The Gospel of Judas as confictio (Irenaeus, ADV. Haer. 1, 31, 1)

Abstract

The first testimony we have to the newly discovered Gospel of Judas is in Irenaeus, Adv. haer. I, 31, 1. Here it is said that certain Gnostics adduce a confictio which they call ‘the Gospel of Judas’. The question is: what does the noun confictio mean here? Up to now the word has been translated into English as ‘a fictitious history’, ‘a fabrication’, ‘a fabricated work’, ‘a fabricated book’. The suggestion in all of these translations is that the Gospel of Judas is considered to be ‘a fiction’. One may dispute this opinion, however. Our concluding remarks may be brief. Already from Irenaeus’ testimony it may be derived that the Gospel of Judas was a composite, the word confictio at the same time bearing the negative connotation of something put together. But Irenaeus (and the same goes, in his wake, for Epiphanius and Theodoretus) does not term it a mere fabrication or fiction. From the recently discovered Gospel of Judas we learn that the information provided by Irenaeus is correct. The Gospel of Judas is a work composed of several Gnostic (mainly ‘Sethian’) and also other traditions.