How would you define Judas?

Question

I always thought Jesus was a good kind of guy. No i'm not being sarcastic here. Hear me out.
If Judas didn't turn Jesus in, he never would have been sacrificed to allow people into heaven. Right?
Jesus knew early in the game that he would have to not only give up his life but suffer terribly to compensate for the sins of man. And he knew who would deliver him to the romans.
And Judas felt so horrible about what he did that he commited suicide. EVEN Though. IF he hadn't done what he did no one on earth would have the possibility of heaven.
And Juda wasn't the only one to deny a relationship with Jesus and infact Jesus told the people before hand not to wory about denying him, but to focus on his teachings and spread the gospel after he was gone.
So out of curiosity-not out of spite nor anger or Zealousy. How should he be defined?

Answer 1

Judas was a person that had no idea what Jesus was talking about most of the time. He was thinking that Jesus was going to establish His kingdom immediately and tear down the Roman rule. Judas wanting to "force" Jesus' hand by turning Him in. When Judas saw what he had done, that in fact things weren't going to go the way he wanted, that's when he went out and hung himself. He totally missed what Jesus was teaching...in all the time that he spent walking and living in Jesus' company.

It is incorrect thinking to believe that without Judas, Jesus would not have died on the cross. This was God's plan of salvation and He would have brought it to bear anyway. Judas will always be known as having betrayed Jesus. A good warning I think, to people who think they may understand Jesus and yet miss what He really says, by a mile.

Answer 2

Judas was simply a man. Chosen to carry out this 1 task, if it wasn't him, then it would have been someone else and probably a later time, in either case, there was no denying the fact that Jesus was going to suffer and be given up to the Romans, it was only a matter of time and who, it could have been anyone really, but God chose Judas, like He chooses everyone else.

Answer 3

The apocryphal Gospel of Judas (found relatively recently) suggests something similiar. Judas was, you could say, misunderstood.

Judas learned the secret knowledge (gnosis) of Jesus, and conspired with Jesus to hand him over to the Romans so that Jesus's work could be fulfilled. In this view, Judas was a hero who should not be villified (and whose head certainly is not being munched upon by Satan for all eternity, as suggested by Dante).

Answer 4

If you google for prophecies relating to the crucifixion of Jesus in the O.T you'll find that an extensive script was ready for the occasion. So I think Judas was either framed or played along.
Wat mystifies me most is the position of the Pharisees, who would have been acquainted with these prophecies.

Answer 5

There are writing out there that offer a different concept of the trial and tribulation of Judas. But you must also remember that Judas also knew a head of time about what the actions of his would bring about. And another thing did he really have a choice about his betraying Jesus The Christ...... I just believe that somethings will be forever lost in our history of man-kind................................................................................

Answer 6

I would define him as a tortured soul, that although what he did was totally wrong, he didnt really have a choice in his actions, because it all was part of a bigger picture o great masterplan. So, in the end, he is like us, and we are like him. We do bad things, and regret it, but not because of our free will, but because we are a part of a great plan. In certain degree he was a sinner, but in a bigger degree he was just a simple man, with all his flaws, like any other, like us.

Answer 7

Yours is a problem many of us have, you are trying to make the Bible read what you want it to say. The Bible simply states that Judas Iscariot was a traitor.

Answer 8

I define "judas" as "a one-way peephole in a door."