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Summary
- No Gospel tells how or where Jesus met Judas Iscariot; he first appears in the lists of the Twelve (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16).
- Jesus chose the Twelve from among his disciples after a night of prayer (Luke 6:12–13), so Judas was already following him before he was chosen.
- The Gospels tell how Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Nathanael and Matthew were called; five or six of the Twelve, Judas among them, have no call story.
- John gives Judas’s father’s name, Simon (John 6:71), and says he kept the common purse (John 12:6); we know nothing of his trade or age.
- “Iscariot” most likely means “man of Kerioth,” a town in the south of Judah (Joshua 15:21, 25); the readings that link it with a dagger or with the betrayal are still theories.
- John says Jesus “knew from the beginning” who would betray him (John 6:64), and at his arrest Jesus still called Judas “Friend” (Matthew 26:50).
- The Arabic Infancy Gospel, the medieval Golden Legend and the Gospel of Judas all tell stories about Judas that are not history and belong to no church’s Bible.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version: Joshua 15:21, 25; Psalm 41:9; Matthew 9:9; 10:4; 26:14–15, 49–50; Mark 1:16–20; 3:13–14, 19; 6:7; Luke 6:12–13, 16; John 1:35–51; 6:64, 70–71; 12:6, 21; 13:1–2, 5, 10–11, 18, 26, 29; Acts 1:17, 21–22; 23:24, via BibleGateway.
- Benedict XVI, General Audience, 18 October 2006, “Judas Iscariot and Matthias,” vatican.va.
- Benedict XVI, General Audience, 4 October 2006, “Bartholomew,” vatican.va.
- W. H. Kent, “Judas Iscariot,” Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1910), New Advent.
- Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, book 2, chapter 13, translated by William Whiston, Project Gutenberg.
- The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour, chapter 35, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8 (1886), New Advent.
- Charles J. Reilly, “Apocrypha,” Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (1907), section “Arabic Gospel of the Infancy,” New Advent.
- Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, “Of S. Matthias the Apostle,” translated by William Caxton (1483), edited by F. S. Ellis (Temple Classics, 1900), vol. 3, Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University.
- Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies, book 1, chapter 31, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, New Advent; on his life, Jacques Forget, “St. Irenaeus,” Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1910), New Advent.
- NPR, “‘Gospel’ Offers Radical New Perspective on Judas,” All Things Considered, 6 April 2006, npr.org; Scott Simon, “Judas, Jesus and the Shifting Sands of History,” Weekend Edition Saturday, 8 April 2006, npr.org.
- Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John, tractate 27, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 7, New Advent.
- John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John, homily 47, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 14, New Advent.
- John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, vol. 1, on John 6:65–71, translated by William Pringle, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
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