Gospel of Judas
History of the Gospel of Judas
During the 1970’s, a leather-bound Coptic papyrus was discovered near Beni Masah, Egypt. This appears to be a text from the 2nd century A.D. and is a gnostic account of an arrangement between Jesus and Judas, with Jesus asking Judas to turn him in to the Romans to help Jesus finish his appointed task from God. Judas acted here as a catalyst.
He acted out his part in the operation of releasing the Christ Being from its physical (body of Jesus) constraints, through the etherization of the blood on the cross.
Irenaeus mentions a Gospel of Judas in his anti-Gnostic work Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies), written in about 180. He writes:
“There are some who declare that Cain derived his being from the Powers above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves… ……. 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 hand-over; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produced a fictional history of this kind, which they style the “Gospel of Judas. ”
This is in reference to the Cainites, an alleged sect of Gnosticism that especially worshipped Cain as a hero. Irenaeus alleged that the Cainites, like a large number of Gnostic groups, believed that the god of the Old Testament — Yahweh — was evil, and a quite different and much lesser being to the deity that had created the entire universe, and who was responsible for sending the Christ Spirit.
The Gospel of Judas belongs to a school of Gnosticism called Sethianism, a group who looked to Adam‘s son Seth as their spiritual ancestor. By contrast, the canonical Gospel of John, unlike the synoptic gospels, asserts that Jesus said to Judas, as the latter left the Last Supper to set in motion the "handing over" process, "Do quickly what you have to do". (John 13:27) By then, Jesus was speaking to Lucifer, who had taken over the control of the physical body of Judas.
Bible translators have mistranslated the Greek word for "handing over" to "betrayal". There is a different Greek word for "betrayal", so the original "handing over" should have been applied to make the text read correctly. The Greek word for "handing over" is used in the original texts of the bible in the letters of Paul and the Gospel of Mark.
FRAGMENTS FROM THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS
The disciples said to him, "Master, why are you laughing at our prayer of thanksgiving? Have we not done what is right?" He answered and said to them, "I am not laughing at you. You are not doing this because of your own will but it is through this that your god will be praised"
They said, "Master, you are the son of our god." Jesus said to them, "How do you know me? Truly, I say to you, no generation of the people that are among you will know me." When his disciples heard this, they started getting angry and infuriated and began blaspheming against him in their hearts.
When Jesus observed their lack of understanding, he said to them: "Why has this agitation led you to anger? Your god who works within you has provoked you to express anger. Let anyone among you who is strong enough bring out the real human and stand before my face."
His disciples said to him: "Lord, what is that consciousness that is superior to us and holier than us, that is now not in our realm?"
When Jesus heard this, he laughed and said to them, "Why are you thinking in your hearts about that strong and holy realm? Truly, I say to you, no one born in this realm will see that other realm, and no host of angels of the stars will rule over that other realm, and no one of mortal birth will be able to associate with it, because that realm did not come from here. All beings like you are part of the human race, which is being ruled by other powers. Upon hearing this, each disciple felt very troubled in their hearts.
On another day Jesus came up to them. They said: "Master, we have seen you in a vision during dreaming. We saw a large temple and an altar in it. The priests received offerings from the people. Jesus said, "What did the people do?"
They said: "Some sacrificed their own children, others their wives, all in praise and humility with each other; some sleep with men; some are involved in slaughter; some commit a multitude of sins and deeds of lawlessness. And the men who stand before the altar invoke your name, while lacking the true divine light, and bring the sacrifices to completion." After having said this, they were quiet, they were troubled.
JESUS OFFERS AN ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE VISION OF THE TEMPLE
Jesus said to them, "Why are you troubled? Truly, I say to you, all the priests who stand before that altar invoke my name. Again I say to you, my name will be invoked in all of this as long as the stars control humanity. They planted trees in my name, but they will not bear fruit."
Jesus said to them, "The ones you saw receiving the offerings at the altar that is all of you. That is the god you serve, and the 12 of you are those 12 men you saw.
The cattle you have seen brought for sacrifice are the many people you will lead astray before that altar. The religious rulers will stand there and make use of my name in this way, and generations of the pious will remain loyal to him.
After them, other representatives from the people will stand there, such as the one who will lead the children astray, and another from those who sleep with men, and one from those who fast, and those who say, ‘We are like angels’, they are the stars that bring everything to its conclusion.
Jesus said to them: "Stop sacrificing to those beings that you placed at the altar, since they ruled over your stars and your angels but have already completed their work there….. Stop struggling with me. Each of you (as soul) has its own star; every soul who lived wisely during its assigned time will go back and live in its native star, forever…."
They all said, "We have the strength." But their "living being" did not dare to stand before him, except for Judas Escariot. He was able to stand before him, but could not look him in the eyes, and thus he turned his face away. Judas said to him, "I know who you are and where you have come from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo. I am not worthy to utter the name of the ineffable one who has sent you."
JESUS SPEAKS TO JUDAS PRIVATELY
Knowing that Judas was reflecting upon something that was exalted, Jesus said to him, "Step away from the others and I shall tell you the mysteries of the kingdom of GOD. It is possible for you to reach it, but you will grieve a great deal. For someone else (Matthias) will replace you, so that the 12 disciples may again come to completion with their god."
Judas: "What kind of fruit do our generations produce?" Jesus said, "Every human generation will die. However, when those souls that have completed their time in this kingdom and their spirit leaves the body, the body will die but the souls will be alive, and be taken up."
Judas asked: "And what will the rest of humanity do?"
Jesus said, "It is impossible to sow seed on a rock and then harvest its fruit. This is also with the defiled offspring of the corrupted Sophia who ultimately created mortal people, whose souls cannot go up to the eternal realms above.
Judas: "Master, as you have listened to all of them, now also listen to me. For I have seen a great vision." When Jesus heard this, he laughed and said to him, "You 13th spirit, why do you try so hard? But speak up, and I shall bear with you."
Judas said to him, "In the vision I saw myself while the twelve disciples were stoning me and persecuting me. I also came to the place where I know you would be. I saw a mansion and my eyes could not comprehend its size. Many people were surrounding it, and that house had a roof of greenery. Master, take me in along with them."
Jesus answered and said, "Judas, your star has led you astray." He continued: "No person of mortal birth is worthy to enter the house you have seen, for that place is reserved for the holy ones. Neither the sun nor the moon will rule there, nor the day, but the holy will abide there always, in the eternal realm with the holy angels.
Judas said to him, "When will you tell me these things, and when will the great day of light dawn for the generation?" After this, Jesus left him. (In Sethian texts, Barbelo is the divine Mother of all, who often is said to be the First thought [pronoia] of the Father, the Infinite One.
Jesus said to Judas: "Come, that I may teach you about hidden things no other human has ever seen. For there exists a great and boundless realm, whose extent no offspring of angels has seen, in which there is a great invisible Spirit which no eye of an angel has ever seen, no thought of the heart has ever comprehended, and it was never called by any name.
A luminous cloud appeared there. It said: “Let a messenger come into being as my assistant. The divinely enlightened Self-conceived, emerged from the cloud.
Because of him, 4 other angels came into being from another cloud, and they became the assistants of the Angelic Self-conceived.
The Self-conceived said: “Let him come into being”, and it came into being. And he created the first luminary to reign over him. He said: “Let angels come into being to serve him, and countless came into being. He said: “Let the most enlightened immortal being come into being”, and he came into being.
He created the second luminary to reign over him, together with myriads of countless angels, to offer service. That is how he created the pleroma of the enlightened immortal beings. He made them reign over them, and he created for them myriads of countless angels, to assist them.
Adamas was in the first luminous cloud, the initial manifestation of the divine, that no angel has ever seen among all those called “God”.… He made the incorruptible generation of Seth appear in groups of 12 and 24….
He made 72 luminaries appear in the incorruptible generation, in accordance with the will of the Spirit. The 72 luminaries themselves made 360 luminaries appear in the next incorruptible realm, in accordance with the will of the Spirit.
The 12 most enlightened immortal ones constitute their father, with 6 heavens for each immortal one, so that there are 72 heavens for the 72 luminaries, and for each of them 5 firmaments, for a total of 360 firmaments.
They were given authority and a countless number of angels for glory and adoration, and also pure –virgin- spirits, for glory and adoration of the entire spiritual hierarchy, their heavens and their firmaments.
THE COSMOS, CHAOS, AND THE UNDERWORLD
The multitude of those immortals is called the (time-related) cosmos -that is, perdition- by the Father and the 72 luminaries who are with the Self-conceived and his 72 most enlightened ones. In this cosmos the first human appeared with his incorruptible powers. And the most enlightened one that appeared with his generation, the one in whom are the cloud of the gnosis and the angel, is called EL (god) …..
After that He said: “Let 12 angels come into being to rule over chaos and the underworld. And look, from the cloud there appeared an angel whose face flashed with fire and whose appearance was defiled with blood. His name was Nebro, which means ‘rebel; others call him Yaldabaoth, or Yao, or Saklas, or Samael.
[Saklas means "fool" and Samael literally means "Blind God". Yao is the Gnostic pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (YhWh), the god of the Hebrews of the Old Testament, and god of the "means of exchange (money)", the planet Jupiter’s consciousness manifested on earth, based in pain and therefore dark in its expression. Catharism and Gnostics equate YhWh with Satan, the leader of the Nilius group, It rejects the notion that the Devil or any other being resembling this Demiurge could create beauty and harmony in our physical universe. It reigns over the darker side of this dualistic life. This YhWh is the god who manipulated the DNA of Abraham‘s wife Sarah and thus her offspring, which led to the creation of the Judaism and Islam religions.
So, Nebro created 6 angels to be assistants, and these produced 12 angels in the heavens, with each one receiving a portion in the heavens.
THE RULERS AND ANGELS
"The twelve rulers spoke with the twelve angels: ‘Let each of you …………
The first is Seth,
The second is Harmathoth, who is …
The third is Galila.
The fourth is Yobel.
The fifth is Adonaios.
These are the five who ruled over the underworld, and first of all over chaos.
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THE CREATION OF HUMANITY
"Then Saklas said to his angels: ‘Let us create a human being after the likeness and after the image.” They fashioned Adam and his wife Eve, who is called, in the cloud, Zoe (Gr. Life). For by this name all the offspring seek the man, and each of them calls the woman by these names. The ruler said to Adam, ‘You shall live long, with your children."
Judas said to Jesus, "What is the long duration of time that the human being will live?"
Jesus said, "Why are you wondering about this, that Adam, with his offspring, has lived his span of life in the place where he has received his kingdom, with longevity with his ruler?"
Judas said to Jesus, "Does the human spirit die?"
Jesus said, "This is why God ordered Michael to give the spirits of people to them as a loan, so that they might offer service, but the Great One ordered Gabriel to grant spirits to that great generation with no ruler over it (Seth’s indomitable), that is, granting both spirit and soul; let the spirit that is within you dwell in this flesh among the multitude of angels. But God caused gnosis to be given to Adam and those with him, so that the kings of chaos and the underworld might not lord it over them."
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED
Judas said to Jesus, "So what will those people do?"
Jesus said, "Truly, I say to all of you, for all of them the stars bring matters to completion. When Saklas completes the span of time assigned to him, their first star will appear with the generations, and they will finish what they said they would do. Then they will fornicate in my name and slay their children and they will ………………."
Jesus said to Judas: “Look, I have explained to you the mysteries of the kingdom, and I have taught you about the error of the stars, and the 12 rulers of the zodiac."
Judas said, "Master, could it be that my people are under the control of these cosmic powers?"
Jesus answered him, "Come, that I give you a gift, but that you will grieve much when you see this kingdom and all its offspring." When he heard this, Judas said: "What good is it that I receive it? For you have set me apart from my present realm."
Jesus answered, "You will become the 13th Spirit, and you will be cursed by the other disciples, because you will come to rule over them. In the last days they will curse your ascent to the holy realm. Truly, I say to you, Judas, those who offer sacrifices to Saklas or any other God…… everything in that way is evil. But you will exceed all of them. For –at my command- you will sacrifice your body and the body that clothes my spirit & soul.
Already your horn has been raised,
your wrath has been kindled,
your star has shown brightly,
and your heart has been made ..strong
Then the image and place of the great generation of Adam will be exalted, for prior to heaven, earth, and the angels, that holy generation, which is from the eternal realms, is still existing.
Look, you have been told everything. Lift up your eyes, look at the cloud and the light within it, and the stars surrounding it. The star that leads the way is your star." Judas lifted his eyes, saw the luminous cloud and star. Then he transfigured into it.
THE BODILY JUDAS ACTS OUT
THE SALVIFIC HANDING OVER OF JESUS
Their high priests murmured because they had gone into the guest room for prayer. But some scribes were watching them in order to arrest him during the prayer, for they were afraid of the people, since he was regarded by all as a prophet.
They approached Judas and said to him, "What are you doing here? You are Jesus’ disciple." Judas answered them as they wished. He received some money and pointed him out to them. After the crucifixion, he hung himself….
