Reading Judas Quotes

“In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus teaches people about the kinship they have with God and about how to live according to the moral order of the universe established by God. People, Jesus says, have spiritual resources within them beyond what they know. He explains this message by telling Judas about the nature of the universe—that another realm exists beyond the material world, and an immortal holy race above the mortal human race. If people can understand this reality, they can fulfill their highest nature and understand how they should live now. He explains that human beings were created following the divine image of the heavenly First Man, Adamas. To honor this divine image in people, God sent divine spirits to everyone, giving people the potential to turn and worship him. By looking within themselves, people can “bring forth the perfect human”—they can discover what is divine and immortal within themselves. [...] Jesus explains that although people are made according to the divine image and likeness, they are nonetheless created by the lower angels God put in charge of the material world—the realm of chaos and oblivion.”
― Elaine Pagels, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity

“Contradicting believers who warn of God’s wrath and judgment, the Gospel of Truth declares that those who really know him “do not think of him as small, or harsh, or wrathful,” as others suggest, but as a loving and gracious Father (Gospel of Truth 42:4–9). Poetic, sometimes lyrical, this gospel declares that God sent his son not only to save us from sins committed in error but to restore all beings to the divine source whence they came, “so that they may return to the Father and to the Mother, Jesus of the utmost sweetness” (Gospel of Truth 24:6–9). Thus to all who wander this world in terror, anguish, and confusion, Jesus reveals a divine secret: that they are deeply connected with God the Father, and with the divine Mother, the Holy Spirit.”
― Elaine Pagels, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity

“The author of the Gospel of Judas implies that everyone has the power to surpass the angelic powers, because, as Jesus teaches Judas, it is only people themselves who keep the spirit confined within the flesh (Judas 13:14–15). By seeking the spirit within themselves, they can overcome the rulers of chaos and oblivion, see God, and enter the heavenly house of God above. And they can do this even as they live in this world. Just as both Jesus and Judas enter the luminous cloud while living on earth, so those who follow them may lead the life of the spirit and know God here and now.”
― Elaine Pagels, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity

“The Letter of Peter to Philip tells how the disciples gathered together on the Mount of Olives, where they prayed to Jesus, “Son of life, Son of immortality, who is in the light, Son, Christ of immortality, our Redeemer, give us power, for they seek to kill us” (Letter of Peter to Philip 134:2–9). Out of a great light shining across the mountain the voice of Jesus tells them that it is necessary for them to preach salvation to the world, but that when they do, they will suffer, because the powers that rule the world are against them. You “are fighting against the inner man,” he tells them, but the Father “will help you as he has helped you by sending me”— stressing that death is only that of the fleshly body, not of the spirit.”
― Elaine Pagels, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity

“Although the Gospel of Judas does not encourage martyrdom, ironically—or better, paradoxically—it portrays Judas himself as the first martyr. This gospel reveals that when Judas hands Jesus over, he seals his own fate. But he knows, too, that when the other disciples stone him, they kill only his mortal self. His spirit-filled soul has already found its home in the light world above. Although Christians may suffer and die when they oppose the powers of evil, the hope Christ brings will sustain them.”
― Elaine Pagels, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity

“Vođe poput Ireneja, posvetili su decenije svojih života uspostavljanju struktura simbola, kanona, sveštenstva, verujući da opstanak pokreta zavisi od njih
- i na neki način možda su imali pravo, jer postoje ograničenja u pogledu broja različitih stavova koje svaka grupa može da podnese, naročito u nemirna vremena.”
― Elaine Pagels, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity