We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

How do you respond to John 13:18–19; 17:12?

“I am not speaking of you all; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am he.’” Jesus prays to the Father, “I guard them [my disciples] and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.”

This verse reveals that by the time Jesus made this statement Judas was “destined to be lost.” But neither this nor any other verse states when Judas became “destined” to be lost. I see no reason to think it was prior to the time when Judas, of his own free volition, irrevocably resolved it in his heart to turn against God. Scripture teaches us that there is a point when God sees that it is useless to strive with people any longer. He thus withdraws his Spirit from these people, hardens their heart, and determines their destiny (e.g. Gen. 6:3; Rom. 1:24–27). When this occurs the only remaining question is how God can strategically use the wickedness of these people to further his divine plans.

By virtue of his own wickedness Judas had apparently put himself in this position. The fact that Judas’ betrayal fulfilled scripture does not mean that he was the one who had to fulfill scripture.

In fact, it doesn’t seen that anyone had to betray Jesus to “fulfill” Scripture. The passage that Judas “fulfills” is Psalm 41:9, in which David complains that a “close friend” who “shared my bread” has “lifted up his heel against me.” There is clearly nothing predictive about this passage. If no one had betrayed Jesus, no one would be sitting around wondering why Psalm 41:9 wasn’t “fulfilled.” Consider that in the previous sentence David complained that people were saying he was going to die from a “vile disease” (41:8). People never said this about Jesus, yet no one worries that Psalm 41:8 wasn’t “fulfilled.”

When Jesus (or a Gospel author) says that an event “fulfills” an Old Testament passage, they don’t necessarily mean that the event was predicted by the Old Testament and that the event had to occur. What they often mean is simply that the event illustrates in a superlative way a principle found in the Old Testament passage. The event didn’t have to occur, but once it occurs, or once it becomes certain to occur, it takes on retroactive significance by being interpreted through the lens of an Old Testament passage. Judas’ betrayal of Jesus thus “fulfills” Psalm 41:9 in the sense that it is the supreme illustration of a betrayal of God’s servant. As a friend betrayed David, so Judas betrayed the Son of David.

This use of the term “fulfilled” may sound odd to modern western people, but it would not have sounded odd to first century Jews. It was a form of Bible interpretation called “midrash” that helped Jews interpret current events in light of Scripture.

Related Reading

What is the significance of 2 Chronicles 32:31?

“God left [Hezekiah] to himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart.” God tests his covenant partners to discover whether they will choose to remain faithful to him, an exercise that is absurd if God exhaustively foreknows exactly how faithful every person will choose to be. If the…

Topics:

What is the significance of Deuteronomy 9:13–14, 18–20, 25?

The Lord tells Moses “Let me alone that I may destroy them [the Israelites] and blot out their name from under heaven…” (vs. 14). Moses later says to the Israelites, “the Lord intended to destroy you” (vs. 25). Moses interceded for forty days and then tells the Israelites, “the Lord listened to me…” (vs. 19).…

Topics:

What is the significance of Jeremiah 42:9-16?

Through Jeremiah the Lord tells Israel “If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you” (vs. 10). Then, a few verses later, he says, “However, if you say,…

Topics:

When God’s “Plan A” Falls Through, What’s Next?

Image by Katie Tegtmeyer via Flickr Suzanne was angry, to say the least. Since her early teens, her only aspirations in life were to be a missionary to Taiwan and to marry a godly man with a similar vision, and she prayed daily about these. She went to a Christian college and, quite miraculously, quickly met…

Topics:

Podcast: Is Open Theism Growing in the World?

Greg discusses the place of Open Theism in contemporary Christianity. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0149.mp3

What God Doesn’t Know (According to W.L.Craig)

Hello bloggers.  Here’s Part II of my response to Bill Craig’s podcast critique of the open model of providence. As I see it, the central difference between Craig’s position (Molinism) and my own (open theism) boils down to our different assessments of futurity. As I noted in my previous blog, Craig believes that propositions asserting…