John 6:64
“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
John 6:70
“Jesus answered them, ‘Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?’”
One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians comments: “God can providentially put people into certain positions because He knows how they will act, without causing them to act that way, and so accomplish His plan.” (SEA)
The prophecy concerning Judas did not cause Judas to be evil, but rather foretold that Judas would be evil, and if God had not used Judas, then Judas would have just been another unbeliever in Israel. So the main point is that God did not create the monster that is Judas, but rather used the monster that is Judas.
John Calvin writes: “At this point in particular the flesh rages when it hears that the predestination to death of those who perish is referred to the will of God.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, p.208, emphasis mine)
John Calvin comments: “But in case anyone should think that God’s eternal election was overthrown by Judas’ destruction, he immediately adds that he was ‘the one doomed to destruction’ -- meaning that his ruin, which to human view was sudden, had long been known to God.” (John: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.397, emphasis mine)
That still doesn’t answer the question of who doomed him. The common mistake of Calvinists is to assume that prophecy determines action, rather than prophecy revealing actions. Thankfully, Calvin correctly states that Judas cannot state, “prophecy made me do it”:
Calvin continues: “Judas fell so that the Scripture might be ‘fulfilled.’ But it would be wrong for anyone to infer from this that Judas’ fall should be ascribed to God rather than to himself because the prophecy made him do it. The course of events should not be ascribed to prophecies just because it was predicted in them. And, indeed, the prophets only threatened what would have happened even if they had not mentioned it. The cause of things must not, therefore, be sought in them.” (John: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.397, emphasis mine)
Did you hear that? According to John Calvin, prophecy did not cause the unbelief of Judas.
While John Calvin may agree that prophecy didn’t make Judas do betray Christ, Calvin’s deterministic theology provides Judas plenty of room to say that an alleged decree had indeed made him do it:
Calvin clarifies: “I acknowledge that nothing happens but what but has been ordained by God, but the only question now is whether their being foretold or prophesied makes people do things, and I have already shown this is not so.” (John: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.397, emphasis mine)
However, another issue still looms:
Calvinist, Erwin Lutzer, writes: “Scripture explicitly teaches that God actually ordains the evil choices of men. In the case of Judas, for example, God allowed (or used) Satan to put the idea of the betrayal in his heart. ‘The devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon to betray Him’ (John 13:2). That Judas had to betray Christ is clear from repeated statements that say this happened that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Even in such cases, however, it is reasonable to suppose that Judas had made many prior deceitful decisions so that the activity of Satan was quite compatible with his own inclination and desires. The same applies to the many instances in the Bible in which God says the wicked do what he predetermined would happen.” (The Doctrines That Divide, pp.190-191, emphasis mine)
Calvinists can be tricky. What Lutzer left out is that Calvinists also insist that God predetermined the “many prior deceitful decisions” as well, meticulously scripting every one of them. Therefore, the Compatibilism argument simply doesn’t tell the whole story.
Question: Was Judas predestined for Hell?
Answer: That depends. Is the reason why Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas did not believe, the result of an alleged “decree” (i.e. Calvinistic Determinism), or is the reason why Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas did not believe because He foreknew Judas’ own free choice, independent of any “decree” (i.e. Arminian free-will)? However, even accepting the Arminian position, another issue still looms.
John 17:12 states: “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.”
John 6:64 and John 17:12 refers to Judas, and which raises questions, in terms of whether he was predestined for Hell.
Question: Having foreknown what Judas would freely have done, and having prophesied the knowledge of it, why did God allow him to be born? We might also ask the same question regarding Lucifer. Knowing how they would turn out, why didn’t God just prevent them from being born, or just not create Lucifer altogether, or create a different angel in his place?
Answer: First of all, God didn’t create Satan. God created Lucifer, and the issue is not so much that God created him, but that God placed him in a position as an archangel. The same goes for Judas. Had Judas not been chosen to be a disciple, then he would have just been another unbeliever. The same goes for Pilate. Had God not given him authority (John 19:11), he would have just been another lost Roman citizen: “Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.’” So the issue is why does God use sinners? God used the Babylonians, for instance, to motivate Israel to repentance, and there is your answer. Ultimately, however, the question reduces to: why didn’t God prevent the birth of anyone that He foreknew would remain unrepentant? The answer, as seen with the Babylonians, is that one person’s unrepentance, can become another person’s repentance. It’s not that God doesn’t desire the repentance of both. He certainly does. The issue is that God uses people who are already perishing to save others. It’s not that God passes by the perishing, since the purpose of the Gospel is to reach the world.
John Calvin writes: “We also note that we should consider the creation of the world so that we may realize that everything is subject to God and ruled by his will and that when the world has done what it may, nothing happens other than what God decrees.” (Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.66, emphasis mine)
Calvin writes: “First, the eternal predestination of God, by which before the fall of Adam He decreed what should take place concerning the whole human race and every individual, was fixed and determined.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.121, emphasis mine)
Calvin explains: “God had no doubt decreed before the foundation of the world what He would do with every one of us and had assigned to everyone by His secret counsel his part in life.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.20, emphasis mine)
Calvin writes: “…the reason why God elects some and rejects others is to be found in His purpose alone. … before men are born their lot is assigned to each of them by the secret will of God. … the salvation or the destruction of men depends on His free election.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, p.203, emphasis mine)
Calvin writes: “Whatever things are done wrongly and unjustly by man, these very things are the right and just works of God. This may seem paradoxical at first sight to some....” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.169, emphasis mine)
Calvin writes: “But where it is a matter of men’s counsels, wills, endeavours, and exertions, there is greater difficulty in seeing how the providence of God rules here too, so that nothing happens but by His assent and that men can deliberately do nothing unless He inspire it.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, pp.171-172, emphasis mine)
Calvin writes: “Indeed, the ungodly pride themselves on being competent to effect their wishes. But the facts show in the end that by them, unconsciously and unwillingly, what was divinely ordained is implemented.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.173, emphasis mine)
Calvin writes: “Does God work in the hearts of men, directing their plans and moving their wills this way and that, so that they do nothing but what He has ordained?” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.174, emphasis mine)
Question: So Calvin forbids that Judas could say that prophecy made him do it, but his theology requires that Judas could say that God’s alleged, all-determining script, did make him do it. So I ask, what’s the difference?
Answer: By Calvinist theology, it appears to be a distinction without a difference.
Matthew 26:34 states: “Jesus said to him [Peter], ‘Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’”
If prophesy causes action, then why would Peter feel remorse over something that he otherwise had no control over? Peter’s own remorse shows that prophesy didn’t make him do it.
Question: Was Judas a fallen Believer, or was he never a true Believer in Christ?
Answer: Here is an article which addresses this point.
