The Gospel of Judas was written in Coptic, an Egyptian language, and is thought to date back to the 2nd century AD. The text was discovered in the 1970s in Middle Egypt and was later acquired by the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art. In 2006, a National Geographic team translated the text, and the resulting publication sparked widespread interest and debate among scholars and the general public.
The main theme of the Gospel of Judas is the idea that Jesus deliberately chose Judas to betray him in order to fulfill a divine plan. According to the text, Jesus shared secret teachings with Judas that he did not share with the other disciples. This led to the portrayal of Judas as a hero who played a crucial role in Jesus’ mission rather than a traitor. The gospel also presents a Gnostic interpretation of the Christian story, emphasizing the duality of the physical and spiritual realms and the idea that individuals must strive to achieve a higher state of consciousness in order to attain salvation.