✶Gnosis
← Contents
Theme
04 / 08

Listen

Dhammapada · narration sample

A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.

Gospel of Judas · 4 of 8

The Disciples’ Vision

Another day Jesus came up to them. They said to him, “Master, we’ve seen you in a dream, because we had great [dreams last] night.”

But Jesus said, “Why […] hidden yourselves?”

And they [said, “We saw] a great [house, with a great] altar [in it, and] twelve people – we’d say they were priests – and a name. And a crowd of people was waiting at the altar [until] the priests [finished receiving] the offerings. We kept waiting too.”

[Jesus said], “What were they like?”

And they said, “[Some] fast [for] two weeks. Others sacrifice their own children; others their wives, praising and humbling themselves among each other. Others sleep with men; others murder; yet others commit many sins and do criminal things. [And] the people standing [before] the altar invoke your [name]! And in all their sacrificing, they fill the [altar] with their offerings.” When they said this, [they] fell silent because they were troubled.

Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? Truly I say to you, all the priests standing before that altar invoke my name. And [again], I say to you, my name has been written on this [house] of the generations of the stars by the human generations. [And they] have shamefully planted fruitless trees in my name.” Jesus said to them, “You’re the ones receiving the offerings on the altar you’ve seen. That’s the God you serve, and you’re the twelve people you’ve seen. And the animals you saw brought in to be sacrificed are the crowd you lead astray before that altar. [Your minister] will stand up and use my name like that, and [the] generations of the pious will be loyal to him. After him, another person will present [those who sleep around], and another those who murder children, and another those who sleep with men, and those who fast, and the rest of impurity, crime, and error. And those who say, ‘We’re equal to the angels’ – they’re the stars that finish everything. It’s been said to the human generations, ‘Look, God has accepted your sacrifice from the hands of priests,’ that is, the minister of error. But the Lord who commands is the Lord over everything. On the last day, they’ll be found guilty.”

Jesus said [to them], “Stop [sacrificing animals]. You’ve [offered them] over the altar, over your stars with your angels where they’ve already been completed. So let them become […] with you and let them [become] clear.”

His disciples [said to him], “Cleanse us from our [sins] that we’ve committed through the deceit of the angels.”

Jesus said to them, “It’s not possible […], nor [can] a fountain quench the fire of the entire inhabited world. Nor can a [city’s] well satisfy all the generations, except the great, stable one. A single lamp won’t illuminate all the realms, except the second generation, nor can a baker feed all creation under [heaven].”

And [when the disciples heard] these [things], they said to [him], “Master, help us and save us!”

Jesus said to them, “Stop struggling against me. Each one of you has his own star, [and …] of the stars will […] what belongs to it […] I wasn’t sent to the corruptible generation, but to the strong and incorruptible generation, because no enemy has ruled [over] that generation, nor any of the stars. Truly I say to you, the pillar of fire will fall quickly and that generation won’t be moved by the stars.”

Asked of Guide

Why does Jesus tell the disciples they themselves are the priests serving the altar in their vision?

Jesus interprets the dream as a mirror: the twelve priests at the altar represent the disciples and the ministers they lead, and the crowd being sacrificed are the people they mislead. He says their use of his name and rituals has become a vehicle for “impurity, crime, and error,” so the vision exposes their complicity in a corrupt sacrificial system.

Jesus offers a corrective: stop sacrificing and stop relying on external rites or angels to cleanse sin, because salvation goes to the “strong and incorruptible generation” not governed by stars. This parallels themes in other Gnostic texts, like the Apocryphon of John, which contrasts misleading powers with a higher, unruled spiritual generation.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.