Matthew 14:14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver Him to you?” They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From that time he sought opportunity to betray Him…..20 Now when evening had come, He was reclining at the table with the twelve. 21 As they were eating, He said, “Truly I tell you that one of you will betray Me.” 22 And they were greatly distressed, and each one began to ask him, “It is not me, is it, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish, the same will betray Me. 24The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of Him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who betrayed Him, answered, “It is not me, is it, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You said it.” NHEB
Luke 22:3 Satan entered into Judas, who was called Iscariot, who was numbered with the twelve. 4 He went away, and talked with the chief priests and captains about how he might deliver him to them. 5They were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6He consented, and sought an opportunity to deliver him to them in the absence of the crowd. NHEB
John 13: 2 And during the meal, the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him…..21 When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I tell you that one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom he spoke. 25 He, leaning back, as he was, on Jesus’ chest, asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus therefore answered, “It is he to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” NHEB
The Jewish leadership has been trying to figure out how to get Jesus when they are suddenly helped by Judas. While hard to get past his betrayal, we have two concerns when it comes to Judas. First is whether Judas had a choice, i.e., free will, or was this predetermined? Second, is whether Judas is residing in Hell or not. Hard to answer but what we do know, is that God’s will was accomplished.
In his book, Renaissance, Os Guiness states that Bible shows both free will and predestination. Our approach is to take Scripture and try to reason it out. As we do so, the limits of that reason cause us to focus on one side versus than the other. He uses the shipwreck story from Acts 27 as an example. Paul has been arrested and is on the ship to be returned to Rome. Despite their fears, Paul tells them that although the ship will sink, Paul will get to Rome and no one will die. Even though Paul knew that it was the will of God that the people on the ship would be saved, his actions on the boat were still a part of bringing about that will.
Although the early church talked about Judas, he became a little more irrelevant from the first century until the third century. Starting with Origen (185-253 A.D) was the idea of universalism and the thought that ultimately everyone will be saved. Roughly a hundred years later, a number of priests and nuns had abandoned the church during a period of persecution but wanted to come back after things had returned to normal. Augustine decided that they could return, but only if they confessed. In Augustinian reasoning, all sins must be confessed before death and because Judas died by suicide, this is an unforgivable sin as there is no way for him to then confess his sin and be forgiven.
People on the Origen side would argue that by giving the money back, it is possible that this is where Judas repents. Once he realizes that Jesus will be put to death, he then kills himself in order to be the first to meet Jesus on the other side so that he can ask forgiveness then. This has some relevance to our time as Pope Francis has a photograph in his office of a carved image from a church in France that shows Judas hanging himself on one side and on the other side, someone who looked like a shepherd picking up Judas’ dead body and placing it across his shoulders. For a Catholic, this would suggest Purgatory and the idea that in life (and at our death) we are a mixed bag. While we might look at this as a second chance theology, Jesuits tend to think that our first chance occurs at death with the orientation of our earthly lives determining which direction we go from there.
Among the questions to ponder is if Judas was any worse that all of the disciples who simply ran away or of those people on Palm Sunday who changed their tune later in the week. For someone like Augustine, Peter and Judas were the same person except that Peter stayed alive and was able to repent of his sins regarding Christ. Other considerations regarding Judas are whether or not he actually repented when he gave the money back and whether or not he had faith in Jesus as Lord. Many Protestants will take the view that since Judas betrayed Jesus, he lacked faith (and is not saved) which makes everything else irrelevant. Could he have been part of Jesus’ harrowing of Hades on the Saturday before resurrection? Was he included when Jesus, on the cross, asked the Father to forgive those who put Him there? In summary: is Judas saved? Don’t know. Could he be saved? Perhaps.
Going in a different direction, there can be some confusion about the timing of the Last Supper as John appears to suggest a different night compared to the other three Gospels. There is much to be said (and is) on the subject but the starting points are the difference between the Jewish way of reckoning time versus that of the Romans. We also need to have a better understanding of how Jewish festivals were celebrated. For example, the instructions in Exodus 12:17-18 are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread on 14th day of the month (Nisan) and to continue to eat unleavened bread until the 21st of the month. Also, major festival and feast days were considered as Sabbath days no matter what day of the week they occurred on which can confuse the meaning to us of the day of preparation. Here are some links that go into greater detail:
https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/9134/reconciling-date-of-the-crucifixion