Garry W. Trompf, «The Epistle of Jude, Irenaeus, and the Gospel of Judas», Vol. 91 (2010) 555-582
A detailed case that the New Testament Epistle of Jude was written against the socalled Cainite sectaries, who were in possession of a Gospel of Judas as Irenaeus attests is presented here. Because the names Judas and Jude were the same, the good name of Iouda, especially as being that of a relative to Jesus, needed clearing, and subversive teachings — making Cain, Judas and other Biblical figures worthy opponents of the (Old Testament) god — had to be combatted. Since a Gospel of Judas has come to light, within the newly published Tchacos Codex, one is challenged to decide whether this was the gospel appealed to by the Cainites, and, if it was, to begin to grasp how they read a text which did not readily match their interests.
JUDAS 575
THE EPISTLE JUDE, IRENAEUS, GOSPEL
OF AND THE OF
We need not suppose, it follows, that the Cainites looked on
Judas as playing a positive role in the redemptive actions wrought
by the Christ, for in Irenaeus’ report Judas’ role is only said to
“ throw all things into confusionâ€, presumably to the utter dis-
advantage of the creator god; and we can tentatively infer the Cai-
nites thought Judas had heroically foiled anything this false power
thought he might do through Jesus. That is one distinction Filastrius
insightfully draws (Haer. II; XXXIV) 57, an important one if we
agree not to read the Gospel of Judas as a Cainite “productâ€, since
its original author looks to Judas as crucial to a euangelion, and as
intrinsically abetting Jesus’ cosmic mission (Evang. Iud., esp. 9,26–
10,30 ; 15,3) 58. It is perhaps even more important for tracing the his-
tory of texts if we can then go on to infer that the (Greek original)
Gospel of Judas pre-existed the Cainites as they were being de-
scribed by Irenaeus ca. AD 180. There is no need, of course, to sup-
pose that a Gospel of Judas was the very source of embarrassment
that gave rise to the Epistle of Jude, for (as one part of our case) it is
sufficient that Judas the betrayer was being heroized by a (Cainite)
libertine group to cause a reaction. Yet the implication of a mid-
second century date for the Judas Gospel carries its own importance,
and is also in tune with the respectable, recently contended view
that it belongs to an early stage of a distinctly “Gnostic†trajectory.
V An Argument that the Cainites possessed a Version
.
of the Gospel of Judas as recently uncovered
All these points of distinction and caution can only help when
differences between the attitudes of the Cainites according to the
Patristic reports and the tenor of the Tchacos Gospel of Judas seem
to be totally at odds. On preliminary evaluation, the Coptic Gospel
presents a vision of the celestial realms not unfamiliar to us from
other Gnosticizing texts (especially those from the Nag Hammadi
See also DE FAYE, Gnostiques, 372, n. 2.
57
C h a p t e r division and verses followed are those of K.L. KING –
58
E. PAGELS-KING, Reading Judas. The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of
Christianity (London 2007) 109-122. Note that Judas defers to Jesus as Rabbi
and thus master at 8,1.