Judgment Equations

This is the judgment... (John 3:19)

I feel like I need to take a completely fresh look at this word judgment as it is used in this passage in John 3. I keep running into seeming discrepancies that I keep circling around and I don't want to confuse or maybe deceive myself in order to maintain preconceived ideas that may not be in line with what is really true. I want God to unpack this more plainly for me which sometimes requires that I have to suspend everything I assume, even those things I am sure God has shown me in the past to some extent, and take another look at the basics again.

That can appear on the face to be a dangerous proposition at first and may feel a little scary. But truth itself is never afraid of close examination and re-examination and it will always come out to be consistent with all other truth. So if I need to change something I have believed about this it will not conflict with anything else that I have learned as long as it is true as well.

I'm not even sure how to go about this re-examination except to pray for an open mind and wisdom and insight that I seem to be missing at this point. I start by trying to compare these verses and also to see how they coordinate with other things I have been learning from various sources about this subject from the Bible. I realize that I am influenced by several teachers whom I have come to deeply respect that have shared their views of judgment from the Word. But I need to know for myself what this really means so I will not be ashamed when cross-examined about this at some point. I can freely admit that I do not fully understand it, but that does not excuse me from trying to understand it much more than I do no matter how much I have already learned.

So I come to approach this somewhat as a problem solving process like might be used to solve for an unknown in an algebraic equation. I realize that using formulas and logic alone is hazardous at best when coming to know real truth, but it is also legitimate and useful at times as long as it is not the sole consideration and is guided by keeping the ears and heart open to the Spirit. Math was also designed and invented by God so it is not wrong to use logic in our process of coming to know truth, it just cannot be the sole source of the basis for what we believe.

I have for some time been operating on the premise that this word judgment is primarily being used along the line of condemnation more than exposing. But then at other times I may have said that it means exposing rather than condemnation in the same passage. In the Greek it is using the same word throughout this passage so it is not usually safe to assume that an author is mixing meanings for the same word in the same passage. Another consideration that was brought to my attention recently was that there is clearly a different Greek word used for condemnation and that word is not used in this passage. This is the problem that seems to be emerging causing me the need to go back and carefully reconsider.

There are negatives and positives in these verses in relation to this word used for judgment. The first time it says that God did not send Jesus to judge this world. Then it says that anyone who believes in Him is not judged – a second and reinforcing negative. Actually there is more than this going on as is often the case in an equation. Verse 17 couples a negative and a positive with each other as a pair as does verse 18 with two of these pairs but reversed. This might be an important clue for me.

Then verse 19 seems to offer a clue as to the identity or value of this new factor that has been introduced into the equation. 17 and 18 have used the word judgment without defining its value and 19 seems to address at least part of that missing information – This is the judgment... Then in defining this unknown factor in the equation the definition itself introduces yet more ingredients – love, hate and fear, though love has already been mentioned in 16.

I am still not seeing this all clearly but something seems about to emerge if my mind and heart can just grasp it and if God will increase my understanding. Just like solving math equations was sometimes frustratingly difficult at times, this seems to have a complexity that as yet continues to elude my clear understanding and comprehension. But I am not satisfied to close the issue with stock answers from others who claim to have already figured it out. I want to know for myself what this really means, for part of God's intent for me I believe is to experience the deeper bonding with Him that takes place when I have to grapple with unknowns for a period of time while trying to make sense of things. By causing me to exercise my mind and heart beyond what is normal or comfortable means that I am forced to challenge assumptions and to deepen my connection with Him in the process.

If I take the position that judgment means condemnation in this passage, then it doesn't seem to fit very well in 19 though it can to an extent. I guess what has brought up this question is that I was listening to a favorite teacher of mine a few days ago say that this word here translated judgment is not the same Greek word used for condemnation. In my own research I found that there is clearly another Greek word that is translated condemnation that is different than this word used for judgment. This is what brings up my uneasiness that maybe I am trying to push this in the direction that I want instead of letting the Word and the Spirit explain themselves.

On the other hand, to accept that this is not referring to condemnation seems to push me to old models of thinking about God that are clearly untenable for me at this point, ideas about God that always led to fear and condemnation which have darkened my heart for most of my life. That is something I cannot go back to at any cost for it is to embrace a view of God and reality that only leads to legalism and lies about God that I have been coming away from. I cannot give up the light of truth about God in favor of trying to justify one passage which means that the larger truth must help me to understand more clearly the seeming confusion about this word in this passage.

This word judgment is not as simple to understand as many would make it out to be. I have been learning a lot about it from various places in the Bible which has definitely broadened my perception of its meaning but it is still somewhat confusing to me. Quite likely if I could read and clearly understand the original Hebrew and Greek myself it might add much more clarity to this. But I can't so I have to rely more on comments from others who do as well as listening to the One who inspired the Bible originally to explain it to me over time.

Possible meanings for the word judgment:

• Making a decision or determination about who is to blame for something bad that happened. Deciding who is guilty or innocent without their consent. Assembling evidence, witnesses and evaluators to conduct a legal process to create a label or identity to attach to a person accused of wrong-doing.

• Blaming, criticizing, condemning people for doing things we don't like in order to make them feel bad, guilty, afraid, worthless or to attempt to control their behavior.

• Love of deception, lies and counterfeit systems of life in contrast with loving truth no matter how inconvenient it might feel.

• Creating opportunity in seemingly passive ways for people to act out what their true motives are inside. Creating situations where their inhibitions might be reduced in order for it to be seen publicly what they will do when they feel there may be no consequences to inhibit them from carrying out the imaginations of their heart.

Before being able to reasonably come up with an understanding of the purpose of judgment it might be well to first of all understand which judgment we are referring to in our assumptions. Depending on which one of these versions of judgment we are talking about, the reasons for judgment will vary dramatically. And the kind of judgment we assume we are talking about will have a great deal to do with our beliefs about the motives of those who are assumed to be doing the judging.

I am struggling to discern in this passage why it starts with God saying He did not send His Son into the world to judge it but then turns around and says that this is judgment two verses later. That is the intriguing part that keeps me looking deeper to find what is really being said here. So I find it quite useful to at least temporarily suspend all my assumptions and beliefs about what I think judgment is in order for me to consider that it actually might be something possibly different if I would just be open-minded enough to consider it.

Of course, this passage alone may or may not have all the necessary information to determine the real meaning and purpose of judgment, but it certainly looks like it may be a significant part of the definition by the way it is worded. Other passages will certainly play into amplifying or altering the assumptions that may be drawn from this passage, but I do not want to overlook anything in these words right here by rushing off to bring in something else too soon. That might tend to be done in order to justify preconceptions rather than to necessarily add light to the subject. I believe other passages will greatly enhance the truth contained in these verses, but I want to be sure that I have given this passage enough opportunity to unpack itself and challenge my preconceptions to start with before bringing in more passages that will need to be carefully analyzed the same way.