The Gospel of Judas – Are we betraying Christ again?

“Step away from the others and I shall tell you the mysteries of the kingdom. It is possible for you to reach it, but you will grieve a great deal.”
“..you will be cursed by the other generations – and you will come up to rule over them.”

The abovementioned lines are not from the movies like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings, but verses from ‘The Gospel of Judas’, a papyrus document dating back to 3rd or 4th Century AD, discovered in the desert near El Minya, Egypt in the 1970s.

Originally in Coptic (the ancient language spoken by Egyptians Christians), it has been translated and published for the first time in English by the National Geographic Society in US on April 6th.

The Gospel of Judas claims Judas was Jesus’ most preferred disciple and was in fact the only one with whom Christ shared the true secret of the salvation. The Gospel of Judas further portrays Judas as the man “truest” to his Lord and someone who was following Jesus’ request when he betrayed him and depicts his betrayal as the fulfillment of a divine mission to enable the crucifixion – and thus the foundation of Christianity – to take place.

The release of this text has created a flurry of excitement. A headline in The Washington Post declared: “Ancient ‘Gospel of Judas’ Translation Sheds New Light on Disciple.” The New York Times quotes a claim by Elaine Pagels, author of “The Gnostics Gospels,” that the discovery of the Judas Gospel and related Gnostic texts “are exploding the myth of a monolithic religion, and demonstrating how diverse and fascinating the early Christian movement really was.” And in India’s leading national daily, The Times of India, was a half page article, titled, “Judas helped Jesus fulfill his divine mission.”

So does it affect our faith? Of course not. Believing in the fact of the discovery of the document itself does not mean that we are believing in and endorsing its contents. Undoubtedly, it must have been written by the followers of Gnosticism, those who wished to portray Judas, not as a betrayer but as a man who helped Jesus fulfill His Divine Mission by betraying Him and getting Him crucified. But is that the Truth, the Truth that has been revealed to us by God Himself, the Truth written in the Bible? Let us look at the Truth written in the Bible, one by one.

1. Literal meaning of the word “betray”….
Betray: verb [VN] ~sb/sth (to sb) to give information about sb/sth to an enemy;
To hurt sb who trusts you, especially by not being loyal or faithful to them.
(Source: Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)

If Judas had not been disloyal to Jesus, if he had not sold out Jesus, would the word “betray” have been used for Judas in the four Canonical Gospels of Mathew (Mathew 26:14–16), Mark (Mark 14:10), Luke (Luke 22:4) and John (John 12:4)? The answer is no.

2. According to the Gospel of Judas, “Judas was predestined to betray Jesus.” Now, what is predestination of God?

According to Romans 8:28–30, God “works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” If God had predestined that Judas would betray Jesus, would God have allowed Judas to die such an ignoble death? Rather, would God not have “glorified” Judas?

Taking another example, Jesus trusted Judas so much that he was made in charge of the money bag, but Judas, as mentioned in John 12:6, “was a thief” and “he used to help himself to what was put into it.”

Here, did Jesus put Judas in charge of the money bag, knowing that Judas would steal from it? No. We should not confuse the unflinching faith, love, trust and hope of Jesus towards Judas with the convoluted assertion that God/Jesus had predestined Judas to steal from the money bag. Likewise, God never predestines bad or evil things. Will God predestine someone to betray His own Son? In the Bible, there are several references that indicate that the Satan or devil had entered Judas, prompting him to betray Jesus. Now, if we are to accept that God had predestined Judas to betray Jesus, it means that we also have to accept the absurd proposition that God is a sinister and malevolent entity – a Father who would conspire with another, viz. the Satan or the devil to make Judas betray His Son.

3. The Gospel of Judas claims that during the Last Supper as Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” (Mathew 26:21; Mark 14:18; Luke 22:21; John 13:21) He was indicating Judas “to” betray him. So according to the Gospel of Judas, it is Judas who helped Jesus get rid of his physical flesh, liberate the true spiritual self or divine being within. This view is fallacious. Let us see why.

When Jesus was anointed at Bethany, then it was Judas Iscariot who objected to what Mary had done to Jesus (John 12:1–8).

According to Luke 22:3–4: “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.” We can find similar verses in Matthew 26:14–16 and Mark 14:10–11. They all clearly state that driven by greed and upset over Mary’s act and the reproach of Jesus, Judas began to plan to betray Jesus. So, the argument that Judas betrayed Jesus, in obedience of the Lord’s instructions – as the Gospel of Judas claims – does not hold good.

The words of Jesus, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me,” were words of warning to Judas to repent and turn around and not words of encouragement or instructions for him to betray Jesus, as the Gospel of Judas claims. If it were otherwise, would Jesus have said: “The Son of Man will go as it has been said but woe to that man who betrays him”? (Luke 22:22) If by betraying Jesus, Judas was helping Jesus fulfill His divine mission on earth, would Jesus have said, “It would be better for him if he had not been born.” (Mark 14:21)?

4. If betraying Jesus was the commission of Judas and he had fulfilled it, if by betraying Jesus he was helping the Lord in fulfilling His Divine Mission, then Judas should have been the happiest among all the disciples. No remorse, no guilt, no regret should have entered Judas and he should not have hanged himself, dying so miserably.

Mathew 27:3–5
When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” ”What is that us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

5. Moreover, if Judas had fulfilled his commission as the disciple of Jesus and done what the Lord had desired Him to do, then why was his place replaced? Also, why did Jesus, after resurrection, not exonerate Judas and explain to His other disciples that Judas’s action was not one that of betrayal but one that of assisting the Lord in fulfilling His Divine Mission? If Judas did what Jesus had willed him to do, then should the other disciples not have revered Judas, instead of replacing him? Even the place of the deacon, Stephen, who was stoned to death (martyred) for his faith, was not replaced. But it is recorded in Acts (Acts 1:12–26) that Matthias had replaced the Judas.

6. If the Gospel of Judas is true in its claim that Judas could understand the will of Jesus and he did what Jesus had “wanted” him to do, then why did he sell Jesus for 30 silver coins – putting such a petty price on the holy life of Jesus? If Judas could actually understand the will and the heart of Jesus, as the Gospel of Judas claims, then why did he not betray Jesus for free, without charge, instead of putting a price (a petty one too) on the life of the Lord? The answer is simple. No matter what the Gospel of Judas claims, the fact remains that Judas could never understand the heart of the Lord, he could never understand the Divine Mission of the Lord and what Judas did was a very ugly thing and not a glorious act as the Gospel of Judas claims.

If we look at the Bible deeply, we will see that actually, the image of Peter and Judas is similar – while one betrayed the Lord, the other denied the Lord, not once but three times. However, there is one big difference between the two. It is that Peter came back to the Lord with a repentant heart and went on to lead the Church of the Lord but Judas could not return to the Lord, because his thoughts were still confined. So, rather than repenting and coming back to Lord, he went and hanged himself. If Jesus could forgive Peter; if Jesus could forgive those people who condemned him, who took away his last piece of clothes from his body – then why not Jesus could have forgiven Judas?

In conclusion, Judas could never understand the heart of the Lord, the will of the Lord, the love of the Lord, contrary to what the Gospel of Judas claims. He could never experience the deep world of love and forgiveness the Lord has towards each one of us.

Discovery of works, like the Gospel of Judas, of course, do not affect our faith, but we cannot just turn a blind eye to it as it may lead to non–Christians misunderstanding the Truth about our faith. Those who believe that the Gospel of Judas was written to clear the facts and ‘exonerate’ Judas from the ‘misunderstandings’ surrounding him, are, I am sorry to say, no different from Judas and like Judas they will be betraying Jesus for the second time, crucifying Him for the second time.

Had Judas truly known the will of the Lord, had he the faith that Jesus is Christ, would he have sold Jesus? Now since we know the Truth, we know that Jesus is Christ, we cannot repeat the same mistake again. We cannot let him die the second time. The Truth must prevail. In conclusion, the Gospel of Judas is nothing short of a heresy.

And, yes, the verse “you will come up to rule over them” in the Gospel of Judas may be true for those who believe in the Gospel of Judas and no more. For Satan rules over those who put their trust in him.