Judas: Traitor or Hero? (Sermon: Acts 1:12-26)

In the spring of 2006, the media informed us of a newly discovered ancient document entitled the "Gospel of Judas." The National Geographic wrote concerning the document: "Unlike the accounts in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in which Judas is portrayed as a reviled traitor, this newly discovered Gospel portrays Judas as acting at Jesus' request when he hands Jesus over to the authorities."

The document leaves the modern mind with two options for understanding Judas: either he was a traitor, as the Gospels insist, or he was a hero, as this newly found document purports. Since even Christian scholars affirm the authenticity of the document, we must choose which gives the accurate portrait of Judas: the Bible or The Gospel of Judas, for a careful examination of each will reveal that they are completely incompatible.

The Bible clearly portrays Judas as a traitor. Peter prays, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." (Acts 1:24-25) John gives an editorial comment regarding Jesus' statement to be sure his readers know the Judas was the one to which he was referring: "And yet one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him." (John 6:70b-71).

So where does this leave us? Well, The Gospel of Judas is most likely an authentic early writing. However, we know of many early manuscripts. The early church knew of them as well, but they only designated 27 books to be added to the scriptures we now know as the Old Testament. The age of a document and the accuracy of a document are unrelated. Further, since there is no external evidence to corroborate the witness of The Gospel of Judas, it seems unreasonable for even the most dedicated sceptic to favor it against the scripture as an accurate witness to history.

Is Judas a hero? Not if the Gospels are true. Yet, some would like to parade The Gospel of Judas as proof that the Bible is in error. Perhaps Paul had this sort of discussion in mind when he wrote: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

For a view of The Gospel of Judas and to read what the media is saying about it go to:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/?fs=www9.nationalgeographic.com

For an intelligent Christian discussion of the issue you can listen to a previous broadcast from the Albert Mohler show at:

http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2006-04-06