For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:17
John is very clear in the beginning of his gospel that Jesus came to save and not judge, that is, to rescue and not to condemn to destruction. However, we may be puzzled why John quotes Jesus shortly thereafter saying this:
He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. John 12:48
Is John saying that while Jesus was not sent to judge, or as some translations read, condemn, his words will do just that? If this is the case, then it is a stretch for John to claim that Jesus did not come to judge when his very words do judge. Are we to think that Jesus ends up doing the very thing he was not sent to do, that is, judge/condemn the world?
To make sense of this we must recognize that we can speak of judgment in two ways, which is why the word is sometimes translated condemn and other times simply judge. One meaning of judgment is the pronouncement of destruction. Another meaning is the act of distinguishing between two things. In this second, judgment is part of the process which is transformative. One type of judgment is to condemn utterly, while the other is to clarify things so as to ultimately help us.
We have often misunderstood, and in fact feared, that the judgment of God is only about the former. Actually, God’s judgment that brings destruction is for sin, death, darkness, and evil. What God judges so that he might destroy is all that has ruined his good creation. This is what Paul means when he says Jesus came to “judge sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3).
The kind of judgment that God brings on us is always for our good and salvation, and not meant to simply destroy us. So, as John says, Jesus did not come into the world to judge it (destroy everything), but the words which Jesus spoke will be what judges us for the ultimate purpose of freeing us from our captivity to sin. In the end, his words are the judgment we need.
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. John 3:19
Sin is condemned, and our participation in it shown for what it is. The judgment that shows us that our deeds are of darkness is what must happen so that we might repent of them and be rescued from them. God has always been doing this judging that helps.
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:4
God judges and what is destroyed? War and violence! What is the result of God’s judgment of the nations? Peace! God does not judge the nations to destroy them, but to save them from their hatred toward one another which is the source of the destruction they experience. God judges people to teach them and this is part of rescuing them.
For when the earth experiences Your judgments
The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Isaiah 26:9
Only through the judgment of God can we learn what is righteous and what is evil. We need to be taught to know good from evil, and the judgment of God is this necessary and helpful work. Jesus is saying the same about his own words. In the end, what he says teaches us righteousness. Our actions will be seen for what they are in light of his teaching.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy. James 4:12
We tend to hear James as saying that God can either save or destroy, as if we will receive one or the other from God. Instead, he says that God is able to save and destroy. To save us, God must destroy what is killing us, that is, sin. No doctor can heal a sick person without eradicating the disease. God will save and destroy.
James also reminds us that “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:4). Mercy has the last word. Judgment does condemn a behavior or attitude as sinful, which is a prelude to its destruction and our healing. God’s judgment is a needed remedy but very hard on us, especially the more stubborn we are. Fortunately, we hope in the mercy that is even expressed in the judgment itself, which will free us from all that ruins us.
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