Short answer: John 6:70–71 identifies Judas Iscariot as the son of Simon Iscariot. In the same breath Jesus says that although he chose the twelve, one of them is a devil, and the narrator explains that he meant Judas, the one who would betray him. So the passage answers the question plainly while turning our attention to something heavier: the betrayal came from within the circle Jesus had chosen.
A confession, a warning, and a name the reader already knows
John places this exchange at the end of a long teaching in the Capernaum synagogue, after the feeding of the crowd and after many disciples had turned back and stopped walking with Jesus. The scene is small and tense: Jesus asks the twelve whether they also want to leave, and Peter answers for them. His confession sets the frame for what follows, because the warning about a betrayer lands right after a declaration of loyalty. John writes as a narrator who knows how the story ends, and he tells us plainly what the twelve could not yet see.
The shape of the unit is simple. Jesus speaks a saying, and the narrator steps in to explain it. The saying itself is a question rather than a pronouncement: Jesus reminds the twelve that he chose them, then adds that one of them is a devil. John does not leave the reader guessing. He names Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, and notes that this man was one of the twelve. The explanation turns a puzzling warning into a known fact, and it also tells us that Judas would betray him. The reader now carries knowledge the disciples did not have.
The next verses widen the frame. Jesus walks in Galilee rather than Judea, because the religious leaders there were seeking to kill him, and the Feast of Booths is near. Danger is already shaping his movements, and the betrayal named here belongs to that larger road toward the cross. Notice what the text does not do. It reports the deed and identifies the man, but it never opens his heart or explains his motives. That restraint matters. Judas is named as a warning, not handed to us as a category for sorting other people. The honest response is to look at our own loyalties, not to appoint ourselves judges of someone else's soul.
The passage calls for sober self-examination rather than suspicion of others, and it keeps the focus on the one who chose the twelve even knowing what one of them would do.
The Son of simon iscariot
The question about Judas's father is answered plainly in the text. John 6:71 identifies him as “Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot,” and the same verse notes that he was “one of the twelve.” The name Iscariot is attached here to the father, Simon, rather than explained, so the Gospel simply tells us whose son Judas was and leaves the rest unsaid. That is worth noticing: Scripture gives us the family line without filling in the backstory. The plain wording is the answer, and it is enough for the question being asked.
Just before this, Jesus says, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (John 6:70). The word “chosen” here speaks of Jesus selecting the twelve for a task, not a guarantee that every chosen person will remain faithful. “A devil” is strong language for an adversary, and the narrator immediately narrows it to one man. John 6:71 explains that Jesus spoke of Judas, “for it was he who would betray him.” The betrayal names the act that defines Judas in this Gospel, and “one of the twelve” underlines how close he stood to Jesus.
These verses report what Judas did without telling us what was in his heart. That restraint matters. It would be easy to turn Judas into a category for judging other people, but the text does not invite that. Instead, the closeness of “one of the twelve” and the plain naming of betrayal ask each reader to look honestly at their own loyalty to Christ. The passage gives us a warning about proximity to Jesus, not a license to sort other people into Judas and non-Judas. Grace comes first, and it also searches the heart.
The Father of judas and the warning inside the circle
The setting matters for reading these two verses. Jesus has been teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum after feeding the crowd, and many who had followed him turn back. He asks the twelve whether they also want to leave, and Peter answers for them: they have nowhere else to go, because Jesus has words of eternal life. Then, against that confession, Jesus says plainly that he chose the twelve and that one of them is a devil. John immediately tells us who he means. The verse names Judas as the son of Simon Iscariot, and it places him among the twelve.
The passage answers the question about Judas's father directly: Simon Iscariot. But the father's name is not the weight of the sentence. What John stresses is that Judas belonged to the chosen circle. Jesus says he chose the twelve, and still one of them is a devil. The narrator adds that Judas would betray him and notes again that he was one of the twelve. The reader now knows what the disciples did not know at the time. Betrayal did not come from outside the group but from within it.
That is a sober observation, not a tool for sorting other people into categories. The text reports what Judas would do; it does not open his heart or explain his motives for us. Jesus' warning lands among men who had just confessed him, and it should send each of us to examine our own loyalty rather than to label someone else a Judas. The next chapter shows Jesus staying in Galilee because Judea was dangerous for him, and that tension runs forward toward the betrayal John has already named.
Where readers differ on judas and what the text leaves open
Jesus had just watched a crowd walk away. Then he turns to the twelve and asks whether they also want to leave, and Simon Peter answers for them: “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Jesus replies with a question that unsettles the moment: “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” The choosing and the betrayer sit in the same sentence. Careful readers differ on how to hold that together. Some stress that Judas was truly chosen and sent with the others. Others stress that Jesus was never surprised. The text does not tell us how to name that tension, only that both are true.
The word Jesus uses has been read in more than one way. Some take it as a figure of speech for an adversary, someone set against him. Others hear a stronger claim about spiritual allegiance. The narrator does not leave the saying floating. He tells us plainly that Jesus spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who would betray him, being one of the twelve. That identification sets a limit on speculation. We are told what Judas would do, not why he would do it. The passage says nothing about the character of his father Simon, and nothing about why the name Iscariot is attached to the family.
What stays central across these differences is steady. Jesus was not caught off guard by the betrayal, and the betrayer came from inside the twelve, not from the crowd that left. Peter's confession stands as the true response to Jesus, spoken by one who stayed. Yet the text reports Judas's deed without opening his heart to us, and that restraint should restrain us too. Judas is not a category for sorting other people. His story is a mirror held up to the room, not a label to pin on someone else. It calls each of us to examine our own allegiance rather than to pronounce on another's.
The passage ends without resolving the questions we most want answered. It does not explain Judas's motives, his father's character, or the meaning of the family name. It simply places the betrayal inside the circle Jesus chose and lets Peter's words stand beside it. Readers who press for more than that are pressing the text past what it gives. What we are given is enough to keep us honest: a Savior who knows whom he has chosen, a warning that unbelief can live close to confession, and an invitation to ask where we ourselves would go.
The one who chooses, knows, and warns
Peter has just confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus answers that confession with a sober word about the twelve he chose. The timing matters. Right after Peter names him, Jesus names the wound that will come from inside the circle. He does not ask whether betrayal is possible; he says plainly that one of them is a devil, and John tells us he meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, one of the twelve. The choosing and the warning sit in the same breath. Jesus is not surprised by what is coming, and he does not hide it from those who follow him.
Notice how John frames what comes next. Jesus stays in Galilee because Judea has become dangerous, and the Feast of Booths is near. The road to Jerusalem is already a road with a threat on it. The betrayal named here is not a detour from the gospel but part of the path to the cross. The one who is handed over is the one who chooses, knows, and keeps speaking. Peter's confession marks the dividing line: some hear the words of eternal life and stay, and one who shares the table will hand him over. The gospel is not that Jesus avoided treachery but that he went through it and remained faithful.
It is easy to turn Judas into a category for judging other people, and the text will not support that. John reports the deed and tells us what Jesus said, but he does not open Judas's heart to us. We are not given a verdict on his soul, only a warning about proximity to Jesus. Being near him, chosen, and included is not the same as trusting him. That is a question for each of us before it is a label for anyone else. The faithful one is Christ, and our hope rests in him, not in the sharpness of our judgments about someone else.
What faithful response looks like when faith feels thin
John closes this scene by naming Judas plainly: he was one of the twelve, the son of Simon Iscariot, and he would betray Jesus. The text tells us what he did, not why he did it. That restraint matters. It keeps us from turning Judas into a category for sorting out other people, as though we could read hearts the way Jesus can. Jesus says one of the twelve is a devil, and John identifies the man. But the reason stays hidden. So the honest use of this passage is not a magnifying glass for others. It is a mirror held up to ourselves.
Peter's question is the better place to stand. When Jesus asked whether the twelve wanted to leave, Peter answered, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life." That is a good sentence to pray when faith feels thin and nothing else seems steady. Notice where Peter puts the weight: not on his own loyalty, but on what Jesus has to say. Our standing rests on his word of eternal life, not on our record of closeness. Coming to Christ as people who need him is the whole shape of grace. We do not arrive having earned a place.
So examine yourself, but gently and in the light of grace. Ask whether you are near Jesus in name only, and bring that question to him rather than to a verdict about anyone else. Being close to him is a gift received with humility, never a status to presume on. Judas shared the table and the road, and the text still leaves his heart to God. That should make us slow to pronounce on others and quick to keep returning to the one whose words give life. Faithful response is ordinary: pray the honest question, stay near, and let Christ be the ground beneath you.
Biblical fidelity check
John 6:70–71 answers the question plainly: Judas is called the son of Simon Iscariot, so his father is Simon, and the name Iscariot is attached to the father here rather than explained. Read carefully, the verses sit just after Peter's confession and just before the Feast of Booths. The risks are real: we may press a devil into a doctrine the narrator does not build, or mine the family name for a history the text never gives. The passage names Judas, ties him to the twelve, and stops.
Readers differ on how Jesus' choosing of the twelve holds together with a betrayer among them. Some stress that Judas was genuinely chosen and sent; others stress that his unbelief was never hidden from Jesus. They also differ on whether a devil means an adversary in plain speech or something stronger about spiritual allegiance. The text settles none of this, and it says nothing about Judas' motives or Simon's character. What stays central is that Jesus was not surprised, the betrayal came from within the twelve, and Peter's confession remains the true response to Jesus.
Reading John 6:70-71 alongside other passages
For the wider setting, read the feeding of the crowd and the hard saying that drove many disciples away in John 10: Jesus the Good Shepherd and Door, then Peter's confession in John 11: Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead. Compare the accounts of Judas in John 12: Love, Death, and Glory and consider how Scripture treats the betrayer's end in John 13: Jesus Washes Feet and Predicts Betrayal.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Judas Iscariot's father according to the Bible?
John 6:71 names him as Simon Iscariot. The verse describes Judas as the son of Simon Iscariot and adds that he was one of the twelve. Scripture gives no further details about Simon himself, so the text tells us his name and nothing more.
What does it mean that Jesus called one of the twelve a devil?
Jesus is naming the moral reality of betrayal inside his own chosen circle, not describing a grotesque appearance. He says that he chose the twelve and that one of them is a devil, and the narrator immediately identifies that one as Judas, the man who would betray him. The wording is stark because the deed is stark: someone close to him would hand him over. The text reports the deed without opening Judas's heart to us.
Did Jesus choose Judas knowing he would betray him?
The passage presents both facts together: Jesus chose the twelve, and one of them would betray him. John writes that Jesus spoke of Judas, for it was he who would betray him, so the betrayal is stated as something known rather than a surprise discovered later. The text does not explain how divine knowledge and human responsibility fit together, and it does not invite us to sort people into Judas categories. It calls each reader to examine his or her own loyalty instead.
