Tony BeamThe gospel of Judas, a known Gnostic and totally discredited account of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, is making the rounds in liberal theological circles as if it is the Holy Grail of the 21st century.? The document, originally discovered in 1970 and recently translated into English, is being touted as having “shaken up biblical scholarship by revealing the diversity of beliefs and practices among early followers of Jesus” (New York Times).
The Gnostic?gospels?represent a body of material written at least 100 years after?the four gospels of the New Testament.?The?early Christian community treated these writings?as heretical from the beginning, and they were soundly rejected by?most all?of the?church fathers. They are second-century rantings which do not match the?eyewitness accounts of the?four?gospels.
There are literally?hundreds of these Gnostic, apocryphal texts which tell us nothing about the Bible and?much about the competing false religious systems which attempted to supplant Christianity while it was?still in its infancy.?
??There are two clearly Gnostic influences in the gospel of Judas which peg it as a second-century attack on Christianity.?First,?Jesus supposedly tells Judas a secret.?The secret is that he (Judas)?is the one who will betray?Jesus and allow?Him to fulfill?His destiny as the crucified?One.?One of the marks?of?Gnosticism is a “secret knowledge” that leads to some path to ultimate salvation.
Second,?in?the gospel of Judas, Jesus tells Judas He needs to be freed from His earthly body in order to bring about salvation. This?reveals another characteristic of Gnosticism which?is?a false division of the flesh and the spirit.?Second-century Gnosticism would see the body as evil because it is part of the material world.?Separation from the body would free the spirit of Jesus?to?become the Savior in the form of a spirit.?
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John remain our definitive, God inspired sources for understanding the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.