Was Judas predestined to betray Jesus?

What the text states

Jesus called Judas "the son of perdition" and said the loss fulfilled scripture: "none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled" (John 17:12). The betrayal was foretold (Psalm 41:9, applied to Judas), and his office was given to another (Psalm 109:8, cited in Acts 1:20).

The strongest opposing reading

The answer

Foreknowledge is not causation. God knowing Judas would betray, and saying so in advance, does not make God the author of the betrayal any more than a prophet foretelling Peter's denial made Peter deny. The prophecies describe the act ("a familiar friend... hath lifted up his heel against me," Psalm 41:9), fulfilled by whoever did it; they do not name Judas as decreed from eternity to damnation. Jesus chose Judas as an apostle (John 6:70), gave him the same three years, the same teaching, the same warnings, and even at the table reached out to him. Judas was lost because he refused, not because he was built to fail. "That the scripture might be fulfilled" means the betrayal, once freely chosen, fell within what God had foretold, not that God compelled it.

What this means for you

No one is a Judas by decree. The betrayal was his own. And the same Christ who reached out to Judas at the table reaches out to you, the question is whether you take the hand or let it go.

What this does not prove

This does not deny that God foreknew and foretold the betrayal, He did, in detail. It denies only that foreknowing it means God caused it or created Judas for it.

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