This is the problem of Judas Iscariot. Not merely a historical figure, but a theological wound.
Here is the question that has haunted Christianity for millennia: If Jesus came to die for the sins of the world, then someone had to hand him over. Someone had to be the mechanism of salvation. Without Judas, no arrest. Without arrest, no trial. Without trial, no cross. Without the cross, no resurrection. This is the problem of Judas Iscariot
The narrative of Judas was irrevocably complicated in the 1970s with the discovery and subsequent translation of the Gospel of Judas , a text from the 2nd century AD, part of the Gnostic Gospels. Someone had to be the mechanism of salvation
We will never know. But perhaps that is the point. Judas remains what he has always been: a locked door, a purse full of silver, a tree, a rope, and a question that will not die. Without trial, no cross
That word ( hetairos ) is not the deep love of agape or philia . It is a colder word. It means “comrade” or “companion.” It is what you call someone you once walked with, before they chose a different road.