Yaldabaoth".

These are only some of the numerous parallels that exist between the Gospel of Judas and the other Gnostic literature that we have discovered and also that is chronicled in patristic literature. It is most certainly Gnostic in every way.

Ethan R. Longhenry
evangelist@norwalkchurch.org

Helping the Needy

Consider what God has said and ask yourself: am I helping as I ought?

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me, " (Matthew 25:37-40 ESV).

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do, (Galatians 2:10 ESV).

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith, (Galatians 6:9-10 ESV).

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful, (Titus 3:14 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.

Please click here to return to the 2006 archive of Good News for Norwalk, or click here to return to the main page of Good News for Norwalk. Thanks!