Monday, April 10, 2006
- Dr. Roger Hahn
You may have recently encountered “news” items regarding the so-called Gospel of Judas. Some media treatments on this subjects have made extravagant claims – such that this document might change the way scholars understand Judas and the life of Jesus or this is the most important document found in 50 years or that this document raises questions about the accuracy of the biblical account.
A “gospel of Judas” is not a new idea in Christianity. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon and a leading 2nd century Christian theologian (born c. 140, died c. 200) mentions a Gospel of Judas in his work entitled “Against Heresies” published about A.D. 180. From the comments of Irenaeus most scholars have supposed that the Gospel of Judas was published by one of the expressions of the philosophical-religious teachings called Gnosticism. Gnosticism was early condemned by Christian theologians as a theological heresy teaching, among other things, that created matter is evil, that spirit is good, that the God of the Old Testament was not the Father of Jesus Christ. One segment of Gnosticism denied the humanity of Jesus. This segment was called Docetism because they claimed Jesus only seemed to be human. By denying the humanity of Jesus, they denied the real Incarnation of Christ, the real death of Jesus, and thus the reality of atonement brought about by the death of Christ.
No copies of the Gospel of Judas have been known to exist in the era of the modern church. In the 1980’s persons began to offer on the black market a “newly discovered” document which they claimed was this long-lost Gospel of Judas. The asking price was exorbitant and so none of the universities who were contacted were willing to purchase the document. Finally, in the 1990’s the document was purchased by a private foundation in Europe and work toward translation and publication slowly began. There were contradictory claims made by the “discoverers” to the different universities to which they offered the document regarding the date and place of its discovery.
The document now being discussed and treated as news was written in Coptic and no reputable scholar has dated the document earlier than A.D. 300. A number of scholars believe the Gospel of Judas was first written in Greek, perhaps as early as A.D. 150 but before 180 (since Irenaeus apparently refers to it). Thus the earliest this “Gospel of Judas” might have been written is about half a century after the latest book of the New Testament to be written. Thus it is not by Judas and does not provide any “information” about Jesus and the apostles that is not already available in the Gospels of the New Testament. It does not shed light on the New Testament nor threaten to challenge New Testament history or beliefs. The document that has been discovered is not one of the most significant biblical finds of the last century. It is not biblical and its significance is minor compared to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi papyri found in Egypt in the 1940’s (a library of Gnostic writings).
The Gospel of Judas does provide another example of the writings of a heretical group of the 2nd century. It portrays Judas as a hero because he agreed to kill Jesus and thus release Jesus from his evil body so his spiritual self could be set free. Thus it portrays 2nd century Gnostic Theology, not the biblical Jesus of the 1st century.
The statement of Irenaeus is as follows from Against Heresies 1:31:1
Others again 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. On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury. For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself. 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 fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.
Christianity Today has a
recent online article regarding this issue.
For expressions of doubt about the significance of the document see comments by James M. Robinson a leading scholar on Gnosticism and early Coptic Christian documents found in a news article available at the following website. [MSNBC]
You should note that Robinson is publishing a book on the Gospel of Judas without having ever seen it. His views are not unbiased, but the opinions offered in the news article at the above website seem accurate to me.
An English translation of the document is now available at: National Geographic
If you have further questions, feel free to contact me.