Judas on Trial

I’ve read it. I finally sat down and read through the ”Gospel of Judas” (GoJ). And I can say that I am a lot less worried about it after reading it than before. I did wonder what I would encounter in its pages. Would I find something that would so cross the other gospel accounts so as to shed some question upon their version of the story?

What I found was so new and foreign that it barely resembled anything within the other four gospels. Now I know why Simon Gathercole, a New Testament professor at Aberdeen University, defended the text as authentic, but relatively unimportant. He went on to say "It is certainly an ancient text, but not ancient enough to tell us anything new... It contains themes which are alien to the first-century world of Jesus and Judas, but which became popular later."

The GoJ has a completely different emphasis that the Biblical Gospels:
1.It emphasizes angels, aeons, luminaries and stars as a hierarchy of spiritual beings.
2.It introduces other angelic names like El, Nebro, Yaldabaoth and Saklas.
3.It offers an alternative creation story, where God is not directly involved in Creation, but one of his angels (Saklas) is. (Compare Genesis 1-2).
4.It suggests that the material world is evil & inferior and the spiritual world is good and superior.
5. It suggests that Judas, the traitor, is actually the hero of the story. In the GoJ, Jesus says to Judas, “…you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”

For a good response, read “From Traitor to Hero?” by Albert Mohler, the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. For those new to the discussion, these ideas are not new nor are they from the first century. They are 2nd-3rd century ideas common in other writings know as “Gnostic” writings. The term Gnostic is taken from the greek work for knowledge “gnosis”. And the Gnostic literature often speaks in mysterious language about achieving godhood through acquiring secret knowledge and speaks of salvation as release from this evil world.

But I don’t want to leave all the response to the professionals so I thought I would outline a four of my own observations from my reading of GoJ and how it differs drastically from the story recorded in the Biblical gospels.

1. There is a lack of story. While the gospels tell the story of the life and ministry of Jesus the GoJ speaks of private conversations between Jesus and Judas. The GoJ only has one geographical name, Judea, very early in the document. No other disciples or contemporaries of Jesus are named other than Judas. It is quite odd and very un-gospel-like in its writing style.

A cursory glance at the Biblical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) reveals they are stories full of characters, locations, movement and plot. They are the stories of the words and works of Jesus. Luke goes so far as to start his gospel account with an introductory comment of validation…

“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

2. Jesus is a spiritual snob. While the gospels never mention Jesus laughing (one silent issue of the Bible which has saddened me) the GoJ has Jesus laughing four times. It is not the laughter that makes this presentation of Jesus different, but at who and why he is laughing. In each situation he is laughing at the misunderstanding of his followers. He laughs at their prayers and at their spiritual spiritual questions.

In the Bible Jesus does gets angry at the self-righteous, those who think they are better than they truly are. But at those who are seeking to know him he treats with love, compassions, kindness and patience.

3. Jesus is in conflict with his disciples. While in the canonical gospels the disciples were often faithless and misunderstood what Jesus was saying it was the spiritual world and the established religious authorities with whom he is in conflict. But in the GoJ Jesus has no conflict with religious authorities or the spiritual, in fact they are not mentioned, but instead he is in conflict with all the disciples except Judas.

For example in the GoJ, the disciples are praying before having communion, and Jesus laughs at them. After exchanging a few words the GoJ records this conversation.

“They said, ‘Master, you are […] the son of our God.’ 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.” When the disciples heard this, they started getting angry and infuriated and began blaspheming against him in their hearts.”

In the Bible, it is the religious leaders who have such anger and conflict with Jesus. (Matt 9:34, 12:14, 24; Mark 3:6; Luke 11:53-54; John 7:32) The disciples’ biggest problem with Jesus is not anger but misunderstanding. They have left everything to follow Jesus and spend 3 years trying to understand the true meaning of who he is and what he is teaching. (Mark 4:13, 8:17; Luke 9:45, 18:34; John 8:27, 12:16)

4. Jesus is not truly known by the disciples except Judas. In the above account from the GoJ Jesus states to the disciples, “How do you know me? Truly [I] say to you, no generation of the people that are among you will know me.” But in the Biblical gospels is the faith and affirmation from the disciples that provides the foundation upon which Jesus will build the church.

Consider Matthew 16: 13-18, “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.