Judas

[Pinkyyy]

I have read something that made me wonder - and I really don’t mean to stir something up, but I am curious (and not supporting this idea), but wanted to throw it out there.

Judas betrayed Jesus, we know that - but if he hadn’t would Christ have died on the cross for our sins? Was Judas meant to do this?

Some even go so far to say Jesus asked Judas to so that the prophecy could be fulfilled. There was that whole gospel of Judas thing a while back. What is you take on this?

Thanks for your reponse on this and God bless.

 

[dmar198]

Judas betrayed Jesus, we know that - but if he hadn’t would Christ have died on the cross for our sins? Was Judas meant to do this?

I believe that it was inherently necessary for our salvation that the Christ be betrayed. However, I do not know the reason; I only know that my belief is demonstrated in prophecy. According to biblical prophecy, Jesus was to be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, and thus led to death for our salvation.
Nevertheless, Judas was not originally meant to do this. Mankind was not meant to fall into sin. But that fall was a rejection of God, and our tendency to reject God is aptly demonstrated in Judas’ action. But God shows His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Therefore our God, Who is love, by nature shows His love to others (for love shares itself). But the highest form of love possible is to lay down one’s life for His friends: therefore our God, by His nature, needed to die to save us.
And this required a Fall, and this Fall culminated in that rejection of Christ by all men who sin. Judas holds a foremost place in this plan of salvation by his sin. Thus his sin, though unfortunate in our sense, was necessary in the greater sense. Pray that no others make his mistake of betraying the Lord in service of mammon.

 

[bogeydogg]

From the catechism…

314* We firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history. But the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God “face to face”, will we fully know the ways by which - even through the dramas of evil and sin - God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest for which he created heaven and earth.*

321 Divine providence consists of the dispositions by which God guides all his creatures with wisdom and love to their ultimate end.

323 Divine providence works also through the actions of creatures. To human beings God grants the ability to cooperate freely with his plans.

God is in control finally and fully, it through providence that God, being omnipotent, works out the course of history through the free will acts of sinful men. He does this not by force but by wisdom and love. Which one could say that the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus might not have seemed wise or loving, and yet it resulted in the greatest act of mercy and love the world has ever known because God providentially worked it out so that atonement could be fulfilled.

You should also note that while God allows us to cooperate with His plans, this also comes with the reverse assertion built in that we are also free to not cooperate with His plans. However, we cannot expect Him to lay aside His plan because we don’t care for it. He is, after all, God.