Q: Judas betrayed Jesus to fulfill an Old Testament prophecy. Why is Judas considered a traitor?
Friday, January 18, 2008
Is it fair to blame Judas if he was fulfilling prophecy?
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The purpose of this blog is to provide a safe place to dialog about questions of faith and doubt, theism and atheism. It is driven by questions submitted at La Croix Church during our current series, "The Problem with God."
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8 comments:
Jesus chose Judas because he would betray him. Jesus had an encounter with Judas as a child, casting a demon out of him. Judas hit Jesus on the side where He was pierced with a spear. Jesus would later choose Judas to fulfill His mission on Earth, because Jesus, knowing all things, knew Judas would betray Him and thus set into motion the events leading to salvation for those who would accept Jesus.
From what source are you getting your material? This isn't in the Bible.
The encounter with Judas as a child comes from the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the fact that Jesus used Judas to do what needed to be done is evident in both the Bible and from the Gospel of Judas. John says himself at the end of his gospel that there are many other things which Jesus did that were not contained within the books we now have as our Bible. The website, for anyone who wishes to check out the Arabic Gospel is http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/gospels/infarab.htm
Like other apocryphal books, the book you reference was not accepted into the New Testament canon by the early church - for good reasons. It was compiled in the sixth century, 500 years after the youngest of the New Testament books, and does not have authoritative, eyewitness authorship. The Arabic Gospel is similar to legendary stories about George Washington cutting down the cherry tree: stories that may have an element of truth but were largely embellished. The story you mention about Judas has no New Testament backing.
Carbon dating is shakey at best. Besides, how do we know these other gospels weren't copied by someone who knew said apostle, much like Mark copied for Peter, and Luke, the great investigative journalist, wrote his from gathering sources including Matthew, and eyewitness testamonies?
We know from manuscript evidence and what the early church fathers report. They were closer to the source and had a better handle on what was legit or not. The ultimate test is the content itself: Does it jive with the other testimonies? If not, then it isn't a true testimony.
It's simply a different interpretation of the events. Why did Jesus choose Judas if He knew Judas would betray Him? Because He had a job for Judas to do, that was to turn Him in to the authorities so that He could fulfill His purpose that God sent Him for.
Never answered my last post? It's been over 3 months.
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