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Judas Iscariot (died April AD 29–33) was, according to the New Testament,
overseer among the twelve original apostles of Jesus, and the one who, according to Christian tradition, betrayed him.
As the Greek verb paradÃdonai can be translated as either 'to betray' or 'to hand over', it is sometimes argued
that Judas did not betray Jesus, but merely handed him over,
and did so according to divine will.
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Some theological questions
Judas has been a figure of great interest to esoteric groups, such as many Gnostic sects,
because of the apparent contradiction in the idea of "the betrayal of God".
The two main questions seem to be these:
* Why did Jesus allow Judas to betray him?
o Did Jesus fail to foresee the betrayal?
o Was Jesus unable to prevent the betrayal?
o Did Jesus willingly allow the betrayal to go ahead?
o Did Jesus actively try to cause the betrayal to happen?
* Why does the 'villainy' of Judas become greater
and more pronounced as one reads from Mark to John?
Irenaeus records the beliefs of one Gnostic sect, the "Cainites",
who believed that Judas was an instrument of the Sophia, Divine Wisdom, thus earning the hatred of the Demiurge. His betrayal of Jesus thus was a victory over the carnal world.
The Cainites are not believed to be a real sect at all, but an invention of the early church fathers
, created to demonize and further ostracize those who were seen as heretical.
Origen knew of tradition according to which the greater circle of disciples betrayed Jesus,
but does not attribute this to Judas in particular, and Origen did not deem Judas as a thoroughly corrupt person.
The early anti-Christian writer Celsus deemed literal readings of the story to be philosophically absurd,
especially because Jesus knew about the treason in advance, and told of it openly to all the disciples at the Passover meal,
as well as singling out who the traitor would be without attempting to stop him.
The text of the Gospels suggests that Jesus both foresaw and allowed Judas' betrayal.
In April 2006, a Coptic papyrus manuscript titled the Gospel of Judas dating back to 200 AD, was translated into modern language, to add weight to the possibility that according to early Christian writings,
Jesus may have asked Judas to betray him.
While this seems quite at odds with the Gospel of John, where Judas is portrayed as an arch villain, the Gospel of Mark is much more ambiguous and could be considered to be fairly consistent with the stance of the Gospel of Judas on this question.
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