The Christian Perspective

Thanks for the clarification. I understand your question now.

The question is with regards to John 17:12 and John 18:9. In John 17:12, Jesus tells His Father that He lost one of those whom His Father gave to Him, namely, Judas Iscariot. In John 18:9, the author of John tells us that Jesus did not lose one. So which is it? One or none?

Here are the full verses:

John 17:12 (NASB)
"While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled."

John 18:8-9 (NASB)
Jesus answered, "I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way," to fulfill the word which He spoke, "Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one."

When the full statements are read, we see that in John 17:12, Jesus does not say "I lost one". Rather, He says "I lost none except the one".

The exception is explicitly clear in Jesus's statement in John 17. On the other hand, the exception is not explicitly clear in John 18, but it is implicitly clear from context.

The context of John 18 has Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 closest followers of Jesus, leading the soldiers and chief priests to Jesus in order to have Jesus arrested.

Jesus then tells the soldiers to let the other disciples who were with Him, not Judas Iscariot of course but Simon Peter and some others, go free, since it is Christ that they want, not Christ's disciples (John 18:7-8). Thus Jesus saves Simon Peter and the other disciples from capture. It is this group, those saved from capture, to whom John is referring when he says that Christ lost not one. Judas was not in this group.

Thus, the subject of those not lost is different in the two different chapters. In chapter 17 the subject is "all those the Father gave Him", which would include Judas Iscariot, and thus the exception of Judas Iscariot must be explicitly mentioned, whereas in chapter 18 the subject is "all those the Father gave Him that were with Him in the garden and may have been captured if Jesus had not intervened", which does not include Judas Iscariot, and therefore no explicit mention of Judas is needed, since he is already contextually excluded from the subject of the statement.

If you do not know Christ intimately, there is no other way to get to heaven. Jesus says "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me".

Today is the perfect day to turn your life over to Him who created it.