It has also been speculated, on the basis of textual analysis concerning features of dialect and Greek loan words, that the Coptic text contained in the codex may be a translation from an older Greek manuscript dating, at the earliest, to . Cited in support is the reference to a “Gospel of Judas” by the early Christian writer Irenaeus of Lyons, who, in arguing against Gnosticism, described the text as "fictitious history". However, it is uncertain whether the text mentioned by Irenaeus is in fact the same text as the Coptic “Gospel of Judas” found in the Codex Tchacos.