John 5:28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
John 5:29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
It has been a while, but years back I sought to study the term judgement in the New Testament. The series was called Judge Judge Judge, and for the most part I remember finding that judging was a necessary part of the believers life, that to judge was imperative for the believer.
Now before you blow a gasket and start condemning me for propagating a lifestyle of hating on people, the Greek words I found that were occasionally translated as judge had the intent of discernment, not condemnation, and it turns out that when we see “judge” in the New Testament, we need to be careful as to our understanding of it.
I need to pick up that thread of study, for I got diverted in completing it.
Nevertheless, one of the Greek words I was slated to study is found in this passage. The term is κρίσις krísis, translated as judgement in verse 29.
When we see this word, we can default to the base meaning of condemnation, of a judgement to punishment, not merely an act of making a decision, but that consequences of punishment are the result of this judgement.
Harsh. Yes. There will be some that are resurrected to this judgement. A judgement of condemnation, of punishment, of damnation.
Thankfully we can rest on the fact that salvation is by faith alone, and that if we believe, we will escape this judgement. One act of belief, one night of decision, one point in time when a person invites Jesus into their heart, and all is well.
Woah. Hold on a minute! Let’s read this passage again.
John 5:29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
I do not explicitly see any reference to faith or belief in this verse! Let’s look a few verses earlier for Jesus does bring up the concept of faith, of believing, of hearing.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Jesus speaks of the one who hears and believes. The one who currently hears Jesus word, and currently believes God that sent the Messiah. Both of these verbs in verse 24 are in the present tense, indicating a current condition of the one who is being granted eternal life.
Yet Jesus does not speak of faith in the verse we are considering, but speaks of “doing”, of those who have done good, and of those who have done evil.
Why has he changed up the criteria? What is it that we are to understand? Does faith save us? Yes, of course, but we sometimes think of faith as “mental assent” or “inner agreement”, where Jesus is teaching us that faith is equal to, or results in “doing good”.
Let me be frank. Good works are necessary for the believer, for to believe in such a great God will produce good works in our lives. As we constantly listen for and believe the words of Jesus, we will reproduce the life of service that Jesus exhibited, not perfectly by a long shot, but “doing good” will be evident.
So how should we consider the term “doing evil”? Is this synonymous with disobeying, not listening, not believing Jesus and His message? Might Jesus be defining the nature of “doing evil” by being equal to rejecting God’s message of Jesus as the Messiah, and that not believing will result in a life dominated with doing evil?
The twist in my mind is that there are some, from a worldly point of view, that “do good” all the time, and yet have nothing to do with Jesus. Is Jesus implying that by merely doing good there is the hope of resurrection to life?
I would suggest that as we read this passage, the definition of doing good is to be understood in the context of belief in Jesus, that our understanding of doing good needs to be refined.
To truly do good not only is an action seen by men, but that the motivation also is critical. Did not Paul speak of this in 1 Timothy 1:5?
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Consider that the resurrection of life is dependent on our belief in Jesus, a continuing, current belief, and that out of this continuous, current faith in the Messiah and His message, our hearts will lead us to perform good works. We will do good, according to Jesus definition, and not merely for show
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below
Your message has been sent
Considering the Bible 