The Gospel of Judas was never “lost”

(Note: before begining this blog, I published several posts on Christian-related topics at J's Café Nette. I still publish there on general Christian themes, thanks to the gracious host. What follows are the first of two posts that are relevant to the theme of my new blog.)


(Originally published at J’s Café Nette on June 21, 2007)

Christianity has been under attack since the very beginning. There’s nothing bold or shocking about that statement. When the “lost” Gospel of Judas was published to much fanfare early this year, I sighed. I thought, “Here we go again.”

This “lost” gospel was never lost. It was thrown away, as astute critics of the new publication and accompanying National Geographic TV specials have said. The Gospel of Judas, like the similar gospels of Thomas, Peter, Mary Magdalene, etc., are all Gnostic tracts. Gnosticism is hard to define precisely, as there have been various sects. But attached to Christianity, Gnostic sects have one thing in common: they deny the deity of Christ and His oneness with the Father.

All of them were never accepted as inspired scripture because they describe Christ in terms that fly in the face of the rest of scripture. Judas is particularly odious because it makes many villains in the Bible out to be a misunderstood heroes, including the first murderer, Cain.

Gnosticism, in its various forms, treats flesh as evil and the spirit world as supreme, so to them, Christ could never be the Word become flesh—which directly contradicts the rest of scripture.
Many scholars and journalists hailed the “lost” Gospel of Judas as a new interpretation of Christ, and said it raised a whole new set of questions.

No, it didn’t. It dredged up old questions and issues that had been successfully slapped down by lions for the faith in the first, second and third centuries.

You may ask, “what’s the harm?” There is serious harm for Christians who are new to the faith and don’t know what scripture really says about Christ. There is serious harm if apostates—snakes who claim to be Christian but really aren’t—teach Gnosticism as if it were accepted Christianity.

Christians are called by God to “contend earnestly for the faith” (see the letter of St. Jude), which means that we are to fight for the truth of who Christ is. That does not mean, and never means, fight with bombs and fists and guns, but with words and by actually speaking out. By remaining silent in the face of Gnosticism because we’re afraid of what others say, we are not contending earnestly for the faith—but hiding.

But even these outside attacks on the faith are nowhere near as damaging as the internal attacks on the faith.