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NASB | Matthew 5:13 ¶ "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 5:13 ¶ "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste (purpose), how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and walked on by people [when the walkways are wet and slippery]. |
Bible Question: If Jesus chose the twelve apostles, and He chose Judas, was Judas a believer? And how can Judas have been a believer if "Satan entered him" when he betrayed Jesus? (I'm thinking of the passage that says a spring cannot produce both salt and fresh water). If Judas was NOT a believer, then did Jesus just intentionally choose a non-believer to betray Him? Wouldn't intentionally enlisting someone Satan himself could enter have had negative effects on His earthly ministry? |
Bible Answer: "Judas proved his repentance to be false by immediately committing another sin, suicide. Peter proved his to be true by serving the Lord faithfully ever after." ____________________ '(1) Judas, when he saw the results of his betrayal, "repented himself." (Matthew 27:3-10) He saw his sin in a new light, and "his conscience bounded into fury." '(2) He made ineffectual struggles to escape, by attempting to return the reward to the Pharisees, and when they would not receive it, he cast it down at their feet and left it. (Matthew 27:5) But, (a) restitution of the silver did not undo the wrong; (b) it was restored in a wrong spirit, --a desire for relief rather than hatred of sin; (c) he confessed to the wrong party, or rather to those who should have been secondary, and who could not grant forgiveness; (d) "compunction is not conversion." '(3) The money was used to buy a burial-field for poor strangers. (Matthew 27:6-10) '(4) Judas himself, in his despair, went out and hanged himself, (Matthew 27:5) at Aceldama, on the southern slope of the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, and in the act he fell down a precipice and was dashed into pieces. (Acts 1:18) "And he went to his own place." (Acts 1:25 ) "A guilty conscience must find neither hell nor pardon." '(5) Judas’ repentance may be compared to that of Esau. (Genesis 27:32-38; Hebrews 12:16,17) It is contrasted with that of Peter. Judas proved his repentance to be false by immediately committing another sin, suicide. Peter proved his to be true by serving the Lord faithfully ever after. --ED.)' (www.biblestudytools.net/ Dictionaries/SmithsBibleDictionary/) ____________________ Let's compare Judas and Peter. After Peter denied knowing Jesus, he later was filled with the Holy Spirit and under his preaching 5,000 men "who heard the word believed." It is said that Peter and virtually every other [true] Apostle died a martyr's death for their testimony and the cause of Christ. After Judas betrayed Christ, he allegedly repented of his sin, then to prove the sincerity of his repentance went out and committed another sin -- suicide. By their fruits you shall know them. Is suicide the fruit of the Spirit? Are converts and proven Christian character works of the flesh? When comparing the two, there is a distinct difference between Judas, the "son of perdition" who went to "his own place", and Peter the Apostle, human author of two NT books and Christian martyr. |