I'll try to find out what's up. Meanwhile, here's what he had to say.
This
doesn't answer all questions, but I think the verses mentioned here emphasize
Jesus' role as savior in his first coming, but emphasize his role as judge when
he comes a second time to "judge the living and the dead.”
I signed into my Gmail account to post. Hopefully others don't need a Gmail account to post. I'll keep checking this.
ReplyDeleteHere's another comment about "Jesus Judge or Not Judge", which the reader was unable to Post. I'm still awaiting Google's response to my question about this posting problem.
ReplyDelete"John has a tendency to imply questions for which he expects readers will have an answer already. I think “judge” in John is usually intended to present Jesus’ identity and authority, which implies a new concept for understanding the divine being (i.e. Trinitarian vs. Monotheist). So, in 5:22 the “judge” terminology is immediately following the claim that Jesus does not have the authority to judge on the Sabbath. Judgement has at least two meanings: 1) to vindicate or give life (Deut 32), and 2) to condemn (Daniel’s “Son of Man”). I think that when Jesus is referring to himself as the Son of Man, the latter is in mind - i.e. the judgement to condemn iniquity on the Day of the Lord. However, I think this is secondary to the first meaning for the gospel writer. The reason is that the implied question here seems to be ‘who is it that can heal, give life, and even condemn?’ The answer from an ancient Jewish context would predictably be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - who is also the Creator (life-giver). The use of judgement would then seem to be an assertion/defense of Jesus’ divine relationship with the Father, who was the one who established the Sabbath in the first place. I think this applies in a similar sense to the other references you listed as well. John is subtly posing the question to readers: “Who is this guy?” and then using things that would only be expected of God (mono) to answer the question. This subtly establishes Jesus’ relational authority with God, implying his divinity through suggestion, which will be ultimately be writ large in the Passion narrative (namely in the resurrection)."
test
ReplyDelete