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Summary
- The Bible does not say plainly where Judas went after death, and churches differ on whether anyone can know. Jesus called him “the son of perdition” (John 17:12) and said “it had been good for that man if he had not been born” (Matthew 26:24).
- Acts 1:25 speaks of the ministry “from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place,” without saying what that place was.
- The Catholic Church has never declared any named person to be in hell. The Catechism says “we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God” (1861), and Pope Benedict XVI said of Judas that “it is not up to us to judge his gesture.”
- Orthodox Holy Thursday hymns set the disciples beside Judas, “darkened, ailing with avarice,” and Orthodox Christians pray before Communion, “neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss.”
- The Lutheran Apology of the Augsburg Confession says Judas’s contrition was “useless because faith is not added”; Calvin held that Judas was never one of the elect, and Wesley that one given to Christ was lost.
- Matthew says Judas “repented himself,” returned the thirty pieces of silver and confessed to the chief priests; Peter, who denied Jesus the same night, wept and was restored by the risen Jesus (John 21:15–17).
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives” (2283).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version: Matthew 21:28–32; 26:14–16, 20–25, 47–50, 69–75; 27:3–10; Mark 14:21; Luke 22:3, 47–48, 61–62; 23:34; John 6:70–71; 13:2–5, 21–30; 17:12; 21:15–17; Acts 1:15–26; 2 Thessalonians 2:3, via BibleGateway.
- New American Bible, Revised Edition, Acts 1 with the note on 1:18, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, bible.usccb.org.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1854–1861, “The Gravity of Sin,” vatican.va.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2280–2283, on suicide, vatican.va.
- Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 28 July 1999 (on hell), vatican.va.
- Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope (New York: Knopf, 1994), p. 139, as quoted in Jimmy Akin, “Hope for Judas?,” Catholic Answers Magazine, 27 March 2024, catholic.com.
- Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, “Judas Iscariot and Matthias,” 18 October 2006, vatican.va (English) and Italian original.
- Orthodox Church in America, “Great and Holy Wednesday,” Lives of the Saints.
- Orthodox Church in America, “Great and Holy Thursday,” Troparion and Kontakion.
- Alexander Schmemann, “Great and Holy Thursday,” Orthodox Church in America, Lives of the Saints.
- Orthodox Church in America, “Prayers Before and After Communion,” oca.org.
- Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531), Article XIIa (V), “Repentance,” The Book of Concord, Concordia Publishing House, bookofconcord.cph.org.
- John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, vol. 2, on John 17:12, translated by William Pringle, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
- John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on John 17:12 and Acts 1:25, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
- The United Methodist Church, “Doctrinal Standards in American Methodism,” umc.org.
- John Chrysostom, Homily 85 on Matthew, translated by George Prevost, revised by M. B. Riddle, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 10, New Advent.
- Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, entry 3338 (metamelomai), via Bible Hub.
- Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. 6, on Acts 1:15–20, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
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