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“Gospel”
of Judas: The Great New Fraud
by Luis Sérgio Solimeo
On the coattails of the Gnostic wave set
in motion by The Da Vinci Code, and using the same
media ploys of sensationalism, psychological impact and
moral-emotional shock, the National Geographic Society has
launched its new product: The Gospel of Judas.
The tone of its marketing is the
same as Dan Brown’s novel. It promises to unveil a mystery,
disclose something hidden (read, intentionally hidden by
the Church) which can change the history of mankind.
The fraud in Dan Brown’s novel consists in employing a
fictional work to spread the doctrine of Gnosis. He calls
the Gnostic writings “the earliest Christian records” and
the “unaltered gospels.”1
The new fraud now attributes to Judas
a “Gospel” written by unknown persons at least one hundred
years after his suicide.
While the message of The Da Vinci Code
is that “almost everything our fathers taught us about
Christ is false,”2 the
National Geographic Society is spreading the word that “far
from being a villain, the Judas that emerges in its pages
[of The Gospel of Judas] is a hero.”
3
“An authentic fabrication produced
by a group of Gnostics”
Liberal scholar Bruce Chilton describes
the fraud in the “Gospel” of Judas. He argues that during
its release, National Geographic repeatedly stated that
it has "authenticated" the document, a claim simply
repeated by many press agencies.
However "authentic" can be a
slippery turn. Mr. Chilton notes that no scholar associated
with the find argues this is a first century document, or
that it derives from Judas. He notes:
"The release says the document was
‘copied down in Coptic probably around AD 300,’ although
later that is changed to ‘let's say around the year 400.’
This amounts to saying that ‘The Gospel of Judas’ is an
authentic fabrication produced by a group of Gnostics in
Egypt. Gnostics believed that their direct knowledge of
heaven permitted them to understand what no one else knew,
or could know by historical knowledge. For ancient Gnostics
to believe in their own powers of divination is charming;
for their flights of imagination to be passed off as historical
knowledge in our time is dishonest or self-deceived.”
4
Old hat presented as novelty
The present Gnostic offensive takes
advantage of the fact that Gnostics misappropriated the
name, “Gospel” in many of their writings to convey the impression
that both canonical and apocryphal writings have equal value
and that the whole problem is but an internal division in
Christianity.5
J.P. Arendzen, a specialist in Gnosticism,
describes this maneuver: “When Gnosticism came in touch
with Christianity, which must have happened almost immediately
on its appearance, Gnosticism threw herself with strange
rapidity into Christian forms of thought, borrowed its nomenclature,
acknowledged Jesus as Savior of the world, simulated its
sacraments, pretended to be an esoteric revelation of Christ
and His Apostles, flooded the world with apocryphal Gospels,
and Acts, and Apocalypses, to substantiate its claim. …
The Cainites possessed a "Gospel of Judas", an "Ascension
of Paul" (anabatikon Paulou) and some other book,
of which we do not know the title, but which, according
to Epiphanius, was full of wickedness.”6
The existence of the “Gospel” of Judas
and its contents is nothing new; it was known to the Fathers
of the Church and other authors such as Saint Ireneus, Saint
Epiphanius and Tertulian in the beginnings of Christianity.
7
Gnostic “Saints”: Cain and Judas
The apocryphal “Gospel” of Judas was written
by Cainite Gnostics around the middle of the second century
AD, long after the traitor’s suicide. It merely presents
that sect’s fanciful doctrine. In short, the Cainites maintained
that:The God of the Bible is a secondary
and bad God, a Demiurge, who created the world and the moral
law;
• In order to combat
this God, men must reject the moral law and commit all kinds
of sinful aberrations;
• The true God is called Sophia and is superior to the God
of the Bible, who is also called Hystera;
• Eve conceived Cain from Sophia, while Abel was conceived
from Hystera; 8
• By killing Abel, Cain showed the superiority
of Sophia upon Hystera;
• The Demiurge tried to take revenge
upon Cam, Dathan, Kore, Abiron and the Sodomites, but they
were protected by the good God who called them to himself
and sent the Savior;
• The Demiurge (Hystera) tried to prevent
the Savior from executing his work of Redemption; but Judas
Iscariot, who was from the race of Sophia and possessed
the early Gnosis communicated to Cain, frustrated the plans
of the Demiurge by delivering Jesus to death.9
“The Cainites,” G. Bareille notes, “attacked
the Bible and rejected the Gospel but replaced them with
apocryphal writings such as The Gospel of Judas.
... Such a doctrine served to unite unbalanced minds and
perverted hearts, but they always remained a small group.
Already in the beginnings of the 3rd century, the author
of Philosophumena treats the Cainites as a group
without importance.”10
Jesus: “In secret I have spoken
nothing”
The tactic Gnostics employ to defend their
irrational doctrines is that they are based on secret, initiatory
knowledge. When they call themselves “Christians,” they
claim to follow secret communication they say Jesus had
with some apostle, Mary Magdalene, or in this case, Judas.
Thus, the Savior allegedly taught two
doctrines: one that commanded disciples to observe chastity,
love one’s neighbor and practice works of mercy. The other
was a secret doctrine that contradicted these precepts.
Thus, the way of salvation for common people, and even for
happiness on this earth, would be the arduous way of the
cross, mortification and humility, while a minority of ‘chosen
ones’ would be allowed to indulge in the unbridled abuse
of pride and the flesh.
Obviously, the men-symbols for these chosen
ones are none other than Cain and Judas: the murderer of
his own brother and the traitor of the Redeemer.
However, Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
declares this aberrant and illogical concept of two doctrines
to be false.
After Judas’ kiss of treason and Jesus’
arrest, answering the Jewish high priest, Jesus clearly
said: “I have spoken openly to the world: I have always
taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither all
the Jews resort; and in secret I have spoken nothing.”11
“And Satan entered into Judas,
who was surnamed Iscariot”
It would be a blasphemy to suppose
that Jesus Christ picked Judas to betray Him. He picked
Judas as apostle because that was his vocation. At the time
he was chosen, Judas was properly disposed to follow that
vocation.
It is true that Our Lord, being God, knew
all things and therefore was aware that Judas would not
persevere in the good, but would fall away from virtue and
finally would even betray Him.12
But while God knows what will happen, this knowledge is
not what determines what happens, particularly in the case
of a free and rational creature. Having created man free,
God does not remove this freedom even when man uses it for
evil.
That is what happened with Judas. Our
Lord tried to do good to him until the end by washing his
feet before the Last Supper and calling him my friend when
receiving the kiss of treason. However, He did not prevent
Judas from consummating his treason. The Evangelists report
that Judas betrayed Our Lord instigated by the devil. “And
Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, one
of the twelve. And he went, and discoursed with the chief
priests and the magistrates, how he might betray him to
them.” “[T]he devil having now put into the heart of Judas
Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him.”13
When Our Lord said to Judas “that which
thou dost, do quickly,”14
it was not a command, but permission. At the same time,
it was a final appeal to Judas’ conscience as if to say:
Have you really resolved to betray Me?
However, given the hardness of the traitor’s
heart, Our Lord said of him: “It were better for him, if
that man had not been born.”15
This is the man they are now trying to
make into a hero. When people flee from the truth, they
accept any absurdity that seeks to replace it.
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