Judas; Close but No Redemption

A Christian college student was asking me recently about Judas Iscariot (the disciple who betrayed Christ) from the Holy Bible. He asked questions like; Was Judas ever saved by Christ? Did Judas lose his salvation? Why did Jesus choose Judas if Christ knew Judas would betray Him? Did Judas repent or not after he betrayed Jesus? Did Judas go to hell or heaven? What am I to learn from Judas?

 

These are good questions to ask and ponder and I believe God’s Word gives some answers. Here’s what I believe about Judas Iscariot from God’s Word (here on identified just as Judas).

Judas was chosen by Jesus to be one of His closest twelve followers (John 6:70). The word ‘Iscariot’ helps us distinguish this Judas from the other disciple named Judas (Luke 6:16). Iscariot is not this man’s last name but a reference to where he was from. In the Hebrew language this word means “man of Kerioth” which was an actual place in the southern kingdom, south of Hebron (Josh. 15:25). He was Judean, from the land of Judah, west of the Dead Sea. This is interesting to note because he is the only one of the twelve closest disciples to Christ to have not been Galilean (from the region of Galilee, part of the northern kingdom of Israel).

Regarding his introduction in the Gospels, it’s also interesting that even though his betrayal of Christ came later in the accounts, the authors, looking back in time when they wrote about these things, labeled him right away as the betrayer of Christ (Luke 6:16, John 6:71). The other eleven disciples were likely fooled by Judas’ Christ following pretense for a few years but we as the readers are told right away that he is the betrayer. That’s what he will always be known for. Hence the name Judas has the unfortunate connotation of betrayer even a couple thousand years later, so I imagine this name is never near the top of the list of most popular baby names.

Even though Judas was one of the main twelve followers of Christ, Judas was a follower like many referred to in John 6:60-71 who didn’t really commit to Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. Judas was a superficial follower on the outside and on the inside he was still spiritually lost in his sins. Being known as a follower of Jesus, even being a close follower to Jesus (i.e. he sat near Jesus at the upper room meal; was their treasurer), and doing works in His name are not synonymous with committing your life to Him by faith as your Savior and Lord (Mt. 7:21-23).

Jesus’ choosing of Judas as one of His main twelve followers was not a divine choosing unto salvation (i.e. elect, predestined). I believe Jesus wanted Judas to give his heart and faith over to Jesus as his personal Savior (1 Tim. 2:3-4) but Judas never did. I believe this is an example of a person who was about as close as you can get to Christ but didn’t actually surrender his life to Christ as his personal Savior.  This is sad because Judas, for 3+ years, was getting to know the awesome person and work of Jesus Christ more than most people have the opportunity to. There are still people today who go to church, give money, read the Bible, pray in the name of Jesus, do God-honoring works, etc.. but they have not surrendered and committed their lives to Christ as their Savior and Lord. On the outside there is an appearance of God-honoring religion but on the inside they are still lost in their sins (i.e. Mt. 15:7-9, 23:27). This is very unfortunate because Christ died and rose again so that we can be redeemed by Him, freed from our sins to live in divine joy and peace with eternal life in Christ.

Jesus knew in advance that Judas would betray Him and that divine prophecy would be fulfilled (John 6:64, 70-71). Jesus connected Ps. 41:9 to Judas the betrayer; prophecy fulfilled (John 13:18). God did not tempt Judas to sin (betray Christ) or make Judas sin (James 1:13). It was Judas’ personal decision to sin. Judas was responsible for his own thoughts and actions just as any of us are. And his decision to betray Christ became a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

In John 6:69 Peter spoke on behalf of the twelve disciples about Jesus, “We have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Peter believed, more like presumed, that Judas believed upon Christ as his spiritual Savior but Peter did not know Judas’ true heart faith and belief. Judas’ closeness to Jesus and works were deceiving. Until Christ identified the betrayer in the Upper Room the other eleven disciples did not know who the betrayer was and they evidently presumed Judas was like them, a devoted follower of Christ (John 13:21-30). So, Judas was good at masking what was true in his heart that he had no faith in Christ as his spiritual Savior. He was faking the Christian life. He was deceiving others into thinking he was a true devoted follower of Christ. In a paradoxical sense Christ probably protected Judas’ true identity because if the other eleven found out any earlier they would have rose up against him (i.e. Peter cut off a man’s ear who tried to arrest Jesus).

Judas was not described in a good light. Jesus called Judas ‘a devil’ (John 6:70). Judas was known as a thief of the disciples’ treasury (John 12:6). Jesus called Judas ‘lost’ and ‘the son of perdition/destruction’ (John 17:12). This Greek word, apoleia, ‘perdition’ can refer to eternal misery in Hell. Judas had never been regenerated by the Spirit of God, spiritually cleansed of his sins, whereas the other eleven of the closest followers/disciples of Christ were spiritually washed/cleansed of their sin by the time they were in the Upper Room the night before Christ died (John 13:10-11, Titus 3:4-7). At the time of the betrayal, Satan entered (possessed) Judas (John 13:27). Woe is Judas for there is extra wrath of God on him for his betrayal of Christ (Mark 14:21, Heb. 10:29). This is not a person who has been redeemed by the Redeemer. It is amazing at just how close one can be to Christ but be spiritually lost in sin and an instrument and friend of the number one enemy to Christ.

After Judas betrayed Christ (Mt. 26:14-16, 46-50) Judas probably felt remorse, guilt, and shame for his betrayal. Then he committed suicide (Mt. 27:3-5, Acts 1:18). Based on the whole of scripture about Judas, I believe he experienced worldly/flesh guilt not godly sorrow that leads to God-honoring repentance (2 Cor. 7:9-11).

I don’t believe the spiritual ‘lostness’ of Judas is a failure on the part of Jesus (John 17:12). I believe Judas was always lost spiritually. There is no clear biblical evidence that he was ever saved or redeemed by Christ. In fact, the biblical evidence is more supportive that Judas was never saved and is now eternally separated from God. I believe that before Judas’ death, he could have placed his trusting faith in Christ as His Savior and Lord and repented/turned to Christ and the way of righteousness but I don’t believe Judas ever did this. I believe the opportunity to turn rightly to Christ was available to him and is available to all to some degree.

Why did Judas betray Jesus? He did receive some pieces of silver for it but there was probably more to his motivation than that. Perhaps Judas grew impatient wanting Jesus to rise up as the Jewish political kingdom ruler to oppose the Romans who were oppressing the Jews. Perhaps Judas felt Jesus was a false prophet/messiah. We can’t be too sure of his motivations to betray Christ but we can be sure of the Gospel of Christ and His call to become a true committed follower of Christ.

If you would like to know more about the great news of Jesus Christ and giving your life over to Him as your personal Savior and Lord then check out my blog entry about this at

http://mikesmorals.blogspot.com/2013/09/great-news-gods-plan-for-true-life.html

What are your thoughts about Judas Iscariot?

 

Mike