Finding Peace - Peter and Judas
By Sonja H. Winburn
What made Judas and Peter react so differently when responding to very similar sins? Examining the examples of success and failure of Bible characters helps to provide direction. If we want to find peace with God after our own disobedience, we must understand God’s processes for renewal as defined in His Word.
When we sin, are we ridden by fear, anxiety, and regret, or do we find peace with God? The answer hinges on our perspective of God’s view of us. We must all reach the realization that God is real and views us all individually and that He is interested in our welfare (Heb 11:6)! True, abiding faith begins here.
Next, we must see that we are each in our own personal conflict with Satan. He lies to confuse us. Jesus and Satan are both after our minds! While Satan works against us, God works with us and for us. The one we choose to listen to will shape us and use us to further their cause. Remember that Satan is real! We need to recognize his devices and resist him. He is like a roaring lion seeking souls to devour. At times, all of us will be caught by his deceit.
Notice how Jesus confronts Peter as being Satan. In a conversation with Peter in Mark 8:31–33, Peter goes from confessing, “You are the Christ” to being bold enough to rebuke Jesus after teaching that He would die and rise again. Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind Me Satan!” What caused this severe rebuke?
Peter’s desires were in harmony with who he wanted Jesus to be in the physical sense. Jesus’ teaching about His death and resurrection contradicted Peter’s simple understanding of what he thought (and wanted) his true mission to be. He was mindful of the things of men. The influence of Jesus had shifted to the influence of Satan, and Satan used it to attack Jesus.
Satan also sifts us as wheat when we are put into difficult or trying situations where emotion is high and mistakes can be made. In Luke 22:31-32, the Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Note that the “sifting of wheat” removes small rocks and useless debris to get to the pure wheat seed.
Peter had denied Jesus and had to return to Him before he could be useful again to his fellow workers. In John 21:14-16, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. He then tells Peter to feed His sheep. Peter needed to return to Jesus after his denial. When Satan gets a hold of us, we too must return to be forgiven and useful again.
Now let’s turn to Judas. During the last supper, the disciples asked who would betray Jesus. Recall John 13:26-27, where Jesus says:
“It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
The statement prompted Judas to leave the supper and betray Jesus, while the others missed the answer. They saw and heard Jesus, but their perception of Judas was that he was trustworthy. He had successfully hidden his real character as a thief from them all.
We know Judas was a thief because John reveals it in John 12. This is when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with the expensive oil, and Judas reviled her for it, saying the money spent on the oil should have been given to the poor. Mary was grateful for Jesus and was minding the things of God. Judas was upset because he wouldn’t be able to embezzle the money spent on the oil! He was deceitfully hiding his true character behind a comment that seemed noble.
Both Peter and Judas had similar sins. Judas sold out Jesus for money, and Peter denied him three times. They both made mistakes and were both sorry. The difference between them was in how each responded to their sorrow. Judas chose a permanent solution to what could have been a temporary problem and hanged himself. His faith and understanding were weak. Peter humbly repented and later became a pillar of the church.
The difference between the people of God and the people of the world is not sin. Both have that, but the people of God have a different response to sin than those of the world.
So, what caused each to respond as they did? There is little said about Judas until the last week before the death of Jesus. John’s account of Judas’s reaction to Mary’s anointing of Jesus with oil is the scripture where we are given real insight into his character. That said, we know he saw the same miracles and heard the same teaching as Peter!
There are so many more passages that give us insight into Peter. The text reveals that he engages with the things he saw and heard very directly. He was always open, maybe sometimes to a fault, being impetuous. He acted and spoke before thinking. But openness can be good. You know where people are and what they think. They can be corrected because they are not hiding themselves.
Judas was not open. He was deceitful. He portrayed one thing while inside he was something else. He was double-minded. He hid his love for money. But he must have portrayed respectability and trustworthiness, or they would not have given him charge of the money bag. He conformed in his actions and words but doesn’t seem to progress in understanding or inward change as Peter did.
Peter trusted Jesus. He wanted to do right. In John 6:67-68, Jesus asks the disciples if they would go away with the crowd and leave Him. Peter’s response was “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words to eternal life.” Peter walked on the water, as long as his eyes were on Jesus (Matt. 14:29). It wasn’t until he allowed his immediate circumstances and fear to enter his mind that he faltered. But even then, he asked Jesus to save him and believed he would!
We see Peter’s changed heart on display in John 21:7-9: “That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.” This is after Peter’s repentance and before the ascension. Peter’s humility and gratefulness are on full display. Still somewhat impetuous, he was so excited to see the Lord and so grateful for Him and His sacrifice that he went to Him as fast as he could!
In contrast, Judas was insecure. He didn’t trust that God would take care of him. He trusted in money and the Jewish leaders. Judas was greedy, self-centered, and concerned about losing respect from others. The only way to recover from these flaws of character and heart is to humbly repent, change, and keep on changing. Hiding or making excuses for our mistakes only makes them worse.
Judas had not chosen to do the necessary internal work to truly repent, but Peter had been working on his faith all along. Peter had been paying attention. He had made strides in understanding and in righteousness. He responded properly to discipline. His character had not changed during his time with Jesus. Instead, he was being transformed bit by bit. He knew that the answers to life’s problems come from God, and he knew to go to Jesus for renewal.
In Psalm 32:3-5, David expresses what a repentant heart feels:
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Though he suffered real consequences for his sins throughout his life, David was forgiven. He had diminished influence and problems with his friends and family as King. However, he made peace with God and wrote many Psalms, and in revealing his heart, he encourages us all! We have the same opportunity to learn and receive deliverance. Let’s take it. This should make us a humble people and not self-righteous. It did this for David.
Remember, God uses all converted souls for His purpose. Paul is a perfect example of this. He kept his conscience clear by always doing what he thought God wanted of him. And when he was wrong, God made sure he learned the truth more completely. Though he, too, lived with the consequences of his mistakes.
What we learn is that the remedy for our sin is humble repentance. The process by which we are drawn to God and transformed as people is repetitive personal study and meditation on contextual Bible teaching. Each must individually choose to listen to God and be wary of Satan. We must choose selflessness and service over selfishness. Each person must learn to trust in the promises of God and not in the fleshly things of the world. Faith in God must replace our fears and fleshly desires. We need to run towards Jesus and away from Satan!