43 Facts About Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot's name is often used synonymously with betrayal or treason.

The Gospel of Matthew 26:15 states that Judas Iscariot committed the betrayal in exchange for thirty pieces of silver.

Judas Iscariot's betrayal is seen as setting in motion the events that led to Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, which, according to traditional Christian theology, brought salvation to humanity.

Since the Middle Ages, Judas Iscariot has sometimes been portrayed as a personification of the Jewish people and his betrayal has been used to justify Christian antisemitism.

Judas Iscariot is first placed into the Christian story by the Gospel of Mark, who wrote in the early 70s CE.

The name "Judas Iscariot" is a Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Judah, which was an extremely common name for Jewish men during the first century AD, due to the renowned hero Judas Iscariot Maccabeus.

Stanford rejects this, arguing that the gospel-writers follow Judas Iscariot's name with the statement that he betrayed Jesus, so it would be redundant for them to call him "the false one" before immediately stating that he was a traitor.

The Synoptic Gospels state that Jesus sent out "the twelve" with power over unclean spirits and with a ministry of preaching and healing: Judas Iscariot clearly played an active part in this apostolic ministry alongside the other eleven.

Ehrman argues that Judas Iscariot's betrayal "is about as historically certain as anything else in the tradition", pointing out that the betrayal is independently attested in the Gospel of Mark, in the Gospel of John, and in the Book of Acts.

Nonetheless, Ehrman argues that what Judas Iscariot actually told the authorities was not Jesus's location, but rather Jesus's secret teaching that he was the Messiah.

Many different accounts of Judas Iscariot's death have survived from antiquity, both within and outside the New Testament.

Judas Iscariot's face became so swollen that a doctor could not even identify the location of his eyes using an optical instrument.

Judas Iscariot's genitals became enormously swollen and oozed with pus and worms.

Judas Iscariot's wife laughed and told him that Jesus could no more rise from the dead than he could resurrect the chicken she was cooking.

Hence Luke was stating that Judas Iscariot took the body posture of a snake and died like one.

The Gospel of John account has Judas Iscariot complaining that money has been spent on expensive perfumes to anoint Jesus which could have been spent on the poor, but adds that he was the keeper of the apostles' purse and used to steal from it.

One suggestion has been that Judas Iscariot expected Jesus to overthrow Roman rule of Judea.

Nevertheless, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot is an apocryphal Gnostic Gospel composed in the 2nd century and some scholars agree that it contains no real historical information.

Conversely, it is argued that just because the betrayal was foretold, it does not prevent Judas Iscariot from exercising his own free will in this matter.

The gospels suggest that Judas Iscariot is apparently bound up with the fulfillment of God's purposes, yet "woe is upon him", and he would "have been better unborn".

Regardless of any necessity, Judas Iscariot is held responsible for his act.

Erasmus believed that Judas Iscariot was free to change his intention, but Martin Luther argued in rebuttal that Judas Iscariot's will was immutable.

Furthermore, within Acts of the Apostles is the comment, "Perpetual infamy is the reward of all such as by unlawfully gotten goods buy anything" when Judas Iscariot purchased the "Field of Blood" with the 30 pieces of silver.

Judas Iscariot has been a figure of great interest to esoteric groups, such as many Gnostic sects.

Irenaeus records the beliefs of one Gnostic sect, the Cainites, who believed that Judas Iscariot was an instrument of the Sophia, Divine Wisdom, thus earning the hatred of the Demiurge.

Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus thus was a victory over the materialist world.

The gospel then mentions that after three days since burial, Judas Iscariot's body was stolen from his grave, and then the rumors spread of Jesus being risen from the dead.

Judas Iscariot then ascended back to the heavens, and will come back at the end of times as a just king.

Judas Iscariot is given some role in virtually all literature telling the Passion story, and appears in numerous modern novels and movies.

Judas Iscariot is often shown with red hair in Spanish culture and by William Shakespeare.

In paintings depicting the Last Supper, Judas Iscariot is occasionally depicted with a dark-colored halo to signify his former status as an apostle.

Judas Iscariot is the subject of one of the oldest surviving English ballads, which dates from the 13th century.

In Dante's Inferno, Judas Iscariot is condemned to the lowest circle of Hell: the Ninth Circle of Traitors, known as the frozen lake, Cocytus.

Judas Iscariot is one of three sinners deemed evil enough to be doomed to an eternity of being chewed in the mouths of the triple-headed Satan.

Edward Elgar's oratorio, The Apostles, depicts Judas Iscariot as wanting to force Jesus to declare his divinity and establish the kingdom on earth.

In Trial of Christ in Seven Stages by John Brayshaw Kaye, the author did not accept the idea that Judas Iscariot intended to betray Christ, and the poem is a defence of Judas Iscariot, in which he adds his own vision to the biblical account of the story of the trial before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas.

In Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, Judas Iscariot is paid by the high priest of Judaea to testify against Jesus, who had been inciting trouble among the people of Jerusalem.

Judas Iscariot is portrayed as being torn between personal loyalty to his Rabbi and social loyalty to the Sanhedrin.

Stead's 2006 novel My Name Was Judas Iscariot, Judas Iscariot, who was then known as Idas of Sidon, recounts the story of Jesus as recalled by him some forty years later.

In September 2017, Boom Studios announced a four-issue comic, Judas Iscariot, written by Jeff Loveness and Jakub Rebelka.

In March 2018, BBC Radio 4's 15 Minute Drama broadcast Judas Iscariot, written by Lucy Gannon, in 5 episodes with Damien Molony in the title role.

Judas Iscariot is a lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar.

Lady Gaga released a single entitled "Judas Iscariot" from her 2011 album Born This Way in 2011.