Did Judas go to hell?

Given what we know about the apostle Judas, some people wonder where he ended up?

It doesn’t look good for Judas, for several reasons. First, his betrayal of Jesus. It was obviously a serious sin, and while he regretted what he did, it seems he never sought Jesus’ forgiveness. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “‘… woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born.’  Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Is it I, Master?’ He said to him, ‘You have said so’” (Matthew 26:24-25). We might conclude that, no matter how serious his sin was in life, and no matter how much Judas would suffer in purgatory, if he went to heaven in the end (as all who find themselves in purgatory will), it would have been worth his being born. Thus, we might conclude he is not going to be in heaven, but hell, which is ultimately the only other option.

Second, his suicide. We read in Matthew, “When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying ‘I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.’  They said, ‘What is that to us? See to it yourself.’ And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:3-5). Suicide is grave, serious matter, one of the conditions of mortal sin. If a person commits a mortal sin and does not repent, they will go to hell.

So, things don’t look good for Judas. But there is more to consider. Regarding Jesus saying, “It would have been better for … [Judas] … if he had never been born,” Jesus did not exactly say, “it would be better if he never existed.” He said “born.” We do not exclude the possibility that even someone who was conceived but not born and baptized can find their way into heaven. Jesus could have meant, by that statement, it would have been better if Judas had never lived life out in the world, where he would commit such terrible sins.

As for his suicide, that was a gravely evil act. But did it land him in hell? A person ends up in hell by dying without repenting of mortal sin. Mortal sin is deadly sin, deadly to our relationship with God. It is the kind of sin by which we reject God in a serious manner. There are three conditions for a sin to be mortal. The act or omission must be serious, we must know it is seriously wrong, and we must freely choose to commit the act or omission. So, applying this to Judas, first, yes, suicide is seriously wrong. It’s “grave matter,” as we say. Secondly, Judas probably knew it to be grave matter. He was an apostle, after all, and certainly familiar with God’s law. And, lastly, how freely did Judas choose the action? Here’s the difficult part. We don’t know for sure. Depression, stress and other factors can certainly influence a person’s freedom in that terrible moment. Even if Judas did freely choose to end his life, as he was falling and even in the moments after his last breath, there still may have been enough time for him to repent of his sin. We don’t have evidence of it, but it’s possible.

So, in short, it doesn’t look good for Judas. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante imagines Judas as one of the worst sinners, spending his eternity head-first in the devil’s mouth, being gnawed on forever. But, still, we do not know, for certain, that Judas is in hell. We “canonize” saints, meaning we add them to the “canon,” the list, of saints, declaring we are certain they are in heaven. But the Church never canonizes the damned. There is always some hope. The same is true of every other person that commits suicide.

Father Signalness is pastor of Queen of the Most Holy Rosary in Stanley and St. Ann in Berthhold. If you have a question you were afraid to ask, now is the time to ask it! Simply email your question to [email protected] with “Question Afraid to Ask” in the subject line.