To the Pharisees who questioned Him at the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus said, “Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me” (John 8:15-16).  Their carnal, fleshly standards of judging Jesus would never allow them to see Him for His true identity, the Son of God.  Previously in their discussion, Jesus had warned them not to judge according to appearance, but to judge righteous judgment (John 7:24).  Here, in chapter 8, it seems that their judgment is even worse.  It is one thing to judge according to appearance.  We all know the fallacy of judging a book by its cover.  However, it is quite another thing for our thinking to be so corrupted and fleshly that we are unable to see plain spiritual truths right before our eyes.

Jesus said, “I judge no man.”  Now Jesus’ purpose in coming into this world was not so that people would be condemned (judged); instead, He came to save.  John 3:17 explains, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”  However, if one refuses salvation, the other side of the coin is condemnation.

But Jesus says He judges no man, period.  While He spoke words of comfort and invitation (Matthew 11:28-30), we cannot deny that He did speak words of judgment on the Pharisees (Matthew 23).  How then can Jesus say that He judges no man?  It must mean that He judges no man in the way He has just described the Pharisees judging, that is, after the flesh.  As Christians, we too must develop spiritually so that we do not judge after the flesh.  The apostle Paul in his earlier life judged after this manner; however, when he became a Christian, he did not judge Christ or any other man according to fleshly standards.  He wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:16, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.”  In the church, judgments based on worldly, carnal thinking, (such as how much money people have, how physically attractive they are, etc.) should not be the criteria for whom we honor.

After Jesus said that He judges no man in this way, He went on to say, “if I judge, my judgment is true” (John 8:16).  Jesus will come to judge the word in righteousness one day (Acts 17:31).  But even when Jesus was living on earth for a third of a century and even now in our lives, Jesus judges true judgment.  One of the themes throughout the book of John is Jesus’ knowledge of who each person really is on the inside (John 2:24-25).  Whether it was Nicodemus (John 3:1-12), the woman at the well (John 4:7-26), Judas (John 6:70-71; 13:21-30), or a host of other people, Jesus always knows what to say.  He drives home His point, making the most accurate statements about who people really are and what they really need.  We ought to put ourselves in the position of these people and realize there is nothing we can hide from the Lord Jesus Christ.  He knows us for who we truly are in all our shortcomings and yet He still loves us.  We ought to judge righteously, regard Him as the true Son of God, and submit to Him by obeying the gospel (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38).  It then behooves us to be open and honest before the Lord in this life and confess our sins so that we may be able to stand before Him in the final judgment (Romans 5:2; 14:4; 1 John 1:9).

-Mark Day