Judas Iscariot, << JOO duhs ihs KAR ee uht, >> was one of 12 apostles of Jesus Christ mentioned in the Bible. Judas is notorious for having betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem. According to the New Testament, the Jewish authorities had been looking for a chance to arrest Jesus. They enlisted Judas to reveal Jesus’s place of prayer so they could arrest him without interference from his supporters. Several Gospels say that Judas volunteered for this job in exchange for money.
Some interpreters of the New Testament have tried to lessen Judas’s moral fault by arguing that Satan entered him (Luke 22:3-6 and John 13:2, 27) or that the betrayal was necessary to fulfill God’s plan. The Gospel of Matthew tells that Judas later felt regret and hanged himself. Other parts of the New Testament suggest that Judas should be considered blameworthy. In Luke 22:22, Jesus says, “For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” The Acts of the Apostles 1:18 indicates that Judas died when he fell down and burst open in a field that he had bought with his reward money.
Another viewpoint surfaced in 2006, when scholars authenticated the Gospel of Judas. It presents Judas as Jesus’s most faithful follower and the only apostle who truly understood his teaching. In it, Jesus seems to ask Judas to betray him so that after his death he will be able to return to his heavenly home.
