Did Judas Partake Of The Lord's Supper
Did Judas Partake of the Lord’s Supper?
I began writing this Newsletter article five years ago after numerous instances of receiving the question: “Did Judas receive the Lord’s Supper?” I never published it because I was never satisfied with my answer. I also changed said answer more than once! Last month Issues, Etc. put out a great podcast by Dr. Charles Shulz entitled, “Judas, the Lord’s Supper and Closed Communion” (I highly recommend listening to it for more information: Episode 1071, 4/17/25). The early church disagreed over whether or not Judas received it, and the Biblical evidence is sparse. Did Judas receive the Sacrament, though, is an important question because there are several implications in doctrine and practice to consider if Judas did in fact receive it.
There are three positions that have been taken. One, based on Matthew and Mark, assumes Judas exits the Passover festivities before Jesus distributes the Lord’s Supper. This assumption is based on the fact that neither Gospel writer mentions when Judas leaves the Upper Room. Only John tells us this (Jn 13:30), but John never gives us the actual institution! Judas leaving before what we would call the Distribution is the “easiest” explanation, since Judas would not have been a worthy recipient of the Sacrament for he did not have faith in these words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
Another position, based on Luke, believes Judas received and consumed it. After Luke records Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper, he cites Jesus’ very next words: “But, behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table” (Lk 22:21). If Judas received the Lord’s Supper, the question is, “Why would Jesus give it to him?” In other words, if Jesus gives Holy Communion to an impenitent sinner, that means Jesus practices “Open Communion.” Two responses can made to this. One, Jesus functions according to His human nature, and thereby gives an example for pastors to imitate: that in the administration of good stewardship at the Altar Rails, a pastor can only judge based on the external confession of faith. Only Jesus, since He is God, could have read Judas’ heart and know that he would betray him. Two, since Judas ate and drank in unbelief, he ate and drank unto his own condemnation. Paul may have had Judas in mind when he writes, “For anyone who eats and drink without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor 11:29-30). It should be noted that “discerning the body” does not only mean discerning the true Body of Christ under the bread, but also what this Real Presence fully entails: that Christ’s body is given – on the cross and in the Sacrament – for the forgiveness of sins. Those who deny infant Baptism, for example, deny the forgiveness of sins that Christ earned through His body, thereby making them ineligible to receive the Sacrament.
The third position is that Judas received it into his hand, but never ate it. John tells us, “So when [Jesus] had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas… then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him… So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out” (Jn 13:26, 27, 30). This morsel could either refer to something else in the Passover Meal prior to the Lord’s Supper, or else it refers to the True Body of Christ. Notice, however, that John just says Judas “had taken” it. It doesn’t say that he ate it. This explanation was put forth to prevent the apparent dilemma of Judas communing.
As you can see, the theological and practical issue of concern is that if Jesus communed an open, unrepentant sinner, how could the Church practice Closed Communion? Before Christianity was legal and persecution was prevalent, this is where we find the most church fathers who deny Judas ever received or consumed the Supper. Judas was the archetype example of those who persecuted the Church. Once Christianity became legal, and conversions were happening in droves, more church fathers confessed that Judas received and consumed the Sacrament, but did so to his detriment. Thus, Judas’ reception became a warning or admonition against taking the Sacrament unworthily. But, if Judas consumed it, and did so unworthily, the question still stands, why did Jesus commune him? We have to be content that the Scriptures simply do not say. Could Jesus have been giving Judas a “second chance”, one that only He who is True God and True Man could do? Or, as stated above, was Jesus simply going by Judas’ external confession, the one that the rest of the disciples thought they knew?
It’s OK to have “open questions.” The Bible never purports to give us all the answers. We need to learn to be content with that. To such “open questions”, while we cannot be dogmatic about them, we can make pious conjectures. It’s questions like these that make reading the Bible a thought-provoking, joyful enterprise. It’s also one I have added to the, “Ask Jesus in heaven” list!
In Christ, Pastor Hromowyk