So poor innocent Judas gets chosen to be a disciple and doesn’t realize that it is a set up? That mean old God is going to let Judas take the fall for something he had no choice in?
NOT !!!!
But wait. If the scripture says that Judas was the son of perdition and was just fulfilling a previous prophesy, where does his freewill come in? How does this work?
First of all let’s look at the character of this man Judas and his relationship with Jesus.
While we cannot be absolutely certain why Judas betrayed Jesus, some things are certain. First, although Judas was chosen to be one of the Twelve, John 6:64 (ESV) But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) , all scriptural evidence points to the fact that he never believed Jesus to be God. He even may not have been convinced that Jesus was the Messiah (as Judas understood it). Unlike the other disciples that called Jesus “Lord,” Judas never used this title for Jesus and instead called him “Rabbi,” which acknowledged Jesus as nothing more than a teacher. While other disciples at times made great professions of faith and loyalty, John 6:68 (ESV) Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, John 11:16 (ESV) So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”, Judas never did so and appears to have remained silent. This lack of faith in Jesus is the foundation for all other considerations listed below. The same holds true for us. If we fail to recognize Jesus as God incarnate, and therefore the only One who can provide forgiveness for our sins—and the eternal salvation that comes with it—we will be subject to numerous other problems that stem from a wrong view of God.
Second, Judas not only lacked faith in Christ, but he also had little or no personal relationship with Jesus. When the synoptic gospels list the Twelve, they are always listed in the same general order with slight variations, Matthew 10:2-4 (ESV) The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him., Mark 3:16-19 (ESV) He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him., Luke 6:14-16 (ESV) Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
The general order is believed to indicate the relative closeness of their personal relationship with Jesus. Despite the variations, Peter and the brothers James and John are always listed first, which is consistent with their relationships with Jesus. Judas is always listed last, which may indicate his relative lack of a personal relationship with Christ. Additionally, the only documented dialogue between Jesus and Judas involves Judas being rebuked by Jesus after his greed-motivated remark to Mary, John 12:1-8 (ESV) Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”, Judas’ denial of his betrayal Matthew 26:25 (ESV) Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”, and the betrayal itself Luke 22:48 (ESV) but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” .
Third, Judas was consumed with greed to the point of betraying the trust of not only Jesus, but also his fellow disciples, as we see in John 12:5-7 (ESV) “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. Judas may have desired to follow Jesus simply because he saw the great following and believed he could profit from collections taken for the group. The fact that Judas was in charge of the moneybag for the group would indicate his interest in money, John 13:29-30 (NLT) Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. 30 So Judas left at once, going out into the night.
Additionally, Judas, like most people at the time, believed the Messiah was going to overthrow Roman occupation and take a position of power ruling over the nation of Israel. Judas may have followed Jesus hoping to benefit from association with Him as the new reigning political power. No doubt he expected to be among the ruling elite after the revolution. By the time of Judas’ betrayal, Jesus had made it clear that He planned to die, not start a rebellion against Rome. So Judas may have assumed—just as the Pharisees did—that since He would not overthrow the Romans, He must not be the Messiah they were expecting.
There are a few Old Testament verses that point to the betrayal, some more specifically than others. Here are two:
“Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” Psalm 41:9 see fulfillment in Matthew 26:14-16 (NASB) Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. 16 From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus. ,and Matthew 26:48-49 (NASB) Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” 49 Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. Also, “I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—the handsome price at which they priced me!’ So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter”(Zechariah 11:12-13; see Matthew 27:3-5 (NASB) Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!” 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. for the fulfillment of the Zechariah prophecy). These Old Testament prophecies indicate that Judas’ betrayal was known to God and that it was sovereignly planned beforehand as the means by which Jesus would be killed. (1)
OK, OK, maybe Judas was no boy scout but how is it fair that God can sovereignly cause him to do evil?
OK let’s back up and look remember some of the basics.
God is the definition of good and everything he does is good and there is no evil within Him or anything He does.
1 John 1:5 (NASB) This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Psalms 119:68 You are good and you do good. Teach me your statutes!
Exodus 33:19 And the Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.”
Psalms 135:3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good!
Genesis 1:31 “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good”
Psalms 33:5 “the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD”
James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
Psalms 106:1 Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his loyal love endures!
Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good.
Psalms 119:68 You are good and you do good. Teach me your statutes!
God did not create evil. Evil is a corruption of what God has created.
Yeah but still if Judas was born good and admittedly made some mistakes and sins, couldn’t Judas decide to change his ways, do good, and not betray Jesus. After all he has freewill.
That is the problem and indeed the greatest problem for mankind. The natural man is spiritually dead and has no ability to choose good. At the time of the fall of man in the garden, sin and spiritual death entered the world and has infected all of Adams offspring, us. Man’s so called “freewill” is only the freewill to do evil. Not that all men are as evil as they can be, but apart from the influence and restraint of God, man devolves into greater and greater evil.
Man was indeed created in the Image of God, a free moral agent with the capability of choosing good or evil. By Genesis 5, Adam has a son, Seth who is identified no longer as in the image of God, but in the image of his fallen parent Adam.
Genesis 5:1-3 (ESV) This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
Romans 1:21,24,26,28 (NKJV) 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.…………………………….. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, …………….26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions.………………………. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
As a man rejects the knowledge of God he enters into a death spiral of evil which when left to his own devices will result in an exponential increase in depravity. Unless God chooses to restrain, we can end up with the evil Pharaoh of the Exodus, King Ahab, Herod, Hitler, Manson, or Judas.
This is the doctrine of the depravity of man which has been understood and taught by Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Spurgeon and those who embrace reformed theology. The inherent depravity of man was the basis of the “dust up” within the early church between Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius.
Augustine believed that man was born with a sinful fallen nature and was incapable of seeking the goodness of God, could not even understand or accept His salvation and could not be saved unless a Holy God proactively and unilaterally initiated the process. As the scripture says faith was a gift and not something that can exist within the believer unless God wills it.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Colossians 2:13 (NASB) When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
A dead man has no ability to do anything.
Romans 7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.
John 6:44 (NASB) “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
Romans 3:10-12 (NIV2011) As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Man’s position is hopeless unless God performs an “intervention”. God soveriegnly chooses those he desires to save and not others.
Deuteronomy 7:6 (NKJV) “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
John 15:16 (HCSB) You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
John 10:27-29 (NKJV) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
Augustine of Hippo speaks to the issue of God’s divine election.
Augustine Chapter 16.–Why the Gift of Faith is Not Given to All.
Faith, then, as well in its beginning as in its completion, is God’s gift; and let no one have any doubt whatever, unless he desires to resist the plainest sacred writings, that this gift is given to some, while to some it is not given. But why it is not given to all ought not to disturb the believer, who believes that from one all have gone into a condemnation, which undoubtedly is most righteous; so that even if none were delivered therefrom, there would be no just cause for finding fault with God. Whence it is plain that it is a great grace for many to be delivered, and to acknowledge in those that are not delivered what would be due to themselves; so that he that glorieth may glory not in his own merits, which he sees to be equalled in those that are condemned, but in the Lord. But why He delivers one rather than another,–”His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out.” [Rom. xi. 33] For it is better in this case for us to hear or to say, “O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” [Rom. ix. 20] than to dare to speak as if we could know what He has chosen to be kept secret. Since, moreover, He could not will anything unrighteous.
OK, OK I get it, unless God does a work a man cannot be saved. It is God’s will to choose to save some but how does that relate to the will of Judas to choose to do evil?
Understand, Judas’s part was not apart from his own will. Even though God ordained that Judas would be the one of the Twelve who would betray Christ, it was not apart from the desire of Judas. Judas was no robot. Our Lord did not simply allocate to an unwilling Judas the part of the villain in the crucifixion. Such a thing would be inconsistent with the character of Jesus Christ. It is also inconsistent with the historical record. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, He endeavored to drive Judas to repentance, time and time again, with His love, His pleas, and His rebukes. So although Judas’s treachery fit into the plan of God, God did not design him as a treacherous man. He became a traitor to Christ by his own choice. God merely designed his treachery into the divine plan. He took Judas, wretched as he was, and fitted him into His plan. If God was responsible for making Judas what he was, Jesus would have pitied him rather than rebuked Him.
Judas Iscariot, then, was the chosen instrument of God, not apart from his own will, to betray Christ and bring about His death. This wretched man–evil as he was, by his own desire–was designed into God’s plan. And to show that it was not God’s will apart from Judas’s will, all the way along and at every opportunity, Jesus gave him warnings and pleas to bring him to repentance and salvation. And at every point he turned it down. We see that clearly in John 13………Judas wasn’t deceived; he was a phony. He understood the truth, and he posed as a believer. Furthermore, he was good at it–the cleverest hypocrite we read about in all the Scriptures, for no one ever suspected him. He had everyone fooled except Jesus, who knew his heart.
And mark it, wherever God’s work is done, there are impostors like Judas. There will always be hypocrites among the brethren. The favorite trick of Satan and those he employs is to “disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:15). The devil is a master at making his work look good–and he is busily at work among the Lord’s people. (2)
So I guess the issue comes back to the inherent evil within Judas and why God chooses to intervene to inhibit the evil action of some and some he does not.
This in theology would be the reprobation issue. Wayne Grudem Systematic Theology Reprobation: Is the sovereign decision of God, before creation, to pass over some persons, in sorrow, deciding not to save them and punished them for their sins and thereby manifest his justice.
But what about His foreordaining or predestinating what comes to pass? If God foreordains reprobation does this not obliterate the distinction between positive-negative and involve a necessity of force? If God foreordains reprobation does this not mean that God forces, compels, or coerces the reprobate to sin? Again the answer must be negative.
If God, when He is decreeing reprobation, does so in consideration of the reprobate’s being already fallen, then He does not coerce him to sin. To be reprobate is to be left in sin, not pushed or forced to sin. If the decree of reprobation were made without a view to the fall, then the objection to double predestination would be valid and God would be properly charged with being the author of sin. But Reformed theologians have been careful to avoid such a blasphemous notion. Berkouwer states the boundaries of the discussion clearly:
On the one hand, we want to maintain the freedom of God in election, and on the other hand, we want to avoid any conclusion which would make God the cause of sin and unbelief.G. C. Berkouwer, Divine Election (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1960), p. 181.
God’s decree of reprobation, given in light of the fall, is a decree to justice, not injustice. In this view the biblical a priori that God is neither the cause nor the author of sin is safeguarded. (3)
God works evil in us (that is, by means of us) not through God’s own fault, but by reason of our own defect. We being evil by nature, and God being good, when He impels us to act by His own acting upon us according to the nature of His omnipotence, good though He is in Himself, He cannot but do evil by our evil instrumentality; although, according to His wisdom, He makes good use of this evil for His own glory and for our salvation. Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will (Westwood: Fleming H. Revell, 1957), p. 206.
Paul explains how God raised up Pharaoh and put him in the position of allowing his evil to increase in hardness and then used him for the purpose of displaying God’s power.
Romans 9:13-23 (NASB) 13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make know the the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
Nebuchadnezzar the most powerful pagan ruler on earth recognizes god’s sovereign power and authority.
Daniel 4:32,35 (ESV) And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”…………………………………….. 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
God uses the brutal Assyrians to punish His own people and lets the Assyrians think it is their idea alone. They do not realize they are doing God’s will and ultimately He punishes them for their evil.
Isaiah 10:5-19 (ESV) 5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! 6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; 8 for he says: “Are not my commanders all kings? 9 ……………………………………………… When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones. ……………………………………………………………..15 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! 16 Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.
So I guess Judas was a bad guy and and God used this bad guy to ultimately achieve a good purpose. OK I guess that works.
Genesis 50:20 (ESV) As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
(2) Unmasking the Betrayer Copyright 2007, Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission..http://www.gty.org/resources/positions/p26/unmasking-the-betrayer
Image: “God is light; in Him, there is no darkness at all.” —1 John 1:5 (NIV)… designed by Dean Renninger…
NOT !!!! The general order is believed to indicate the relative closeness of their personal relationship with Jesus. Despite the variations, Peter and the brothers James and John are always listed first, which is consistent with their relationships with Jesus. Judas is always listed last, which may indicate his relative lack of a personal relationship with Christ. Additionally, the only documented dialogue between Jesus and Judas involves Judas being rebuked by Jesus after his greed-motivated remark to Mary, John 12:1-8 (ESV) Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”, Judas’ denial of his betrayal Matthew 26:25 (ESV) Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”, and the betrayal itself Luke 22:48 (ESV) but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” .This is the doctrine of the depravity of man which has been understood and taught by Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Spurgeon and those who embrace reformed theology. The inherent depravity of man was the basis of the “dust up” within the early church between Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius. Colossians 2:13 (NASB) When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, Paul explains how God raised up Pharaoh and put him in the position of allowing his evil to increase in hardness and then used him for the purpose of displaying God’s power. In accordance with the title 17 U.S. C. section 107, the material in this post is shown without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
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