“Was Judas forgiven?  After all, the scripture tells us he regretted betraying Jesus and even tried to return the money he was given by the chief priests.”

This is a very interesting question. Let’s start by saying that his forgiveness was at least  possible.  It was certainly an option he could have chosen.  True, he betrayed Jesus, but Peter denied Jesus when the chips were down.  Peter then went into the woods and wept bitterly.  He repented and became such a faithful disciple that decades later he did offer his life for Jesus, very courageously under the snake, Emperor Nero.  I’m not sure a betrayal was worse than a denial. One could maybe make such a case, but they were both sins and Jesus died to forgive all sin. So Judas’ betrayal in and of itself did not put him at a point of no return.

Certainly the scriptures portray Judas as feeling bad about what he did and returning the money.  He does indeed become a sympathetic character.  I think we’d all like to believe that Judas will be in heaven.

There’s only one problem:  The scripture says that Judas ended up in hell.  No, the word hell is not used but there are two passages that discuss his eternal destiny.  One, at least, strongly suggests hell. The other cannot possibly be interpreted any other way.

Here’s the first passage: Acts 1:15-26

 "In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus- he was one of our number and shared in this ministry."

(With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

"For," said Peter, "it is written in the book of Psalms,

"'May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,'

and,

"'May another take his place of leadership.'  

Notice Peter is still referring to Judas as wicked.  Certainly Peter is unaware of any repentance, even though Peter is aware of the return of the money.  I know he says that Judas bought a field with the reward but it was common for Jews in those days to speak with great hyperbole.  What happened, of course, is that the Sanhedrin purchased a field with the money Judas returned to them.  Peter describes the incident as if Judas himself purchased the field, meaning that Judas’ money had purchased the field.

He also says that Judas “went where he belongs.”  Usually when a believer died, the person  was described as having gone to the Lord. He went where he belonged seems pretty derogatory.

I suppose this one verse isn’t enough to make the case but it certainly looks to me like Peter is assuming Judas went to hell.

In any event, Peter knows that Judas felt bad and even did some degree of repentance but he still does not talk as if there had been the full repentance of being restored to Christ.

Why not?  We can only speculate.  You see, most of Jesus’ disciples expected Jesus to overthrow the Romans like a warier and then rule as king of Israel. This is exactly why they were following him and after this kingly Messiah took the throne, they expected to rule and reign with him.

Many times, Jesus tried to tell them that long before ruling Israel as king, He was going to die on the cross and rise from the dead. They too, were going to suffer if they followed him. But people have very selective memories and very selective attention spans. They believe what they want to believe. They cherry pick the parts they like.  Despite His many predictions, the disciples were completely shocked when Jesus died on the cross.

My own theory is that Judas was the only one who was actually listening to what Jesus was saying. Judas said to himself, “This man isn’t planning on ruling as king. He’s planning to die. What did I get myself into?  This is not what I bargained for.”  And that, I believe, is the reason Judas betrayed Jesus.

Yes, he felt bad, but he still never put his full faith in Christ and never fully repented for the totality of his sins. Anyone can feel bad and regret a choice.  That’s not exactly the same as trusting Christ.

But here are the words which clinch the matter.  Before Jesus died, he made a prediction about Judas.

Matt 26:24 :The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born." 

Now let’s just think about this logically. If Judas is in heaven, then it is better that he was born. To be in a situation where it would have been better to not be born at all, must be the situation of hell.

Hollywood gives us a much different, distorted understanding of Judas. In fact, they always make him out to be the hero.  “Judas had to betray Jesus. He did it because he loved Jesus.  He did it to help Jesus in his mission.”

Well, today we weren’t visiting Hollywood.  We were reading the scriptures.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Judas, according to scripture, is not in heaven.

All Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE

New International Version  NIV

Copyright  1973, 1979, 1984 by International Bible Society

Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

All rights reserved.

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