Translation and Comments on Gospel of Judas - Chapter 15

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A./ 'English Translation of the Gospel of Judas'

 

Chapter 15:

 

(P.121) [1] " Truly [i sa]y to you, Judas, those [who of]fer up sacrifice to

Sakla[s .....g]od... [[2]'about three lines are untranslatable'] ... everything

[for they are w]icked. [3] As for you, you will surpass them all. [4] For you

will sacrifice the human being who bears me. [5] Already your horn is raised up,

[6] your anger is full, [7] your star has passed by, [8] and your heart has

[preva]iled.

 

[9] " Tr[uly I say to you,] 'Your end ...'

 

[[10-11] 'about five and a half lines are untranslatable']

 

....the ru[ler] who is destroyed. [12] [An]d then the pl[a]ce of the great race

of Adam will be exalted, [13] because prior to heaven and earth and the angels,

through the realms that race exists.

 

[14] " Behold, everything has been told you. [15] Lift up your eyes and see the

cloud and the light which is in it and the stars which surround it. [16] And the

star that leads the way, that is your star. "

 

[17] Then Judas lifted up his eyes. [18] He saw the luminous cloud [19] and he

entered into it. [20] Those standing upon the ground heard a voice coming from

the cloud, saying, " [............] great ra[ce .....im]age... "

 

['about six and a half lines are untranslatable']

 

('English Translation of the Gospel of Judas' - Pg. 121-122)

 

 

 

 

B./ 'Comments on the Translation' (Gospel of Judas) - Chapter 15

 

[1]-[4] of Chapter 15

 

(P.121) " Truly [i sa]y to you, Judas, those [who of]fer up sacrifice to Sakla[s

......g]od... ['about three lines are untranslatable'] ... everything [for they

are w]icked. As for you, you will surpass them all. For you will sacrifice the

human being who bears me. "

 

Comments:

 

(P.163) This passage prophesies the destruction of all those who sacrifice to

Saklas. Judas will surpass them all when he " sacrifice(s) the human who bears

(Jesus). " As we discussed above, this sacrifice is meant as a demonstration that

the true spiritual nature of humanity is not flesh, nor can it be constrained by

death. Thus, while " the human " who bears Jesus is mortal flesh and truly

suffered and died, this mortal human was never the final reality about Jesus,

who is in essence a divine spiritual being - like all other people who possess

the immortal spirit. Although it is a bit speculative, to us the point in the

'Gospel of Judas' seems to be that Jesus represents the true nature of all human

beings who worship the true God. Their fleshly bodies are real; they suffer and

die; but at the same time, their true nature is the spirit-filled soul, which

will live forever with God above. We might call this a kind of " docetism " (that

is, from the Greek verb 'dokeo', " to seem, " the view that Jesus only 'seemed' to

have a real body of flesh and blood that in fact was just an appearance) but

with the very strong caveat that the human body is real - really suffers and

dies. It is no apparition but merely mortal.

 

 

 

 

[5]-[13] of Chapter 15

 

(P.121) Already your horn is raised up, your anger is full, your star has passed

by, and your heart has [preva]iled.

 

" Tr[uly I say to you,] 'Your end ...'

 

['about five and a half lines are untranslatable']

 

....the ru[ler] who is destroyed. [An]d then the pl[a]ce of the great race of

Adam will be exalted, because prior to heaven and earth and the angels, through

the realms that race exists.

 

Comments:

 

(P.163) Here we see images of Judas as the prophet of the end time. Images of a

horn raised up and ready to be sounded, of anger, sidereal omens, and the

victory of the heart - all these are common signs of the end times. Judas's act

in handing Jesus over is the beginning of the end, of the lapse of humankind

into moral chaos. Perhaps the author of 'Judas' thought that he was living in

the last days, seeing the signs of the end in the death of Christians at the

hands of the Romans and in the condemnation of all those like him by fellow

Christians who were offering sacrifice to Saklas (through the deaths of martyrs)

as we have seen.

 

But here, too, Jesus teaches Judas that after the final destruction is complete,

the place where the great race of Adam dwells - perhaps the realm of the

thirteenth - will be exalted. (P.164) Because that race existed before the lower

angels came into being and before the lower heaven and earth were created,

members of Adam's race will escape destruction and be elevated to the realm

above.

 

 

 

 

[14]-[20] of Chapter 15

 

(P.121) " Behold, everything has been told you. Lift up your eyes and see the

cloud and the light which is in it and the stars which surround it. And the star

that leads the way, that is your star. "

 

Then Judas lifted up his eyes. He saw the luminous cloud and he entered into it.

Those standing upon the ground heard a voice coming from the cloud, saying,

" [............] great ra[ce .....im]age... "

 

['about six and a half lines are untranslatable']

 

Comments:

 

(P.164) Finally, Judas comprehends the full meaning of Jesus's teaching.

" Everything has been told to you, " Jesus tells him. He instructs Judas to lift

up his eyes - no longer does he need to avert them as he did at the beginning of

the gospel. Now Judas is able to perceive the divine realm above. He sees the

stars there - these " stars " are perhaps the luminous spirits given to every

human being at birth - now residing above in the luminous cloud. How is it that

Judas's star leads the way? It is because he is now able to enter into the

luminous cloud. This scene shows that even while people live in the body, it is

possible to know God.

 

Reading Judas - The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity,

'Comments on the Translation' Pg.163-164

Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King

Penguin Group - London, England

ISBN 978-0-713-99984-6