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tonyhabibi

posted on Apr 09, 2007 - 03:10 AM

Source Wikipedia

1) If Jesus foresees Judas' betrayal, then it may be argued that Judas has no free will, and cannot avoid betraying Jesus. If Judas cannot control his betrayal of Jesus, then he is not morally responsible for his actions. The question has been approached by Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, which differentiates between foreknowledge and predestination, and argues that the omnipotence of the divine is not sufficient grounds for eliminating the existence of free will.

2) If Judas is sent to Hell for his betrayal, and his betrayal was a necessary step in the humanity-saving death of Jesus Christ, then Judas is being punished for saving humanity. This goes hand-in-hand with the "free will" argument, and Aquinas's Summa deals with the issue of free will in demons and other beings instrumental in the life of Jesus that are nevertheless damned.

3) If Jesus only suffered while dying on the cross, and then ascended into Heaven, while Judas must suffer for eternity in Hell, then Judas has suffered much more for the sins of humanity than Jesus, and his role in the Atonement is that much more significant

4 ) Does Jesus' plea, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do," (Luke 23:34) not apply to Judas? Is his atonement insufficient for Judas' sins?


5 ) It has been speculated that Judas' damnation, which seems to be possible from the Gospels' text, may not actually stem from his betrayal of Christ, but from the despair which caused him to subsequently commit suicide. This position is not without its problems, but it does avoid the paradox of Judas' predestined act setting in motion both the salvation of all mankind and his own damnation

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geomekhaiel

posted on Apr 09, 2007 - 03:59 AM

1. This question is impossible to answer by the guidelines that are given in it from the first two sentences. The reason for that is the fact that God only foresaw Judas betraying him but did not predestine him to do so. God does not predestine anyone to do anything but each person does every action by their own free will.

God’s foreknowledge of the future is can be summarized very simply by one phrase: God sees the future just as we see the past. The only difference is that God remembers everything perfectly, whereas we may forget some things.

Judas was always in complete control of all his actions, therefore he is completely responsible for his own actions and was never predestined to do them.

Questions 2 and 3 are automatically answered through a complete understanding of God’s foreknowledge; which I tried my best to provide in the above statements.

4. Christ’s please to the Father was no more then a plea. These people have to change their lives in order for this plea to have any affect.

Pope Shenouda, in “The Last Seven Words of the Lord on the Cross” speculates that one of the many reasons that Christ made this plea was in order to show His goodness to the right hand thief who would believe in Him after seeing how great and forgiving He is for asking forgiving those who crucified Him.

Question 5 is a bit hard to understand but I’ll try to stab at it:

Judas’s damnation was mainly a caused by the fact that he committed suicide. Suicide is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because you are taking away the gift of the Holy Spirit away from yourself and you will never have the power to repent again from doing it. The Bible teaches us that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the only sin that is unforgivable.

The Bible also never shows anywhere where Judas offered repentance for his sin of selling the Savior of world for 30 pieces of silver (Betrayal of Christ). If Judas would have just repented and continued to live his life in purity then God would have forgave Him (Yup, God is that loving).

Judas only admitted that he sinned (Matt 27:4) but he never repented.

George Mekhaiel

Joined: Aug 05, 2003 | Posts: 1710
Location: Saint George COC

AntoniosHenry

posted on Apr 09, 2007 - 07:20 PM

Matthew 26:24
The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

Mark 14:21
The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”

Luke 22:22
And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”

Our Lord Jesus Christ was going to be crucified and killed for our salvation regardless of whether Judas betrayed Him or not. All Judas did was to make it easier for the Scribes and Pharisees to capture Our Lord when there was not a huge crowd because they would revolt. Judas has no part in our Salvation, nor what he an instrument or did he help in anyway. In the above quote it clearly states "The Son of Man goes as it has been determined" so regardless of Judas or not, Our Lord was going to get crucified for our salvation because that how it has been determined. No one had to betray Our Lord for Him to get crucified, all Judas did was make it easier on the chief priets to get a hold of Our Lord, but regardless of Judas, they were going to eventually get a hold of our Lord.

Matthew 21:46
But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

Judas could've repented and our Lord gave him multiple chances:

1) When He washed their feet and told them not all are clean, warning and reminding Judas

2) When He told Him "Friend, what have you come", try to appeal to him as a "Friend".

To sum this up

2) If Judas is sent to Hell for his betrayal, and his betrayal was a necessary step in the humanity-saving death of Jesus Christ, then Judas is being punished for saving humanity

No Judas betrayal was no a necessary step in the humantiy saving death.

Hope this helps.

Joined: Aug 26, 2005 | Posts: 68

alexg313

posted on Apr 09, 2007 - 08:36 PM

Just to reaffirm what Antonios said, Judas could've repented at any time, the same way St. Peter was able to repent and be forgiven after denying Christ.

Joined: Nov 27, 2003 | Posts: 45