Why are "lost books" or writings from the Dead Sea Scrolls not in the Holy Bible?

Question

I am NOT referring to The seven
Deutero-Canonical books, missing from non-Catholic Bibles.


There is no early writing that will surprise the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church has seen it all.
When the gospel of Thomas was released in the late 50`s many Christians didn`t even know apocryphal writings existed alongside the canonical texts or that the Church was inundated with heretical beliefs; such as, Gnosticism.
The Catholic Church has known for centuries the existence of apocryphal writings. Many are extant today, but many are known by name alone.


The apocryphal writings were basically divided into two areas: those that were primarily orthodox but never accepted as inspired/canonical(epistle of Barnabas) and those that were heretodox (Acts of Thomas).
The gospel of Judas was the latter, heterodox. As was their habit, early heresies attempted to popularize their belief system by developing fictional texts and attribute them to an Apostle (usually one that did not make into the canonical 27 book NT) themselves or early disciple. Some of the more popular gnostic apocryphal texts are: the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Mathias, acts of Thomas, and the gospel of Philip.

The gospel of Judas was known by the early Catholic Church as heretical and was a favorite text of the gnostic cainite sect. Cainites revered those who resisted the God of the Jews; such as, Cain and Judas Iscariot.

"Since it was the practice of the heretical sects, especially the Gnostics, to write gospels in support of their peculiar doctrines there existed a large number of such apocryph.
Most of them we know only by name, as for instance, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot, was used by the Gnostic sect of the Cainites. "


"Besides these Gospels, we know that there once existed a Gospel of Bartholomew, a Gospel of Thaddeus, mentioned in the decree of Pope Gelasius, and a Gospel of Judas Iscariot in use among the Cainites and spoken of by St. Irenaeus




Gnosticism was a heretical tradition prevalent from the NT times through the 4th century. It`s basic tenant is that all matter is evil and that one must rid oneself of all materiality in order to obtain the truth and salvation.
In other words, redemption and salvation is reserved only for the spirit not the body. Gnosticism is also a thinly disguised form of pantheism which includes unknown gods and various emanations with varying classifications, rankings and names (such as those mentioned in the gospel of Judas - Sophia, Barbelo, Aeons, Nebro, Yaldabaoth, & Saklas etc). We find several citations on behalf of Gnosticism in the small extant gospel of Judas:

For example, the following citation affirms the gnostic hatred for all things material:

"Jesus said . . . But you [Judas Iscariot] will exceed them all. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me. " KMW p7

In other words, Jesus needed to rid himself of his evil material body.

Similarly, we find the fictional gnostic cosmology strewn through out the gospel of Judas:

"His name was Nebro, which means "rebel"; others call him Yaldabaoth. Another angel, Saklas, also came from the cloud . . . The first is [S]eth, who is called Christ. The [second] is Harmathoth . . . The [third] is Galita. The [fourth] is Yobel. The fifth [is] Adonaios. "
KMW p5-6

In short, the gospel of Judas was never embraced by the Church as an inspired canonical text because it was not the writings of an apostle but the fictional writing of the gnostic heresy.
Many today are trying to purport that the gospel of Judas is some long lost gospel unknown to the Catholic Church and missing from the NT canon.
However, as I wrote above the Catholic Church has already weighed in on this issue many times in the past.
The great and venerable Church Father St. Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyon, who provided the nail in the coffin on this heretical work 1800 years ago:

"Others again declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves. On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury. For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself. They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas."


Good old St. Irenaeus -- pertinent more today than ever!

Answer 1

There is a facinating discussion on this topic and other facts about the Dead Sea Scrolls given by Dr. Martin Abegg, professor at Trinity Western University and co-director of The Dead Sea Scrolls Institute. He out lines the whole history and what they mean for today. Check out the link below.

Answer 2

The Dead Sea Scrolls were Jewish, part of the writings of the Essene Jews. None of the books you mentioned were included in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

You're talking about the Nag Hammadi Library, also known as the "Gnostic Gospels". The reason they're not in the canon? Because they're Gnostic, which was considered a heresy by the Church.

Answer 3

The Gnostic Gospels are not contained in the Dead Sea Scross. The Dead Sea Scrolls do not mention Jesus, Mary Magdalene or Christianity. They were all Old Testament books.

Answer 4

Despite the early date which is sometimes claimed for some of these works, it is not likely that any one of them, outside our canonical Gospels, should be reckoned among the attempts at narrating the life of Christ, of which St. Luke speaks in the prologue to his Gospel. Most of them, as far as can be made out are late productions, the apocryphal character of which is generally admitted by contemporary scholars.

Answer 5

I looked at 3 or so gnostic 'gospels' and they were trash. It would be useful to do a survey if you wanted to discredit arguments of the bible canon being biased, or just out of curiosity.

Answer 6

some findings were even heretical. The Catholic Church has defined already what is to be included in the Scriptures.

Answer 7

WAY TO CUT AND PASTE!!!!!!!Those books were not included simply because they contradicted what Paul and the early archbishops taught. If you took out all the garbage Paul spouted, Christianity would be completely different, and women would have played a role in the church

Answer 8

They did not further the position of the church and were declared heresy.

The church is about control not enlightenment. The Gnostics believe in personal enlightenment and not any "hell".

Answer 9

Simple. The Church, as moved by God, did not define them to be part of Scripture - so - they were not!

Answer 10

I didnt read that whole question as I am in a hurry. But werent they lost?