Editing Judas Iscariot (section)

==Judas' eternal destination==
The nature of Judas' eternal destination has been a matter of debate within Christian theology. Some have argued that Judas was damned due to the despair which caused him to subsequently commit suicide.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7R0IGTSvIVIC&pg=PA418 |title=A Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature |author=David L. Jeffrey |access-date=2011-02-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313141610/https://books.google.com/books?id=7R0IGTSvIVIC&pg=PA418 |archive-date=2017-03-13 |isbn=978-0802836342 |year=1992|publisher=W.B. Eerdmans }}</ref> An example of this view is from [[Cornelius à Lapide]], "Judas then added to his former sin the further sin of despair. It was not a more heinous sin, but one more fatal to himself, as thrusting him down to the very depths of hell. He might, on his repentance, have asked (and surely have obtained) pardon of Christ. But, like [[Cain]], he despaired of forgiveness."<ref>Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide; Thomas Wimberly Mossman ''The great commentary of Cornelius à Lapide,'' [https://www.ecatholic2000.com/lapide/untitled-40.shtml#_Toc385608983 Matthew 27], London: J. Hodges, 1889–1896.</ref> The Theophylact presents a different view, stating that Judas "hanged himself thinking to precede Jesus into [[Christian views on Hades|hades]] and there to plead for his own salvation."<ref name="Theophylact"/>

===Protestant theologians===
The Catholic theologian [[Erasmus]] believed that Judas was free to change his intention, but [[Martin Luther]] argued in rebuttal that Judas' will was immutable. [[John Calvin]] states that Judas was predestined to damnation but writes on the question of Judas' guilt: "surely in Judas's betrayal, it will be no more right, because God himself willed that his son be delivered up and delivered him up to death, to ascribe the guilt of the crime to God than to transfer the credit for redemption to Judas."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7R0IGTSvIVIC&pg=PA419 |title=A Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature |author=David L. Jeffrey |access-date=2011-02-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313090434/https://books.google.com/books?id=7R0IGTSvIVIC&pg=PA419 |archive-date=2017-03-13 |isbn=978-0802836342 |year=1992|publisher=W.B. Eerdmans }}</ref> [[Karl Daub]], in his book ''Judas Ischariot'', writes that Judas should be considered "an incarnation of the devil" for whom "mercy and blessedness are alike impossible."<ref>{{cite book |author1-link=Judas Iscariot |title=The Encyclopaedia Brittannica |date=1911 |publisher=The Encyclopaedia Brittannica Co. |location=Vol. 15 |page=536 |edition=11th}}</ref>

The [[Geneva Bible]] contains several additional notes concerning Judas Iscariot within its commentaries. In the [[Gospel of Matthew]], after the [[Sanhedrin trial of Jesus|Sanhedrin]] condemns Jesus Christ to death, are added the comments concerning Judas: "...late repentance brings desperation" (cf. Mat. 27:3), and "Although he abhor his sins, yet is he not displeased there with, but despairs in God's mercies, and seeks his own destruction" (cf. Mat. 27:4). Furthermore, within [[Acts of the Apostles]] is the comment, "Perpetual infamy is the reward of all such as by unlawfully gotten goods buy anything" when Judas purchased the "Field of Blood" with the 30 pieces of silver (cf Acts 1:18).<ref>{{cite book |title=The 1560 Geneva Bible |date=2006 |publisher=The Bible Museum |edition=1st}}</ref> 

===Catholic doctrine===
The [[Catholic Church]] took no specific view concerning the damnation of Judas during [[Second Vatican Council|Vatican II]]; speaking in generalities, that Council stated, "[We] must be constantly vigilant so that ... we may not be ordered to go into the eternal fire (cf. Mk. 25, 41) like wicked and slothful servants (cf. Mk. 25, 26), into the exterior darkness where 'there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth' (Mt. 22, 13 and 25, 30)."<ref>{{cite book |editor1-link="Constitution on the Church" (section 48) |title=Teachings of the Second Vatican Council |date=1966 |publisher=Newman Press |page=146}}</ref> [[Holy See|The Vatican]] only proclaims individuals' Eternal Salvation through the [[Saint#Christianity#Catholic Church|Canon of Saints]]. There is no '[[Damnation|Canon of the Damned]].'

Thus, there is a school of thought within the Catholic Church that it is unknown whether Judas Iscariot is in Hell; for example, David Endres, writing in ''[[The Catholic Telegraph]]'', cites ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' §597 for the inability to make any determination whether Judas is in Hell.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Endres |first1=David |title=Who's In Hell? |journal=The Catholic Telegraph |date=October 2021 |volume=190 |issue=10 |page=7}}</ref> However, while that section of the catechism does instruct Catholics that the personal sin of Judas is unknown but to God, that statement is within the context that the Jewish people have no collective responsibility for Jesus's death: "... the Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from holy Scripture."<ref>{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church |date=1997 |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |pages=153–154 |edition=2nd}}</ref> This seems to be defining a different doctrinal point (i.e., the relationship of Catholics with Jewish people), rather than making any sort of decision concerning Judas's particular judgment.

[[Ludwig Ott]]'s reference book ''Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma'' identifies Judas Iscariot as an example of a person receiving punishment as a particular judgment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ott |first1=Ludwig |title=Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma |date=1954 |publisher=Mercier Press |page=476 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

The [[Roman Catechism|Catechism of the Council of Trent]], which mentions Judas Iscariot several times, wrote that he possessed "motive unworthy" when he entered the priesthood and was thus sentenced to "eternal perdition".<ref>{{cite book |translator1-last=Donovan |translator1-first=Rev. J. |title=Catechism of the Council of Trent |date=1829 |publisher=Lucas Brothers |page=213}}</ref> Furthermore, Judas is given as an example of a sinner that will "despair of mercy" because he looked "...on God as an avenger of crime and not, also, as a God of clemency and mercy."<ref>{{cite book |translator1-last=Donovan |translator1-first=Rev. J. |title=Catechism of the Council of Trent |date=1829 |publisher=Lucas Brothers |page=365}}</ref> The [[Roman Catechism|Catechism of the Council of Trent]] continued the tradition of the early Church fathers, such as [[Pope Leo I]] ("...had [Judas] not thus denied His omnipotence, he would have obtained His mercy..."),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aquinas |first1=Thomas |title=Catena Aurea, vol. II |date=2009 |publisher=Preserving Christian Publications |page=932}}</ref> and [[Pope Gregory I]] ("The godless betrayer, shutting his mind to all these things, turned upon himself, not with a mind to repent, but in a madness of self destruction: ... even in the act of dying sinned ''unto the increase'' of his own eternal punishment.")<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Toal |editor1-first=M.F. |title=Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers |series=Vol.2 |date=1958 |publisher=Henry Regnery Co. |page=183}}</ref>

Also, the ''Decree of Justification'', promulgated during Session VI of the [[Council of Trent]], states in Canon 6, "If anyone shall say that it is not in the power of man to make his ways evil, but that God produces evil as well as the good works, not only by permission, but also properly and of Himself, so that the betrayal of Judas is not less His own proper work than the vocation of Paul; let him be anathema."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Denzinger |first1=Henry |title=The Sources of Catholic Dogma |date=1957 |publisher=B. Herder Book Co |page=258 |edition=30th}}</ref> Here, the Council is making it clear that Judas exercised his own free will to commit the betrayal of Jesus Christ, rather than being predestined by God.

Liturgical institutions are part of the expressions of Sacred Tradition of the [[Catholic Church]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Malloy |first1=Christopher |title=False Mercy: Recent Heresies Distorting Catholic Truth |date=2021 |publisher=Sophia Institute Press |page=41}}</ref> Within the 1962 ''Roman Missal'' for the [[Tridentine Mass|Tridentine Latin Mass]], the ''Collect'' for [[Maundy Thursday|Holy Thursday]] states: "O God, from whom Judas received the punishment of his guilt, and the thief the reward of his confession ... our Lord Jesus Christ gave to each a different recompense according to his merits..."<ref>{{cite web  |website=Extraordinary Form.org |title=extraordinaryform.org/propers/Lent6thThursday-HolyD20.pdf |url=https://extraordinaryform.org/propersprint.html |access-date=28 December 2022}}</ref> In his commentary on the [[The Liturgical Year|Liturgical Year]], [[Prosper Guéranger|Abbot Gueranger, O.S.B.]] states that the ''Collect'' reminds Catholics that both Judas and the good thief are guilty, "...and yet, the one is condemned, the other pardoned."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gueranger, O.S.B. |first1=Prosper |title=The Liturgical Year |date=2021 |publisher=Preserving Christian Publications |series=Vol.6: ''Passiontide and Holy Week'' |page=375}}</ref> Thus, the [[Tridentine Mass|Tridentine Latin Mass]], as currently celebrated, continues to foster the tradition within the Catholic Church that Judas was punished.

===Other===
In the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' of [[Dante Alighieri]], Judas is punished for all eternity in the [[Cocytus#In the Divine Comedy|ninth circle of Hell]]: in it, he is devoured by Lucifer, alongside [[Marcus Junius Brutus]] and [[Gaius Cassius Longinus]] (leaders of the group of senators that [[assassination of Julius Caesar|assassinated]] [[Julius Caesar]]). The innermost region of the ninth circle is reserved for traitors of masters and benefactors and is named Judecca, after Judas.

In his 1969 book ''Theologie der Drei Tage'' (English translation: ''[[Mysterium Paschale]]''), [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]] emphasizes that Jesus was not betrayed but surrendered and delivered up by himself, since the meaning of the Greek word used by the New Testament, ''paradidonai'' (παραδιδόναι, {{langx|la|[[wikt:tradere|tradere]]}}), is unequivocally "handing over of self".<ref>{{cite book
|author=[[Hans Urs von Balthasar]]
|title=Mysterium Paschale. The Mystery of Easter
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4hHDwAAQBAJ
|translator=[[Aidan Nichols]]
|publisher=Ignatius Press
|location=San Francisco
|year=2000
|edition=2nd
|orig-date=1990
|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k4hHDwAAQBAJ&dq=paradidonai+tradere+%22handing+over%22+Judas&pg=PT77 77]
|isbn=1-68149348-9
}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=GiOmPwAACAAJ 1990 Edition].</ref><ref>{{cite book
|author=Power, Dermot
|title=Spiritual Theology of the Priesthood. The Mystery Of Christ And The Mission Of The Priesthood
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GxPe3dhew4C
|publisher=[[A & C Black]]
|location=London
|year=1998
|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3GxPe3dhew4C&dq=paradidomi+Balthasar+%22delivering+up%22%22handing+over%22&pg=PA42 42]
|isbn=0-56708595-3
}}</ref> In the "Preface to the Second Edition", Balthasar takes a cue from [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] {{bibleref2-nb|Rev.|13:8|VULGATE;NIV}}{{Cn|date=August 2024}} ([[Vulgate]]: ''agni qui occisus est ab origine mundi'', [[New International Version|NIV]]: "the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world") to extrapolate the idea that God as "[[immanent Trinity]]" can endure and conquer godlessness, abandonment, and death in an "eternal super-[[kenosis]]".<ref>Hans Urs von Balthasar (2000) [1990] [https://books.google.com/books?id=k4hHDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22eternal+'super-Kenosis'%22&pg=PT7 Preface to the Second Edition].</ref><ref>{{cite book
|author=Hans Urs von Balthasar
|title=Theo-Drama. Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. 5: The Last Act
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e44KAQAAMAAJ
|translator=Graham Harrison
|publisher=Ignatius Press
|location=San Francisco
|year=1988
|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=e44KAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22it+must+be+said+that+this%22%22kenosis+of+obedience%22%22must+be+based+on+the+eternal+kenosis+of+the+Divine+Persons+one+to+another%22&pg=123 123]
|quote=it must be said that this "kenosis of obedience"...must be based on the eternal kenosis of the Divine Persons one to another.
|isbn=0-89870185-6
}}</ref> A Catholic priest, Richard Neuhaus, an admitted student of Balthasar, argues that it is unknown if Judas is in Hell, and it is also possible that Hell could be empty.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Neuhaus |first1=Richard |title=Death on a Friday Afternoon |date=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |page=69}}</ref> However, French [[monsignor]] [[:fr:Léon Cristiani|Léon Cristiani]] considers that Balthasar and Neuhaus are merely recycling the error of [[Origenism]] which includes denying the eternity of Hell "...by a general rehabilitation of the damned, including, apparently, Satan."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cristiani |first1=Msgr. Leon |title=Heresies and Heretics |date=1959 |publisher=Hawthorn Books |page=50}}</ref> This error, while not considered a formal heresy, was condemned at a synod in 548 AD, which was subsequently confirmed by [[Pope Vigilius]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cristiani |first1=Msgr. Leon |title=Heresies and Heretics |date=1959 |publisher=Hawthorn Books |page=51}}</ref>