June 11 2001

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Part 1: Introduction | John Sanders 1 | Chris Hall 1 | Sanders 2 | Hall 2

Part 2: John Sanders 3 | Chris Hall 3 | Sanders 4 | Hall 4 | Sanders 5 | Postscript

How about your interpretation of Judas's betrayal of Jesus? I would argue that this narrative clearly demonstrates God's perfect and complete knowledge of the future. Jesus is not caught off guard by Judas's action. Rather, Jesus demonstrates a full awareness of what Judas is soon to do (Matt. 26:23-25). Perhaps even more telling, however, is the comment of Matthew that the purchase of the potter's field with Judas's blood money and its subsequent naming as the "Field of Blood" fulfilled a prophecy of Jeremiah made hundreds of years before the event (Matt. 27:5-10).

I find your interpretation of the Judas narrative [outlined in a previous unpublished e-mail] to be both selective and strained. First, you appear to base your explanation of Judas's actions on the highly idiosyncratic interpretation of William Klassen, a study you argue "demonstrates that Judas was not 'betraying' Jesus." Is Judas, as Klassen and you seem to believe, acting to bring the high priest and Jesus together so that they "could resolve their differences and bring about needed reforms"? When Jesus tells Judas to "[d]o quickly what you are going to do," does this instruction truly violate "a fundamental rule of Judaism" by telling Judas "to go out and deliberately commit a sin"? You appear convinced by Klassen, writing that "in this light it is clear that Judas is not betraying Jesus and that Jesus is not issuing any prediction of such activity." I remain unconvinced, especially because of the role Jesus assigns to Satan in Judas's activities.

Second, you argue that paradidomi "does not mean ...