When reviewing Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, Greg had two questions in mind for us to consider: “Was Judas fated to betray Jesus?” And “Why did Judas betray Jesus?” 
When reviewing Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, Greg had two questions in mind for us to consider: “Was Judas fated to betray Jesus?” And “Why did Judas betray Jesus?”
Topics: Controversial Issues, Free Will
"Just a note of thanks. I came across the site, having heard Greg speak in Ireland many moons ago. The church here is a bit jaded, we have found. Groupthink, lack of going deep, fear, perhaps, of facing tough questions. [WH has] great sermons, and not just from Greg. Real food for a somewhat undernourished Irish Christian. Keep it up! Ian from Ireland"
– Ian, from Ireland
I like the message given here. What people fail to understand is that predicting something isn’t causing the thing predicted to happen. The whole pre-destination idea creates the conundrum of: “If I’m pre-destined to go to Heaven, then I’ll go ahead and do what I want, because what I do will have been pre-destined and what I do will not matter.” The opposite of this is: “If I’m pre-destined to go to Hell, then I’ll go ahead and do what I want to do, because there is no hope for me, so therefore trying to live a Christian life is futility and no matter what I do will change that.”
I really appreciate this message. One thing Jesus says that I have a hard time shaking, is when Jesus says “but one of you is a devil” referring to Judas as they dined. I’m not sure how Judas could have been a true disciple, and a devil at the same time. I realize that Jesus also turned to Peter at one point and said “get behind me Satan”, but I see that as Jesus actually addressing Satan, who was influencing Peter, but When he says “one of you IS a devil, it seems to denote some ontological reality of Judas’ nature?
Hi Isaac,
Thanks for your comment. Below is a reply from Paul Eddy. Hope it helps!
–Emily from WH Communications
The language used for “satan” and “devil” is somewhat complex in the Greek language, and so it can be a bit of a challenge to properly translate it into English. The main problem is this: both the words “satan” and “devil” (diabolos) in Greek literally mean “adversary.” Because of this, they can be used simply to refer to a human adversary or enemy. In fact, the verb form of the word diabolos (devil) is sometimes used to mean “gossip.” On the other hand, both of these words can also be used to refer to God’s primary enemy — Satan.
When Jesus says in John 6:70 that one of the 12 is a “devil” (diabolos) — referring to Judas — he most likely is simply saying that Judas is his enemy or adversary. Similarly, when Jesus says to Peter in Matt 16:23 “get behind me, satan,” once again he is most likely saying that Peter is acting like his enemy or adversary. In neither of these cases is it necessary to read the Greek word diabolos or satan as referring to the fallen angel, “Satan.”