Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 12:47
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
47. hear my words ] ‘Hear’ is a neutral word, implying neither belief nor unbelief. Mat 7:24; Mat 7:26; Mar 4:15-16. For ‘words’ read sayings (see on Joh 5:47) both here and in Joh 12:48.
and believe not ] The true reading is and keep them not, i.e. fulfil them (comp. Luk 11:28; Luk 18:21). One important MS. omits the ‘not,’ perhaps to avoid a supposed inconsistency between Joh 12:47 and Joh 12:48.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I judge him not … – Joh 8:15. It was not his present purpose to condemn men. He would come to condemn the guilty at a future time. At present he came to save them. Hence he did not now even pronounce decisively on the condition of those who rejected him, but still gave them an opportunity to be saved.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 12:47-48
If any man hear My words
I.
THE GREATEST SPIRITUAL PRIVILEGE THAT MAN CAN ENJOY. It is a priceless privilege to hear the words of any great sage, poet, moralist. But what are the best human words compared with those of Christ? They are spirit and life; more pure than crystal, more refreshing than the morning breeze, more quickening than the sunbeam, they are recreative forces. What have they accomplished ere now?
II. THE GREATEST CRIMINAL NEGLECT OF WHICH A MAN CAN BE GUILTY–and believe not, i.e. keep them not. Such is guilty of
1. The most egregious folly.
2. The most heinous ingratitude.
3. The most hardened impiety.
II. THE MOST TERRIBLE DOOM WHICH A MAN CAN APPREHEND. I judge him not. I as a Saviour have nothing more to do with him; I leave him to the retributive treatment of My Father. Mercy leaves him, and justice apprehends him. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The words of Christ
I. AS LAWS TO BE OBEYED. Christs words are not like poetry for entertainment, or abstract science for speculative thought; they are laws to be kept; not so much a creed as a code. It is only as they are embodied in actual life that their mission is answered, that they are of any real or lasting service to man.
II. AS A MEANS OF SALVATION. Had Christ come to judge the world, His words would have breathed the indignation of insulted justice. But He came to save, and hence His words are full of all that can restore man to holiness and God. The salvation which Christ came to effect is restoration from spiritual ignorance to intelligence, from selfishness to benevolence, from bondage to freedom, from inward conflict to inner harmony, from social perniciousness to social utility. To this His signs and words are adapted. Save the world, not a class.
III. AS CRITERIA OF JUDGMENT (Joh 12:48). The man to whom Christ has spoken, and who rejects or nullifies His words, needs no other judge but His words. These words will judge him in his conscience and will condemn him for ingratitude, folly and rebellion. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Christ is both able and willing to save the world
When the Duke of Argyle was taken in rebellion in Scotland, and brought before James II, the king said to him, You know that it is in my power to pardon you. It is reported that the prisoner answered, It may be in your power, but it is not in your nature–a speech which, whether true or not, cost him his life, He died like a stoic, executed at Temple Gate. But Christ has both the power and the disposition to pardon sinners. He that rejecteth me hath one that judgeth Him.
The redemptive becoming retributive
I. CHRISTIANITY MAY BE REJECTED NOW. It is possible to accept Christs creed and to reject His authority.
II. THOSE WHO REJECT CHRISTIANITY NOW, MUST BOW TO ITS JUDICIAL FORCE HEREAFTER. The last day is the retributive period that awaits us all. Then the Word which has been trodden under foot will rise from the dust and take the throne.
1. There is nothing arbitrary in the decision or procedure of the last judgment. The glorious words of mercy which are rejected will spring from their graves, and conscience will invest them with judicial authority.
2. Man should be profoundly cautious as to how to treat the words of Christ now. His words are not sounds but things–terrible things. They must live forever in every soul into which they have fallen. Old sermons will be preached again by memory many ages on. How shall we escape. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The word that I have spoken, the same shall Judge Him.
I. THERE IS A LAST DAY. The world shall not always roll on. God shall interpose at length. In one sense there is no last day either to righteous or wicked. But in reference to the existing order there is a winding up, a reckoning. Tomorrow shall then cease, and that word of mystery and procrastination and suspense be known no more.
II. THAT DAY SHALL BE ONE OF JUDGMENT. The long unsettled cases of earth shall be settled then. Times riddles shall be solved and its wrongs righted. The oppressed shall be vindicated and the evil-doer be put to shame. The judgment shall be just, undoing the evil and establishing the good.
III. CHRISTS WORD SHALL JUDGE US. Not that the word is to supersede the Judge, but it will form the ground of judgment. We can imagine in connection with that word such questions as these:
1. Did it reach you?
2. Did you listen to it, or spend your lives in listening to someone or thing else?
3. Did you treat it as a true word? Professing to receive it as true, did you treat it as untrue?
4. Did you treat it as Divine? by reverence and submission.
5. Did you accept it as suitable, as meeting your case? or did you reject it? By this word, then, let us judge ourselves now, that so we may not be condemned by it at the great day. (H. Bonar.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 47. And believe not] , And keep them not, is the reading of ABL, seven others; Syriac, Wheelock’s Persian, two of the Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic, Armenian, later Syriac, Vulgate, six of the Itala, and some of the fathers.
A man must hear the words of Christ in order to believe them; and he must believe, in order to keep them; and he must keep them in order to his salvation.
I judge him not] I need not do it: the words of Moses and the prophets judge and condemn him. See the notes on Joh 3:17; Joh 5:45.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I judge him not; I alone judge him not, or rather, it is not my present business to pronounce sentence of condemnation against him; I am now doing the work of a Redeemer and Saviour, not of a Judge: he is condemned already, Joh 3:18, and he hath another that accuseth and condemneth him; as the Jews had Moses, Joh 5:45, so he hath my Father as his Judge, and will have my word as his accuser (as in the next verse): I shall one day condemn him; but that is not my present business, that was not my errand in coming into the world. I came to offer the world the means, and to show them the way to salvation; if they do perish, their blood will be upon their own heads: it is not my business to condemn them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And if any man hear my words and believe not,…. Men may hear the Gospel of Christ, and not understand it; and they may understand it literally and grammatically, though not spiritually and experimentally, and not believe it; not so much as give credit or an assent to the truth of it, but reject and deny it; for though faith comes by hearing to some, it does not come to all: some receive no profit by hearing it, because it is not mixed with faith by them. The Alexandrian copy, and all the Oriental versions, and also Nonnus, read the last clause thus, “and keep [them] not”; or does not observe them, is negligent of them, and shows no regard, and yields not the obedience of faith to them; the sense is the same.
I judge him not; I do not accuse him to the Father, nor do I condemn him, nor shall I take vengeance on him for so doing; meaning, that he should do none of these things now, though hereafter he will be a swift witness against him, and will convict and condemn him, and pass sentence on him, and execute it:
for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. Christ, at his first coming, came not under the character of a judge, but a Saviour; wherefore suitable to his character, and the end of his coming, he would not accuse, condemn, or judge any man, even the greatest unbelievers in him, and despisers of him, but would leave them to another day, when righteous judgment shall take place.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
If any one ( ). Third-class condition with and first aorist active subjunctive () of and same form () of with negative .
But to save the world (‘ ). Purpose clause again (cf. , just before) with and first aorist active of sozo. Exaggerated contrast again, “not so much to judge, but also to save.” See 3:17 for same contrast. And yet Jesus does judge the world inevitably (John 8:15; John 9:39), but his primary purpose is to save the world (3:16). See close of the Sermon on the Mount for the same insistence on hearing and keeping (obeying) the words of Jesus (Matt 7:24; Matt 7:26) and also Lu 11:28.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Believe not [ ] . The best texts read fulaxh, keep (them).
Came [] . The aorist tense, pointing to the purpose of the coming, as I am come (ver. 46) to the result. Compare Joh 8:14; Joh 9:39; Joh 10:10; Joh 12:27, 47; Joh 14:22. Both tenses are found in Joh 8:42; Joh 16:28.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And if any man hear my words,” (kai ean tis mou akouse ton hrematon) “And if anyone hears my words,” summarizing His previous teachings, focusing attention, on the heart of His message of redemption, accountability, and judgement.
2) “And believe not,” (kai me phulakse) “And keeps or guards them not,” Joh 8:21; Joh 8:24.
3) ”I judge him not:” (ego ou krino auton) “I do not judge him,” at this time, for I am come this time, not to judge, but to seek, and suffer, and save, Luk 19:10; Joh 5:45; Joh 8:15; Joh 8:26.
4) “For I came not to judge the world,” (ou gar elthon hina krino ton kosmon) “For I came not in order that I might judge the world,” the present world order, Joh 3:16-17.
5) “But to save the world.” (all’ hina soso ton kosmon) “But in order (for the purpose) that I might save the world,” both mankind and the fallen, groaning universe that is also under the curse of sin, Rom 8:20-23; Act 3:20-21. Col 1:20; 1Co 15:24-28.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
47. If any man hear my words. After having spoken concerning his grace, and exhorted his disciples to steady faith, he now begins to strike the rebellious, though even here he mitigates the severity due to the wickedness of those who deliberately — as it were — reject God; for he delays to pronounce judgment on them, because, on the contrary, he has come for the salvation of all. In the first place, we ought to understand that he does not speak here of all unbelievers without distinction, but of those who, knowingly and willingly, reject the doctrine of the Gospel which has been exhibited to them. Why then does Christ not choose to condemn them? It is because he lays aside for a time the office of a judge, and offers salvation to all without reserve, and stretches out his arms to embrace all, that all may be the more encouraged to repent. And yet there is a circumstance of no small moment, by which he points out the aggravation of the crime, if they reject an invitation so kind and gracious, for it is as if he had said, “Lo, I am here to invite all, and, forgetting the character of a judge, I have this as my single object, to persuade all, and to rescue from destruction those who are already twice ruined.” No man, therefore, is condemned on account of having despised the Gospel, except he who, disdaining the lovely message of salvation, has chosen of his own accord to draw down destruction on himself.
The word judge, as is evident from the word save, which is contrasted with it, here signifies to condemn. Now this ought to be understood as referring to the office which properly and naturally belongs to Christ; for that unbelievers are not more severely condemned on account of the Gospel is accidental, and does not arise from its nature, as we have said on former occasions.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(47) And if any man hear my words, and believe not.The better reading is, . . . and keep them not. (Comp., for the words hear and keep, Notes on Luk. 11:28; Luk. 18:21.) For the thought of the verse comp. in this Gospel, Notes on Joh. 3:17 et seq.; 5:24, 45 et seq.; 8:15 ei seq.; and the apparently opposite assertion in Joh. 9:39.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
47. I judge him not Not as a simple human person am I his judge.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘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 a judge, the word that I have spoken will be his judge in the last day’.
Believing in Jesus also means hearing His words and ‘keeping’ them, i.e. considering them carefully and living in accordance with them. ‘He who says I know Him and does not keep what He commanded is a liar and the truth is not in him’ (1Jn 2:4). Jesus will not judge such people now. He is intent on providing salvation for them. That is why He had come, to offer salvation to the world. But they will have a judge, for His very spoken word will act as their judge in the last day. (See Joh 3:17; Joh 5:24; Joh 5:45-47; Joh 8:15-16; Joh 8:31; Joh 8:37; Joh 8:51). The whole import of these verses is on the Saviour Who has come into the world and Whose word will be the final arbiter of men’s destinies. He is both Messiah and Son of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 12:47-48 . Comp. Joh 3:17-18 , Joh 5:45 ff., Joh 8:15 ff.
If any one shall have heard the words from me , does not denote hearing in the sense of believing (Lcke), but a hearing which is in itself indifferent (Mat 7:26 ; Mar 4:15-16 ; Mar 13:20 ); and by the . which follows (see the critical notes), that very faith which follows hearing is denied . , namely, denotes not indeed the mere holding fast, guarding (Joh 12:25 ), but, as throughout, where doctrines, precepts, and the like are spoken of (see especially Luk 11:28 ; Luk 18:21 ; Rom 2:26 ), the keeping by actual fulfilment . But this takes place simply by faith , which Christ demands for His : with faith the comes into action (hence the Recepta . is a correct gloss); the refusal of faith is the rejection of Christ ( , here only in John, but comp. Luk 10:16 ; 1Th 4:8 ), and non-adoption of His words , Joh 12:48 , is the opposite of that so far as its essence is just the .
On with a double genitive, as in Luk 6:47 , Act 22:1 , comp. Joh 18:37 ; and see Buttmann, N. T. Gr . p. 145 [E. T. p. 167].
] I , in my person, am not his judge , which is further meant generally , not exclusively, of the last judgment, but in a condemnatory sense, as opposed to , as in Joh 3:17
Joh 12:48 . ] Placed first with great emphasis: he has his judge; he stands already under his trial . But this judge, says Christ, is not Himself, as an individual personally considered in and by Himself, but His spoken word; this and nothing else will be (and therewith all the terror of the last decision breaks in upon the mind) the determining rule of the last judgment. It is Christ , indeed, who holds the judgment (Joh 5:22 ; Joh 5:27 ), but as the bearer and executor of His word , which constitutes the divine power of the judgment. Comp. Joh 7:51 , where the law judges and takes cognisance. How decisively does the present passage declare against the attempt of Scholten, Hilgenfeld, Reuss, and others, to explain away the last judgment out of John! Comp. Joh 12:28-29 ; 1Jn 4:17 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Ver. 47. I judge him not ] viz. While I am here on earth. I sustain another person now, that men may come apace to me without fear. Some ancient heretics held, that God in the time of the law was a severe judge; and now, in the days of the gospel, he was all made of mercy and mildness. But the apostle saith somewhat otherwise, Heb 2:1-3 . God is more peremptory in his judgments now than ever of old. And, Joh 12:29 , he telleth us that even our God also, as well as the God of the Jews, “is a consuming fire.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
47. ] See ch. Joh 3:17 ; Joh 5:45 ; Joh 8:15 . The omission of (see var. readd.) appears to have been occasioned by a mistaken idea that Joh 12:48 ; Joh 12:47 were in contrast to one another.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 12:47 . But “if any one should hear my words and not keep them I do not judge him, for I came not to judge,” etc. See Joh 3:17 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
words = sayings. Greek. rhema. See note on Mar 9:32.
judge. Greek. krino. App-122.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
47.] See ch. Joh 3:17; Joh 5:45; Joh 8:15. The omission of (see var. readd.) appears to have been occasioned by a mistaken idea that Joh 12:48; Joh 12:47 were in contrast to one another.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 12:47. , I judge him not) This is limited in a threefold way: (1) I, alone [not I alone, but also, etc.]; and (2) in the present, I do not judge [now; but hereafter I shall]; and (3) causally, it is not I who judge him, but he who does not believe, himself rushes into judgment by the fact of not believing in My word.- , , that I may judge, that I may save) Words in the same tense. Observe: the unbeliever is a portion of that world, for the sake of saving which Christ came. This is clearly evident from the connection of the words.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 12:47
Joh 12:47
And if any man hear my sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.-Jesus in person was not to judge or condemn, but to save the world. He spoke the words of God that through these words the world might be saved. [It is not the office of Jesus to judge those who keep not his sayings. While he will sit upon the throne in the day of judgment, yet he will not judge and condemn the world that he came to save. Each individual will be either saved or condemned on his arrival at the judgment. His word that he left in the world will decide the destiny of every one. The work assigned to Jesus in that day is to consign each to the place for which they are prepared.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
world kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I judge: Joh 12:48, Joh 5:45, Joh 8:15, Joh 8:16, Joh 8:26
for: Joh 3:17, Mat 18:11, Mat 20:28, Luk 9:56, Luk 19:10, 1Ti 1:15, 1Ti 1:16, 2Pe 3:15, 1Jo 4:14
Reciprocal: Pro 2:1 – if Isa 28:9 – shall he teach Mat 27:42 – saved Mar 16:16 – but Joh 8:50 – there Joh 10:10 – I am Joh 16:9 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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The original word for judge has several shades of meaning; one of them is, “to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong.” The world had already been pronounced wrong or “in unbelief” (Rom 11:32) before Jesus came into it, hence he did not come for that purpose. Instead, He came to provide a plan whereby the world might be saved from its bondage of unbelief.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 12:47. And if any one shall have heard my sayings and have guarded them not. It is necessary here to introduce an unusual word in the translation. To keep the sayings or words of Jesus is a phrase which often meets us in this Gospel (chap. Joh 8:51, etc.): guard is an uncommon word with the Evangelist, found only here and in Joh 12:25, and (in conjunction with keep) in chap. Joh 17:12. That the sayings may be kept and not lost from memory and life, they must be guarded with all care, and watchfully observed. Comp. Mat 7:26; Luk 6:49.
I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. Comp. chap. Joh 3:17; Joh 8:15.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 47, 48. And if any one hear my sayings and keep them not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48. He that rejects me and receives not my sayings has already his judge; the word which I have spoken, this it is which will judge him at the last day.
Woe to him who does not believe on Jesus and His word in which He manifests Himself and bears testimony of Himself! As His presence is the pure manifestation of God, His word is the perfect revelation of the thought of God. This will be the one touchstone of the judgment. The declaration of Joh 12:47 does not exclude the personal role of Jesus in this great act. It merely says that the sentence which He will pronounce at that time will be simply that which will follow from the position which the man has taken with regard to His word; it is the idea of Joh 3:18 ( ),Joh 5:24; Joh 8:15. The reading , keep, is to be preferred to the received reading (and believe not); for the former term is less common than the latter; it applies not to the keeping in the conductwith this meaning, Jesus employs the word but to inward appropriation and possession. The last words of Joh 12:47 reproduce the idea of iii 17; comp. Joh 9:39; Joh 9:41.
In Joh 12:48, where the rejection of Jesus is identified with that of His words, the express mention of the last dayis very remarkable. As Gess observes, the moral judgment of humanity through the word is incessantly effected even now, according to the entire Gospel. And yet the notion of the last judgment is so indispensable in the thought of the evangelist, that he expresses it here as the limit without which the purely moral judgment would fail of its consummation (II. p. 452). How is it that Reuss, Scholten, Hilgenfeld affirm that the final judgment is denied in our Gospel! And what is striking is that the evangelist mentions, in speaking thus, a fact which is not indicated in the saying of Jesus on which this is founded (Joh 3:17). The last two verses explain the reason why the position taken by man with regard to Jesus and His word has so decisive an importance. It is because He has nothing of His own mingled in His teaching, and that He has transmitted it, as to substance and form, exactly as He received it from the Father.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Disobedience to Jesus’ words may indicate the absence of saving faith (cf. Joh 3:36). The same message that brings life to those who believe it will result in condemnation for those who reject it. The last day is the day unbelievers will stand before God in judgment, namely, at the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:11-15). God’s purpose in the Incarnation was essentially positive, however. He wanted people to believe and experience salvation, not condemnation.