Okay, I took a closer look at the text presented here, fragmentary though it is. As this is the conclusion to the gospel, it is remarkable that the scenes relating to Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus in the Last Supper narrative in Mark 14:17-21/ Matthew 26:20-25 /John 13:12-20 and in the Arrest narrative in Mark 14:43-52 /Matthew 26:47-56 /Luke 22:57-54 /John 18:1-12 are wholly lacking here. The text on this last page of the gospel corresponds to the scene in Mark 14:10-11 /Matthew 26:14-16 /Luke 22:3-6 when Judas met with the chief priests to make a deal, and then everything else that follows is summarized up in the sentence: "And Judas took some money and delivered him over to them" (Gospel of Judas, page 6:1-6).
So I wonder what the whole rest of the gospel talked about? I would imagine, on analogy with other Coptic gnostic gospels like the Gospel of Mary that much of it was devoted to gnosis with only a brief narrative frame. If this is indeed the same gospel known to Irenaeus, and if Irenaeus derived his knowledge of the Cainites from this writing, then it may have given a review of history and discussed how Cain, Esau, Korah, and so forth, were persecuted by the Demiurge and yet were saved by the Sophia for having discovered gnosis. Irenaeus goes on to say:
"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 betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas" (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, 1.31.1).
Thus Judas is presented as faithfully carrying out the mystery of the Passion as no one else understood at the time, in order to throw into confusion "all things, both earthly and heavenly". This latter concept -- the humiliation of the archons and powers -- is well-known from Gnostic sources, and has an early analogue in Colossians:
"He has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross; and so he got rid of the Sovereignties and Powers, and paraded them in public, behind in in his triumphal procession" (Colossians 2:14-15).
The glorification of Jesus in the resurrection "made the angels and the Dominations and Powers his subjects" (1 Peter 3:22), and he sits "in heaven, far above every Sovereignty, Power, or Domination, or any other name that can be named" (Ephesians 1:20-21). The failure of the archons to realize what was going on is also possibly alluded to in 1 Corinthians 2:7-8: "It is a wisdom that none of the archons of this age recognized, or they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory". The defeat of the archons and their failure to recognize the Savior is also alluded to in the Ascension of Isaiah: "None of the angels of the world would know that you are the one with me in the seven heavens over the angels. They will not know that you are the one ... so that you may judge and destroy the archons and angels and gods of the world, as well as the world dominated by them" (10:7-12). Ignatius of Antioch, on the other hand, in a nice piece of proto-gnostic mythology, claimed that "the virginity of Mary and her giving birth were hidden from the archon of this age," and the heavenly confusion was set in motion when Jesus was born, "when God appeared in human form to bring the newness of eternal life, and what had been prepared by God began to take effect. As a result, all things were thrown into ferment, because the abolition of death was being carried out" (IgEphesians 19:1-3).
The second-century Gospel of Judas thus has the exciting potential to shed more light on the background of these views -- or at least their development in mature Gnosticism. But of course it is not yet known whether this is the same document known to Irenaeus. One mystery in interpreting the fragment is this: "Although you are wicked in this place, you are the disciple of Jesus" (Gospel of Judas 6:13-14). What did Judas do that was wicked? Was he judged as wicked because he was a follower of Jesus (and they viewed Jesus as wicked), or did he do something else that was "wicked"? It would seem to be the latter since the translation at least indicates a contrast between being a disciple of Jesus and being "wicked". Since the priests took the traditional view that Cain, Korah, etc. were themselves wicked, it would be expected that Judas -- even before accomplishing the mystery of the betrayal -- was wicked from the point of view of earthly stooges of the heavenly archons.
Looking for literary connections between the Gospel of Judas and the canonical gospels, we may note the use of paratérein in line 6:
"[They] watched closely (paratérein) so that they might seize him in the ... because they feared the people (ho laos)" (Gospel of Judas 6:6).
"One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching (paratéroumenoi) him" (Luke 14:1).
"The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him at that very hour but they feared the people (ho laos)...So they watched (paratérésantes) him, and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might take hold of what he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor" (Luke 20:19-20).
This term is distinctively Lukan (absent in Matthew, Mark, and John), and Luke 20:19-20 is especially close to this passage in Judas, containing (1) paratéreó "watch", (2) the equivalent of ephobéthésan ton laon "they feared the people," (3) the equivalent of hina epilabóntai "so that they might catch", and (4) paradidómi "hand over, betray" with Jesus as an implied object (which occurs in Gospel of Judas 6:18). The passage in Luke 20:19-20 is also unique in the gospels for the combination of these features (so Matthew 26:3-5 and Mark 14:1-2 do not refer to the priests "fearing the people", hina epilabóntai is absent in the parallel passages in Matthew 22:15-22 and Mark 12:13-17, paratéreó again is restricted to Luke, etc.), so Lukan dependence seems to be probable. This is an interesting finding, since Luke was popular among Marcionite gnostics.
In lines 9-10, the authorities (presumably priests) say: "He is in all their hands as prophesied (prophéteuein)". This is clearly an allusion to Jesus' predictions of his own Passion, as reported in the synoptics:
"He was teaching his disciples, saying to them, 'The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise'. But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him" (Mark 9:30-32).
"Jesus said to them, ' The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.' And they were greatly distressed" (Matthew 17:22-23).
"He said to his disciples: 'Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men.' But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying" (Luke 9:43-45).
Interestingly, it is the short form in Luke that corresponds to the "prophecy" mentioned in Judas, in that it only refers Jesus being delivered into the hands of men and makes no reference to the execution itself and the resurrection. Moreover, it is a curious application in Judas because apparently the prophecy is interpreted as referring not to Judas' betrayal but rather to Jesus being in the "hands" of the people whom the authorities "feared". In the context of Luke, before the arrest, Jesus was very popular among the people (cf. 19:37-40, 20:19, 22:6); whereas after the arrest, the people bloodthirstily wanted Jesus put to death. If Jesus is not handed over by Judas until line 18, and since the authorities feared "the people" in Judas 6:6, the prophecy would seem to be interpreted to be not a prediction of the Passion but of Jesus' popularity in Jerusalem before his arrest. In this context, it is interesting that the prophecy has been modified to remove the verb paradidómi so it it refers merely to Jesus being in their hands rather than being handed over to them.
These are just some idle thoughts on the intriguing new text....certainly as more of the text becomes available, it would be possible to have something more accurate to say about it.
