The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Barbara Swanson of Batesville, Arkansas, from the tape, GC 1301-F, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 8."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1977. All Rights Reserved.

Question

Was Judas saved?

Answer

I wrote my thesis in seminary on that subject—on the subject of Judas Iscariot—because I was fascinated by him. Let me show you the several views. There are, incidentally, people who believe Judas was saved. There are many views.

1. The first view is what’s called the patriotic view, recorded in an Apocryphal book entitled, “The Story of Joseph of Arimathea.”

There were a lot of books written after the New Testament that were Apocryphal books, and one of them was this one, “The Story of Joseph of Arimathea.” And in that book, Judas is presented as the brother of Caiaphas, the high priest. He was persuaded by the Jewish leaders to become a member of Jesus’ inner circle. And when he got into Jesus’ inner circle as the brother of Caiaphas, he was a spy. And the reason the people, the leaders of Israel were always giving Jesus a hard time was because there was a guy in the camp who was always telling them what was going on. He was a member of the Sikkarii (sp?), which were the wild revolutionaries who were setting about to destroy Jesus.

Now that view is that Judas, poor soul, was a misguided patriot. The poor guy was working for the high priest. What better place for a guy to be. This guy was devoted to the high priest, and surely God would see him simply as a misguided patriot.

2. There is a second view, and that is what’s called the kingdom view.

This view is the liberal view, the view of liberal theologians today, and they say that the reason Judas betrayed Jesus was because he wanted to force Jesus into a situation where he would have to set up the kingdom. Judas was tired of everyone hassling Jesus. Judas was tired of the Romans ruling the world, the world in which they lived. And Judas just wanted to help Jesus get the kingdom going, so he betrayed him so he could get him in a position to do what he did. And he had a pure, positive, wonderful motive. And then when the kingdom didn’t happen, he went out and killed himself in terrible disappointment.

But that doesn’t make it. The patriotic view doesn’t make it because we have absolutely no evidence, and the second view of the kingdom aspect doesn’t make it because Jesus said, “One of you is a”—what—“is a devil—one of you is a devil.” And Jesus said, “It was better for that man if he’d never been”—what—“born.”

3. No, there was only one reason that Judas betrayed Jesus, and it was simple. It was greed. Greed.

He was an ungodly, ambitious, selfish man. He could have come to Jesus, but he didn’t. He is the greatest story of lost opportunity the world has ever, ever heard.

I forget who it was that wrote, “Man as of old by himself is priced. For thirty pieces Judas sold himself, not Christ.” And that’s right. He was a man totally dominated by greed. There are some who want to imagine that Judas was saved, but there’s no evidence whatsoever. “One of you is a devil,” said Jesus. And when he died, it says he went to his what? "His own place."

No, I don’t believe Judas was saved. He is even called the son of perdition.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Our websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986