The name Judas has evolved into a byword for traitor. Even the non-religious know that Judas sold out Jesus to the Romans in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.
But, as explained by Beliefnet, there's a theory that says Judas wasn't a traitor or a villain — he was actually a hero who sacrificed himself to ensure Jesus could return to heaven. In this reading of the story, Judas was acting under Jesus' instructions, and his soul was the one sacrificed in order to save the world.
The Globe and Mail reports that this theory is rooted in the apocryphal Gospel of Judas, an ancient text excluded from the Bible that shines a much different light on Judas's story. The nature of Judas's heroism is tied up in the complex beliefs of a Christian sect known as the Gnostics. That's also why the text was excluded, because the Gnostics were suppressed by the mainstream Church. But, as the Conversation notes, the Gospel of Judas suggests that Jesus knows of Judas' betrayal and allows it.
The Bible is actually somewhat ambiguous concerning Judas' status. Jesus speaks of him warmly even in the midst of his betrayal, and the other Apostles are not exactly heroic, abandoning Jesus at the crucial moment of his arrest.
