Judas committed suicide. Sunday school teaches us that much. So, do pastors. Today we really don’t think much about him. He’s the guy who betrayed Jesus and killed himself.
But people thought differently thousands of years ago. While most certainly saw him as the betrayer, there’s lots of stories about him.
The Gospel of Judas, for example, tells an account of Jesus instructing Judas to betray him; Judas’ action, therefore, was not an act of betrayal, rather of obedience. Judas, further, was given teaching the other disciples had not received.
If you believe in secret teachings, you might be a Gnostic, because that is essentially what’s going on in the book. The contents of the book is dated, at the earliest, 120AD, which means it came about much too late to being taken seriously as a canonical work—still, it shows us that some people did believed much differently about Judas than we do today.
In The Gospel of Barnabas, Judas is transformed into the image of Jesus and takes his place at the crucifixion. How did Jesus rise from the dead? He didn’t, according to this account, he never actually died—Judas did.
You can take the Sunday school version of Judas and say he’s the guy responsible for Jesus’ death, but if you believe that Jesus forgives all sins, then what about betrayal? In Matthew 26:50, Jesus calls Judas “friend” even when he knows what he’s doing—he seems willing to forgive even in Judas’ darkest moment. It should also be noted, however, that Judas never called Jesus Lord—he always referred to him as a Rabbi.
Was Judas forgiven? It certainly was a question on the mind of the early church. The answer really depends on whether he had finally concluded that Jesus was Lord. The Bible is clear that suicide is sin, but it’s not the worst thing you can do—the worst thing is dying without realizing who Jesus really is.
But people thought differently thousands of years ago. While most certainly saw him as the betrayer, there’s lots of stories about him.
The Gospel of Judas, for example, tells an account of Jesus instructing Judas to betray him; Judas’ action, therefore, was not an act of betrayal, rather of obedience. Judas, further, was given teaching the other disciples had not received.
If you believe in secret teachings, you might be a Gnostic, because that is essentially what’s going on in the book. The contents of the book is dated, at the earliest, 120AD, which means it came about much too late to being taken seriously as a canonical work—still, it shows us that some people did believed much differently about Judas than we do today.
In The Gospel of Barnabas, Judas is transformed into the image of Jesus and takes his place at the crucifixion. How did Jesus rise from the dead? He didn’t, according to this account, he never actually died—Judas did.
You can take the Sunday school version of Judas and say he’s the guy responsible for Jesus’ death, but if you believe that Jesus forgives all sins, then what about betrayal? In Matthew 26:50, Jesus calls Judas “friend” even when he knows what he’s doing—he seems willing to forgive even in Judas’ darkest moment. It should also be noted, however, that Judas never called Jesus Lord—he always referred to him as a Rabbi.
Was Judas forgiven? It certainly was a question on the mind of the early church. The answer really depends on whether he had finally concluded that Jesus was Lord. The Bible is clear that suicide is sin, but it’s not the worst thing you can do—the worst thing is dying without realizing who Jesus really is.
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