This Sunday, April 9, the National Geographic channel will air a documentary detailing the discovery and translation of the so-called "Gospel of Judas." Tonight, I watched a preview of sorts in a segment on ABC's Primetime Live. If you go to the link I just provided and play the online video segment, you will hear an ABC correspondent say that "The Bible as we know it will be changed forever."

Really?

Really?

Well, don't count on it. During the Primetime segment, the question was asked as to whether or not Judas was actually the betrayer of Jesus as the Gospels in the New Testament portray him to be. According to the report, in this ancient document, Jesus himself asks Judas to betray him--to free his soul from the confines of his earthly body. Now, I've read the the translation of the Gospel of Judas that the National Geographic Society is providing. I can't actually find any place where Jesus asks Judas to betray him. Granted, there's lots of talk where Jesus says Judas will be misunderstood and persecuted, but later exalted for what he does (definitely a different take than the canonical gospels), but I don't read where Jesus actually asks Judas to do the deed.

Here's the closest you get to it:

Judas said to Jesus, “Look, what will those who have been baptized in your name do?”

Jesus said, “Truly I say [to you], this baptism [56] […] my name [—about nine linesmissing—] to me. Truly [I] say to you, Judas, [those who] offer sacrifices to Saklas […]God [—three lines missing—] everything that is evil.

“But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.

Already your horn has been raised,
your wrath has been kindled,
your star has shown brightly,
and your heart has […]. [57]

“Truly […] your last […] become [—about two and a half lines missing—], grieve[—about two lines missing—] the ruler, since he will be destroyed. And then the imageof the great generation of Adam will be exalted, for prior to heaven, earth, and the angels,that generation, which is from the eternal realms, exists. Look, you have been toldeverything. Lift up your eyes and look at the cloud and the light within it and the starssurrounding it. The star that leads the way is your star.”

Judas lifted up his eyes and saw the luminous cloud, and he entered it. Those standingon the ground heard a voice coming from the cloud, saying, [58] […] great generation[…] … image […] [—about five lines missing—].

Now, in spite of the fact that ABC and the National Geographic Society (it makes me ashamed to admit I'm a member) are grossly exaggerating the content of the text, there is one extremely important fact about the document that is being downplayed in all the uproar. And it's something you need to know. In fact, I would dare say that it's the most significant fact about the so-called Gospel of Judas.

What is it?

Well, what you need to know is the date that this gospel was written. The Primetime Live segment never mentioned a date. And you really have to look hard to find this information on the National Geographic site. In fact, they tend to date it in reverse by saying that it is a 1700 year-old document. Here's what's really important, folks: The Gospel of Judas was written in the 3rd Century AD.

When were the gospels that are found in the New Testament written? They were written in the first century. To be exact, I personally believe they were written sometime between the mid-50's to the mid-60's. But hardly any scholar these days would date them past the mid-seventies (although there are a few holdouts who would date John to the 90's). Regardless, everyone gives them a first century date.

So what does that mean? Well, it means that the Gospel of Judas was not a contender for a place in Scripture. It was not excluded from the New Testament by any secret conspiratorial committee in the early church who didn't approve of its content or message. It was written two-hundred years or more after the New Testament.

The Gospel of Judas has more in common with the Nag Hammadi writings discovered in 1945 than with anything in the New Testament. What were the Nag Hammadi writings? They were a group of codices written in Coptic around the third or fourth century AD and contained what is known as gnostic Christian writings. Gnostic writings were a combination of Christianity, Greek Platonic thought, and mystery religions. Salvation was found through secret knowledge, and the ultimate goal was to be relieved of the body (which was seen as evil) so that the soul could take its rightful place in heaven. The Gnostics were essentially a Christian cult and from a contemporary perspective, you could group them with modern cults such as the Moonies or the Branch Davidians.

Is the Gospel of Judas a significant find? Well, in spite of all the hype, no, it's not! It's only of interest to those who study ancient history, specifically the weird and far-out teachings of the Gnostics. But Gnostic writings of the third and fourth centuries have NO bearing on New Testament studies.

Look, people need to get it into their heads that there's no smoking gun from the days of the early church. There was no conspiracy to hide the truth from some fifth or sixth of seventh gospel. There was no plot to hide a secret marriage of Jesus to Mary Magdalene and other Da Vinci Code conspiracy nonsense.

Besides the fact that the Gospel of Judas comes too late to even be considered for inclusion into the New Testament Canon, simply reading it reveals that it's of a completely different nature, character and flavor than the rest of the biblical writings. And that's true for most of the apocrypha and pseudipigrapha and other stuff that didn't make the "cut" for the Canon.

But if you want to get it all out of your system, I encourage you to read this ancient esoteric nonsense for yourself. I'm including below the National Geographic's translation of the Gospel of Judas. You read this, and then tell me if you honestly want this appended to the 27 books in the New Testament you are now carrying.

Download The Gospel of Judas:
GospelofJudas

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