The document discusses the Gospel of Judas, a text discovered in Egypt in the 1970s that provides an alternative account of Judas Iscariot's role in betraying Jesus. The Gospel of Judas portrays Judas and Jesus as enlightened beings, with Jesus instructing Judas to turn him over to the Romans to help fulfill his divine mission. While some scholars argue it is authentic based on carbon dating and language, others question its validity. The document analyzes the text through theoretical frameworks like intertextuality and codes to understand how it provides an oppositional meaning to the traditional depiction of Judas in the canonical gospels.

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The Gospel of Judas: Sealed with a kiss
Perhaps the most telling “chink in the armor of biblical validity” is the story of Judas
Iscariot. No other inconsistency reveals the touch of human imperfection more than the way that
biblical contributors depicted the man who opened the door to Jesus' crucifixion. Without the
crucifixion, of course, the most fundamental symbol vital to Christian belief would be missing.
Jesus' journey to the cross needed a noble enabler. The Judas found in the Bible has no noble
qualities. Rather, the Bible depicts Judas as the quintessential traitor, the betrayer of Jesus who
turns his master into the Roman authorities, and little in his character connects him with the
gospel, or “good news,” of Jesus.
The Gospel of Luke states that Satan enters into Judas and drives him to his despicable
deed, and in the Gospel of John, Jesus addresses the twelve disciples and says that one of them,
Judas, is a devil. The end of Judas, according to the New Testament, is as ignominious as his
actions. He takes blood money from the authorities for his betrayal of Jesus, and either he hangs
himself (as in Matthew) or his belly is ripped open and he dies in an appalling fashion (as in
Acts). Despite Judas’s controversial end, his actions seal the contracts of fate as Judas as the
“symbol of betrayal.”
Contrastingly, an unaccepted viewpoint of Catholicism has emerged in which Jesus is
described as knowing that Judas was going to perform the necessary and despicable deed when
he instructed Judas to leave the final communal supper, prematurely, so that he could initiate the
final stage of Jesus' divine mission. Because of the gravity of this inconsistency and the way that
it undermines the power of Jesus' message in the early days of Christianity, religious scholars are
currently reconsidering Judas Iscariot and his role in the evolution of Jesus from a spiritually
adept carpenter in Nazareth to resurrected Christ.

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Over the years the sands of Egypt have procured countless treasures and archaeological
wonders, and now they have yielded another spectacular find: the Gospel of Judas. The enigma
of Judas Iscariot, the disciple and betrayer of Jesus, has been explored by many scholars who
have wondered about Judas’s character and motivation. The literature on Judas is rich and
includes well-known works of academic scholarship, which also includes current pop culture
trends. In the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar, Judas Iscariot steals the show, and his
presence and music provide a more sympathetic view of the depth of his devotion to Jesus. In the
song “With God on Our Side,” Bob Dylan sings of Judas:
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
This qualitative, textual analysis examines four theoretical frameworks in accordance
with the controversial theories of Judas Iscariot: hailing the spectator, preferred versus
oppositional meanings, intertextuality, and the codes of Catholicism. Hailing the spectator
introduces the notion of “writing for a particular audience – in this case, skeptical religious
scholars searching for ideas that combat the current ideals of Christian beliefs. The analysis of
preferred meaning versus oppositional meaning entails the study of what is currently accepted in
contrast to what a new theory reveals. Intertextuality is closely associated with preferred versus
oppositional meaning. Particularly though, intertextuality looks at the difference between an
original text and a new text. Lastly, a code is any label that identifies an entity – in this case, the
code of Catholicism is examined in accordance with the signs invested in the religion.
Theoretical Framework
What an individual chooses to believe can impact their life, shape their beliefs, and alter
their values. Religion, an extremely important factor in many individual lives, is no exception to

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this idea. Therefore, the ideology of religion is truly an important facet to consider, particularly
at the current time period. It can be argued that mainstream society is currently in a position in
which ideas and/or ideologies can be called into question, scrutinized, and radically changed
(Fiske, 1994). As such, the Gospel of Judas does just that: question the current standard and
provide an alternative and controversial viewpoint. The following analysis of this lost
controversial gospel takes into account four theoretical perspectives, all of which are drawn from
basic semiotics, the study of signification, signs and symbols. Basically stated, semiotics is the
study of how meaning is constructed and understood (Barthes, 1981).
Hailing the spectator
Hailing the spectator introduces the idea of writing for a particular audience (Barthes,
1981). For example, the author(s) of the Bible wrote the biblical stories and its depiction of
history for those readers who are personally invested in them. The author(s) assumes that the
reader is both interested and religious. In the case of the lost Gospel of Judas, the author is
drawing people in through an image and/or text and assumes once more that the reader is both
interested and invested in the details within. In particular, this lost gospel is aimed at those
religious scholars who are looking to disprove and/or complicate one current belief of
Christianity. Similarly, it is also accurate to “hail the spectator” with any sort of analysis or
investigation conducted on an image and/or text. For example, there are many out there who
wish to disprove the authenticity of the lost gospel. Therefore, any analyses they may make can
hail the reader into their arguments and assumptions about the specific image and/or text.
Preferred verses oppositional meaning / Intertextuality
The analysis of preferred meaning versus oppositional meaning entails the study of what
is currently accepted in contrast to what a new theory reveals. As such, intertextuality (being

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closely related) is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts (Barthes, 1981). It can refer to an
author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in
reading another. While the theoretical concept of intertextuality is associated with post-
modernism, the framework itself is not new. New Testament passages quote from the Old
Testament, and Old Testament books such as Deuteronomy or the Prophets refer to the events
described in Exodus. However, intertextuality refers to far more than the influences of writers
on each other. Every text or cultural item is a mosaic of references to other texts, genres, and
discourses (Kristeva, 1980). Every text or set of signs presupposes a network of relationships to
other signs. The principle of intertextuality is a precondition for meaning beyond "texts" in the
sense of things written, and includes units of meaning in any media. Essentially, intertextuality
describes the foundational activity behind interpreting cultural meaning in any significant unit of
a cultural object (a book, a film, a TV show, or genre): whatever meaning discovered or posited
can only occur through a network of prior "texts" that provide the context of possible meanings
and the recognition of meaning at all. In this sense, it is fair to closely associate intertextuality
and preferred meaning versus oppositional meaning for the simple reasoning that each
framework cannot exist without an original text and a new text to change or question the prior
standard or currently accepted viewpoint (Porter, 1997).
Codes
Codes represent a broad interpretative framework. According to Barthes (1981), a code
is “any label that identifies an entity.” However, no code can exist without a sign. A sign, of
course, is any meaningful entity. Therefore, multiple signs coalesce in codes. The most effective
communications will result when both creator and interpreter use exactly the same code. Since
signs may have many levels of meaning, it is imperative to select and combine the signs in ways

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that limit the range of possible meanings likely to be generated when the message is interpreted.
Since the meaning of a sign depends on the code within which it is situated, codes provide a
framework within which signs make sense. Furthermore, if the relationship between a signifier
and its signified is relatively arbitrary, then it is clear that interpreting the conventional meaning
of signs requires familiarity with appropriate sets of conventions. Reading a text involves
relating it to relevant codes (Barthes, 1981).
The Gospel of Judas
During the 1970s, a leather-bound Coptic papyrus was discovered near Beni Masah,
Egypt. Upon first review, the papyrus appeared to be a text from the 2nd century A.D.,
describing the story of Jesus' death from the viewpoint of Judas. According to a 2006 translation
of the manuscript of the text, it is a Gnostic account of an arrangement between Jesus and Judas,
who in this telling are Gnostic enlightened beings, with Jesus asking Judas to turn him into the
Romans to help Jesus finish his appointed task from God (Kasser, 2006).
After the discovery, the National Geographic Society collaborated with the Maecenas
Foundation for Ancient Art and the Waitt Institute for Historical Discovery. Rodolphe Kasser, of
Switzerland, one of the world's preeminent Coptic scholars, was recruited to restore the text,
transcribe it, and translate the manuscript. Today, however, the manuscript is in over a thousand
pieces, possibly due to poor handling and storage, with many sections missing. In some cases,
there are only scattered words; in others, many lines. According to Rodolphe Kasser, the codex
originally contained 31 pages, with writing on front and back; when it came to the market in
1999, only 13 pages, with writing on front and back, remained. It is speculated that individual
pages had been removed and sold.

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Professor Kasser revealed a few details in 2004, about the text in the Dutch paper Het
Parool. Its language is the same Sahidic dialect of Coptic in which Coptic texts of the Nag
Hammadi Library are written. The codex has four parts: the Letter of Peter to Philip, already
known from the Nag Hammadi Library; the First Apocalypse of James, also known from the Nag
Hammadi Library; the first few pages of a work related to, but not the same as, the Nag
Hammadi work Allogenes; and the Gospel of Judas. Up to a third of the codex is currently
illegible.
The Gospel of Judas is considered "Gnostic" in origin. Generally, Gnostics hold that
salvation of the soul comes from an intuitive knowledge of the mysteries of the universe and of
secrets indicative of that knowledge. The gospel according to Judas could simply be a forgery
much like the speculated Gospel of Mary, Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Philip. It is
unknown who wrote the Gospel of Judas. The largest clue comes from Irenaeus (a second
century Christian) who referenced the Gospel of Judas as invented history of heretics and rebels.
Around 180 AD, Irenaeus wrote: “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.”
Whether authentic or not, the manuscript could add to the understanding of Gnosticism, an
unorthodox Christian theology denounced by the early church. The Roman Catholic Church is
aware of the manuscript, which a Vatican historian called "religious fantasy.”
In sum, the discovery of the Gospel of Judas is fairly recent and little is truly known
about its accuracy, authenticity, and true author. In fact, these answers may never be discovered;
the secret(s) hidden within the gospel itself may be lost, buried in the sands of Egypt forever.

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Data and Analysis
Hailing the spectator
The authenticity of the Gospel of Judas has been called into question by many scholars
and academics. However, carbon dating supports the fact that the codex found was indeed from
the 3rd or 4th century (Kasser, 2006). The scripture, written in Coptic, also promotes authenticity,
as Coptic was indeed primarily used during this time period. Other evidence is currently
emerging that supports the notion that this gospel is truly authentic. However, there are some still
set on disproving this developing authenticity.
Hailing the spectator introduces the idea of writing for a particular audience. Although
the writing of the Gospel of Judas was not purposefully written for a particular audience per se,
the analysis and examination of it purposefully was. Irenaeus of Lyons, a Catholic Bishop of
Laudanum in Gaul, was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in
the early development of Christian theology. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who was said to be a
disciple of John the Evangelist. Irenaeus's best-known book, Adversus Haereses or “Against
Heresies” is a detailed attack on Gnosticism (arguably, much of the Gospel of Judas), which was
a serious threat to the Catholic Church. The purpose of "Against Heresies" was to refute the
teachings of various Gnostic groups. Until the discovery of the Library of Nag Hammadi in
1945, Against Heresies was the best-surviving description of Gnosticism. According to some
biblical scholars, the findings at Nag Hammadi have shown Irenaeus' description of Gnosticism
to be largely inaccurate and polemic in nature (Poncelet, 1910).
It seemed that Irenaeus's critique against the Gnostics were exaggerated, which led to his
scholarly dismissal for a long time. For example, he wrote: "They declare that Judas the traitor
was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no other

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did, accomplished the mystery of betrayal; by him all things were thus thrown into confusion.
They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas." These
claims turned out to be truly mentioned in the Gospel of Judas where Jesus asked Judas to betray
him (Poncelet, 1910). Additionally, Irenaeus makes the claim that advocates of Cain, the wicked
brother of Abel, composed the Gospel of Judas (Kasser, 2006).
As such, it is fair to assess that Irenaeus was indeed writing for a particular audience
when he assessed the authenticity of the Gospel of Judas. As the first great Catholic theologian,
he emphasized the traditional elements in the Church, especially the episcopate, scripture, and
tradition. Irenaeus wrote that the only way for Christians to retain unity was to humbly accept
one doctrinal authority - Episcopal councils. Against the Gnostics, who said that they possessed a
secret oral tradition from Jesus himself, Irenaeus maintained that the bishops in different cities
are known as far back as the Apostles — and none of them were Gnostics — and that the bishops
provided the only safe guide to the interpretation of scripture. His writings, with those of
Clement and Ignatius, are taken to hint at papal primacy. Irenaeus is the earliest witness to
recognition of the canonical character of all four gospels. In sum, Irenaeus was unquestioningly
writing to discredit the Gnostics, something of which the Church (his intended audience) agreed
with wholeheartedly (Poncelet, 1910).
Preferred verses oppositional meaning / Intertextuality
The analysis of preferred meaning versus oppositional meaning entails the study of what
is currently accepted in contrast to what a new theory reveals. As is tradition (or the preferred
meaning), the Last Supper (also called the Lord's Supper) was the last meal Jesus shared with his
Twelve Apostles and disciples before his death. According to what Paul the Apostle recounted in
1 Corinthians 11:23–26, in the course of the Last Supper, and with specific reference to eating

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bread and drinking from a cup, Jesus told his disciples, "Do this in remembrance of me".
According to the canonical Gospels, during the meal, Jesus revealed that one of his Apostles
would betray him and that would be Judas Iscariot. Despite the assertions of each Apostle that it
would not be he, Jesus is described as reiterating that it would be one of those who were present,
and goes on to say that there shall be “woe to the man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be
better for him if he had not been born” (Mark 14:20-21). It is only in the Gospel of Matthew
(Matthew 26:23-26:25) and The Gospel of John (John 13:26-13:27) where Judas is specifically
singled out. Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper poignantly portrays the individual reactions of
the Twelve Apostles to the statement by Jesus, "One of you will betray me" (Matthew 26:21;
Mark 14:18; John 13:21).
According to the canonical Gospels of the New Testament, (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John), Judas betrayed Jesus to Jerusalem's Temple authorities, which handed Jesus over to the
governor Pontius Pilate, representative of the occupying Roman Empire, for crucifixion. The
Gospel of Judas, on the other hand, portrays Judas in a very different perspective than do the
Gospels of the New Testament. The Gospel of Judas appears to interpret Judas's act not as
betrayal, but rather as an act of obedience to the instructions of Jesus (oppositional meaning).
This assumption is taken on the basis that Jesus required a second agent to set in motion a course
of events which he had planned. In that sense Judas acted as a catalyst. The action of Judas, then,
was a pivotal point which interconnected a series of simultaneous pre-orchestrated events. This
portrayal seems to conform to a notion current in some forms of Gnosticism, that the human
form is a spiritual prison, and that Judas thus served Christ by helping to release Christ's spirit
from its physical constraints. The action of Judas allowed him to do that which he could not do
directly. The Gospel of Judas does not claim that the other disciples knew Gnostic teachings. On

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the contrary, it asserts that the disciples had not learned the true Gospel, which Jesus taught only
to Judas Iscariot (Porter, 1997).
Much of the Gospel of Judas (oppositional meaning) is directly associated with the events
laid out in the New Testament (preferred meaning). Thus, intertextuality is inherently implied
within the Gospel of Judas’ context and negates virtually all prior conceptions of Gnosticism. As
such, the Gospel of Judas arrived in the public eye, just as the old resistances are being revived
by new discoveries like popular ideas such as the Da Vinci Code. The defenses against these
oppositional ideas erected in response to these texts and ideas recycle out-of-date scholarship and
up to 1800 year-old propaganda (Irenaeus's Adversus Haereses), all of whose goal, as it has
always been, is to negate and marginalize and protect the individual from the threat of
knowledge. Not since the early years of Christianity has faith been under such an all-out assault.
In rapid succession books, films, and critical essays are being released in a seemingly
coordinated effort to redefine the person of Jesus Christ and to cast doubt upon his divine
purpose. First, The Da Vinci Code book and resulting movie, and now The Gospel of Judas; all
of which are being propped up by a massive volume of secondary writings and sources rooted
mainly in Gnosticism.
Codes
Once more, a code is “any label that identifies an entity” (Barthes, 1981). However, no
code can exist without a sign. A sign, of course, is any meaningful entity. Therefore, multiple
signs coalesce in codes. As such, it is fair to argue that signs are everywhere; signs make up
much of what is believed and valued today. For example, the Catholic faith can be represented
by many signs, all of which coalesce into a code: the code of Catholicism. Catholic followers
recognize many artifacts that resonate with their beliefs. To name a few: rosary beads, the cross,

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the holy trinity, the Lord’s Prayer, or even the Holy Grail. As such, these specific signs form a
code of Catholicism. Catholicism today, is distinguished from other forms of Christianity in its
particular understanding and commitment to tradition, the sacraments, the mediation between
God, and communion. Catholicism can include a monastic life, religious orders, a religious
appreciation of the arts, a communal understanding of sin and redemption, missionary activity,
and, in the Roman Catholic Church, papacy. The Roman Catholic Church is the world's largest
single religious body and the largest Christian Church, comprising over half of all Christians and
one-sixth of the world's population.
However, it is not the size of Catholic followers that concerns this argument, but rather
the beliefs that the Catholic Church holds. In particular, it is the sign of the Holy Grail that
resonates with the story of the Last Supper. The vessel which was used to serve the wine at the
Last Supper is sometimes called the Holy Chalice, and has been the one of the supposed subjects
of Holy Grail literature in Christian mythology. According to the Christian gospels, the Last
Supper (also called the Lord's Supper) was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles
and disciples before his death. The story follows as such.
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread or Passover, Jesus sent two of his
disciples ahead with very specific instructions on where to prepare the Passover meal. That
evening Jesus sat down at the table with the twelve apostles to eat his final meal before going to
the cross. As they dined together, he told the twelve that one of them would soon betray him.
One by one they questioned, "I'm not the one, am I, Lord?" Jesus explained that even though he
knew he would die as the Scriptures foretold, his betrayer's fate would be terrible: "Far better for
him if he had never been born!" Jesus then took the bread and the wine and asked his Father to
bless it. He broke the bread into pieces, giving it to his disciples and said, "This is my body,

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given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And then he took the cup of wine, sharing it with
his disciples and said, "This wine is the token of God's new covenant to save you--an agreement
sealed with the blood I will pour out for you. He told all of them, "I will not drink wine again
until the day I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom." Then they sang a hymn and went
out to the Mount of Olives.
This is the common interpretation of the Last Supper, as indicated in the four gospels of
the New Testament. Arguably, the sign of the Holy Chalice (or Holy Grail) coalesces into the
code of the Last Supper (the common story told above and the preferred meaning of Catholic
belief). However, the Gospel of Judas somehow violates this preferred code. Although all of the
signs are in place in both accounts of the story, the code changes. The following is an account of
the Last Supper according to the Gospel of Judas.
In the city of Jerusalem, Jesus’ twelve apostles sat in a circle saying the prayer of
thanksgiving or the Eucharist. Upon Jesus’ entrance, he laughed at them. The apostles were
upset and asked “Master, why are you laughing at our prayer of thanksgiving? We have done
what is right.” Jesus answered “I am not laughing at you. You are not doing this because of your
own will but because it is through this that your god will be praised.” At this statement, the
disciples became quiet with anger. Judas rises among them and says to Jesus, “I know who you
are and where you have come from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo. And I am not
worthy to utter the name of the one who has sent you.” Jesus becomes quiet and moves to join
his disciples at the table. He then breaks the bread and says "This is my body, given for you. Do
this in remembrance of me." And then he took the Holy Chalice of wine, sharing it with his
disciples. Jesus then asks Judas to step outside with him and proceeds to speak in a cryptic
fashion about cosmology. "You shall be cursed for generations" and then added, "You will come

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to rule over them" and "You will exceed all of them, for you will sacrifice the man that clothes
me." And Jesus tells Judas to “lift up your eyes and look at the cloud and the light within it and
the stars surrounding it. The star that leads the way is your star.”
The preferred version of the Last Supper’s events is drastically altered according to the
Gospel of Judas. Not only does this interpretation cast Judas in a positive light, but it negates the
fact that Judas is the symbol of betrayal. Judas is the most hated man in history according to the
preferred code of the Last Supper. Nonetheless, this oppositional code of the Last Supper is
supported in the newly found Gospel of Judas. In this sense, the Gospel of Judas does in fact
combat all that is believed in the traditional code of Catholicism. Although all the signs of the
Last Supper remain the same, the code is altered into something different, something that
perhaps followers of the Catholic faith may wish to not consider.
Discussion
Even Jesus recognized that there was something paradoxical about his betrayal by Judas
Iscariot in three of the four canonical Gospels, with a kiss. "And truly the Son of man goeth, as it
was determined," he says in Luke 22, "but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!" In other
words, Judas is damned for helping bring about the salvation of humankind. Jesus knows all
along who will sell him out. In John's account of the Last Supper, he tells Judas: "That thou
doest, do quickly" and Judas "went immediately out." In shame and terror, it is assumed. But it
sounds almost as if he were obeying an order that both of them understood – as presented in the
Gospel of Judas.
As such, this paper concludes with the notion that the Gospel of Judas was indeed written
for a purpose – even if only for controversy. Although branded as a Gnostic and false account by
Irenaeus, the Gospel of Judas has truly been hailed by religious readers and academics. The

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Gospel of Judas sets up a new version of events at the Last Supper and contradicts much of what
is preferred and accepted in the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. This lost gospel
provides an oppositional meaning that presents Judas in a new light and indicates that it was in
Jesus’ divine plan that Judas should betray him with a kiss and hand him over to the Roman
authorities and Pontius Pilate. Similarly, the Last Supper is full of signs that resonate with the
code of Catholicism. The signs stay the same in both accounts (preferred and oppositional) but
ultimately change the codes depicted in both versions.
Overall, the “Gospel of Judas” appeals to people who are looking for another version, an
alternative to the four gospels of the New Testament. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said
there would always be people looking for loopholes. “Small is the gate and narrow the road that
leads to life and only a few find it.” In truth, this controversial gospel is only worth what an
individual can read and take from it. As Bob Dylan reminds us,
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

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References
Barthes, R. (1981). Language and speech. Elements of Semiology.
Barthes, R. (1981). Syntagm and system. Elements of Semiology.
Fiske, J. (1994). Ideology and meaning. Introduction to Communiation Studies. Taylor and
Friends Inc. New York: New York.
Kasser, R., Meyer, M. & Wurst, G. (2006). The Gospel of Judas. National Geographic Society:
Washington D.C.
Kristeva, J. (1980). Desire in language: A semiotic approach to literature and art. New York:
Columbia University Press.
Poncelet, A. (1910). St. Irenaeus. The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton
Company.
Porter, S. (1997). The use of the Old Testament in the New Testament: A brief comment on
method and terminology. Early Christian Interpretation, 14, 79-96.