The Son of man goes indeed, according as it is written concerning him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is delivered up; it were good for that man if he had not been born.
The Lord speaks these words while the man who will betray Him still sits at the table. He joins two things that seem to clash: a death written in Scripture long before, and a betrayer who carries full guilt for it. How can God's fixed purpose and a man's guilt both stand? The verse holds both, then ends with the most terrible words ever said about anyone.
The Lord does not treat His betrayal as an accident. Scripture had marked out His path long before, and that gives the believer solid ground:
Judas could, after all, only carry out the purpose of God, and the Saviour pointed this out... It is a great support to the heart of the believer to know this. Neither the wickedness of man nor the schemes of Satan can defeat any purpose of God. God makes rebels against their Maker, human or angelic, serve the final result He has planned, even against their own will. Of course, this does not lessen their wickedness in the smallest degree. God and His purposes have no place at all in their thoughts.
Four things met at that table, and none of them cancelled the others:
It was man's sin, Satan's cunning, God's purpose, and Christ's love. But none of these things changed the wickedness of Judas: "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." He was appointed, we may say, to this condemnation. God did not make him wicked. God gave his wickedness the shape that would fulfil His own purpose.
Judas heard this sentence before he had done the deed. That is not only exposure. It is a last appeal:
God's love would not give up even a Judas without warning. So love had to let him know that "even the night" was "light about" him. Scripture had also warned and pointed him out. And the Lord adds His terrible warning: "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."
The Lord closes in by stages instead of naming the man at once. Notice too the one title Judas will not use:
Next the Lord points out the traitor, but step by step, as if to alarm the conscience and stir it to repentance before the guilt became final... Judas is the slowest of all to speak up with his question. He asks it knowing with deadly certainty what the answer would be, yet he looks as innocent as the rest. But notice, he does not call Christ his "Lord," as the others do. That is over for him: it is "Rabbi, is it I?"... He has heard that terrible "woe" from lips that never lie. Even so, he goes away and sets himself to do the thing that would mark him for all eternity as the "son of perdition." Such is the hardening power of sin.
Judas had every outward advantage. That is what makes his case so frightening. Being near Christ, with the conscience untouched, does not soften a person:
There was sin in Judas's nature, and it showed itself as the love of money. Next, Satan suggested a way to satisfy that craving, for Judas loved money more than he loved Jesus. Here we see what outward nearness to the Lord does when it never touches the conscience... While he lived as a hypocrite, his heart grew hard. Then Satan came between his conscience and all hope of pardon. Many an unconverted man would not betray a friend with a kiss, as Judas soon did. His nearness only hardened him.
This sentence stands alone. These words belong to one man only, and his life fills out what they mean:
Of only one man has our Lord ever said, "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born" (Matt. 26:24). Judas turned away from the faith. He was the "son of perdition," a man marked out for ruin. Satan entered his heart. He sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver and betrayed Him with a kiss. Then, filled with remorse, he went and hanged himself, and "went to his own place."
The words also settle a question people still ask: might the lost be restored in the end? Test that hope against this sentence:
Suppose Judas' fall ended with him restored to a safer blessing than before. Then it would have been good for him to have been born, and his case would be the highest witness of grace... But the Lord's word about Judas is absolute: better not to have been born.
- Written — Scripture fixed the Son of Man's road to the cross. No wickedness of man and no scheme of Satan can break God's purpose.
- Guilty — God's plan excuses nobody. God did not make Judas wicked. He gave that wickedness the shape His own purpose had foretold.
- Warned — the Lord spoke the woe to the traitor's face, step by step. Love would not let even a Judas go without one last appeal.
- Hardened — nearness to Christ without a changed heart softens nobody. It hardens, until hypocrisy shuts the door on pardon.
- Absolute — "better not to have been born" is a verdict with no reversal hidden inside it. The words leave no room for the hope that the lost are restored in the end.
And Judas, who delivered him up, answering said, Is it *I*, Rabbi? He says to him, *Thou* hast said.
At the supper table the Lord says that one of the men eating with Him will hand Him over. Each disciple, unsure of himself, asks, "Is it I?" — and so, at last, does Judas.
Only one man at the table had still not spoken.
We can picture the scene. Each one distrusted himself and asked, "Is it I?" It seems no one stayed silent except Judas. Staying silent any longer would give him away, so at last he had the nerve to say, as Matthew has recorded, "Rabbi, is it I?"
The Lord did not name the traitor at once.
Next the Lord points out the traitor, but step by step. It is as if He wants to alarm the conscience and stir it to repentance before the guilt is final. "One of you shall deliver Me up." Then, "he who dips his hand with Me in the dish." Judas is the slowest of all to respond. He asks his question knowing for certain what the answer would be, yet he wears the same look of innocence as the rest.
The others said "Lord." Judas used a teacher's title instead.
It is striking that John and his companions called the Saviour "Lord," while the betrayer called Him only "Rabbi" (Matthew 26:25). There is no recorded instance of Judas ever giving Him the higher title. To truly acknowledge Jesus as Lord is the fruit of a work of the Holy Spirit within (1 Cor. 12:3).
Judas hears an answer, not a hint.
The others have asked the question, so Judas can hardly stay silent. He asks, "Master (not Lord), is it I?" He is stubborn and set on doing his own will, so he can hardly use the word "Lord." The Lord answers with an emphatic "You have said so." It means, "as you suggest, so it stands." The Lord had shown him that He knew his plans. Even so, the unhappy man would not turn from the folly of his headlong course. It seems that at this point Judas went out (John 13:26-30).
He uses the same form of words again later in this chapter.
Jesus replies, "You have said so." It is a quiet way of saying yes. We meet it again in the latter part of this same chapter (v. 64).
The Lord had just said that the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him. Does that make the betrayal any less Judas's own?
There we see it fulfilled by the will of God. Although it was "by the foreknowledge of God," it did not relieve Judas of his responsibility. Peter speaks of people appointed to stumble. They were not appointed to be disobedient, but to stumble if they were disobedient. Yet all of it was foreknown. The guilt of it rested on Judas, but "it had been good for that man if he had never been born." How appalling! Yet after hearing this Judas says, "Is it I, Rabbi?"
Four things met at that table, and none of them cancelled the others.
It was man's sin, Satan's guile, God's counsel, and Christ's love. But none of these things altered the wickedness of Judas... One of that company chosen to be with Jesus here below was to prove this awful truth. If a man does not receive blessing into his heart, then the closer he stands to it on the outside, the further he is from it morally.
Being close to Christ is never a neutral thing.
Judas, found out, takes the piece of bread, and the greed that ruled his heart won the day. Satan used this to destroy him. He hardened Judas's heart against every feeling of common humanity... Nearness to Jesus, without faith, and with a heart that His presence does not touch, only hardens in a terrible way.
- Near. Judas held the closest place a man could hold. Yet nearness to blessing on the outside, if it is never received inside, leaves a man further away, not closer.
- Warned. The Lord came at him in stages — "one of you," then "he who dips with Me" — to wake his conscience before the guilt was final.
- Named. Judas asked with the same look of innocence as the rest. The answer came straight back: as you say, so it stands.
- Withheld. He said "Rabbi," never "Lord" — and owning Jesus as Lord is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work inside a person.
- Hardened. God foreknew the betrayal, yet the act was Judas's own. Closeness without faith did not soften him; it hardened him.