Was Judas the devil

Answer 1

No. Judas was just a man. The Bible does tell us, however, that at the critical moment... the Devil possessed him:

"Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve." (Luke 22:3)

Judas did betray Jesus, which meant that the Devil possessed him, for the Christian religion believes that the Devil possesses a sinner.

Another answerIt is interesting that the most condemning gospel against Judas is that one written by John. Only in his account do we learn that Judas carried the disciples' money bag and helped himself to it, before he betrayed Jesus for a bribe of "thirty pieces of silver" and by treacherously and callously identifying him on the arrest with a kiss. Let's not forget that John was Jesus' closest friend; he was the only disciple not to desert Jesus and in retrospect he would have been the one with the biggest axe to grind against Judas. It certainly shows in his account!

However, it is in Matthew's account of Judas' activities that we learn that after his betrayal, he was remorseful and gave the money back to the priests, and eventually hanged himself out of remorse.

But, maybe to understand the reason for Judas' betrayal we have to look at Jesus' own words. 'Hurry and do what you must!" In John's account we see that Judas is chosen by Jesus by his giving him a piece of bread at the meal.

One must then as the question, if Judas hadn't betrayed Jesus, what would have happened? There would not have been an arrest. There would not have been a trial. There wouldn't have been a Crucifixion - or a resurrection. By Judas performing this most treacherous of tasks then, we must ask the question: was he actually, even though we might find it tasteless and against all we have believed about him, actually doing God's will? It was God's will that Jesus would be crucified. It was God's will, therefore, that there had to be a trial and an arrest - and Judas was all part of that plan. And if not him, then someone else would have been in his shoes.

When thinking of Judas, it is natural to think of a traitor. Traitors aim to destroy a society by murderng the monarch or colluding with an enemy. But in Judas' case the matter is highly complex, for in betraying Jesus Judas set in motion the one event that would be the salvation of humanity, and not its destruction.

Let's not forget that he also repented, and we are all promised forgiveness of our sins, however bad, if we repent. Why then should we receive forgiveness and a new start, and not Judas?

More than that, we hear in Matthew's gospel that after the resurrection Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples. Who was the missing disciple? Judas? Well, we are told of the same event in John's gospel and the missing discpile turns out to be Thomas.

So, maybe Judas was reinstated with the others before his suicide. Maybe he received Christ's forgiveness. We just don't know. But we do know that here was a man, whether we like it or not, was, by his treacherous deed, instrumental in our own salvation and the salvation of every human who puts their trust in Jesus.

Maybe, then, we should treat him less than a traitor, and more as the poor guy chosen to do the dirty work. And there, but by the grace of God, could go any one of us.

Answer 2

AnswerNo. Judas or Judah was a popular Jewish name of the first century. However, Judas Iscariot became the Christian anti-hero because of his betrayal of Jesus.