Due to his notorious role in all the gospel narratives, Judas remains a controversial figure in Christian history. For instance, Judas's betrayal is seen as setting in motion the events that led to Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, which, according to traditional Christian theology, brought salvation to humanity. The Gnostic Gospel of Judas—rejected by the proto-orthodox Church as heretical—portrays Judas's actions as done in obedience to instructions given to him by Jesus, and that he alone amongst the disciples knew Jesus's true teachings. Since the Middle Ages, Judas has sometimes been portrayed as a personification of the Jewish people and his betrayal has been used to justify Christian antisemitism. Although Judas Iscariot's historical existence is generally widely accepted among secular historians,[3][4][5][6] this relative consensus has not gone entirely unchallenged.[4] The earliest possible allusion to Judas comes from the First Epistle to the Corinthians 11:23–24, in which Paul the Apostle does not mention Judas by name,[7][8] but uses the passive voice of the Greek word paradídōmi (παραδίδωμι), which most Bible translations render as "was betrayed":[7][8] "...the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread..."[7] Nonetheless, many biblical scholars argue that the word paradídōmi should be translated as "was handed over".[7][8] This translation could still refer to Judas,[7][8] but it could also instead refer to God metaphorically "handing Jesus over" to the Romans.
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