JESUS KNEW that betrayal, humiliation, and crucifixion

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2 A WORD STUDY BY JOSEPH BECKLER ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ BRITISH MUSEUM (31/26/17) Above: Ivory carving depicts Judas hanging himself and Jesus crucixion; dates to about 425. Right: The monastery of St. Onuphirius on the south slope of Mount Zion overlooking the Hinnom (Gehenna) Valley is built over a cave where a late tradition held that the apostles may have hidden during and after Jesus crucifixion. More significantly, this is also the traditional site of Judas s suicide by hanging (Matt. 27:3-5) and the field called Akeldama (also Aceldama). Tradition holds that Judas s 30 pieces of silver were used to purchase the burial site for strangers, a potters field. Akeldama means literally the field of blood. JESUS KNEW that betrayal, humiliation, and crucifixion were on the horizon. Approaching the cross was emotionally exhausting for Jesus. Grief and anxiety filled His heart. Yet in spite of it all, He prayed passionately for His beloved disciples. John 17 recounts Jesus earnest prayer for His followers. He loved the twelve disciples, poured Himself into these men, and knew challenging days were ahead for them. He also knew one of the twelve, Judas Iscariot, was ready to betray Him. This was troubling. Jesus loved Judas, sharing His life with him the same way He had invested in the other disciples. Yet Judas had evil intentions. So in His prayer, Jesus described His betrayer using the dark and troubling phrase son of perdition. General Understanding Perdition is a word that has not changed much from the meaning it held in Jesus day. Modern dictionaries explain perdition as an eternal state of punishment that comes after death for those who are evil. This meaning is clearly derived from biblical usage, as well as later literature, such as John Milton s Paradise Lost (which was also influenced by the Bible s depiction of perdition). 1 The New Testament word translated perdition (Greek, apoleia) means an everlasting state of torment and death. 2 Other meanings rendered from apoleia include annihilation, ruin, utter destruction, and wasting away (as in squandering resources). 3 Jesus use of the phrase son of perdition is a Hebraism, which means the word is best understood in light of Jewish/Hebrew thought in Old Testament context. The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses apoleia to describe one s character. This LESSON REFERENCE FBS: John 17:12 ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ KEN TOUCHTON (3/13/17) 64

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4 66 is the case in Isaiah 57:4 where the phrase tekna apoleias carries the meaning children of unrighteousness. The Septuagint also uses apoleia to describe a person s destiny. For example, Isaiah 34:5 states, the people I have doomed (RSV). The New Testament uses the phrase son of perdition on two occasions John 17:12, which is Jesus reference to Judas and 2 Thessalonians 2:3, which pertains to the Antichrist. Both of these New Testament references connect with perdition s use in the Old Testament context, communicating a description of both character and eternal destiny. 4 Following traditional Jewish form Jesus used the phrase son of... in His description of Judas. In the Hebrew tradition introductions were often made in light of one s ancestral connection. 5 The lineage defined who a person was. (For an example of this form, see Matthew 1:1 Jesus Christ, the son of David, KJV.) Jesus used son of perdition to describe Judas Iscariot as being related to literally as a child of destruction or a child of hell. More troubling is the fact that the son of perdition can lead others toward destruction, which makes him even more dangerous. 6 In Jesus case, Judas would betray Him into destruction on the cross. This was the betrayal of which Jesus would say, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born (Matt. 26:24). 7 Perdition as Hell in the New Testament As noted earlier, perdition refers to a state of eternal destruction, death, waste, and ruin all of which are clear references to hell. Within the context of the New Testament, perdition clearly refers to this eternal state of waste, which has everything to do with judgment and death. Such is the eternal fate for those who do not repent and who reject Christ. Jesus teaching in Matthew 7:13, for example, describes a broad road that leads people to a place or destiny of apoleia of ruin and destruction. 8 Perdition also gives a clear sense of something being wasted or made useless. In this sense, hell is a place of wasting away and uselessness. The New Testament uses apollumi, the verb form of apoleia, to describe this sense of wasting. The disciples used the word apoleia to voice their protest at the woman s extravagant waste of perfume, as she poured it on Jesus head (26:8). 9 Interestingly, Matthew credited the disciples with making this complaint regarding wasted perfume. However, John s Gospel particularly specified Judas, the son of perdition or wastefulness, as the one who Above: Bronze head of Hades (or Pluto as he is also called). Roman; dates 1st -2nd centuries A.D. Hades was lord of the underworld, where the shades of men went after death. He was grim and merciless, but not evil. Upper right: Armenian church built over the site of Caiaphas s house in Jerusalem. After his arrest, Jesus was taken to Caiaphas, where He was detained over night. scolded Mary for wasting the perfume (see John 12:1-8). Judas, who criticized others for wastefulness, was actually wasting away himself as he planned to betray Jesus. The New Testament uses apoleia (translated as perdition or destruction ) 20 times. In several of these New Testament uses, the word specifically refers to a place of destruction, namely hell. As mentioned earlier, Matthew 7:13 refers to the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction. Because Simon the sorcerer tried to purchase the power of the Holy Sprit from Simon Peter, Peter rebuked him saying, May your silver be destroyed with you (Acts 8:20). Paul s usage as well in his Epistles relates to a destiny of eternal ruin: objects of wrath ready for destruction (Rom. 9:22); evidence of their destruction (Phil. 1:28); their end is destruction (3:19); desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction (1 Tim. 6:9); and we are not those who draw back and are destroyed (Heb. 10:39). A form of perdition is in Revelation regarding the destiny of the beast The beast... is about to... go to destruction (17:8) and goes to destruction (v. 11). Second Peter also uses apoleia often to describe eternal ruin: They will secretly bring in destructive [worthless and even damning] heresies and will bring swift destruction on themselves (2:1); their destruction does not sleep (v. 3); day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men (3:7); and twist them to their own destruction (v. 16). Other Usage... Abaddon/Apollyon The New Testament also refers to perdition (apoleia) by the name Apollyon. Revelation 9:11 states, They had as their king the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon. Abaddon is a Hebrew word for destruction (see Job 26:6; 28:22; Ps. 88:11; and Prov. 15:11). Abaddon is personified as the dark angel of Revelation. Apollyon, playing off of the Greek apoleia, is Abaddon, the angel who like the son of perdition is a destroyer of self and one who ruins others. 10 Exploring the meaning of perdition is sobering. Jesus calling one of His disciples a son of perdition is a reference to both Judas s destructive desire to betray of the Son of God as well as his destiny of eternal ruin. Perdition describes a place, namely hell, which embodies wastefulness and destruction. To call someone a son of perdition was to say that he was a child of hell who leaves a trail of ruin wherever he goes. Judas embodied this reality. He was swallowed up ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/DAVID ROGERS/BRITISH MUSEUM (565/5)

5 in destruction and his actions would lead to a terrible event Jesus crucifixion. Yet Christians must always view perdition in light of the resurrected Christ. Judas s betrayal was not the last word! Perdition, likewise, does not have the final say for those who trust Christ as their Lord. For Jesus has defeated death and created eternal relief from the perils of perdition. i ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ DR. LOUISE KOHL SMITH (32/4/14) 1. Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, 2000 [online, cited 8 September 2005]. Available from Internet: asp?key=58795&dict=cald. See also The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. [online, cited 8 September 2005]. Available from Internet: 2. Albrecht Oepke, ajpovllumi ajpwvleia Apolluvwn in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT), Gerhard Kittel, ed., G. W. Bromiley, trans., vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), J. Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic edition). (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. 1997). See also Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich ajpwvleia in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1957), George R. Beasely-Murray, John in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 36 (Waco: Word, 1987), Oepke, Perdition in Nelson s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Herbert Lockyer, gen. ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986), Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. 8. Ken Massey, Perdition in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Chad Brand, Charles Draper, and Archie England, gen. eds. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), R. B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament: Their Bearing on Christian Doctrine electronic edition (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1998). 10. Joachim Jeremias, Abaddwvn in TDNT, vol. 1, 4. Joseph Beckler is a church planter and resort minister in Durango, Colorado. Greek mythology also had representations of eternal punishment. According to the story, Tantalus, the son of Zeus, was welcomed to his father s table. Yet he stole nectar and ambrosia and brought them back to his people and revealed the secrets of the gods. Divulging divine secrets brought eternal punishment. Tantalus s sentence was to stand in a pool of water beneath a grape vine. When he reached for the fruit, the branches would rise beyond his grasp. When he bent over for a drink of water, the water would disappear. We get our word tantalize from this mythological figure. JupiterImages Corporation ETERNAL PUNISHMENT IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY 67