John 12:47 If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
Reading this made me pause. One of our dangers as Christians is oversimplifying Jesus and the gospel he brings to us. Does Jesus come to judge the world, or not? I thought I remembered one of the Psalms praising him for the way he would bring judgement and righteousness to the earth:
Psalm 96:13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
And what about all these other verses in John?
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 8:15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.
John 5:27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
John 9:39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
John 5:22 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
And then, this made me think of the different verses in the gospels where there were different variations of “a house divided” or “anyone not against us is for us.” So I’ve listed them here for your own reflection and study. (Is “judgement” different from “division”?)
Matthew 10:34 Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
Luke 12:51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
This post is getting longer than I anticipated. But in my researching different verses, I was reminded of two “contradictions” when Jesus says both “whoever is not with me is against me” and “whoever is not against you is for you.
Luke 9:49-50 (also Mark 9:38-40) 49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” 50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Luke 11:23 (also Matthew 12:30) Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
I guess one spoiler from one commentator is that a key difference here is that in the Luke 9 passage, Jesus and the disciples are talking about people doing ministry in God’s name. They are being all judgy about each other. (Isn’t the church today constantly divided and bickering about who are the true representatives of Jesus?)
The Luke 11 passage is talking about Satan and evil spirits. Jesus wants to make it clear that in the spiritual realm, there is only one true Holy Spirit. The previous verses talk about people accusing him acting in Beelzebul’s name, so I guess he wanted to put his foot down hard in making a distinction there.
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