Valid Judging

My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. (John 8:16)

There is much I could learn from just this short verse that I suspect I am missing. But it is worth the effort to spend some time exploring what I can discover here.

For one thing, I notice that there seems to be strong clues here about heaven's definition of judgment or at least some attributes about judgment that are necessary to understand. Jesus strongly implies here that for judgment to be true, to be valid, to not have the evil connotations of condemnation attached to it as we are so used to expecting, that good judgment must always involve agreement from multiple sources. This concept was woven into the very fabric of the Old Testament laws of Moses, the guidelines for the government of Israel in ancient times. No one was to be condemned on the testimony of only one witness; there had to be at least two or more reliable first-hand witnesses before someone could be found guilty of a crime. This was required for any judgment to be considered true and valid.

Secondly, I see in this verse an appeal to the credibility of the witnesses involved. Jesus' listeners would not accept that Jesus was God in the flesh and so would not allow that He had access to infinite wisdom. But Jesus asserted here that the Father God, the One who unquestionably knows everything about everyone, even the most remote and secret thoughts and impulses of the heart, was involved as one of the multiple witnesses connected with what Jesus was claiming. Jesus declares in this statement that He and the Father are in alignment with the fundamental principles of true judgment, that even God Himself will not insist on a determination about someone outside of the requirements for enough witnesses to make that determination credible.

This is a very compelling concept hidden here in this verse. To imagine that the God who knows everything about everyone, from whom nothing can be hidden in the slightest way, would still choose to submit His own knowledge and determinations to the same rules and requirements expected of everyone else is an amazing thing to say the least. It also runs counter to what many people assume about God, for many people just expect God to arbitrarily impose His decisions or punishments on people based solely on His superior advantage, knowledge and power. But God is never arbitrary even though His opponents have painted Him in that light.

Interestingly, the Godhead itself is actually composed and related in such a way as to reveal this very principle within itself. God is actually a mysterious three-in-one being and as such can experience and relate in such a way as to be in harmony with the very essence of love. We glibly talk about God as being love, but we spend very little thought considering the nature and requirements for love to exist. Love is always other-centered, always focused on the good of another. But when there are more than two involved in a love relationship that love becomes exponential. Because God is love it is inherently impossible for Him to only be one, for self-love is not really love if there is no other person involved. Fuller love needs a minimum of three involved within its parameters to be alive and authentic. We have very little grasp of these realities but that does not make them any less important or less true and we need to allow our minds to be impressed with these aspects of love so that we can experience it more fully ourselves.

This is very much connected with the idea of judgment, for judgment is simply the action or event wherein the true motives and secrets of the heart become fully exposed to others. When Jesus says here that His judgment is true, He is saying that as He is in open communion and agreement with His Father who knows everything about what is hidden, that their perspectives both confirm their evaluations of the truth about whatever is being analyzed. When the God who has become human and the Father who is also God both are in agreement about some other person and the Holy Spirit adds its confirmation to those opinions, the claims of such a trio are both valid and completely reliable and true. Jesus is also saying that this is the way each of us need to approach judgment for He is our example in how to relate to what is hidden in other people's hearts.