“The Gospel of Judas”
Rev. Bruce A. Shields
First Baptist Church of Tawas City Michigan USA
www.tawasbaptist.org
April 23rd, 2006
† WELCOME
† SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 26:25
“Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?"
Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."
PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT AND UNDERSTANDING
† The release of the Coptic text called “The Gospel of Judas” this past week has been reported with considerable enthusiasm by the media.
At the center of this gospel is Judas Iscariot, known from the biblical gospels as the betrayer of Jesus.
Yet from the gospel of Judas, a different figure emerges.
This text claims that in private conversations, Jesus tells Judas he will share with him alone “the mysteries of the kingdom” knowledge not shared with any of the other disciples, and asks Judas to hand him over to the authorities so that his body can be sacrificed.
The Coptic text goes on to claim Jesus said to Judas, “But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”
In this particular quote, “the man that clothes me” refers to Jesus’ body.
According to the gospel of Judas, Jesus longed to be set free from this physical shell, which he considered to be, in good Gnostic fashion, the “prison of the soul.”
Are we to see Judas the liberator?
Betrayal considered a virtue?
Jesus a Gnostic?
Today we’ll pay a visit to this “Gospel of Judas”, and measure it against the word of God for accuracy.
Gnostic, or Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means ("knowledge"); It is a belief system that flourished in Hellenistic culture which began in about 323BC.
It had a profound influence on early Christianity, particularly in the Johannine tradition (i.e., the gospel of John, the letters of John, the gospel of Thomas).
Gnosticism is a pre-Christian religious tradition defined primarily by the belief that salvation comes through gnosis, or knowledge, rather than through Jesus Christ and the cross.
In so doing, Gnostics wholly deny the human dimension of Jesus Christ, even to the point of saying that Jesus, is a purely spiritual entity, and only "appeared" to suffer on the cross.
Gnosticism was therefore declared a heresy in the 4th century AD Christian church, for obvious reasons, because it denied Christ and the work of the Cross and gives salvation to those who gain knowledge.
Gnostics proclaim that salvation that can only come through enlightenment or knowledge.
This is the key thinking to 90% of cults out there.
Knowledge will get you to heaven.
This is a major theme in many of the Pagan religions such as Taoism, Buddhism, the teaching of Zen, Hinduism. Many of the eastern philosophies base their teachings on this concept that the gaining of knowledge leads to salvation, or a god-like state of being.
So, with this and many people coming to me with concerns of this document and its implications, I felt it warranted a sermon on the subject.
† I will however attempt to condense my study into one sermon.
1. First we will look at the physical document itself.
2. Then examine its content.
3. We will then try to fit it into the Holy Scriptures we have before us today, remembering that God will not contradict Himself or His Holy Word.
1. First we will look at the physical document itself.
† National Geographic, who is currently in control of the document, came out with the Documentary last week called “The Gospel of Judas”.
They unfortunately did not give the whole or accurate story about the history behind this document.
I believe this is because the document itself would lose its significance (or value to the world and National Geographic) as a monumental FIND if its history is that of a non-Christian origin.
They need this document to be equal to, if not greater than the already accepted Christian writings of the Holy Bible we have today, otherwise they are just in possession of another of the many worthless discarded heretical Coptic Gnostic scripts.
† Such as other so called great finds that later went into the circular file cabinet (or trashcan to the layman), like the illustrious gospel of Mary.
This document was found in the 19th Century, and was believed to be the gospel of Mary Magdalene.
Its text told us that it was Mary, who was especially enlightened with knowledge by Jesus (sound familiar?), and all the disciples went to her for guidance because the master only shared this information with her.
Won’t Judas be upset when he find out?
This document also has blatant Gnostic beliefs with Mary as the center character with the SECRET KNOWLEDGE that Jesus ONLY shared with her.
It is obvious why this document was never included into the Holy Scriptures. Gnosticism is not Christianity, nor is it Christ centered.
† The illusive Gospel of Peter was discovered in 1886.
This Gospel was considered heretical and left out of the Holy Bible for several reasons.
Scholars are nearly unanimous in the belief that Peter himself did not author this work, despite first person references meant to give that impression.
† In 1945 the Nag Hammadi texts were discovered.
This library included tantalizing alternative versions of Jesus’ life and teachings, including the Gospel of Thomas, Peter, Phillip and the Gospel of Truth.
This long hidden trove of Gnostic writings dramatically increased our contemporary knowledge of these sects’ ancient Gnostic beliefs.
Before their discoveries, Gnostics beliefs had been largely known only from the reference in works by Orthodox Christian scribes.
The Nag Hammadi also included a copy of Plato’s Republic.
Obviously this library was left out of the Holy Bible because of its Gnostic content which was entirely Non-Christian.
† In 1945 they discovered the Gospel of Thomas.
This Coptic, or Egyptian Christian, text reflects an emphasis on philosophies, and deemphasizes the events in Jesus’ life.
Once again, it was left out of the Holy Scriptures because it stressed teachings of knowledge instead of salvation through Christ.
† The Gospel of the Savior found in 1990AD.
This was another Gnostic writing, and was dismissed because it contradicts Jesus’ work on the cross and salvation through Christ alone, therefore it contradicted all the other known and validated works we have in the Holy Bible today.
† The Gospel of Judas ranks (in more ways than one), among these finds.
Fives tests were administered by scientists for National Geographic to validate their claims, not necessarily to authenticate the validity of the document itself.
I could explain each of the five processes themselves, and how each process falls short in the scientific community by their own admission.
But the age itself I won’t dispute, because the age doesn’t matter.
If something is incorrect, does it matter when it was created? No.
Gnosticism has been around since before Christianity, and it doesn’t matter when someone writes a document that contradicts scripture, the point is that it is a contradiction.
You know, 1700 years from now someone may discover a copy of the ‘Da Vinci Code’ I threw away after reading, does that make it true? Does simply finding it validate its content?
Just because something is ancient, does not make it fact.
National Geographic has ancient documents about Egyptian gods in their possession as well, do these gods exist now just because National Geographic can authenticate their age? No.
But there were five tests administered.
The results were all within 300-400 years of each other, which I guess is good enough for National Geographic.
Although the paper was tested for age, the ink for some reason was not.
They tested the chemical makeup of the ink, but not the age of the ink.
The results were the ink was similar to but not a match to any known ink from that time period.
So, what is my conclusion on the age of the document?
It doesn’t matter how old or new (if it is a counterfeit), the document is Gnostic in origin and it contradicts scripture.
2. Let’s Examine its Content.
National Geographic claims that Contextual Evidence proves and authenticates the age and validity of the document.
The only problem with that is, first of all if I am going to counterfeit a document, of course I am going to mimic the writing styles and language of that day. Only a fool would do otherwise.
Secondly, the contextual content of the document is Gnostic through and through, though National Geographic would no dare to label it so.
This would make the document Non-Christian, and then it would lose value.
Sort of like the guy selling a house that forgets to tell you the basement floods every time there’s a rain storm.
He wants to sell you something, and will never look at the blemishes.
So let’s look at a few blemishes that are easy to see.
• The Name “Gospel” of Judas is misleading.
It is unclear by reading the contents of this document how it merits this title.
What does Gospel mean?
Mark 1:1
“The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
The Gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ.
Neither the literary form, nor the content of the Gospel of Judas qualifies as “Gospel”.
This document does not convey the Good News about Christ, nor is it truly a Gospel.
• The Gospel was neither written by Judas nor does it preserve any authentic historical information about Judas or his relationship with Jesus.
It is the Gospel of Judas only in the sense that Judas is the main figure featured in this work.
In typical apocryphal fashion, gaps in the biblical record (in the present case, no recorded conversations between Jesus and Judas) are filled in by the mysterious author.
And in typical Gnostic fashion, biblical events and their significance are reinterpreted in a dualistic fashion where matter is set against spirit and salvation comes through knowledge, usually secret knowledge.
• The gospel of Judas may very well be an authentic 3rd century AD Gnostic gospel.
What this text IS good for is helping us understand the Gnostic movement and the first major Christian heresy known as Gnosticism.
The document shows us how Gnostics viewed Jesus’ crucifixion and Judas’ act of betrayal.
At the same time, like other Gnostic gospels, the Gospel of Judas postdates the biblical Gospels by well over 100 years and thus is clearly inferior to them just in the terms of historical reliability alone.
It is obviously also inferior to the Gospels of the Bible in regard to the orthodox content.
This was already recognized by Church fathers such as Irenaeus, who in his work against heresies denounced Gnosticism as heretical and refuted it in the strongest terms.
We can conclude therefore, that the Gospel of Judas is not truly a Gospel; it does not go back to the “historical Judas” and does not preserve reliable tradition about Jesus or the betrayer, and while probably authentic in age, it contributes to a better understanding of Gnosticism but not the biblical gospel or the true meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
If we were to take this document, and what t is telling us, that the way to heaven is only through enlightenment and secret knowledge, then we have to negate everything the 66 books in the bible teaches us.
Because they can’t both be right, they contradict each other.
Is the Gospel of Judas right, or are the other 66 books which do not contradict each other, but work together to form a beautiful picture of the character and nature of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Savior and the Holy Spirit right?
Gnostics want you to believe that betrayal is virtuous, handing someone over to be murdered is liberating them, and with secret knowledge, you too can have eternal bliss.
This is not a picture of the God I know.
This Coptic Gnostic script will eventually fade away into obscurity just as the Gospel of Mary did, just as he Gospel of Thomas did, just as the Gospel of Truth did, just as the Gospel of Peter & Philip, and the Library of Nag Hammadi.
Deuteronomy 4:1, 2 - Warning
“Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.”
Matthew 26:25
“Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?"
Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."
The literal word used in the Greek for Betray is Strong’s Ref. # 3860 - par-ad-id’-o-mee.
Which means to surrender, i.e. yield up --betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver (up), give (over, up), hazard, put in prison.
It is translated correctly in our modern bibles.
Jesus was betrayed in every sense of the word by Judas.
Psalm 18:30 – No Contradictions in Scriptures (God Given)
“As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.”
2 Peter 3:15 – No Contradiction in Scriptures (God Given)
“Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.”
Revelation 22:18, 19 - Warning
“18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
2 Peter 1:20, 21
“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
