Gospel of Judas

Ancient Manuscript Suggests Jesus Asked Judas to Betray Him
Thursday, April 06, 2006


WASHINGTON — An ancient manuscript rediscovered after 1,700 years
may shed new light on the relationship between Jesus and Judas, the
disciple who betrayed him.

Full article at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190826,00.html

My response:

I'm not sure why this article is making the headlines. I suspect it
is an attack on Christianity, the Church, and the Bible in
particular. It certainly is aimed at those of us who accept that
Scripture contains no errors or contradictions and that only the
canonical books of the Scriptures are to be regarded as inspired. The
folks who are making the fuse do not understand our convictions or
how Scripture was canonized.

What I find interesting is that the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel
of Judas date back to the same era. Both these documents were
rejected as being inspired, because what is in them. All Scripture
bears witness to Jesus Christ and that its primary purpose is to
make men wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. If a
document has a different agenda then it was not included in the canon.

We find Apocrypha literature valuable. When Luther translated the
Bible he also include the apocrypha books in his translation. (Those
extra books found in the Roman Catholic Bibles). The German reformers
freely quoted from the Apocrypha. The Gospel of Barnabas, while
highly respected and canonical by some at one point is not in our
Bible today but I suspect more inline with the purpose of the
Scripture that Thomas or Judas. I think on one dimension the
interest in the Gospel of Judas is to say that the Church did not
examine this text and that is why it was not included. I'm saying
that the Church had the Gospel of Judas and rejected it and not
because it cast Judas in a different light but because it took us
away from Jesus on the Cross. The Gospel of Judas is not listed on
the Muratorian Fragment - the earliest listing we have of NT books
that dates back to 200AD, a time when the Gospel of Judas is thought
to have been in circulation.

It really changes nothing. I believe that God was at work when the
Bible was canonized. I still accept Scripture as the Inspired Word of
God and in Scripture Judas is described as the betrayer of Jesus. But
if you think about it, so are we all at some point in our faith walk
a betrayer of Jesus. To understand Judas's betrayal you have to look
at Peter's betrayal. Why is Peter looked upon in favor after he
denied even knowing Jesus? It has to be in the different way the two
men responded to their sin. My thought is that the betrayal that
condemned Judas occurs in Matthew 27:5 "... he went away and hanged
himself" and not the act of handing Jesus over to the temple guard.

Grace & Peace,
- Curtis