Better to Never Have Been Born

Better to Never Have Been Born?

A Look at Judas in Mark 14:21

I pity Judas possibly more than any other person in all of the scriptures (with the possible exception of Job).  Judas’ betrayal of The Lord was unquestionably evil.  But have you ever considered that God had picked Judas to fulfill a particular purpose?  The betrayal of Christ was prophesied of in Psalm 41:9.  

“Even mine ally, in whom I trusted, One eating my bread, made great the heel against me,” (Ps.41:9)

In the addition, we hear from the words of Christ, Himself, that Judas was the only apostle He did not protect from the Adversary so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.  

“when I was with them in the world, I was keeping them in Thy name; those whom Thou hast given to me I did guard, and none of them was destroyed, except the son of the destruction, that the Writing may be fulfilled.” (John 17:12)

​Did you know that Satan himself possessed Judas (Jn.13:27) in order to assure that Judas would follow through with the betrayal of the Lord?  Of course, after the deed was done, Satan left Judas and coming to the realization of what he had done, was mortified and went and hung himself.

​The Mark 14:21 passage is (I believe) taught incorrectly due to the bad translating and a doctrinal bias.  Below is Mark 14:21 as it reads in the King James Version and most other modern translations.

“The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.”

Now, from the context, it is evident that “that man” in both occurrences refers to Judas.  This would seem to clearly teach that Judas would have been better off to have never been born.  And I would completely agree…if I believed that God is going to torture and torment Judas in an everlasting torture chamber.  

​There are a few (very few) translations which translated literally from the Greek and did not twist the original inspired meaning of the passage in order to fit a flawed doctrinal bias.  If you have access to a Greek Interlinear Text, you can verify this for yourself (and I encourage you to do so).  The actual Greek to English text reads this way for Mark 14:21:

​“The indeed Son of the human is-under-leading according as is it-has-been written  about Him woe yet to-the human that through whom the Son of-the human is-being-beside-given ideal it-was  to Him if not was generated the human that”

​Notice the wording there?  It was ideal for Christ, if Judas had not been born.  The translations I have found (there may be more) which translate this passage correctly are:  Young’s Literal Translation, The Concordant Literal New Testament, The LexhamEnglish Bible and The Wycliffe Bible.  Young’s Literal Translation words the passage this way:

“the Son of Man doth indeed go, as it hath been written concerning him, but wo to that man through whom the Son of Man is delivered up; good were it to him if that man had not been born.”

This is an example of translating which is consistent with the Greek text.  As with all things, study for yourself and see if these things are so.