John 12:46-48 (Today's New International Version)
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.47 "As for those who hear my words but do not keep them, I do not judge them. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for those who reject me and do not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.
and:
John 5:19-27 (Today's New International Version)
19 Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24 "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
So Jesus is the not the judge but all judgment is given to him...? At the very least we have the idea of God's judgment being for people who do not believe in Jesus. That's not in question in these two passages... But they are difficult for me to get my head around.
Comments?
I don't know how to wrap my head around it either but Romans 3 has always been helpful to me in thinking through what God's judgement looks like. Particularly verses 22-26:
ReplyDelete(NIV) This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
I just find it interesting/freeing that God's perfect act of justice doesn't judge us - but in fact is the ultimate act of mercy. I realize that this act of justice isn't one in the same as the judgement referred to in the passages you've listed but it does say something about the nature of God's judgement. The emphasis is on God's mercy.
Carson on John is brilliant:
ReplyDeleteGod had long been recognized as ‘the Judge of all the earth’ (Gn. 18:25). Throughout the pages of the Old Testament God had frequently exercised judgment in the lives of his covenant people and in the surrounding nations. But at the end of the age, there would be the last, great assize, when all would be judged, both small and great (cf. Rev. 20:11–15). Here, however, the Son insists that the office of judge, whether in the present or at the last day, has been entrusted to him. This does not mean Jesus will exercise judgment independently of the Father, for even the judgment he exercises is a reflection of his consistent determination to please the one who sent him (v. 30).
There exists a certain tension between 3:17 and 5:22, but it is more formal than real. The Father does not send the Son into the world to condemn (krinō) the world, but he does entrust all judgment (krisis) to the Son. The resolution turns in part on the semantic range of krinō and its cognates: it can refer to a (usually judicial) principle of discrimination, or to outright condemnation. John 3:17 speaks of the latter; John 5:22 refers more broadly to the former—though, clearly, any judicial discrimination issues in some condemnation. More importantly, John 3:17 refers to the purpose of the Son’s coming: it was not to bring condemnation. By contrast, John 5:22 refers to the distinctive roles of Father and Son: the Father entrusts all judgment to the Son. That leaves room for the purpose of the Son’s coming to be primarily salvific (3:16, 17), even though all must face him as their judge, and even though the inevitable result of his coming is that some will be condemned. Cf. also 5:26–27; 8:15–16.
D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 254.
Here is what I wrote on 12:47-48 when I did an exegesis of this:
ReplyDeleteJesus judged in the sense of discrimination in the same way that light is discriminated from darkness. He did not come for outright judgment, but with the expressed purpose to save. Outright judgment is the responsibility of his spoken word that judges on the last day (12:48).
Judaism believed that God’s law was the standard by which he would judge his people at the end time. Therefore, Jesus is presenting his words here as being equal to those of God and therefore the instrument of judgment. People are not to blame Jesus for judgment, but take responsibility for their reaction. So on the ‘last day’ all will be judged by their reaction to the Word (Rev 20:11-15). They will be judged on whether they recognise Jesus as the Word incarnate and keep his word. So while we see that Jesus came and brought salvation, we see that this salvation cannot be brought apart from the judgment that he is also bringing. The Word that will judge in the future still holds judgment for those who do not keep the words that Jesus spoke today; for they remain in darkness (3:18).