Real Meal Cafe

Several news sources are reporting on the public unveiling of the Gospel of Judas. A National Geographic special will be aired tomorrow (Palm Sunday) evening.

I am not an expert on extra-biblical sources from the period of the early church. For deeper discussions about the specifics of the Gospel of Judas, I would suggest checking out the following blogs by some leading evangelical NT scholars: Scott McKnight and Ben Witherington as well as the following for an overview and translation of the Gospel of Judas.

Here are some of my own thoughts. As you might expect, they are missional in nature.

1) Threat or Opportunity. Too many of us in the Church react in “knee jerk� fashion to every unveiling of new evidence from the ancient world about our faith. If the discovery appears to validate some aspect of our faith, we hail it as “proof� of the truth claims of Christianity. If the find appears to challenge our understanding of the Christian story, we immediately move to debunk or marginalize the data itself or question of the motives of the scholar who published the find.

Frankly, I am grateful for such media blitzes that sensationalize finds such as the Gospel of Judas. Whenever the “buzz� offers the opportunity for conversation about Jesus, we need to learn to take advantage of such times. Rather than being defensive or quick to debunk a friend or co-worker, we should listen carefully before speaking. When we do speak, let us do it with words seasoned with salt and with an invitation to study the Bible together.

2) The Gospel of Judas is the product of Gnostic Christianity. The original Greek form the Gospel of Thomas derives from the mid to late 2nd century A.D. and is thus several generations removed from the time of the historical Jesus and the age of the Apostles. In contrast, the New Testament Gospels were produced within a generation of the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is important to note that the copy being hailed as a major find is a Coptic translation of the original. The translated copy is from the 4th or 5th century. It is assumed that this is an accurate translation of a document mentioned by Irenaeus in his dispute with gnostics in the 2nd century, but there is no extant Greek copy to verify this assumption.

The Gospel of Judas will likely tell the world more about the beliefs of the Gnostics than provide any illumination of the faith of biblical Christianity. It certainly points to the diversity among those communities that look to Jesus as the source of their faith, but it in no way suggests that “orthodox� communities were wrong or bigoted in judging the Gnostic sect heretical. An analogy in today’s world would be the relationship between pseudo-Christian groups such as the Church of Latter Day Saints or Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian denominations that hold to orthodox confessions of faith.

There are many issues with Gnosticism, but let’s suffice to say that it does not take seriously the historical claims of Christianity about Jesus’ death and bodily resurrection. The Gospel of Judas is an interesting find, but it will not provide any real challenge to the biblical portrait of Jesus’ life and ministry.

3) Followers of Jesus Need to Know The Story. If we are going to engage in spiritual conversations with people who are interested in Jesus, then we need to know the biblical story. We need to be grounded in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. These are our foundational documents. In the post-Christian world in which we live, we need to be smarter and more informed than previous generations of believers. The world in which believers and non-believers alike at least knew the biblical story is long gone. At the same time, there is an overwhelming amount of information available to world. The Church can make no claim to be able to control access to information (nor should it), but Christians can serve a vital role in the world as interpreters of information. The hoopla around the official publication of the Gospel of Judas offers just such an opportunity. Are we ready to take advantage of it?

I would be interested in reading your responses to this essay or in hearing any questions that you have. Check out other essays at Real Meal Ministries.

© 2006 Brian D. Russell