DeConick A.D

304
PLEASANTVILLE RELIGIONS
For a Gnostic text to say that the most wicked and cursed disciple,
Judas, is more perfect than any of the twelve in his understanding of
Jesus and the cosmic mysteries (TC 34.11–35.20) could not be more subversive.
It slams the Apostolic Catholic authorities and their teachings. If
the apostles were ignorant and faithless and working for the dark lords,
then whatever information they passed on that became foundational to
the Apostolic Catholic church is bogus. Following their teachings, which
remains focused on the God of the Jews, leads Christians astray and perpetuates
rituals that empower the wrong God.
Sacrifice to the Dark Lord
The worst part of Apostolic Catholicism, according to these Gnostics, is
the doctrine of a dead man—that Jesus’ death is a sacrifice to YHWH for
the salvation of sinners. The Gospel of Judas was written to point out how
obvious it is that this Apostolic Catholic doctrine is demonic, that it is not
something the transcendent God would ever desire.
How obvious? Because Judas is demonic and is instrumental in the
sacrifice of Jesus, then the only logical conclusion is that Jesus’ sacrificial
death is something that the demons desired and made happen at
the command of YHWH. The Gnostics thought it completely illogical
that the Apostolic Catholics cursed Judas for the very thing that was at
the heart of their religion. That the Apostolic Catholics couldn’t see the
demonic trickery behind their central doctrine was simply dumbfounding
to Gnostics.
The Gnostics thought the evidence indicated that Jesus had been killed
by Judas and the dark lords, demons who thought that Jesus’ murder
would bring about the end of Jesus’ talk about a transcendent supreme
God beyond them. But the dark lords were tricked, because they were
unaware that Jesus’ spirit was conscious, pure, and mature, unlike the spirits
in other humans, which had been lulled to sleep by embodiment and
its pleasures. Even more important, Jesus’ conscious spirit knew the path
back to the supreme God because Jesus was a descendent superpower. At
the crucifixion, Jesus’ spirit was able to leave behind his body and soul
and pioneer the path home to the transcendent God. Unbeknownst to the
dark lords, Jesus was a superpower in human disguise.