Gospel of Judas?

Question

I have come across the following stance from gospel of Judas.

"Kingdom of god is spread out on this world. Those who have eyes can see it."

I liked these very much and it is in tune with other gnostic religions. What is your opinion about these verses?

Answer 1

"Kingdom of god is spread out on this world. Those who have eyes can see it."

Pretty tame. It's the thing about Judas being killed by the other eleven disciples that's fascinating. Not only did Jesus see Judas as his favorite in this transcript, he had special secrets with Judas that the others were unaware of. Makes for great conspiracy material.

Answer 2

I will have to agree with PASTOR KEN and state I too am not a "Gnostic" fan, however these writings do exist, along with a number of other "gospels"and "epistles."

There is even one allegedly written by Jesus' own twin brother. Didymus Judas Thomas. The name Thomas is an Aramaic equivalent of the Greek word Didymus meaning twin. Thomas was allegedly Jesus' identical twin, otherwise known as Jude.

Of course in typical "don't bother me with facts, I am a fundamentalist Christian" many people state that they do not exist.

Exactly like this person:

NYE_R: wrote: "There is no such thing. Judas killed himself. There is no such thing as the gospel of Judas. Are you trying to lie to all these people? Why do you say these things?"

Would you look up at the day time sky with your eyes closed and say there was no sun?

There are (at least):

16 additional Gospels,

6 additional "Acts" or early histories,

13 additional epistles,

9 additional "Apocalypses"

And these just include the major writings.

Answer 3

It was written during the second century by Gnostics, whom we are warned of in the earlier Book of Jude. The same goes for the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, the Apocrypha of John, etc, etc. These texts make for an interesting, and at times, a bizarre read, but they have been deemed as containing heresy.

The Church of the East canonized the Aramaic New Testament (or the Peshitta, as they call it) at roughly the same time as the Council of Nicea, with no influence from them. They, too, left the Gnostic texts out, for good reason.

Peace,
Drew

Answer 4

Judas was a man ahead of his times and only wrote and did what was required of him. Personally I prefer what is referred to as the gnostic gospels because they are much deeper than what the original Church Fathers thought we should read.

Answer 5

These verses basically sum up what Gnosticism is all about. Gnosticism suggests that only a few select could ever achieve Gnosis. This to me sounds very elitist. It suggests that Faith is not enough compared to a Gnostic Experience which only happens to a select few.
"Those who have eyes can see it." Clearly references that those who have eyes must have had a Gnostic experience, otherwise, they would not be able to see it.
Gnosticism seems to suggest that Jesus is only for a select group of people. I believe that Christ was for all. Jesus wanted everyone to benefit, not just a select few.

Answer 6

Opinions of Gnosticism tend to be negative because there are no surviving Gnostic books, only books written against Gnosticism by Early Christian Church Fathers.

Answer 7

I like that:) I never read the Gospel of Judas but of all the "lost books" I like the gospel of St Thomas the best because it is like the Hadith in a way, with direct quotes and witnessed actions-
Peace!

Answer 8

Not a big fan of the gnostic writings, myself.

Answer 9

Sounds like a wrong statement, religion is on the decline worldwide, within a few generations religion will be on the fringe of main stream society.

Answer 10

Judas was a corrupted man! But he may have changed, and might have written this stanza when he was with Jesus.