The recent revelation of a gospel according to Judas has raised numerous responses among secular as well as church commentators. Some believe this so-called gospel will forever change the way society views Christianity while others will claim it nothing more than an attempt to discredit the accepted or canonical gospels. Yet, for those of us who majored in theology or have an interest in early Christianity, the Gospel of Judas is not the fabulous find that the media is attempting to make of it. Unlike The DaVinci Code, a work of fiction, the Gospel of Judas is a real document, written some time in the mid-second century. The so-called Gospel of Judas belongs to a group of Apocryphal Gospels associated with heretical sects, especially the Gnostics, who wrote these gospels in support of their peculiar doctrines. One can add to the list the Gospel of Thaddeus, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Andrew, the Gospel of Eve, the Gospel of Basilides, and several others.

Anyone reading these writings immediately recognizes their inferiority to canonical or accepted scripture. A common feature of these Gnostic gospels is their lack of concern for canonical scripture, except where it benefits their message. Most of these texts use the canonical Gospels as a framework for particular revelations usually given by the Lord or Mary in conversation with the disciples of Jesus after His Resurrection. They usually contain language that describes the body as a prison where the soul is trapped. Death becomes a welcomed emancipation from the physicality of the body. The entire created world is seen as evil and release from creation is a primary tenant of faith. There is also a real exclusivity among these groups as only a few of its members possess the gnosis or enlightened knowledge to achieve salvation. The rest of its members are nearly helpless and without hope of ever reaching their heavenly reward.

Contrary to popular opinion, the church's decision on what should be in the New Testament, called “canonical scripture” was not a mere afternoon parlance. The debate over what texts should be included in the canon of scripture lasted nearly 300 years as each church argued for and against certain gospels and epistles, not to mention the Apocalypse of St. John, more commonly known as the Book of Revelation. Included in this debate were a group of early Christian texts describing alleged miracles which at times descend into the absurd. This group includes the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Gospel of the Egyptians, the Proto-Evangelium of St. James and others.

Rather than seeking ways to debunk the beliefs of orthodox Christianity one should glean from these texts their real value- information about tendencies and customs which characterize the early church. Some of these texts represent the beginnings of Christian legends and folk stories while others serve as guides to understanding early Christian art found in mosaics, iconography, illuminated manuscripts, and reliefs on sarcophagi.

The Gospel of Judas, used by a Gnostic sect called the Cainites, will provide us with valuable information on the sect's beliefs, including one which has been known for nearly 1,900 years, that Judas possessed “the superior power of the mystery of the betrayal,” since he alone of all the apostles knew the truth. This exclusivity along with other practices has placed this text in its rightful place as non-canonical. Early Church Fathers such as Irenaeus of Lyons (2nd century AD), Tertullian of Carthage (3rd century AD), and Origen of Alexandria (3rd century AD) read these and other so called Gospels and dismissed them as the works of individuals far removed from the first century writers of the canonical Gospels. When the universal church, which included those communities in Rome, Spain, Gaul, North Africa, Ethiopia, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Qatar, Jerusalem, Syria, and other communities, met in the 4th century to decide on what books to include in the New Testament, it examined its 300 year history, both oral and written. The Gospel of Judas, along with other texts, were excluded from the canon of scripture and placed on library bookshelves for church historians and scholars to read. The newly translated and edited text, the Gospel of Judas, will be a welcomed addition.