The Gospel of Judas was a very interesting read. Its age puts it into question as a legitimate primary source gospel considering its proximity to the events of the other Gospels. Regardless, it seems to deeply recontextualize the way Christianity discusses the nature of god, the creation of the universe by god, and the nature of Christian religious messaging. The language in regards to followers of a Christian god is a lot more absolute and less loving, the mention of a generation holier than the apostles and holy spaces completely inaccessible to the apostles and Judas seems to revoke the Christian ideas of repentance and acceptance under gods all extending love. The strange exponential branching origin story it gives for the Aeons (holy beings serving angels) and luminaries (the same?) is faintly reminiscient of computer science, i.e. exponentially extending decision making machines feeding into each other like transformers. To me, the creation myth in the Gospel of Judas is the most complicated and least clear part to interpret allegorically. The references to Judas’s vision of the temple make much more sense to me. The statement “planted trees without fruit” in reference to the sinful priests in the vision of the temple stood out to me. I felt it could be an allegory to something being created superficially lacking its original purpose. All the priests who stand before that altar invoke the name of Jesus but not all of them will be trees that bare fruit. It is inherent to the condition of priesthood to act as a priest but not inherent to hold yourself to the principles or religion you promote. Trees are always trees but not always ones that offer something meaningful like fruit. The statement that it is a “minister of error” to say look god has received your sacrifice from the hands of a priest also ties into this concept. The entire section titled “Jesus Offers An Allegorical Interpretation of the Vision of the Temple” could be seen as saying that individual devoutedness and dedication to God is more important that religious ceremony or structure. In the last line it almost feels as if Jesus is saying not to put your religious effort, time, and physical posessions into the hands of religious organizations or authority figures. Overall, it feels off message from a lot of other Gospels and it makes sense why it was not included regardless of age.