SHAWN - In John 17 Jesus is praying for His apostles (at least
that is what the chapter heading interprets it to mean
when He says "those whom thou hast given me"). In
verse 12, He says that none of them are lost but the
son of perdition. It seems to be singular. In this
case it seems to me that He is only referring to Judas
Iscariot. Any insight that you can offer?
John 17:12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept
them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have
kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of
perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled."
JOEL - From what I can tell from the scriptures and according
to statements from some past Church leaders, "those
whom thou hast given me" is refering to the twelve
apostles and Jesus is most definately refering to
Judas as a "son of perdition" in His prayer.
When Jesus said: "that the scripture might be
fulfilled", He is of course refering to the following
prophesies made by the Psalmist:
"They took counsel together against me, they devised
to take away my life." (Ps. 31:13)
"Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which
did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against
me." (Ps. 41:9)
and that which Zechariah had said:
"If ye think good, give me my price; and if not,
forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of
silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the
potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them.
And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them
to the potter in the house of the Lord." (Zech.
11:12-13.)
All of which were fulfilled by the actions of Judas
(Matt. 26:14-16, Matt. 27: 3-10,
Matt. 26: 21, 25,
Luke 22: 3).
In His prayer Jesus did not mean that Judas is the
only person on earth who could ever be a son of
perdition; only that he is the only one of the 12
Apostles that is.
Another question one might ask is, if Jesus refered to him as a "son of
perdition", does that mean that Judas is destined to
join Satan and his angels in outer darkness forever,
or was that only a temporary title that Jesus gave
him? The short answer to this question is, we don't know.
President Joseph F. Smith provided his opinion on the
situation of Judas:
"If Judas really had known God's power, and had
partaken thereof, and did actually 'deny the truth'
and 'defy' that power, 'having denied the Holy Spirit
after he had received it,' and also 'denied the Only
Begotten,' after God had 'revealed him' unto him, then
there can be no doubt that he 'will die the second
death.' (D. & C. 76:30-49.)
That Judas did partake of all this knowledge—that
these great truths had been revealed to him—that he
had received the Holy Spirit by the gift of God, and
was therefore qualified to commit the unpardonable
sin, is not at all clear to me. To my mind it strongly
appears that not one of the disciples possessed
sufficient light, knowledge nor wisdom, at the time of
the crucifixion, for either exaltation or
condemnation; for it was afterward that their minds
were opened to understand the scriptures, and that
they were endowed with power from on high; without
which they were only children in knowledge, in
comparison to what they afterwards became under the
influence of the Spirit. . . .
No man can sin against light until he has it; nor
against the Holy Ghost, until after he has received it
by the gift of God through the appointed channel or
way. To sin against the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of
Truth, the Comforter, the Witness of the Father and
the Son, wilfully denying him and defying him, after
having received him, constitutes this sin. Did Judas
possess this light, this witness, this Comforter, this
baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, this endowment
from on high? It he did, he received it before the
betrayal, and therefore before the other eleven
apostles. And if this be so, you may say, 'he is a son
of perdition without hope.' But if he was
destitute of this glorious gift and outpouring of the
Spirit, by which the witness came to the eleven, and
their minds were opened to see and know the truth, and
they were able to testify of him, then what
constituted the unpardonable sin of this poor, erring
creature, who rose no higher in the scale of
intelligence, honor or ambition than to betray the
Lord of glory for thirty pieces of silver?
But not knowing that Judas did commit the unpardonable
sin; nor that he was a 'son of perdition without hope'
who will die the second death, nor what knowledge he
possessed by which he was able to commit so great a
sin, I prefer, until I know better, to take the
merciful view that he may be numbered among those for
whom the blessed Master prayed, 'Father, forgive them;
for they know not what they do.'" (Joseph F. Smith,
Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., pp. 433-435.)
We need to keep in mind the fact that the other eleven
Apostles probably did not receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost until the day of Pentecost(Acts 1: 4,5,8,
Acts
2:1-4), after Jesus was crucified; which means that
Judas certainly did not have it either at the time of
the betrayal. The Doctrine and Covenants tells us:
"34. Concerning whom I have said there is no
forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come—
35. Having denied the Holy Spirit after having
received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son
of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves
and put him to an open shame.
36. These are they who shall go away into the lake of
fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels—
37. And the only ones on whom the second death shall
have any power;
38. Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be
redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the
sufferings of his wrath." (D&C 76:34-38)
Since Judas had not yet received the Holy Ghost as
required in verse 35, he was probably incapable of
committing the unpardonable sin.
The Doctrine and Covenants also tells us:
"And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for
they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall,
because they repent not;" (D&C 29:44)
But Judas confessed his sin and was certainly very
sorrowful for what he had done and did try to repent:
"Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that
he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again
the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and
elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed
the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us?
see thou to that.
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple,
and departed, and went and hanged himself." (Matt 27:
3-5)
These references suggest that, even though Jesus
called him a "son of perdition" at the moment He was
praying; in the eternal scheme of things, Judas might
not be one of those destined for "eternal damnation" with Satan.
Many have debated this issue for centuries, and of
course, only God knows the heart of Judas and only He
can judge and determine his eternal future.