Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
—John 5:19-29 (TNIV)
Here we have another apparent contradiction in the words of Jesus. How can he say that whoever hears his word and believes in God who sent him will have eternal life while also saying that those who have done what is evil will rise to condemnation?
But there is no contradiction here because as we have seen before, faith always manifests itself in good works because faith understands that good works are pleasing to God and faith always seeks to please the One whom it trusts. For example, if we go to a doctor we trust and he tells us to take a certain medicine to cure us, will we not do so because we trust that what the doctor tells us is true? This is faith manifesting itself in trust and obedience. It is likewise with our Lord and his Gospel.
Here we have the glorious Good News of Jesus Christ. Ponder these gracious words and give thanks for all that God has done for you in Christ.
No it does not give us authority to judge others and Paul clearly says so in Romans 2. This does NOT mean we are to suspend our moral judgment and adopt an anything goes attitude. That is based on poor exegesis.
The Greek word John and Paul (but not George and Ringo) use for “judge” is krino, which means “to make a selection” or “prefer” (BAGD). What Paul is talking about in the context of Romans 2 is that only God has the power to select who has life and who has death because only God is morally perfect and perfectly holy. This, of course, affirms what Jesus says in today’s passage and elsewhere.
We don’t get to determine who “gets in” or who “is out” because we are in the same boat as others. We sin just like they do. But we are called to condemn sin (NOT people) whenever we encounter it, especially in ourselves, because sin is grievous to God and separates us from him. Whenever we condemn sin that is not ours, we should do it reluctantly (not eagerly), gently, and with circumspection lest we quickly develop a holier-than-thou attitude, which Scripture clearly forbids.
If we really love ourselves and others, we desire life for them as well as for us. We can’t “fix” anyone because we can’t even fix ourselves, and so we should not even try. Instead, we should be spending all our time working with the Spirit living in us to be transformed into Christ’s image.
But that doesn’t mean we cannot or should not speak out on moral issues. The enemies of the cross would like nothing better than for us to continue remaining silent on the basis of lousy scriptural interpretation so that they can continue to implement their godless and bankrupt agenda and values.
In verse 22 Jesus says the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son, and in 27, that God has given the Son of Man authority to judge. Does this also give us who are in Him the same authority to judge? Judging is a tricky issue.