Moments later Y‘shua said, ― ̳Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?‘ Now He
meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him‖. (John 6:70-71)
In the upper room when Y‘shua washed the feet of the twelve, He distinguished between the need for what
might be called daily cleansing and the once-for-all washing of regeneration. There are two Greek words
used by John in this passage: ―louo‖, ̳to bathe‘; and ―nipto‖, ̳to wash up‘. Trench says of the difference
between these terms: ―... nipto‖ almost always express(es) the washing of a part of the body... while love-in,
which is not so much ̳to wash‘ as ̳to bathe‘... implies always, not the washing of a part of the body, but of
the whole....‖ (R. W. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (Marshallton, Delaware: The National
Foundation for Christian Education, n.d.) p. 151.) In addition, Y‘shua also differentiated between the eleven
who were ̳clean‘; that is, saved; and Judas who was not:
―Jesus said to him (Peter), ̳He who has bathed (louo„) needs only to wash (nipto„) his feet, but is completely
clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.‘ For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He
said, ̳Not all of you are clean‘‖ (John 13:10-11).
From these Scriptures, we conclude that Judas was an unbeliever, a son of perdition (John 17:12). ―The
exact expression, ho uios ta‘s apo‘leias, is used of the man of sin in 2 Thess. 2:3.‖ (Leon Morris, The Gospel
According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), p. 728, fn. 42.) As an unbeliever, Judas failed to grasp
who Y‘shua really was. Like Satan, who progressively came to control Judas, there was a stubborn refusal to
submit to Y‘shua as Lord of all. This insubordination may have been carefully concealed, but Judas‘ own
words betrayed his condition. When Y‘shua announced during the Passover meal that one of the twelve
would betray him, the eleven all responded, ―Surely not I, Lord?‖ (Matt 26:22). But when Judas spoke to the
Saviour, he said, ―Surely it is not I, Rabbi?‖ (Matt 26:25). Granted, this is a subtle slip of the tongue; but
nonetheless an indication of the condition of the heart of Judas.
The second reason given for the betrayal of Y‘shua is that of greed. This condition is most obvious from
several incidences. John is careful to inform us that Judas functioned as the treasurer of this little band
(John 12:6). Judas was especially irritated by Mary‘s seemingly wasteful use of her expensive perfume to
anoint Y‘shua. While the formal reason for his protest was that this could have been sold and the proceeds
distributed to the poor, the truth was that he resented not being able to steal from the proceeds which he
would have had in his keeping.
Another evidence of Judas‘ greed is to be found in his dealings with the religious leaders. His first recorded
words with them were, ―What are you willing to give me to deliver Him up to you?‖ (Matt 26:15).
Many scholars find it difficult to believe that a desire for money – especially a sum as insignificant as thirty
pieces of silver – could compel him to sell out the Saviour. But Y‘shua was not the master of Judas; money
was. It is amazing what men will do, even for a small amount of money.
The thirty pieces of silver: ―Yet none the less do we mark the deep symbolic significance of it all, in that the
Lord was, so to speak, paid for out of the Temple money which was destined for the purchase of sacrifices,
and that He, Who took on Him the form of a servant, was sold and bought at the legal price of a slave
(Exodus 21:32).‖ Alford Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1965), II, p. 477).
The third reason for Judas‘ ignominious act was that of ambition and self-seeking. This I arrive at by
inference, and thus some may not consider the evidence compelling. Several things suggest ambition to me.
Judas was in the final analysis, possessed by Satan to do this dastardly deed (John 6:70; 13:2, 27). We
should expect Judas to manifest the character traits of Satan; one of which was ambition and self-seeking
(cf. Isaiah 14:13-15; 1 Tim 3:7). I believe that Judas initially joined
this intimate group that followed the Saviour, expecting to further his
own position (not unlike the ambitions of some of the other disciples,
cf. Luke 22:24).
Some Bible students have determined by careful study that Judas
was sitting in the place of honour (second only to Y‘shua) during the
last supper (see layout on right). Many have gone on to suggest
from this that Y‘shua placed Judas here as a kind of last appeal to
him to change his mind. But the text gives us nothing to support this
conjecture. Indeed, the text (John 13) implies that when the
disciples entered the banquet room, they jockeyed for the best