Judas: Jesus's Most Trusted Disciple

The Gospel That Says Judas Was Not a Traitor

In 2006, the National Geographic Society published a translation of an ancient text called the Gospel of Judas. The manuscript had been found in Egypt in the 1970s. It had been bought, sold, stored, and damaged. It had been neglected for decades. When it was finally restored and translated, it revealed something that shocked the world. In this gospel, Judas was not a traitor. He was Jesus's most trusted disciple. He was the one who understood Jesus's message. He was the one who was chosen to hand Jesus over to the authorities. He was not betraying Jesus. He was obeying him.

The Gospel of Judas was written in Coptic, the language of the early Egyptian church. It was probably a translation of a Greek text from the 2nd century. It was not included in the New Testament. It was rejected by the early church as heretical. It was buried. It was forgotten. It was found. It was read. It changed the way that Judas was understood.

What Everyone Knows

Judas Iscariot is one of the most famous figures in history. His name is synonymous with betrayal. He is the disciple who sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. He is the man who kissed Jesus to identify him to the soldiers. He is the one who betrayed his teacher, his friend, his Lord. The story is taught in Sunday schools, told in sermons, depicted in art. Judas is the villain. He has always been the villain.

What is less often emphasized is that the Gospels do not agree on why Judas did what he did. In Matthew, he betrays Jesus for money. In Mark, he betrays Jesus for no reason. In Luke, he is possessed by Satan. In John, he is a thief who steals from the common purse. The Gospels do not agree. They do not explain. The story of Judas is a story that has been told in many ways. The Gospel of Judas is another way.

What History Actually Shows

The Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic text. The Gnostics believed that the material world was a prison. They believed that the soul was trapped in the body. They believed that Jesus was a divine being who came to free the soul from the body. In this view, the crucifixion was not a tragedy. It was a release. The body was destroyed. The soul was freed. Judas was the one who made it possible.

In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus tells Judas that he will be the one to hand him over. He tells Judas that the other disciples do not understand. They think that the God of the Old Testament is the true God. They are wrong. The true God is the God who sent Jesus. The God who created the world is a lesser god. Judas understands. Judas is the one who is chosen. He is not a traitor. He is a hero.

The text is fragmentary. The translation is contested. The interpretation is debated. But the message is clear: Judas was not the villain that the church made him out to be. He was the disciple who understood. He was the one who did what needed to be done.

The Part That Got Buried

The Gospel of Judas was not the only gospel that was rejected by the early church. There were many. The Gospel of Thomas. The Gospel of Mary. The Gospel of Philip. They were written by people who had a different understanding of Jesus, of the world, of salvation. The church that became the official church chose the gospels that fit its theology. It rejected the ones that did not. The Gospel of Judas was rejected. It was buried. It was lost. It was found.

The discovery of the Gospel of Judas does not change the fact that the canonical gospels are the ones that the church accepted. It does not change the fact that Judas has been remembered as a traitor for 2,000 years. It does not change the fact that the story of Judas is a story that has been told to teach that betrayal is wrong. But it does change the way that the story is understood. It shows that there were other ways of telling it. It shows that the people who told it did not agree.

The Ripple Effect

The publication of the Gospel of Judas was a media event. It was covered by newspapers, magazines, television. It was debated by theologians, by historians, by the public. The Vatican issued a statement. The scholars weighed in. The controversy was intense. It was also short-lived. The Gospel of Judas is now a text that is studied by specialists. It is not read by the general public. It has not changed the way that most people think about Judas. He is still the traitor. He is still the villain.

The text has changed the way that scholars think about early Christianity. It has shown that the diversity of early Christian thought was greater than was previously understood. It has shown that the process of canonization was a process of exclusion. It has shown that the story of Jesus was told in many ways, and that the way that came down to us is not the only way.

The Line That Says It All

The Gospel of Judas was written in the 2nd century by people who believed that Judas was not a traitor but the disciple who understood Jesus best, the one who was chosen to hand him over, the one who made the crucifixion possible—and the church that chose the gospels that are in the New Testament rejected this gospel, called it heretical, buried it, and for 1,800 years, the story that was told about Judas was the story of a man who betrayed his teacher for thirty pieces of silver, not the story of a disciple who did what his teacher asked.