Why Judas’ Repentance was Insufficient
In the Gospel of Matthew, we read the account of Jesus’ betrayal and apprehension involving his disciple Judas. After seeing Jesus tried and crucified, Judas returns to the high priest and tries to give back the thirty silver pieces that was his hire for betraying Jesus to them. The high priest refuses, and in Matthew 27:3, we read what happens next:
Matthew 27:3-5 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
One question to ask would be if Judas repented, why he isn’t thought of differently? Judas was not the first disciple to be accused before Jesus. Peter as well denied Jesus at Pilate’s judgment hall. Even a few days earlier, Jesus told Peter, “get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:23). Why was Judas’ outcome so different from Peter’s?
There are suggestions in church history, implying that Judas is deeply misunderstood. There is even a spurious “gospel of Judas” that paints Judas as a brave hero, only doing what Jesus wanted him to do. What are we to think? If you’re going to understand why things turned out for Judas, the way they did it will help to examine his alleged repentance mentioned in Matthew 27:3.
In Matthew 27:3, the verse says that Judas “repented himself.” The suggestion would be if he repented, does this mean was he forgiven? The word repent here is not the same wording used elsewhere in Jesus’ teachings or John the Baptist’s preaching. This word “repented himself” relating to Judas means that he “regretted” or, more specifically, that he “became concerned” about what he had done. What does this tell us? Judas had a plan. He was attempting to bring something about by betraying Jesus, and it backfired on him. Then he wished he hadn’t done it because his plan didn’t work out. It wasn’t true repentance.
To underscore the insufficiency of Judas’ repentance, have a look at 2 Cor. 7:10:
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, not to be regretted: but the sorrow of the world works death.
The phrase “not to be regretted” is the same original language wording that describes Judas’ repentance. In this verse, Paul is saying that true repentance explicitly does not include the kind of regret that Judas’ repentance entailed. How does all of this relate to your life?
Have you ever regretted something not working out in your life? Often, we pray and don’t see things come about but ask yourself, do your prayers ever constitute an effort to talk God into doing something? The Lord spoke to Me one time that I didn’t have to overcome His reluctance to answer in prayer because He didn’t have any! We don’t need to try to leverage God into acting on our behalf because the Cross is God’s positive affirmation of His willingness to move in our lives.
Do we need to repent? More than we know. Christians hate repentance so much they do it once to get saved and then avoid it as much as possible for the rest of their lives. After years in ministry, I’ve seen many sinners repent but only a handful of Christians. We need to think about this. The word repentance as Jesus preached it and John the Baptist means to “have your after-mind.” In other words, adopt the posture of heart NOW that you would AFTER you saw the truth of the Gospel come to bear in your life. Thank Him now. Obey now. Leave all and follow Him now before it pays the dividends of all things being added. That’s what faith does. It acts in anticipation of God’s goodness. Repentance that God is looking for is like that. Not just regret for things not working out – that is looking back. God wants us to have forward-looking repentance anticipating God’s goodness, not backward looking repentance, because we want to avoid consequences for our actions. Selah.
