The evil figures in the Bible are not really evil at all; they are simply opposed to the Demiurge, while the ‘good’ figures are dupes of this malignant deity. Similarly, for some Gnostics the serpent in the Garden of Eden was not a devil, but an emissary of the true, good God, who sought to liberate the divine spirit in Adam and Eve through knowledge. In the Gospel of Judas too, Jesus regards it as a favour that Judas will, by his betrayal, ‘free him from the man’ – that is, the body – that envelops him.