Judas Iscariot was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for See more

Name and background
The name "Judas" (Ὶούδας) is a Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Judah (יהודה, Y hûdâh, Hebrew for "praise or praised"), which was … See more

There are several explanations as to why Judas betrayed Jesus. In the earliest account, in the Gospel of Mark, when he goes to the chief priests to betray Jesus, he is offered money as a reward, but it is not clear that money is his motivation. In the Gospel of … See more

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. An example of this view is from Cornelius à Lapide See more

Although the sanctification of the instruments of the Passion of Jesus (the so-called Arma Christi), that slowly accrued over the course of the Middle Ages in Christian symbolism and art, also included the head and lips of Judas, the term Judas has … See more

Although Judas Iscariot's historical existence is generally widely accepted among secular historians, this relative consensus has not gone entirely unchallenged. The earliest possible allusion to Judas comes from the First Epistle to the … See more

Judas has been a figure of great interest to esoteric groups, such as many Gnostic sects. Irenaeus records the beliefs of one Gnostic sect, the Cainites, who believed that Judas was an instrument of the Sophia, Divine Wisdom, thus earning the hatred of the See more