by Hannah Russell

Created on: July 21, 2010

A bad guy is someone who in the end made the wrong choice that made all the good choices basically irrelevant.  And let’s face it; even Judas Iscariot knew he had really messed up—he killed himself for it.  Whether or not Judas Iscariot’s betrayal can be considered understandable or not, necessary or not, the fact of the matter is that Judas Iscariot did not do something he should have done that outweighs the good.

This is not to say that Judas Iscariot never made a good choice.  Truthfully, most of Judas Iscariot’s life shows quite the contrary view. Judas Iscariot chose Christ.  Some Biblical scholars argue that there is evidence suggesting that Judas was born a Sadducee and joined Christ at great personal expense and to the disdain of his family.  He was one of the twelve, and though we know very little about him, he must have shown some faith to be one of the twelve.  However, in all four of the gospels, even when he is simply introduced as one of the twelve, the writer cannot ignore what he did.  Each of them, even Luke, who never met Judas Iscariot, refer to him with epitaphs of traitor or betrayer. The fact is that Judas had a weakness: money. This weakness is shown earlier as Judas is baffled why Mary, the sister of Martha, would anoint Jesus’ feet with an expensive ointment when she could sell it and give the money to the poor (John 12: 4-5).  Judas let this weakness win, and that made his good choices irrelevant.

Some argue that Judas Iscariot was not evil because someone needed to offer up Christ in order to facilitate the crucifixion and atonement of Christ.  This is true.  Someone needed to facilitate this.  But it did not have to be Judas. Just because something is necessary, doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences.  We know that Eve’s transgression in the garden was necessary, but there were still consequences to her actions, and she didn’t even know any better.  Judas did.

In the end, Judas realized that he had made the mistake.  Though no one is ever too far gone for repentance, sometimes people feel that way.  Judas Iscariot knew that he had made a very bad mistake.  Not wanting to face up to it, he allegedly returned the money, and in some way killed himself.

Was Judas Iscariot an all-around evil man?  No one is entirely evil.  All are children of God and divine.  Is Judas Iscariot condemned to Hell for forever?  We are not the judges of that.  However, did Judas Iscariot make choices that can brand him as a bad guy?  Yes, he did.

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