Is Judas a villain for betraying Jesus or a hero for helping Jesus fulfill the Messianic Prophecy?

Answer 1

Many opinions, as one would expect1. Balanced Answers

1. What a good question! The problem is that The Bible definitely regards Judas as a traitor. In the Gospels it says that 'The Devil entered him...' and elsewhere it refers to Judas as a 'traitor' and 'the one who betrayed him'. But the fact remains that he was instrumental in fulfilling the messianic prophesy, and, as such, was used by God in that fulfilment. God used many strange people in the past like Jacob (a cheat, liar and very poor father), Jonah (a coward) and even Moses (a reluctant leader who had a speech impediment) as instrumental in his revelation of himself and in his ultimate salvation for humanity. However, if Judas had not done the betrayal, then someone else would have done, for the prophesy to be fulfilled. The really interesting part is that Judas repented of his sins before he died, and tried to do something about it by going back to the high priests. Jesus said that any sin, no matter how large, (with the exception of 'sins against the Holy Spirit') would be forgivable if the sinner repented. Jesus reminded the clever-dicks out to catch him that a sinner should be forgiven, not 7 times but 70 times 7. So, if Judas had repented, then he would be forgiven, however difficult it is for us to accept this. As a result there is a movement in the RC church who are campaigning for him to be declared a saint, difficult and strange this seems. Moreover, if Adolf Hitler TRULY repented and asked forgiveness the moment before he shot himself in the bunker at the end of WW2, then he would also be forgiven. Yes, when we get to heaven we will be very surprised when we discover just who is there!

2. Evidently Judas did not consider himself to be much of a hero once he saw the consequences of his actions. Matthew 27:3-5 records that he repented of shedding innocent blood and then hanged himself.
Dictionaries even don't agree with the hero tag as Judas is a by-word for treachery deceit and double-dealing.
Some groups of people have considered him a hero through time. An unusual example is the Sairi tribe of head-hunters in Irian-Jaya as related in Don Richardson's book Peace-Child. When told the story involving Judas they regarded him as a hero as they could relate the treachery involved to their process of befriending and 'fattening up' their potential meals!

2. Traitor

1. And here lies the answer to much confusion. Just because something is prophesied to happen doesn't mean it has to happen. It can be prevented and God can change his mind if we change our ways. Judas is a villain because he betrayed Jesus. Just because Jesus knew it would happen doesn't change the fact he crossed him. Judas was judged and cursed for what he'd done even though they knew it would be that way.

2. Jesus said: "True, the Son of man is going away, just as it is written concerning him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been finer for that man if he had not been born." - Mark 14:21

3. Well he may have betrayed the Christ but his actions after that is what would have mattered. He could have asked for forgiveness instead of dooming himself by hanging. It was his betrayal that was condemned not his life. Jesus understands and would still want him saved since people like Judas was the reason He came down. But instead he hanged himself and that made him twice the betrayer he already was. Not very heroic.

3. Hero

1. It can be argued that if someone like Judas had not weakened to the devil's tempting and betrayed Jesus, then Jesus would not have been crucified to death, would not have risen from the dead, would not have ascended into heaven, and therefore there would be no Christianity.

Jesus, knowing the future that we humans can't, chose Judas as his betrayer so that the Messianic Prophesy would be fulfilled. Yes Judas was a Hero to his sympathisers.

2. JUDAS - ZEALOT
I personally think that this Judas syndrome gets a too simple a light put on it nowadays a lot of times he is just labelled as a Betrayer.
But if you look at what was actually happening at the time and under Roman occupation the Jewish people believed that the Messiah will come and lead the Jewish people to a great victory. And be a great military leader so when there was so much tension under Roman occupation and Jesus was preaching forgiveness especially to Barabbas one of the Zealots it's not hard to understand that Judas was disillusioned with Jesus practising the opposite to what the Jewish people expected him to be doing.With sayings like "Forgive them all" and the lion will lie down for the lamb" and "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar" The Jewish people were under oppression and hardship and were being murdered children and all by the Romans without trial or mercy...I think Judas believed in his cause and would probably have thought like most Jews do today that Jesus was not the messiah. But he was not the only one to lose his faith either so did the other disciples that how could they believe that the Messiah could die the death of a common criminal? Only on the resurrection did they believe again,but Judas had already taken his life...