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| Chapter XI
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Chapter XI.
In the next place, that He was betrayed by those
whom He called His disciples, is a circumstance which the Jew of Celsus
learned from the Gospels; calling the one Judas, however, “many
disciples,” that he might seem to add force to the
accusation. Nor did he trouble himself to take note of all that
is related concerning Judas; how this Judas, having come to entertain
opposite and conflicting opinions regarding his Master neither opposed
Him with his whole soul, nor yet with his whole soul preserved the
respect due by a pupil to his teacher. For he that betrayed Him
gave to the multitude that came to apprehend Jesus, a sign, saying,
“Whomsoever I shall kiss, it is he; seize ye
him,”—retaining still some element of respect for his
Master: for unless he had done so, he would have betrayed Him,
even publicly, without any pretence of affection. This
circumstance, therefore, will satisfy all with regard to the purpose of
Judas, that along with his covetous disposition, and his wicked design
to betray his Master, he had still a feeling of a mixed character in
his mind, produced in him by the words of Jesus, which had the
appearance (so to speak) of some remnant of good. For it is
related that, “when Judas, who betrayed Him, knew that He was
condemned, he repented, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to
the high priest and elders, saying, I have sinned, in that I have
betrayed the innocent blood. But they said, What is that to us?
see thou to that;”3249
—and that,
having thrown the money down in the temple, he departed, and went and
hanged himself. But if this covetous Judas, who also stole the
money placed in the bag for the relief of the poor, repented, and
brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and
elders, it is clear that the instructions of Jesus had been able to
produce some feeling of repentance in his mind, and were not altogether
despised and loathed by this traitor. Nay, the declaration,
“I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood,” was a public acknowledgment of his crime. Observe,
also, how exceedingly passionate3250
| 3250 διάπυρος
καὶ σφόδρα. | was the sorrow
for his sins that proceeded from that repentance, and which would not
suffer him any longer to live; and how, after he had cast the money
down in the temple, he withdrew, and went away and hanged
himself: for he passed sentence upon himself, showing what a
power the teaching of Jesus had over this sinner Judas, this thief and
traitor, who could not always treat with contempt what he had learned
from Jesus. Will Celsus and his friends now say that those proofs
which show that the apostasy of Judas was not a complete apostasy, even
after his attempts against his Master, are inventions, and that this
alone is true, viz., that one of His disciples betrayed Him; and will
they add to the Scriptural account that he betrayed Him also with his
whole heart? To act in this spirit of hostility with the same
writings, both as to what we are to believe and what we are not to
believe, is absurd.3251
And if we
must make a statement regarding Judas which may overwhelm our opponents
with shame, we would say that, in the book of Psalms, the whole of
the 108th
contains a prophecy about Judas, the beginning of which is
this: “O God, hold not Thy peace before my praise; for the
mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of the crafty man, are opened
against me.”3252
And it is
predicted in this psalm, both that Judas separated himself from the
number of the apostles on account of his sins, and that another was
selected in his place; and this is shown by the words: “And
his bishopric let another take.”3253
But suppose now that He had been
betrayed by some one of His disciples, who was possessed by a worse
spirit than Judas, and who had completely poured out, as it were, all
the words which he had heard from Jesus, what would this contribute to
an accusation against Jesus or the Christian religion? And how
will this demonstrate its doctrine to be false? We have replied
in the preceding chapter to the statements which follow this, showing
that Jesus was not taken prisoner when attempting to flee, but that He
gave Himself up voluntarily for the sake of us all. Whence it
follows, that even if He were bound, He was bound agreeably to His own
will; thus teaching us the lesson that we should undertake similar
things for the sake of religion in no spirit of
unwillingness.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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