Judas' death and its timing
The purpose of this article is to examine the timing of Judas’ death. When did Judas’ death happen? The traditional view places his death around the time of crucifixion and definitely before the resurrection. But 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 speaks about an appearance to the twelve:

1 Corinthians 15:3-5
"For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve......."

For many, this scripture has been a stumbling block since, according to tradition, Judas’ death happened before the crucifixion and therefore, if this tradition was right, then here the Word of God should have written "eleven" instead of "twelve". The purpose of this article is, among others, to throw light to this misunderstood, due to traditional beliefs, scripture.

The investigation below starts by confirming that the "twelve" of the above passage are the well known "twelve" that included Judas. After that, we continue with a detailed analysis of the gospel records that refer to the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus that happened at the evening of the "first day of the week". Though this appearance is not the appearance to the twelve, it is very important to examine it since, as we will see, Judas was there when it happened. Apart from this, the examination of this appearance is necessary for a good understanding of the gospel record of the appearance to the twelve. After that, the investigation will continue with the examination of the traditional view concerning the timing of Judas’ death and the passage of Matthew 27:3-5 that is used to support it. As we will see from our investigation Judas’s death did not happen at the time that tradition puts it. Instead Judas was alive and saw the resurrected Lord, only to commit suicide sometime after this.



1. "The twelve" of 1 Corinthians 15:5
According to the above given passage of 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrected Christ appeared to the twelve. To reconcile this reference with the tradition according to which Judas’ death happened before the crucifixion, it has been suggested that the twelve here are the old eleven disciples plus Matthias that substituted Judas in Acts 1:26. However, a conjecture like this is not supported neither from the references of the Word of God regarding the time that Matthias was counted as one of the twelve nor from the passages of the gospels that refer to some of the post- resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ. But let's examine this issue more analytically.

It is evident that there is no change in a specific group of people if there is no change in its composition. The original composition of the group of the "twelve" disciples is given in Matthew 10:1-4 as well as in Mark 3:14-18 and in Luke 6:13-16. Luke 6 for example tells us:

Luke 6:13-16
"And when it was day he called his disciples to himself; and from them he chose twelve whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor."

As it is evident from this passage, the original composition of the group of the twelve included Judas Iscariot. Thus, whenever we read "twelve" we should understand it as a term that denotes the group of the above twelve people, except if there is a change in the composition of this group. In this later case, when the reference is to events before the change the number "twelve" should be understood as the group of the above twelve men, while when the reference is to events after the change, the meaning has to be adjusted correspondingly. In our case, the event that the Word of God speaks about in 1 Corinthians 15:5 is the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his appearances that followed it. Therefore, the simple question that has to be asked is what was the composition of the group of the twelve at the time of the resurrection? Was Matthias numbered with the eleven at that time? The exact time and the process that was followed for the inclusion of Matthias in the group of the remaining eleven disciples is given in Acts 1:15-26. From this record we learn that sometime between the ascension and the day of Pentecost, Peter proposed the substitution of Judas by someone else. The candidates were two: the one was "Joseph called Barsabas" and the other was Matthias. How the choice was made and who was chosen is described in Acts 1:24-26

Acts 1:24-26
"And they prayed and said, "You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell ["by transgression fell" = Greek: parabaino = "transgressed". So also in Matthew 15:2, 3 and II John 9] that he might go to his own place." And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. AND he was NUMBERED with the eleven apostles"

Now, since only at that point Matthias was numbered with the eleven, this obviously means that he wasn't numbered before. Therefore, whenever we meet the expression the "twelve" and the reference is to events that happened before Acts 1:26 what is meant is the twelve of Luke 6:13 that included Judas. On the other hand, when this expression refers to events that happened after the inclusion of Matthias then what is meant is the new composition of the group that excluded Judas and included Matthias. Bearing this in mind we should not have any problem to understand who are the twelve of 1 Corinthians 15. The corresponding passage refers to the appearance that happened before "Matthias was numbered with the eleven. Therefore, since at that time Matthias was not yet one of the twelve, the expression "by the twelve" of 1 Corinthians 15 refers to the usual twelve of Luke 6:13 that included Judas. Furthermore this places the timing of Judas’ death after the resurrection and after he had seen the raised Lord.

Further evidence regarding the presence of Judas after the resurrection is given by the gospel records of two of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.



2. Jesus’ appearance "at the evening of the first day of the week"
This appearance is described in three out of four gospels. For a complete picture it is needed to examine each of these records carefully and to start with let's go to John.



2.1. The witness of John
The witness of John to this appearance is given in John 20:19:

John 20:19
"Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them "peace be with you"

Though this verse does not specifically state who of the disciples were present at this appearance, verse 24 of the same chapter tells us who was not present:

John 20:24
"Now Thomas, called the twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came."

So from the above record we can conclude that in the appearance that happened at the "evening of the first day of the week" (i.e. at the evening of what we call "Easter Sunday" Thomas was certainly not there. This information has vital significance for the right understanding of the corresponding records of Mark and Luke and thus we should keep it in mind.



2.2. The witness of Luke
Having examined the witness of John, let's examine the witness of Luke about the same appearance. The four gospels complement each other and to have a complete picture of something we should examine all the available records making sure that all of them refer to the same event. One of the most frequent reasons of errors in rightly dividing the Word of God, that is especially relevant in the gospels, is the confusion of similar things as identical. Indeed, it is not at all necessary, because two records are similar (the healing of a blind man for example) these records to refer to one and the same event. Whether they do so or not is something that has to be determined after a careful examination of the context of the corresponding records.

Returning to our topic, the witness of Luke to the post-resurrection appearance that occurred at "the evening of the first day of the week" is given in chapter 24. Verse 1 informs us that the day is "the first day of the week". Then verse 13 tells us that two of the disciples "were travelling THAT SAME DAY [i.e. the first day of the week] to a village called Emmaus which was seven miles from Jerusalem". Somewhere in this journey Jesus joined them and verses 15-31 give a description of the wonderful fellowship they had together and how at the end "their eyes were opened and they knew him; and he vanished from their sight" (verse 31). When these disciples arrived at Emmaus was "towards evening" as verse 29 says. After they recognized Jesus these two disciples "rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the ELEVEN and those who were with them gathered together". Bearing in mind that Emmaus was no more than just 7 miles from Jerusalem and that when they arrived at Emmaus was "TOWARDS evening", but not evening, we can conclude that by the time they arrived at Jerusalem it was already evening, "the evening of the first day of the week". What happened at that evening is given in verses 33-36:

Luke 24:33-36
"So they [the two disciples that had just arrived at Emmaus] rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the ELEVEN and those who were with them gathered together, saying the Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. Now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "peace to you"

Since this appearance happened at the evening of the first day of the week, it is therefore the same with the one that John speaks about. Thus, the events described by John and Luke are not only similar BUT ALSO identical. However, while John tells us that Thomas was not there, without telling us who was there, Luke adds to our knowledge that present at this appearance were "THE ELEVEN and those who were with them". For many years, I used to read this passage and to think that the reason that the text speaks for eleven was because, as tradition teaches, Judas’ death had already happened. However, the record of John shows very clearly that the disciple that was absent in this appearance was not Judas BUT THOMAS. In turn, this means that Judas was present at this appearance and saw the resurrected Jesus. This also confirms the record of 1 Corinthians 15 according to which Judas was alive after the resurrection.

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https://litsecure..com/2020/07/judas-death-and-its-timing-when-did-it.html

I have never given much thought to Judas's case before now. I have to say that you make a compelling argument there.

Kobojunkie:
I have never given much thought to Judas's case before now. I have to say that you make a compelling argument there.

really?
you can try and take a look into it (personally).....