The Lost Gospel Where Judas Was The Good Guy | Gospel of Judas

For generations, the biblical character Judas Iscariot has been framed as the incarnation of evil - a figure who has been universally detested amongst believers. Judas’ reputation as a betrayer has cemented him in the minds of many as one of the worst people to have ever existed (or to have ever been created in literature). In Dante’s Inferno for example, Judas even has his own special place in the third lowest circle of hell, where he is placed head first into the maw of Satan, with his back continuously skinned by the devil’s claws. Ironically, this isn’t the only

time Judas and Satan get this close, for it is in the bible we see Judas condemned by all four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and explicitly mentioned as the one who betrayed Jesus and the one who sold him out. Some are even convinced that Judas was so wicked in these acts, that he must’ve been working in tandem with Satan. As we know, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the only canonically accepted gospels from the disciples of Jesus, and these are the only gospels that the church and modern believers recognise as the ‘true word’.

So, it’s natural that many would come to view Judas as a considerable force of evil, painted with the same brush as one might paint Satan with. Yet, we never learn of Judas’ side of things because A. he is said to self-delete after being unable to deal with his own guilt, and B. he doesn’t have a gospel of his own… Well… that’s what everyone believed until the 1970s when a new book was unearthed amongst a leather-bound papyrus codex in a cave in El Minya, Egypt. Believed to have been translated from ancient Greek to the coptic language

sometime around the second century, the codex (which would come to be known as the Tchacos codex), would circulate amongst antiquities traders around the world, with no one really understanding the significance of such a text. Eventually, it came to finally rest in a safe deposit box in New York for 16 years, where it deteriorated and languished before being rescued by antiquities dealer Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos, from which the codex gained its name. After acknowledging the rapidly deteriorating state of the codex, (it had, after all been left to decompose in a box for nearly two decades), Tchacos transferred it

to the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art in Switzerland in 2001, where Rodolphe Kasser, a leading scholar in Coptic, reconstructed the manuscript and translated the text. It was learned here that these unearthed texts contained 66 pages of more than one gnostic text. Firstly, there was a text that would be known as the First Apocalypse of James, secondly there was a letter of Peter to Philip which details a correspondence of Peter reminding Philip of the importance of preaching salvation, thirdly there was another fragmented text believed now to be the Book of Allogenes. Then, we have the last

remaining text and arguably, the most ground breaking… the Gospel of Judas. In 2006, the National Geographic Society made the translated copy of the Gospel of Judas public news and at that time, word of a fifth Gospel - and not just any Gospel either, but the Gospel of the traitor, spread like wildfire. The Gospel contains more than just Jesus’ sayings after all, it portrays Judas as something of a hero, in fact, he is Jesus’ best friend and the only disciple who really understands the messiah. Indeed, the 2nd century text illustrates a very different man from the

one that many have come to know from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In fact, the betrayal in question which immortalised Judas throughout generations turns out to be Jesus’ idea and that the betrayal was a necessary motion in order for Jesus to ascend to heaven. Even to an atheist, the idea of Judas actually acting with Jesus’ best interest in mind is quite baffling to comprehend. So, it comes as no surprise that when the Gospel of Judas was made modern public knowledge, the legitimacy of the gospel was rejected and to most believers, the Gospel

of Judas was shunned and deemed merely another gnostic belief of a ‘heretical’ people who lived thousands of years ago. It should be remembered that the Christianity we know today was not the same Christianity practised some thousands of years ago. Instead, there many ‘offshoots’ of Christianity practised in different regions by different people, which may have varied in some dramatic ways as far as the lore or mythology went. Today, we might refer to many of these ancient ideas as ‘Gnostic ideas’ or categorise them under ‘Gnosticism’ - those that were religious and concepts and systems that were fruitful

amongst early Jewish and Christian sects, particularly those that digressed from the norm of religious institutions of the time. These groups were believed to seek personal spiritual knowledge above regular, orthodox teachings and traditions, so it makes sense why the more powerful institutions of the time, (those we have inherited much of our own doctrine from) would brand these groups as ‘heretical’ or even ‘paganistic’, because their beliefs did not align. Put simply, Christianity was once super-diverse with a varied set of beliefs that championed various different characters. But because some of these ideas threatened the more ‘universal’ idea of

Christianity that the overarching church was building, (such as Judas being not so bad), many of these ideas were denounced by the church so as to diminish and discredit them, whilst others were stamped out (sometimes by force). Greek Bishop Irenaeus, who is remembered for expanding traditional Christian customs in Europe in the early first century, knew of the dangers that additional texts like the Gnostic Gospels could do to ‘unified’ Christianity that he and the greater church were trying to build, for they allowed for dissenting views and alternative practices that could not only dilute the ‘one true message’,

but also confuse the reader as to what was right and what was wrong. If we take the Gospel of Judas for example, it comes as no surprise that church founders discarded some books and sought to bury them - especially ones that made Judas, a man who was vehemently detested even back then, look suddenly heroic. In the work ‘Against Heresies,’ written by Irenaeus himself, he is seen to condemn the Gospel Judas, saying “They declare that Judas the traitor … 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 produced a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.” With early church ‘fathers’ like Irenaeus deciding what was cannon and what wasn’t, we have since ended up with a more ‘agreed upon’ Christianity, in this instance, one where Judas is indubitably, the bad guy. Indeed, to most people, Judas is the ultimate traitor. Every gospel that is officially recognised in the bible tells us so. In chapter 26 of the Gospel of Matthew, we are told of his deceptiveness and greed; “Then one of the

Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver [Jesus] over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.” (Matthew 26:14-16) Mark chapter 14 confirms much of the same, telling us “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.” (Mark 14:10-11) Chapter

22 of Luke echoes the very same sentiment, “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.” (Luke 22:3-4) And finally, John follows suit, telling us that Jesus told his disciples of his betrayer, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took

the bread, Satan entered into him. (John 13:26-27) With every gospel in the bible highlighting Judas as the one who sold out Jesus (for no less than thirty pieces of silver), it’s no wonder he is so universally vilified in the minds of believers. With the evidence we have here, there is no two ways about it, so it is quite compelling that at some point in time, to some particular group of early Christianity, Judas was viewed quite differently - so differently in fact, that he warranted his own gospel - and that there was something of a polarising

attitude toward him from the one that many possess today. So what does the Gospel of Judas actually have to say for itself? From what we have of the text, we are told that this is the ‘secret’ message of judgement that Jesus spoke of to Judas Iscariot and that the events in the gospel took place over the space of eight days - three days before the celebration of Passover. The idea is that the text itself establishes the message between Jesus and Judas as ‘secret’, it indicates that the writers were already aware of the main rhetoric surrounding

Judas and that they weren’t trying to invent a brand new ‘good’ Judas, but instead trying to introduce a new perspective for the ‘bad’ one. In a way, you might say that the writers were sympathetic toward Judas, or at least hoped to establish a new rhetoric that painted Judas in a more compassionate light. Conveniently, the reason why no one knew of this beforehand was because it was ‘secret’ - arguably, a notion the original writers went with as it fit with their own circumstances with them being oppressed by the church. The text continues that when Jesus appeared

on the earth, he did signs and great wonders for the salvation of humanity. Some, we are told, walked in the way of righteousness, but others walked in their transgression, so the twelve disciples were called. There, Jesus started to tell them about the mysteries beyond the world and what would happen at the end. In other gnostic gospels such as the Gospel of Thomas, we’ve seen Jesus openly mock his disciples or chastise them for their false prayers or insincere prayers. Specifically in Thomas, he is seen to tell his disciples not to bother praying if they don’t really

mean it, because it is their spirit that will be judged in the end, not the words that they say unto God. The Gospel of Judas adopts a similar concept, where we see Jesus criticising his disciples when he finds them praying one day in Judea. In fact, the text tells us that Jesus laughs at them! We are told, “The disciples said to him, “Master, why are you laughing at [our] prayer? What have we done? [This] is what’s right.” And Jesus answered them, saying “I’m not laughing at you. You’re not doing this because you want to, but

because through this your God [will be] praised.” Again, similar to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus finds humour in his disciples’ efforts to be pious and moral, and he actually calls them out for it, for he knows they (like many others) are not praying for the goodness of others or to honour God, but only for themselves. Furthermore, Jesus seems to alienate himself from them - or at least, from the idea that he is the son of God, for he refers to his disciples’ God as ‘your God’ - suggesting that the disciples aren’t even praying to the

right God anyway. This confuses the disciples, as they attempt to confirm, ‘Master, you [...] are the Son of our God!’ And Jesus replies, ‘How do [you] know me? Truly [I} say to you, no generation of the people among you will know me.” Again, Jesus continues to distance himself from his disciples. He questions not only their faith, but also their intelligence and their intentions. When his disciples heard this, they started to get angry and furious and in their hearts, they began to curse him. With this, it might be said that this was a test by Jesus

to see how much his disciples loved him and whether they would accept his criticisms of them if they were voiced. Indeed, instead of reacting humbly and recognising Jesus’ words as the truth, they begin to curse him in their hearts. With this, it might be said that whilst Judas from a traditional point of view betrayed Jesus and profited from his death, the other disciples harboured some disdain for Jesus and weren’t as honest with their feelings for him as the traditional bible leads us to believe. Now, Jesus notices that his disciples are disgruntled by his criticisms and

he tells them, ‘Why are you letting your anger trouble you? Has your God within you and [his stars] become angry with your souls? If any of you is [strong enough] among humans to bring out the perfect Humanity, stand up and face me.’ With this, we learn that Jesus knew they were angry with him, but that they shouldn’t be troubled by their anger. From this text, it’s almost as if Jesus was telling his disciples that they were allowed to be angry at him and that anger was a normal emotion for any human to feel. To this,

Jesus then reminds his disciples that no one is perfect and that anyone who thinks he is strong enough, should stand up and face him. To this, his disciples continue to miss the point of the message, and they all tell Jesus that they are strong enough. But the text tells us that their spirits were not brave enough to stand before him - everyone of them except Judas Iscariot. Here, the text tells us that Judas Iscariot was the only disciple brave enough to stand before Jesus, but even so, he could not look Jesus in the eye and

so he looked away. Judas said to Jesus here, “I know who you are and where you’ve come from. You’ve come from the immortal realm of Barbelo, and I’m not worthy to utter the name of the one who’s sent you.” Now, according to gnostic beliefs, this ‘Barbelo’ is actually something of a primordial goddess, and sometimes the very first emanation of God. Her name is used frequently across gnostic cosmogony and biblical mythology , and she is believed to live above the ‘eight heaven’ - where she is described in the gnostic Apocryphon of John as ‘the womb of

everything’. Additionally, she was also believed in gnostic mythology to be the mother of the god Yaldabaoth, who took possession of the world as we know it and decreed himself as the one true God. In other belief systems, including Sethian and Ophite traditions, Yaldabaoth (sometimes recognised as Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent ‘false god’ of the Old Testament. But here in the Gospel of Judas, Judas recognises Jesus as coming from the realm of Barbelo - suggesting that Jesus had come from the primordial mother (who is sometimes androgynous), and that Judas knew he was not worthy to

even the name of Barbelo - or whoever had sent Jesus from that realm. This then gets Judas thinking about the hierarchy of the divine and possibly had him considering whether it was God who was the most powerful or whether it was Barbelo - or someone else from these mysterious realms. But before Judas can get carried away with his thoughts, Jesus stops him in his tracks. We are told, “Then Jesus, knowing that [Judas} was thinking about what’s exalted, said to him, “Come away from the others and I’ll tell you the mysteries of the kingdom. Not so

that you’ll go there, but you’ll grieve much because someone else will replace you to complete the twelve [elements] before their God.” It’s not clear why Jesus takes a shine to Judas here and proceeds to tell him the ‘mysteries of the kingdom’. Perhaps, it’s because Judas was the only one of the disciples who stood up when Jesus asked, and though he did not face Jesus, he did nonetheless make the effort. Secondly, Jesus wanted to exclude the other disciples from the mysteries of the kingdom, which is why he tells Judas to ‘come away from the others’. This

then becomes a secret between Jesus and what appears to be his favourite disciple, one he gives the benefit of divine wisdom that is not to be shared with anyone else. More importantly, we see that Jesus gives this information to Judas not because he believes he is going to visit these places himself, but because he wanted Judas to know that someone else would end up replacing him amongst the twelve disciples, this being Matthias, and that this would cause Judas great grief. Whilst it isn’t clear from this part of the text alone, it does suggest that Jesus

had a plan for Judas - one that would unfortunately see him replaced by another disciple. It implies that whatever it is, the results of it would not be beneficial for Judas and he would lament thereafter. Could Jesus be referring to the betrayal here? Does he already know at this point that Judas will betray him? Or is he preparing Judas for that very role, revealing to him even now that the course of events have already been set. After this, Judas is seen to ask, “When will you tell me these things, and when will the great day

of light dawn for the generation [...]?” But when he said these things, Jesus left him. Why Jesus doesn’t reveal everything to Judas here is not known. Could it be that Jesus was feeling bad about Judas having his fate decided in such a negative way? Could it be that Jesus was hesitant to reveal the events to Judas that would see him labelled as a traitor and a villain from then on out? Or did Jesus realise that Judas wasn’t ready to hear such a truth, or maybe, realised that if he told Judas of his treacherous role, then

maybe Judas might have tried to carve a different fate for himself? We might never truly know. What we do know is that the next morning, Jesus returns to his disciples and they each asked him where had he gone and why did he leave them. To this, Jesus replies that he ‘went to another great and holy generation’. When the disciples here this, they cannot believe that there could possibly a generation that is better and holier than them - at least, not in their realm. This shows us that whilst the disciples did not grasp all the intracacies

of the world, they did seem to comprehend the idea that there were multiple realms and that Jesus possessed the ability to traverse between them. They don’t seem surprised that Jesus is theoretically time-travelling to different generations, but instead what does surprise them is that he found a generation that was more righteous than them. The Gospel of Judas then tells us, “Now when Jesus heard this, he laughed. He said to them, “Why are you wondering in your hearts about the strong and holy generation? Truly I say to you, no one born [of] this realm will see that

[generation], no army of angels from the stars will rule over it, and no person of mortal birth will be able to join it.” The rest of this section is fragmented, but what Jesus essentially tells his disciples here is that no mortal - absolutely no one in our ‘realm’ is worthy enough to even see the generation he had gone to visit. Whilst he appears to explain why, this part of the text is damaged and cannot be determined. However, we do know that when his disciples learn these things, they are horrified and that each was so troubled

by the revelation that they couldn’t say a thing. On another day some time after this revelation, Jesus came to the disciples again and they told him that they had seen him in their dreams and these were great dreams, indeed. They explain that they had seen a great house with a great altar in it and that there were twelve people (possibly priests). A crowd of people were waiting at the altar until the priests finished receiving the offerings. Some of the priests fasted for two weeks, others sacrifices their own children and wives, praising and humbling themselves amongst

each other. Some of the priests slept with other men, others were murderes, yet others committed many sins and did criminal things. The people who had gathered around the altars invoked the name of Christ, and in all their sacrificing, they filled the altar with their offerings. After telling Jesus all of this, it’s almost as if they either read Jesus’ face and realised his expression was not a favourable one, or they came to realise the essence of their words and realised that none of the contents of these dreams were congruent with Jesus’ words. The text tells us

that they ‘fell silent because they were then troubled’. Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? Truly I say to you, all the priests standing before that altar invoke my name. And [again], I say to you, my name has been written on this [house] of the generations of the stars by the human generations. [And they] have shamefully planted fruitless trees in my name.” Jesus said to them, "You're the ones receiving the offerings on the altar you've seen. That's the God you serve, and you're the twelve people you've seen. And the animals you saw brought in

to be sacrificed are the crowd you lead astray before that altar. [Your minister] will stand up and use my name like that, and [the] generations of the pious will be loyal to him. After him, another person will present [those who sleep around], and another those who murder children, and another those who sleep with men, and those who fast, and the rest of impurity, crime, and error. And those who say, 'We're equal to the angels' – they're the stars that finish everything. It's been said to the human generations, 'Look, God has accepted your sacrifice from the

hands of priests,' that is, the minister of error. But the Lord who commands is the Lord over everything. On the last day, they'll be found guilty." Jesus said [to them], “Stop [sacrificing animals]. You’ve [offered them] over the altar, over your stars with your angels where they’ve already been completed.” There’s quite a lot to unpackage here and it’s made even more difficult by the fact that much of the explanation here in the text is damaged and cannot be deciphered. Put simply, it would seem that the disciples are simply self-actualising in their dreams. Jesus tells them that

they are the priests who are seen to be murdering, sacrificing children and doing all kinds of activities not congruent with the early Christian tradition. He accuses them of being the ones to stand up and use his name to warrant such behaviour and he accuses them of being the ones to encourage the sort of behaviour that sees other men claim to be ‘equal to the angels’. Ultimately, Jesus here is seen to take jabs at the priests of the early Christian era, suggesting that their role as a conduit between man and God was false and should not

have been trusted as genuine by faithful believers. In the end, he specifies that it is only God who commands over everything and it is only God who knows what is required from each individual person - not prayers, sacrifices or whatever behaviour is being recommended by a particular priest. When his disciples hear Jesus’ words, they beg him to cleanse them of the sins they have committed, but Jesus tells them that it is not possible for him to do this. He seems to go off on a bit of a poetic tangent about how the fountain cannot quence

the fire of the world and how a city’s well cannot satisfy an entire generation’s hunger. But ultimately, what he tells them is that he cannot (or will not) cleanse them of their sins. Yet still, after hearing these things, the disciples continue to beg Jesus to help and save them. In another heavily broken part of the text, Jesus said to them, “Stop struggling against me. Each one of you has his own star, [and …] of the stars will […] what belongs to it […] I wasn't sent to the corruptible generation, but to the strong and incorruptible

generation, because no enemy has ruled [over] that generation, nor any of the stars. Truly I say to you, the pillar of fire will fall quickly and that generation won't be moved by the stars." It’s possible here that Jesus is referring to fallen angels - stars being a metaphor for fallen angels in this instance. What he tells the disciples is that they should stop struggling against him, because the incorruptible generation - likely the one he went to visit, would not do such a thing and that no enemy has ever ruled over them, nor have any fallen

angels (probably on the account that they have not struggled against him). He then referrences a pillar of fire falling quickly, but that when it does, that incorruptible generation won’t be moved by it, for they will be protected. This was all well and good for that generation, but it probably did very little to ease the anxities of the disciples. In fact, their worries and concerns are probably amplified as after this, Jesus is seen to leave again… only this time, he takes Judas Iscariot with him. With Judas, he begins to at last reveal some of the secrets

of the world to him, as promised. He tells him first of the after life and that, “The souls of every human generation will die; however, when these people have completed the time in the kingdom and the spirit leaves them, their bodies will die but their souls will live, and they’ll be taken up.” This is congruent with other gnostic gospels that maintain the idea that the body and the spirit are two different parts. The body is finite and will die and rot, but the soul has the potential to live forever, when it is taken up to

the heavens. Judas then enquires as to the rest of the human generations, perhaps, those whose souls are not taken up to the heavens. And Jesus replies with more poetics and theatrics, declaring “It’s not possible to sow on [rock] and harvest its fruit. In the same way, it’s [not possible to sow on] the [defiled] race along with the perishable wisdom [and] the hand which created mortal humans so that their souls may go up to the realms above.” Essentially, what Jesus means here, is that as much as it is impossible to harvest fruit from rocks, it’s equally

impossible to bestow wisdom unto to someone who does not truly wish to learn. If someone wishes to sin and willingly rejects their place in the heavens, then there is nothing that can be done to save them and in the end, their soul will be judged accordingly. Whether they exist in spirit form in the heavens is up to God’s judgement and God’s judgement alone, which echoes back to why Jesus told the disciples that he could not cleanse them of their sins and could not save them. After hearing this, Judas tells Jesus that he had seen a

great vision, but when Jesus hears this, he laughs. In fact, he does more than just laugh and surprisingly, he has quite the choice words for Judas. He said to him, “Why are you all worked up, you thirteenth demon? But speak up, and I’ll bear with you.” ‘So wait,’ I hear you say. ‘Judas was a demon?!” Well, going by Jesus’ words here - yes. But in actuality, that might be a bit of an error on behalf of the modern translation. Scholars have claimed that the original word used here was ‘daimon’ - daimon meaning ‘lesser deity’ in

ancient Greek - or the ‘thirteenth lesser deity’ in this case. Over time, the word daimon gained a more negative connotation and transitioned into our language as the word we now know as ‘demon’. Additionally, daimon once also could be used to describe a provider of fortunes and or destinies in Proto-Indo-European, or in the case of the Gospel of Judas, may also have been seen as the ‘souls of men’ - which fits in rather well with the concepts of spirits that are associated with the gnostic texts. Judas doesn’t really bat much of an eyelid to how Jesus

addresses him and instead proceeds to tell Jesus of his vision, saying “In the vision, I saw myself. The twelve disciples are stoning me and chasing [me rapidly]. And I also came to the place where [I had followed] you. I saw [a house in this place], and my eyes couldn’t [measure] its size. Great people surrounded it, and that house had a roof of greenery. In the middle of the house was [a crowd…] Master, take me in with these people!” The text breaks off towards the end here and we can’t be sure of the complete picture that

Judas was trying to paint of this house that is surrounded by people. What we do know is that Judas pleads with Jesus to take him with these people, suggesting that this place is probably some kind of heavenly afterlife that is attended to by the righteous souls who made it. Judas wishes desperately to be one of them, and so, in spite of what Jesus has told him about grieving for his actions that have yet to come, he still requests Jesus to spare him of such a fate and send him to this place instead. Furthermore, we also

see what appears to be Judas’ death - that he is stoned to death by the other disciples after the betrayal. Now, according to the traditional bible, Judas was not stoned to death, but instead found hanging after being unable to deal with the guilt of selling out Jesus. We are told in chapter 27 of the Gospel of Matthew that, “When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed

innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:3-5) So it’s interesting that in the Gospel of Judas, we see Judas not only murdered by the other disciples, but in a sense, martyred too! The gospel also has the effect of painting the other disciples in a negative light, portraying them as both not only those who have failed to grasp Jesus’ message, but also as murderers. Beyond this, the gospel begins to get quite metaphysical and ambiguous.

Without the complete document, it becomes very difficult to supply a definitive meaning to much of what follows and much of it still remains open to interpretation. We see Jesus here begin to tell Judas in response to his vision that, “Your star has led you astray, Judas,” and that “no person of mortal birth is worthy to enter the house you have seen, because that place is reserved for those who are holy. Neither the sun nor the moon will rule there, nor the day, but those who are holy will always stand in the realm with the holy

angels. Look, I’ve told you the mysteries of the kingdom and I’ve taught you about the error of the stars [....] What we can gather from this passage is that despite seeing this heavenly house in his vision and despite begging Jesus to save him and let him in, Jesus refuses Judas and tells him that he’ll never be worthy to enter the house - because no one of mortal birth is worthy. This heavenly realm is a place reserved only for the holy - not even the sun or the moon can go there, but only those who are

‘holy’. Unfortunately, Jesus doesn’t seem to go into much detail as to what constitutes as ‘holy’, though considering he mentioned angels in this passage, a possible prerequisite for entering this place may be divinity of some kind. Once more, the text is broken here, so we can’t tell what further description Jesus gives of this place, nor how Judas reacted to it. When the text picks up again, Judas appears to be talking about his theoretical offspring - which we know from the traditional bible, he had none of. Somewhere in the lost pieces of the text, Judas and Jesus

began to speak about Judas’ ‘seed’, for Judas is seen to ask, “Master, surely my seed doesn’t dominate the rulers, does it?” It might be the case that Jesus spoke of Judas’ offspring becoming the rulers of the earth and when he is told this by Jesus, Judas doesn’t quite believe it. In any case, when he asks Jesus to clarify, Jesus just ignores him and continues to tell him the secrets that he had promised to tell him early on in the Gospel. He says, , “Come, let me [tell] you [about the holy generation. Not so that you’ll

go there], but you’ll grieve much when you see the kingdom and all its generations.” Now, when Judas hears Jesus tell him this again, Judas asks Jesus what the point of doing such a thing is - why should he bother seeing the kingdom if he’s not allowed to go there anyway. Which is a fair point - why torture yourself with the vision of something that you’re never going to experience anyway. To this, Jesus tells Judas, “You’ll become the thirteenth, and will be cursed by the other generations and will rule over them. In the last days they’ll

[...]” So, once again, Jesus doesn’t really answer Judas’ question directly, but instead tells him that he’ll be thirteenth (maybe the thirteenth daimon as he previously spoke of him as) and that he’ll rule over the other generations - even though he’ll be cursed by them. It’s hard to determine what the original authors had in mind here - is Judas the daimon who rules over the thirteen generations, and that we unknowingly curse him as a betrayer, even though he was set up to be the betrayer? Or can it mean something else? Without the complete translation, it becomes

harder and harder to really grasp what the grander meaning of this is. After this, we are told that Jesus revealed everything to Judas, as the text descends into even more metaphysical ambiguity. We learn that there is a great, boundless realm whose horizons no angelic generation has ever seen - a realm where there exists a great invisible Spirit, which no one has ever seen and no one has ever comprehended. Furthermore, this Spirit has no name, but it appears in the form of a luminous cloud before Judas and he - the Spirit - creates a great angel

to attend him. The text tells us here, “And a great angel, the Self-Begotten, the God of the Light, emerged from the cloud. And because of him, another four angels came into being from another cloud, and they attended the angelic Self-Begotten.” Now here is where it gets pretty super confusing and virtually impossible to really analyse without heavy interpretation. The ‘Self-Begotten’ may be seen as a god who created the very first realm as he is seen to bring a realm into being - a realm he populates with several angels. In the text, he is also seen to

create the ‘luminous realm’, which is also created alongside several other ‘realms of light’. We are told in the text that he made these realms to be ruled and once more, created for these realms myriads of angels without number to assist them. Now, amongst these realms was the ‘first cloud of light’ that no angel could ever see, whose name was ‘Adamas’. Adamas is seen to beget an entity known as ‘Seth’ (some may see some links to Adam begetting Seth in Genesis here) and Adamas saw to it that Seth’s generation were incorruptible, for there were made as

twelve androgynous luminaries - those which according to other gnostic texts are high-ranking, angelic-like beings. After this, Adamas made seventy two more luminaries appear in the incorruptible generation according to the great invisible Spirit’s will. These seventy two luminaries then made themselves into three hundred and sixty more luminaries amongst the incorruptible generation according to the great invisible Spirit’s will, so that there would be enough luminaries to go around the twelve realms that had been created. To quote the text directly, we are told “And the twelve realms of the twelve luminaries make up their father, with six heavens

for each realm so there are seventy-two heavens for the seventy-two luminaries, and for each one [of them five] firmaments [for a total of] three hundred sixty [firmaments. They] were given authority and a [great] army of angels without number for honour and service, along with virgin spirits [too] for the honour and [service] of all the realms and the heavens with their firmaments.” The traditional Genesis tale makes no reference of an entity known as Adamas, nor is there reference to multiple realms, luminaries or a ‘great invisible spirit’ that appears to be the catalyst for everything. Instead, the

Genesis tale is much simpler in that there is one ‘true’ God, who creates the heavens, creates earth, creates plants and wildlife and lastly creates mankind. From just this, we can see how radically different early Christianity really was in that there was a whole alternative creation story that seems a lot more complex and creative. With this in mind, the Gospel of Judas really does make Judas seem like a favourite of Jesus, considering it is him who gets the benefit of hearing this information first-hand and despite not being worthy to join the incorruptible generation, is worthy to

learn the truth, where no other disciple was. The text continues to deep dive into the thick of gnostic belief, telling us “Now the crowd of these immortals is called ‘cosmos’ - that is, ‘perishable’ - by the father and the seventy-two luminaries with the Self-Begotten and his seventy two realms. That’s where the first human appeared with his incorruptible powers. In the realm that appeared with his generation is the cloud of knowledge and the angel who’s called [Eleleth …]’ From what we can decipher here, the first human (possibly Adam), first appeared in one of the seventy two

realms that were created by the Self-Begotten and that this came about through the Self-Begotten’s incorruptible powers. We also learn from this passage that there is an angel known as Eleleth in this particular realm. The text continues that Eleleth employed twelve angels to rule over Chaos and Hades’. Then, as Jesus explains these things to Judas, a cloud appears in the air along with an angel, whose face was flashed with fire and whose likeness was defiled by blood. This angel is known as ‘Nebro’, which the text tells us meant ‘Rebel’. Others however called him ‘Yaldabaoth’. Here, yet

another angel known as Saklas came from the cloud too and with this, the angel Yaldabaoth created six angels to be his assistant. The angel Saklas did the same too. Together, they brought about twelve angels in the heavens, with each of the angels receiving a portion in heaven. So, it would seem that in this part of the text, we get even more exposition as to what happened in the beginning of creation - that there were two principle angels named Yaldabaoth and Saklas who each created six angels that presided over heaven. The text continues to tell us

of at least five of the angels that were created, “The first [is Yaoth], who's called 'the Good One.' The second is Harmathoth, [the eye of fire]. The [third] is Galila. The fourth [is] Yobel. The fifth is Adonaios.” "These are the five who ruled over Hades and are the first over Chaos.” After creating these ‘angels of hell’, if you will - Saklas (one of the principal angels from earlier) decided that he wanted to create humankind. So he said to his angels that they would make humanity after their own likeness and image. There, we are told “And

they fashioned Adam and his wife Eve, who in the cloud is called ‘Life,’ because by this name all the generations seek him, and each of them calls her by their names.” This is where readers of Genesis may be able to relate to the gnostic text the most, for both acknowledge Adam and Eve - even though they are created a little differently in both respective texts. We also learn subsequently that mankind was given limited life, but the circumstances can’t be explained as the text is once again damaged here. After hearing all these crazy revelations about luminaries,

clouds and angels that seem to possess the same creative powers as the biblical god, you’d think Judas would have a million questions about it all. Instead, Judas only focuses on the last part of Jesus’ revelation - that people’s lives are finite. He asks, ‘How long can a person live?’ to which Jesus’ response probably mirrors our own. Jesus said, “Why are you amazed that the lifespans of Adam and his generation are limited in the place he’s received his kingdom with his ruler?” Indeed, Jesus doesn’t even bother answering the question, for surely Judas would’ve known from the

other humans around him just how long a person would’ve lived on average. Furthermore, Jesus does seem kind of baffled here, asking Judas why he is amazed at the lifespans of Adam's generation, (but not amazed at the tales of angels and luminaries and realms). Instead, Judas changes his question and asks Jesus whether or not the human spirit dies or not. Jesus tells him “"This is how it is. God commanded Michael to loan spirits to people so that they might serve. Then the Great One commanded Gabriel to give spirits to the great generation with no king –

the spirit along with the soul.” It’s hard to interpret the rest of the text as much of it is broken. What can be gathered though is that the archangel Michael is given permission by God to ‘loan’ spirits to people so that they might serve him. This gives us the gnostic idea that our spirits are never really our own, they are given to us at the beginning of our mortal lives and then taken back once we have perished. Archangel Gabriel meanwhile is seen to give spirits to a great generation who has no king, and these people

appear to receive the spirit along with the soul, though no distinction between the two is made here. As Jesus continues his explanation, he also reveals that during this time, God caused knowledge to be brought to Adam and those who were with him, so that the kings of Chaos and Hades might not rule over them. Once more, it is difficult to say what this all really means, but some have speculated that the tree which Adam ate from gave him this knowledge, which would suggest that Adam and Eve eating from the tree, though was a betrayal of

God’s trust, was also his intention, for it would see the more evil forces no longer have such an advantage over them. This has some parallels to the story of Jesus and Judas as we know it, for as the Gospel tells us, though Jesus knew Judas would betray him, he also needed and intended for it to happen. After this, Judas asked Jesus what will the generations do? Jesus then proceeds to go on a bit of a tirade about the angel Saklas and how when the angel’s lifespan has come to an end then the generations will do

terrible things in Jesus’ name - including sleeping around, murdering their children and committing human sacrifices. Many will come to serve Saklas and do terrible things, but they will also continue to use Jesus as a scapegoat in an effort to continue sinning. He then tells Judas that when this happens, Judas’ star will rule over the thirteenth realm. Then he proceeds to laugh. When Judas asks why Jesus is laughing at him, Jesus tells him, “I’m not laughing [at you but] at the error of the stars, because these six stars go astray with these five warriors, and they’ll

all be destroyed along with their creations.” This is likely in reference to the five entities mentioned earlier in the text; Yaoth, Harmathoth, Galila, Yobel and Adonaios - and how any creators who are not the one true God) will be destroyed, along with everything they have created. Once more, Judas does not question this further and instead decides to ask about those who have been baptised in his name, for surely they would be spared from being destroyed, would they not? Jesus tells him that the baptism that has been received in his name is actually kinda counter-productive and

that tomorrow, ‘they’ (possibly the Romans) will torture anyone who bears his name. He goes on to say that no hand of a mortal human will ever fall upon him, perhaps reminding Judas here that just because his mortal body will come to an end, his spirit will not and thus cannot be harmed because of who he is. He continues that Judas will do more than anyone, because he will become the person who sacrifices Jesus - the mortal vessel of Jesus, anyway, allowing him to return to heaven in his spirit form. Put simply, he tells Judas that

though it’s a huge burden for him and that he’ll be remembered as a traitor for ever and ever, he’s actually doing Jesus a solid here. ‘You’ll do more than all of them,’ he tells Judas. ‘Because you’ll sacrifice the human who bears me.’ After this, he tells Judas that kings will grow weak, the angelic generations will grieve and the evil they have sowed will be destroyed. In essence, in the end, it will matter not which angel (whether Yaldabaoth or Saklas) created or determined what, because in the end, only the one true God will see to what

lives and what dies and only the one true God will exalt the perfect generation. Following this, he tells Judas, ‘Look, you’ve been told everything. Lift up your eyes and see the cloud with the light in it and the stars around it. And the star that leads the way is your star.’ With this, Judas looks up and sees a luminous cloud, which he proceeds to enter. Unfortunately, it’s not clear what Judas sees or experiences here, because the text is once again broken. What we do know is that after this, Judas didn’t see Jesus anymore and this

was the last time the two were alone together. Some time after, we are told that there was a disturbance amongst the Jews and that the high priests were disgruntled because Jesus had gone into a guest room to pray. Some scribes there were spying on Jesus, watching him closely so that they could arrest when he was praying. They did this because they didn’t want to create a commotion amongst the people who now regarded him as a prophet and they wished to secure him as discreetly as they could. Here the text tells us that these very men

also stumbled upon Judas and they asked him, ‘What are you doing here? Aren’t you Jesus’ disciple?’ Here, we see Judas fulfil the request and prophecy of Jesus, for he is seen to answer them as they wished. The text tells us in a solemn tone, ‘Then Judas received some money and he handed Jesus over to them.’ The Gospel of Judas offers a unique glimpse into the complexities and diversities of early Christian thought. By presenting an alternative narrative that challenges conventional interpretations, this gospel raises important questions about the nature of betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption. However, it is

essential to approach the Gospel of Judas with an understanding of its historical context, its Gnostic influences, and its distinct theological agenda. Ultimately, the significance of this gospel lies not in its historical accuracy but in its ability to provoke critical thinking and stimulate dialogue about the multifaceted nature of early Christianity.