The Death of Judas

Bible Study series. Matthew 27:3-10. Sad. Very sad.

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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!

Matthew 27

In this post, links are provided for further study.

Let’s begin.

Scripture: Matthew 27:3-10

³ Then, when Judas, the one who betrayed him, saw that he was condemned, he was moved with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ saying I have sinned, betraying innocent blood!” But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself!” ⁵And after he threw the silver coins into the temple, he withdrew and went away and hanged himself.

⁶ The chief priests, taking the silver coins, said, “It is not lawful to place them in the treasury, since it is the price of blood.” ⁷ After taking counsel, they bought with them the Potter’s field for a burial place for strangers. ⁸ Therefore, that field was called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ Then the word spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying:

And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one who had been priced, on whom some of the sons of Israel set the price; ¹⁰ and they gave the coins for the potter’s field, just as the Lord commanded me. [Zech. 11:12-13] (Matt. 27:3-10)

Comments:

Commentator Craig Keener has produced a table showing the similarities of Matthew’s account and Luke’s account in Acts, on the topic of Judas and his betrayal:

Matthew 27:5-8	Acts 1:18-19
Judas as the betrayer	Judas as the betrayer
Judas’s wages were used (by others) to buy a field (27:6-7)	Judas acquired a field as the “wage” of his injustice (1:18)
Judas died in an awful manner (27:5)	Judas died in an awful manner (1:18)
(Apparently the story remained widespread; (27:8)	Judas’s sorry end became widely known (1:19)
The occasion prompted naming the field “Field of Blood” (27:8)	This occasion prompted naming the field “Field of Blood (1:19)
The land became an impure burial plot (27:7)	The land became desolate, no longer suited for habitation (1:20)
Craig Keener, Acts, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge UP, 2020), p. 118

We don’t need to obsess over the tiny differences such that our faith snaps in two because it is so brittle. We know the gist or essence of the story, as seen in the table. Instead celebrate the similarities.

I have covered the differences between Matthew and Acts in this post:

What Happened to Judas Iscariot’s Body?

Why Zechariah and Jeremiah? Did Matthew make a mistake? The commentary has been moved over to this link:

Did Matthew Mistakenly Attribute Verses from Zechariah to Jeremiah?

3-5:

Did Judas repent?

The phrase “moved with remorse” comes from the one verb metamelomai (pronounced meh-tah-meh-lo-my). BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, and it defines the verb thus: (1) “To have regret about something, in that sense that one wishes it could be undone, be very sorry, regret” (Matt. 27:3; 2 Cor. 7:8ab; Matt. 21:29, 32; (2), “to change one’s mind about something, without focus on regret, change one’s mind, have second thoughts”; (Matt. 21:29, 32; Heb. 7:21). BDAG says Matt. 27:3 belongs to the first definition. That’s fair because Judas exhibited regret and remorse. Giving back the money is a further act of repentance. He also confessed his sin. In Matt. 26:24, Jesus pronounced a woe on him. Is this a curse or pity? NT scholars and grammarians for the Gospel of Luke say that the interjection “introduces an expression of pity for him who stand under divine judgment” (Culy, Parsons, and Stigall, Luke: Handbook on the Greek Text [Baylor UP, 2010] p. 673). Right now, at this time in his life, Judas does indeed stand under divine judgment. However, we now see him repent and demonstrate his repentance by giving back the money.

It is a pity that he was so confused and distraught that he hanged himself before he could get restored, as Peter was. However, I do not believe that he necessarily and automatically went straight to hell, by virtue of his committing suicide or even the betrayal. Suicide does not mean automatic hell in some conditions. However, a strong argument can be made that he stood outside God’s mercy because of his betrayal and did go to hell, when Judas is contrasted with Peter’s restoration. Yet Judas’s betrayal fulfilled some sort of divine plan announced in Scripture (26:54, 56), which does not necessarily exempt him from condemnation.

Adding up all these factors, I, for my part, leave the door of mercy slightly ajar, like so:

Repentance or remorse + returning money + confession of sin → God’s mercy

The arrow means “leads to.”

Turner offers Judas no hope (p. 650), and neither does Matt. 26:24 (it would have been better if the betrayer had not been born).

Blomberg does not offer hope: “Suicide is always sinful, in violation of the Sixth Commandment (Exod 20:13), even if it can be forgiven. In Judas’s case, however, there is no scriptural warrant for the sentimental notion that he was actually saved. For the Jews, a hanging would have confirmed God’s curse (Deut 21:23). By emphasizing Judas’s fate, Matthew provides a dire warning to his community about the possible result of apostasy” (comment on 27:5). I like his last sentence. Apostasy is possible.

But you can decide for yourself, though I think Turner and Blomberg (and others) are correct, in the final analysis.

Now what about the manner of Judas’ death and where?

Osborne: “There is a discrepancy with Acts 1:18-19 here. Matthew says Judas ‘hanged himself,’ while Acts states he committed suicide by throwing himself into the field and ‘bursting open.’ […]

This discrepancy has been answered more fully, here:

What Happened to Judas Iscariot’s Body?

The bigger issue is that our faith should not be so brittle, so that it snaps in two, about such discrepancies. Scripture itself is not brittle, but fiery pastors and youth pastors have insisted on an extremely high and unrealistic demand on Scripture. The point is that Judas met a miserable end. The table produced above tells us what the gist of the story about Judas was. Let’s just focus on that.

My view of Scripture. It’s very high:

Authority and Inerrancy of the Bible

Begin a series on the reliability of the Gospels. Start with the Conclusion which has quick summaries and links back to the other parts:

15. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Conclusion

The Gospels have a massive number of agreements in their storylines:

Celebrate the similarities.

See this part in the series that puts differences in perspective (a difference ≠ a contradiction):

13. Are There Contradictions in the Gospels?

But the bigger picture is, as noted, to not allow your faith to become so brittle that it snaps in two because of these puzzles. It’s time to stop demanding no discrepancies or else you will leave the Christian faith.

6-10:

“strangers”: this probably refers to Jews who died in Jerusalem while attending religious festivals (Turner, comment on 27:6-8).

These verses indicate how scrupulous the chief priests were for the law, but not about the Messiah who had stood right in front of them. Their perspective and priorities were confused and misdirected.

The quoted Scripture, once again, teach us that God is working out a divine plan, even when the plan involves the suffering of his Son and his betrayal. God is still good, because the Father is about to raise him up from the dead and seat him at his right hand.

Christ’s Death on Cross = Cosmic Child Abuse?

GrowApp for Matt. 27:1-10

1. Have you ever done something horrible and repented? Do you dare write out a brief account of the mess up and God’s restoration?

9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel

1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel

2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels

1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series

SOURCES AND MORE

To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.

Matthew 27