Judgment is all over the place in the Bible. There is even an entire book of the Bible called Judges! Judgment is a concept that is woven into our very being. Ironically, secularists and misguided Christians alike love to misquote Jesus in Matthew 7:1 when He says, “judge not,” a topic I will cover later in this book. God’s judgment is perfect and good. He judges the righteous and the wicked alike. Here are some examples of God’s judgment:
- God judged Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience and banished them from the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3)
- God judged Noah to be a righteous man and chose him to build the Ark. (Genesis 6)
- God judged Abraham to be righteous in his obedience to sacrifice Isaac. (Genesis 22)
- God judged Israel multiple times throughout the Old Testament and depending on their obedience or wickedness He blessed them or cursed them, respectively.
- God judged various people and called them be judges over Israel themselves. (Book of Judges)
- Jesus judges the disciples on the boat in storm as cowardly and faithless. (Matthew 8, Mark 4, Luke 8)
- Jesus judged the moneychangers and merchants who were set up in the temple as thieves and kicked them out.
- Jesus judges and wages war in Revelation 19:11.
There is a lot of judgment in the Bible. But you may be surprised to know that many people believe there is a contradiction in the Bible about God’s judgment. The supposed contradiction is that God judges and He does not judge. Their proof is the very words of Jesus Christ Himself:
“And if anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”
John 12:47
So does God judge or does He not? I already went through some examples above where God judges the good and the bad all the time! And then we have a verse right in the middle of the Gospel of John that appears to contradict all of that. How are we supposed to understand what Jesus was saying in this passage? Or is there really a contradiction here?
Let’s look at the context of John 12:47 first. Without getting too bogged down in details, the context tells us the Jesus is addressing the people who are struggling and fighting their belief in who He is. Starting in verse 44 and going all the way to verse 50, Jesus’ monologue is as follows:
“He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me see the One who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My words, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him on the last day. For I did not speak from Myself, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment – what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
John 12:44-50
Jesus is speaking in the present tense – or at least the present tense as it was 2,000 years ago. He tells us He came into the world to be the Light for us, to save the world. When He was speaking to His listeners He was saying that the primary purpose for being sent to the world was for their salvation. He wasn’t saying He’d never judge ever. He wasn’t there to judge anyone in the final, salvific sense. He was there to provide salvation. The judgment from Christ comes at His second coming. He will judge all of mankind eventually.
Note that there was no weaseling out of a problem in this supposed contradiction. Again, just like many other examples it usually just takes a basic reading of the text in context to understand what the Bible actually says.
