My dear friend, it is my belief, based on the Scriptures, that Judas betrayed the Lord out of his own free will, due to a hard heart of unbelief, never accepting that Jesus was the true Messiah. We get a hint of the heart of unbelief in Judas in John 12:5-6 when Judas questioned why Mary used the costly perfume to anoint Jesus’ feet. We read: “”Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.” It appears to me that Judas never truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus he only followed the Lord Jesus out of his own personal and carnal drives. Now the selling of Christ for 30 pieces of silver was indeed prophetic (Zechariah 11:12-13), so it would have happened. Now it might seem to some that since the betrayal of Christ was in prophesy, God might be responsible for Judas betraying the Lord. But we all have free will and are all responsible for our own decisions. But just because God foreknows all the events that will take place in this earth, we cannot conclude that God determined Judas to sin.

We all are sinners in need of repentance and forgiveness, and we have been given our own free will; but we all have a responsibility to receive and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We all are responsible to obey the call in the Bible to repent of our sins and believe in order to be saved. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had only one commandment, and as we see in Genesis 3, they chose of their own free will to believe the devil rather than God. They disobeyed, with full knowledge that they were disobeying God.  it was a matter of man’s will versus God’s will, and Adam and Eve made their own choice to disobey. So it was with Judas. I do not believe that God pre-determines that certain ones must go on to judgment, but as we read in 2 Peter 3:9, the Lord “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God loves us, Judas included, and He prepared the way of salvation through Christ, but this way is through repentance and faith (John 3:16; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 17:30-31). John 3:16 assures us that salvation is open to all, to whosoever believes on Christ, but Judas never truly believed and thus he rejected God’s plan of salvation which is open to all men.

To sum up, I believe that Judas had every opportunity to choose to believe, since he walked with the Lord and the other disciples during our Lord’s earthly ministry.  Judas would have been on hand to listen and believe all Christ’s Words which He spoke throughout Galilee and Judea, and to personally witness His mighty works. The words and works of our Lord Jesus while on earth were the prophetic signs  of the coming of Messiah.  These should have convinced any Jew who was looking forward to the Messiah that Jesus was the true Christ of God (for the prophesies regarding the signs of the Messiah see Isaiah 35:5-6; Isaiah 61:1). You will note that the Lord Jesus fulfilled all these signs pointing to Himself as the Messiah. Matthew 11:1-6 tells the account of John the Baptist, when while in prison, he sent to the Lord Jesus to ask Him if He was indeed the Christ or if there was another coming. Jesus’ response cited those verses in Isaiah 35 and 61: “Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Judas never truly believed on the Lord Jesus, and thus he gave up his opportunity to be saved…of his own free will. And now, I ask whether all who are reading this response have believed on the Lord Jesus as the true Christ of God? The words and mighty works of the Lord Jesus are written in order that you might believe: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name,” (John 20:30-31).  (SF)  (727.2)