'I expect this gospel to be important mainly for the deeper insight it will give scholars into the thoughts and beliefs of certain Christians in the second century of the Christian era, namely the Gnostics,' said Stephen Emmel, a Coptic studies professor at the University of Münster in Germany. Scholars say the text not only offers an alternative view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas but also illustrates the diversity of opinion in the early Christian church. The National Geographic Society and the Waitt Institute for Historical Discovery funded the project, and it will be profiled in the May 2006 issue of National Geographic magazine. Kasser, who is regarded as one of the world's preeminent Coptic scholars, led the effort to piece together and translate the Gospel of Judas. 'This lost gospel, providing information on Judas Iscariot-considered for 20 centuries and by hundreds of millions of believers as an antichrist of the worst kind-bears witness to something completely different from what was said in the Bible,' said Rodolphe Kasser, a clergyman and former professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. The Gospel of Judas, however, portrays him as acting at Jesus' request. WATCH: Scientists expose Jesus Christ's last resting place for first time in the modern era during restoration work at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (Here's what we know from historical evidence about the Twelve Apostles.) In biblical accounts Judas gives up Jesus Christ to his opponents, who later crucify the founder of Christianity. The Bible's New Testament Gospels-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John-depict Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, as a traitor. The newly revealed gospel document, written in Coptic script, is believed to be a translation of the original, a Greek text written by an early Christian sect sometime before A.D. The only known surviving copy of the gospel was found in a codex, or ancient book, that dates back to the third or fourth century A.D.

Some biblical scholars are calling the Gospel of Judas the most significant archaeological discovery in 60 years.

The Coptic, or Egyptian Christian, manuscripts were unveiled today at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C. That's what a newly revealed ancient Christian text says.Īfter being lost for nearly 1,700 years, the Gospel of Judas was recently restored, authenticated, and translated. He is one of the most reviled men in history.īut was Judas only obeying his master's wishes when he betrayed Jesus with a kiss?

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