John Stanko

There was a lot of noise in the press the last few weeks about a long lost gospel of Judas.  This gospel allegedly portrayed Judas as an accomplice and not betrayer of Jesus. According to this "gospel," Jesus asked Judas to betray Him and then directed Judas not to tell the other apostles.  If you would like to read about it, you can do so here. 

I was asked this question last week by an earnest man: "Can't someone hold an alternate view of Judas without affecting his view of Jesus?"  Of course my answer was a unequivocal, "No!"

If Jesus participated in such a devious plot and kept it from the other apostles, then we would have to ask ourselves, "What else did Jesus do that may not be what it appears to have been?"  That would throw the reliability of all the gospels into question, including the claims that Jesus made about Himself.  Quite simply, that just isn't possible.

The early church rejected the Judas gospel as heresy.  The modern church needs to do the same.  The fathers of the early church set what is called the canon of Scripture. That is, they identified, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, all the books that were inspired and authorized by the Holy Spirit--the Judas gospel wasn't one then and it never will be.

By the way, I found an online survey to help determine how closely one subscribes to the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD).  This Council repudiated numerous heresies concerning who Jesus was.  I am glad to report that I am not a heretic.  Below are my results.  If you would like to take this survey for yourself, click here. 

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