The purpose of this article is to examine
the timing of Judas’ death. When did Judas’ death happen? The traditional view
places his death around the time of crucifixion and definitely before the
resurrection. But 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 speaks about an appearance to the
twelve:
1 Corinthians 15:3-5
"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried,
and that he was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures, and
that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve......."
For many, this scripture has been a stumbling block
since, according to tradition, Judas’ death happened before the crucifixion and
therefore, if this tradition was right, then here the Word of God should have
written "eleven" instead of "twelve". The purpose of this
article is, among others, to throw light to this misunderstood, due to
traditional beliefs, scripture.
The investigation below starts by confirming that the
"twelve" of the above passage are the well known "twelve"
that included Judas. After that, we continue with a detailed analysis of the
gospel records that refer to the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus that
happened at the evening of the "first day of the week". Though this
appearance is not the appearance to the twelve, it is very important to examine
it since, as we will see, Judas was there when it happened. Apart from this,
the examination of this appearance is necessary for a good understanding of the
gospel record of the appearance to the twelve. After that, the investigation
will continue with the examination of the traditional view concerning the
timing of Judas’ death and the passage of Matthew 27:3-5 that is used to
support it. As we will see from our investigation Judas’s death did not happen
at the time that tradition puts it. Instead Judas was alive and saw the
resurrected Lord, only to commit suicide sometime after this.
According to the above given passage of 1 Corinthians
15, the resurrected Christ appeared to the twelve. To reconcile this reference
with the tradition according to which Judas’ death happened before the
crucifixion, it has been suggested that the twelve here are the old eleven
disciples plus Matthias that substituted Judas in Acts 1:26. However, a
conjecture like this is not supported neither from the references of the Word
of God regarding the time that Matthias was counted as one of the twelve nor
from the passages of the gospels that refer to some of the post- resurrection
appearances of Jesus Christ. But let's examine this issue more analytically.
It is evident that there is no change in a specific
group of people if there is no change in its composition. The original
composition of the group of the "twelve" disciples is given in
Matthew 10:1-4 as well as in Mark 3:14-18 and in Luke 6:13-16. Luke 6 for
example tells us:
Luke 6:13-16
"And when it was day he called his disciples to himself; and from them he chose twelve whom he also named apostles: Simon,
whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and
Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called
the Zealot; Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also became a
traitor."
As it is evident from this passage, the original
composition of the group of the twelve included Judas Iscariot. Thus, whenever
we read "twelve" we should understand it as a term that denotes the
group of the above twelve people, except if there is a change in the
composition of this group. In this later case, when the reference is to events
before the change the number "twelve" should be understood as the
group of the above twelve men, while when the reference is to events after the
change, the meaning has to be adjusted correspondingly. In our case, the event
that the Word of God speaks about in 1 Corinthians 15:5 is the resurrection of
Jesus Christ and his appearances that followed it. Therefore, the simple
question that has to be asked is what was the composition of the group of the
twelve at the time of the resurrection? Was Matthias numbered with the eleven
at that time? The exact time and the process that was followed for the
inclusion of Matthias in the group of the remaining eleven disciples is given
in Acts 1:15-26. From this record we learn that sometime between the ascension
and the day of Pentecost, Peter proposed the substitution of Judas by someone
else. The candidates were two: the one was "Joseph called Barsabas"
and the other was Matthias. How the choice was made and who was chosen is
described in Acts 1:24-26
Acts 1:24-26
"And they prayed and said, "You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all,
show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and
apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell ["by transgression
fell" = Greek: parabaino = "transgressed". So also in Matthew
15:2, 3 and II John 9] that he might go to his own place." And they cast
their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. AND he was NUMBERED with the eleven
apostles"
Now, since only at that point Matthias was numbered
with the eleven, this obviously means that he wasn't numbered before. Therefore, whenever we meet the
expression the "twelve" and the reference is to events that happened
before Acts 1:26 what is meant is the twelve of Luke 6:13 that included Judas.
On the other hand, when this expression refers to events that happened after
the inclusion of Matthias then what is meant is the new composition of the
group that excluded Judas and included Matthias. Bearing this in mind we should
not have any problem to understand who are the twelve of 1 Corinthians 15. The
corresponding passage refers to the appearance that happened before
"Matthias was numbered with the eleven. Therefore, since at that time
Matthias was not yet one of the twelve, the expression "by the
twelve" of 1 Corinthians 15 refers to the usual twelve of Luke 6:13 that included
Judas. Furthermore this places the timing of
Judas’ death after the resurrection and after he had seen the raised Lord.
Further evidence regarding the presence of Judas after
the resurrection is given by the gospel records of two of the post-resurrection
appearances of Jesus.
This appearance is described in three out of four
gospels. For a complete picture it is needed to examine each of these records
carefully and to start with let's go to John.
The witness of John to this appearance is given in
John 20:19:
John 20:19
"Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the
doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus
came and stood in the midst, and said to them "peace be with you"
Though this verse does not specifically state who of
the disciples were present at this appearance, verse 24 of the same chapter
tells us who was not present:
John 20:24
"Now Thomas, called the twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when
Jesus came."
So from the above record we can conclude that in the
appearance that happened at the "evening of the first day of the
week" (i.e. at the evening of what we call "Easter Sunday")
Thomas was certainly not there. This information has vital significance for the
right understanding of the corresponding records of Mark and Luke and thus we
should keep it in mind.
Having examined the witness of John, let's examine the
witness of Luke about the same appearance. The four gospels complement each
other and to have a complete picture of something we should examine all the
available records making sure that all of them refer to the same event. One of
the most frequent reasons of errors in rightly dividing the Word of God, that
is especially relevant in the gospels, is the confusion of similar things as
identical. Indeed, it is not at all necessary, because two records are similar
(the healing of a blind man for example) these records to refer to one and the
same event. Whether they do so or not is something that has to be determined
after a careful examination of the context of the corresponding records.
Returning to our topic, the witness of Luke to the
post-resurrection appearance that occurred at "the evening of the first
day of the week" is given in chapter 24. Verse 1 informs us that the day
is "the first day of the week". Then verse 13 tells us that two of
the disciples "were
travelling THAT SAME DAY [i.e. the first day of the week] to a village called
Emmaus which was seven miles from Jerusalem". Somewhere in this journey
Jesus joined them and verses 15-31 give a description of the wonderful
fellowship they had together and how at the end "their eyes were opened
and they knew him; and he vanished from their sight" (verse 31). When
these disciples arrived at Emmaus was "towards evening" as verse 29
says. After they recognized Jesus these two disciples "rose up that very
hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the ELEVEN and those who were with
them gathered together". Bearing in mind that Emmaus was no more than just
7 miles from Jerusalem and that when they arrived at Emmaus was "TOWARDS
evening", but not evening, we can conclude that by the time they arrived
at Jerusalem it was already evening, "the evening of the first day of the
week". What happened at that evening is given in verses 33-36:
Luke 24:33-36
"So they [the two disciples that had just arrived at Emmaus] rose up that
very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the ELEVEN and those who were
with them gathered together, saying the Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared
to Simon!" And they told about the things that had happened on the road,
and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. Now as they said these
things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "peace
to you"
Since this appearance happened at the evening of the
first day of the week, it is therefore the same with the one that John speaks
about. Thus, the events described by John and Luke are not only similar BUT
ALSO identical. However, while John tells us that Thomas was not there, without
telling us who was there, Luke adds to our knowledge that present at this
appearance were "THE ELEVEN and those who were with them". For many
years, I used to read this passage and to think that the reason that the text
speaks for eleven was because, as tradition teaches, Judas’ death had already
happened. However, the record of John shows very clearly that the disciple that
was absent in this appearance was not Judas BUT THOMAS. In turn, this means
that Judas was present at this appearance and saw the resurrected Jesus. This
also confirms the record of 1 Corinthians 15 according to which Judas was alive
after the resurrection.
The witness of Mark to the post-resurrection
appearance that occurred "at the evening of the first day of the
week" confirms the conclusions drawn from the combined examination of John
and Luke.
Mark 16:9-13
"Now when Jesus was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared
first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven demons. She went and
told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard
that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that,
he appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the
country"
These 'two of them" are the two disciples that
were on their way to Emmaus. The phrase "in another form" shows the
variability of the resurrected body of Jesus.
Mark 16:14
"Later he appeared to the ELEVEN as they sat at the table; and he rebuked
their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who
had seen him after he was risen"
This record that again refers to the appearance at the
evening of the first day of the week speaks
again for ELEVEN. Knowing that the absent one was Thomas, it is clear that
Judas was there.
From all the above it is clear that Judas was alive
and saw the resurrected Jesus. It is therefore not strange that 1 Corinthians
speak for an appearance to the twelve. Even if 1 Corinthians 15 did not say
anything about an appearance to the twelve, an examination of the gospel
records could very easily prove that Judas’ death did not happen but only after
the resurrection and after he had seen the resurrected Lord.
After all this, the reader may ask where is the
appearance to the twelve? Though there is no reason to have a gospel record for
every post-resurrection appearance that the Word of God enumerates in 1
Corinthians 15, the appearance to the twelve is also described in one of the
gospels, namely in John's gospel.
John 20:24
"Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when
Jesus came"
This "them" refers to the disciples that
were present at the appearance that happened at the evening of the first day of
the week [John 20:19] and which Thomas missed. According to the other gospel
records, we know that except of Thomas all the other eleven disciples were
there.
John 20:25-26
"The other disciples therefore said to him, "we have seen the
Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of
the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into
his side, I will not believe" And after eight days his disciples were
again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood
in the midst, and said, "peace to you"
Who were the disciples that were present at this
appearance? They were the eleven plus Thomas i.e. "the twelve".
Evidently, it is this appearance that the Word of God speaks about in 1
Corinthians.
Having confirmed from the above the appearance to the
twelve and that Judas was there when it happened, we will now continue with the
examination of the passage the misunderstanding of which is responsible for the
tradition that supports that Judas’s death happened before the crucifixion.
The passage that is traditionally used to support that
the death of Judas happened before the crucifixion is in Matthew 27 where,
starting from verse 1, we read:
Matthew 27:1-8, 11
"When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted
against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him
away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas his betrayer,
seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty
pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying "I have sinned by
betraying innocent blood". And they said, "What is that to us? You
see to it!" Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and
departed, and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the silver
pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because
they are the price of blood." And they consulted together and bought with
them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in . Therefore that field has been
called the field of blood to this day....... Now Jesus stood before the governor
and the governor asked him saying........"
Far too often we read this passage with the
preconceived idea that the link that connects the above events is time i.e. we
assume that this happened first, then this happened second, third etc. However,
a time link is only one of the many ways by which we can connect various
events. In fact, it is very usual when we describe something very important,
instead of making continuous references to other events of minor importance, to
describe them by opening brief parentheses. By this way we avoid the continuous
detraction of the attention from what we consider as the most important person
or event of the story. This is exactly what happens in our passage as well. The
great topic of Matthew 27 is not Judas and his story but Jesus Christ and his
passion. This is what the Word of God wants to point out and it is this
description that is made in a time sequence. Consequently, apart from the story
of the person on whom the Word of God focus i.e. Jesus Christ, the stories of
other persons or events have necessarily to be restricted to brief parentheses.
That is exactly what happens with Judas. Verses 1 and 2 tells us that Jesus was
delivered to the governor. Then verse 3 opens a parenthesis to tell us what
happened to Judas. This parenthesis continues up to verse 5. Thus we learn that
Judas when he saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the
thirty pieces of silver. Because the chief priests and the elders did not
accept them, he threw them down and he left. Finally he committed suicide.
Though these events are described in a time sequence relative to what happened
to Judas [i.e. first he regretted, then he returned the silver pieces and then
he committed suicide], they are not described in a time sequence relative to
what happened to Jesus. They are a parenthesis that explains what happened to
Judas. We are not told WHEN it happened but WHAT happened.
This is more evident from verses 6-10: these consist
another parenthesis that tells us what happened to the thirty pieces of silver.
Thus, we are told that the chief priests took these thirty pieces and after
they consulted together, they bought with them the potter's field. Evidently,
to end up buying the field, it means that after they consulted together, they
went to the market, they found someone willing to sell a field, they visited
the field to see if it was the one that they wanted, they reached a decision
whether they will buy it or not, they agreed on the price and finally they made
the relative contracts. Those who have any idea of the time that it is usually
needed to only find the appropriate property know that this requires several
days, weeks and sometimes months. If we were to read this parenthetical passage
as many of us read the one that precede it about Judas i.e. by taking
everything in a time sequence, then we would conclude that while Jesus was
before the governor (verses 1-2) Judas returned the money and hanged himself,
the priests took the money, consulted together, found someone that was selling
a field, saw the field, reached an agreement about it and made the contracts.
All these are simply impossible to happen when Jesus was standing before the
governor and in fact without any progress in his investigation. Moreover, an interpretation like this would contradict all that we
have seen from the other gospels and from 1 Corinthians that suggest that Judas
was alive after the resurrection.
However, the things are not like this. The great topic
that the Word of God describes in Matthew 27 is Jesus Christ and his passion.
Thus, it has to discuss other things in brief parentheses. Verses 1-2 tell us
that Jesus was brought to the governor. Then, verses 3-5 open a parenthesis
where we learn very briefly what happened to Judas. We are not told WHEN Judas’
death happened but WHAT Judas did. Then a new parenthesis is opened in verse 6
that continues till verse 10 where it is described again very briefly what
happened to the thirty pieces of silver. Again the topic is not WHEN these
events happened but WHAT happened. Then, verse 11 takes us back to the point
where verse 2 stopped i.e. to the investigation of Jesus by Pilate. The
parenthetical character of verses 3-10 and the fact that what is described
there is not given in a time sequence relative to the great topic of the
chapter: the passion of Jesus, is evident by just reading the passage without
verses 3-10:
Matthew 27:1-2, 11
"When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted
against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him
away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.......Now Jesus stood
before the governor. And the governor asked him, saying, "are you the king
of the Jews?" Jesus said: "You say"
As it is obvious the omission of verses 3-10 does not
cause any lack in our understanding of the great topic of the passage, and
exactly this was the purpose of God when He put these verses as a parenthesis.
To conclude therefore the focus of Matthew’s record is
not when Judas’ death happened but what Judas did. To learn the WHEN, the
timing of Judas’ death, we need to consult the other records as well, to see
what they say. With the evidence that we have collected so far we know that Judas
saw the resurrected Christ and in fact we know that he was alive at least eight
days (John 20:26) after the first appearance to the eleven. On the other hand,
Peter in a speech given sometime between the ascension and the day of Pentecost
(Acts 1:15-22) said that Judas was dead. This means that the death of Judas,
his suicide, happened sometime between eight days after the resurrection and
the day that Peter spoke.
For those who will ask this question, it has to be said that here we did not simply try to find the exact time at which Judas’ death happened. This alone might have minor significance IF it didn’t cause any perceived issue with the accuracy of the Word of God. Surely, I would have no problem if Judas’ death happened before the crucifixion IF the Word told me so. In contrast, I would have many problems if in one place the Word, as tradition thinks, tells me that he is dead before the crucifixion and in another I am told that he is alive after the resurrection. Then, the examination is no longer a simple examination of the timing of Judas’ death but an examination of the accuracy of the Word of God. The timing therefore of Judas’ death does make a difference, and in fact a very big difference: the difference between an unerring Word of God, as indeed the Bible is, and a word that has errors as tradition makes the Bible to look like.