DeConick A.D

300
PLEASANTVILLE RELIGIONS
But now that we can read the Gospel of Judas for ourselves, it is clear
that we have been misled by Irenaeus’s testimony. Although many scholars
initially misread the text and suggested that Judas is a hero in it, just
as Irenaeus claimed, my own translation and work on this Gospel has
challenged and upended this opinion (DeConick 2009). The Gospel of
Judas is a surprise because Judas is no hero in it but a demon—even
worse than the possessed traitor described in the Gospels of Luke (22:3)
and John (6:70–71, 13:2, 14:27, 30–31). This Gospel is literally Jesus’ apophasis
(meaning indictment, from the Greek apophainô ) of Judas for his
demonic activity (Gospel of Judas TC 33.1–33.6).
In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus calls Judas the “thirteenth demon.” This
is the designation for the dark lord Ialdabaoth in other Sethian literature,
where he is known as the ruler of the thirteen realms (Gospel of the
Egyptians NHC III.2 63.19). In Sethian cosmology, the world is divided
into five abysses and seven heavens ruled by demonic archons. Above this
is the thirteenth realm of the fixed stars, and Ialdabaoth, the greatest of
all demons, rules it (Gospel of Judas TC 51.12–15). In this Gospel, Judas
is associated with the thirteenth realm and its star, indicating that Judas is
in league with the dark lord who rules the cosmos from the sphere of the
fixed stars (55.10–11; cf. 46.19–24). Given this demonic association, Judas
is told that he himself can expect to one day become the dark lord of the
thirteenth realm and rule over the other twelve dark lords (46.5–7).
If we keep in mind that Ialdabaoth is the Gnostic name for the Jewish
biblical God YHWH, then what we have going on here is very interesting
indeed. Judas, rather than Jesus, is identified as YHWH. This association
isn’t so far-fetched, given the Sethians’ belief. If YHWH is a demon, not
the good Father God, then Jesus couldn’t be YHWH, as the Apostolic
Catholics believed. Instead, Judas had to be!
You’re a Gem
What is so remarkable is that this association of Judas with Ialdabaoth
was known in antiquity, outside the Gospel of Judas. This came to my
attention in 2008 when a student of mine at the time, Grant Adamson,
brought a photo of an amulet to my office. When he showed me the
photo, I nearly fell off my chair. I was staring at a Gnostic secret that had
been locked in a museum drawer for the last three hundred years.