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

God intended that His word, the Bible, be understood and applied (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  He wrote it in such a way that we can understand it when we read (Eph. 3:4).  To claim that the Bible cannot be understood is tantamount to saying God failed in revealing His will.  One cannot attack a book without maligning its author.

While the Bible can be understood, it is not all easy to understand.  There are sections that are hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16).  These passages are not impossible to understand, but require effort to ascertain the meaning.  Sometimes help is needed in arriving at the proper meaning (Acts 8:31).  The Bible is a tremendous volume that is able to provide nourishment to people at various stages of spiritual development.  Both milk for the babies and meat for the mature may be found within its pages (1 Cor. 3:1-3; Heb. 5:12-14).  It is an inexhaustible resource of wisdom that ever challenges man with the loftiest of themes (Psa. 139:17-18).

God’s word is truth (Jn. 17:17).  Jesus Christ is the personal revelation of truth (Jn. 14:6).  While we will never know everything, we can all glean enough truth to be set free from sin, if we continue in Jesus’ word (Jn. 8:31-32).  It is God’s desire that all men come to saving truth in Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:4).  All truth necessary for salvation was revealed to the first-century apostles and prophets and preserved in a literary reservoir that is the twenty-seven books of the New Testament (Jn. 16:12-13; Heb. 2:3-4; Jude 3).

Each Christian has the responsibility to study this word and grow in knowledge of the truth  (2 Peter 3:18).  If we do not grow, we may forget even the basics that we should know (Heb. 5:12).  We can become blind to what God has done for us (2 Pet. 1:9).  We can even become entangled in the pollutions of the world that we had once escaped when we had come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Pet. 2:20).  Instead of forgetting the soul-saving truth that has been presented to us, let us study all the more that God will approve of us for correctly handling His word (2 Tim. 2:15).   God wants us to be filled with knowledge of His will, always increasing our understanding (Col. 1:9-10).  This way we will be firmly established in His truth and richly blessed by having His words in our hearts and on our tongues (Col. 2:2-7; 3:16).

What does your personal Bible study throughout the week show about your desire to know more about God’s word?  What about your attendance at the Bible classes offered by the church?  What about not merely your attendance, but your preparation for these studies?  Do you go home afterwards and think and study further on points made in these classes? Or are the Bible classes of the church just a box that you check each week because you were physically present?  Do you desire to know more of God’s word?

-Mark Day