Was Judas A Miracle-Working Disciple Of Jesus Who Lost His Salvation?

The name Judas was common during the first century, and there are several others with the same name in the New Testament (Mark 6:3; John 6:71, 13:26, 14:22; Mark 6:3). The name 'Iscariot" is believed to refer to a town in southern Judea called 'Kerioth' which was translated into the Greek from Hebrew as 'iskiariotes,' so his name means Judas from Kerioth. The other 11 disciples were from Galilee which makes Judas a bit of an outsider from the start.

What is astounding about Judas is that he witnessed the miracles of Jesus' side by side with Him and listened to His profound and enlightening teaching for three years, yet he stole from, and ultimately betrayed, Him (John 12:6; Matt 26:13-15).

Judas is a perfect example of those "who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come" yet turn away and can never be "renewed again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt" (Heb 6:4-7 ESV).

It is assumed by many that because Judas was a hand-picked follower of Jesus who was given to Him by the Father that he was therefore Born-Again and was able to work signs and wonders in the name of Jesus just as the other disciples.

Jesus knew (i.e. omniscience) from the very beginning what Judas would do. He told His disciples, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" (John 6:70 ESV).

Judas was not happy with what Jesus was doing and “went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him” (Matt 26:14-16 ESV).

At the Last Supper Jesus said to the Disciples, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean" (John 13:10-11 ESV).

Let's unpack those verses:

v10 "The one who has BATHED (Gk: louó = to wash for personal hygiene and ceremonially)

- "not need to WASH" (Gk: niptó = to cleanse the face, feet or hands)

- "and, except for his feet, but is completely CLEAN (Gk: katharos = clean, clear, pure in a Levitical sense of free

from corrupt desire).

- "And you are CLEAN (again Gk: katharos), but not every one of you."

v11 "For he knew who was to BETRAY (Gk: paradidómi = to give into the hands of another treacherously) - v11

"him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are CLEAN (again Gk: katharos)." (John 13:10-11 ESV)

Jesus emphasized the word 'clean' three times to let us know that Judas was not "clean" from his sins in the Levitical sense (John 13:10–11; Col 2:13).

The other disciples had no clue that Judas would turn on Jesus. When Jesus mentioned a betrayer in their midst, the other disciples worried if it could be them (John 13:22). Knowing of his betrayal "Jesus said, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot" (John 13:26 ESV).

No one suspected it was Judas even though Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly" (John 13:27 ESV). Judas immediately left the room and the other disciples apparently thought that he had probably been sent to buy more food or to give money to the poor as he was the designated treasurer of the ministry (vs 28–29).

I find it curious that even though Jesus revealed His divine omniscience regarding the action Judas would take, he still continued on with his betrayal. I think it might be because he was empowered by the devil to do what he did even though he was fully responsible for his actions (John 13:27).

It is surmised by some that the reason Judas betrayed Jesus was not just because he was greedy but to force the hand of Jesus to set up His Kingdom now and become the strong political leader that the people had been crying out for who would force the Roman oppressors to leave Israel.

After the supper, Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and took their blood money from the chief priests and then waited for an opportunity to betray Jesus (Matt 26:15-16).

"Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man; seize him." And he came up to Jesus at once and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you came to do." Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.' (Matt 26:48-50 ESV)