John 5:22

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) For the Father judgeth no man.—Better, For not even doth the Father judge any man; and if not the Father, to whom judgment belongs, then none other but the Son to whom He hath committed all judgment. To judge (comp. John 5:29) is the opposite of to quicken in the previous verse. The fact that the Son hath power to judge is correlative with His power to quicken whom He will. The spiritual life given to, and received by, some (John 5:24), is a separation from, and a judgment of, others. The eternal life which shall be given to some, shall be the eternal separation from, and exclusion of, others. The reason why judgment is committed to the Son is given in John 5:27 as resulting from His humanity. It is stated here as resulting from His divinity. It is that this power, like the quickening power of John 5:21, should lead all to give to the Son honour equal to that which they render to the Father. Again, this relation is urged against those who professed to honour God, and as a proof of it were seeking to kill His Son. That Sonship, expressing at once subordination and unity, necessarily involved the Fatherhood. To reject Him was to reject the Father who sent Him. (Comp. John 5:24; John 5:30; John 5:36-37.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:17-23 The Divine power of the miracle proved Jesus to be the Son of God, and he declared that he worked with, and like unto his Father, as he saw good. These ancient enemies of Christ understood him, and became more violent, charging him not only with sabbath-breaking, but blasphemy, in calling God his own Father, and making himself equal with God. But all things now, and at the final judgment, are committed to the Son, purposely that all men might honour the Son, as they honour the Father; and every one who does not thus honour the Son, whatever he may think or pretend, does not honour the Father who sent him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Judgeth no man - Jesus in these verses is showing his "equality with God." He affirmed John 5:17 that he had the same power over the Sabbath that his Father had; in John 5:19, that he did the same things as the Father; in John 5:21 particularly that he had the same power to raise the dead. He now adds that God has given him the authority to "judge" men. The Father pronounces judgment on no one. This office he has committed to the Son. The power of judging the world implies ability to search the heart, and omniscience to understand the motives of all actions. This is a work which none but a divine being can do, and it shows, therefore, that the Son is equal to the Father.

Hath committed ... - Hath appointed him to be the judge of the world. In the previous verse he had said that he had power "to raise the dead;" he here adds that it will be his, also, to "judge" them when they are raised. See Matthew 25; Acts 17:31.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. For the Father judgeth no man, &c.—rather, "For neither doth the Father judge any man," implying that the same "thing was meant in the former verse of the quickening of the dead"—both acts being done, not by the Father and the Son, as though twice done, but by the Father through the Son as His voluntary Agent.

all judgment—judgment in its most comprehensive sense, or as we should say, all administration.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Alone he judgeth no man, he judgeth no man but by the Son, no man without the Son; but committed all judgment in the administration of the mediatory kingdom in the church to his Son, and by his Son will judge the world at the last day.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For the Father judgeth no man,.... That is, without the Son; which is another proof of their equality: for that he does judge is certain; he is the Judge of the whole earth; he is God that judgeth in the earth, or governs the world with his Son, who works together in the affairs of providence: he judged and condemned the old world, but not without his Son, who by his Spirit, or in his divine nature, went and preached to the spirits now in prison, then disobedient in the times of Noah; he judged and condemned Sodom and Gomorrah, but not without the Son; for Jehovah the Son rained, from Jehovah the Father, fire and brimstone upon those cities, and consumed them; he judged the people of Israel, and often chastised them for their sins, but not without his Son; the angel of his presence that went before them; he judges all men, and justifies and acquits whom he pleases, but not without his Son; but through his justifying righteousness, which he imputes to them; in doing which he appears to he a just judge, and to do right; and he will judge the world in righteousness at the last day by his Son, whom he has ordained; so as the Son does nothing without the Father, the Father does nothing without the Son, which shows perfect equality. The Jews had an officer in their sanhedrim, whom they called Ab Beth Din, or "the father of the house of judgment", to whom belonged the trying of causes, and of judging and determining them. Hence the Targumist on Sol 7:4 says,

, "and the father of the house of judgment", who judgeth thy judgments, or determines thy causes, is mighty over thy people, &c.''

Whether there may not be some allusion here to this officer, I leave to be considered:

but hath committed all judgment to the Son; as the judgment, or government of his church and people, especially under the Gospel dispensation; and which he exercises by giving ordinances peculiar to it, such as baptism and the Lord's supper; and by enacting laws, and prescribing rules for the discipline of his house, over which he is as a Son; and by appointing proper officers under him, over his churches, to administer these ordinances, and see that these laws are put in execution, which he qualifies them for, by bestowing proper gifts upon them: and he exercises this judgment, by protecting and defending his people from all their enemies, so that they well safely under his government: as also the general judgment of the world at the last day, is committed to him; which affair will be managed by Christ, the Son of God, when he comes a second time; he will then raise the dead, that everyone may receive for the things done in his body, whether good or evil; he will gather all nations before him, and all shall stand before his judgment seat, both great and small; he will separate one from another, the sheep from the goats, and set the one on his right hand, and the other on his left; he will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, and show himself to be the searcher of the hearts, and the trier of the reins of the children of men, and will pass a most righteous and decisive sentence upon all: now for such a trust, and such a work as this, whether the particular government of the church, or the general judgment of the world, he would not be fit, was he not God equal with the Father; the thing he had suggested, and which he supports and maintains in this vindication of himself.

Geneva Study Bible

For the Father {g} judgeth {h} no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

(g) This word judgeth is taken by the figure of speech synecdoche to represent all governing.

(h) These words are not to be taken as though they simply denied that God governed the world, but rather they deny that he governed as the Jews imagined it, who separate the Father from the Son, whereas indeed, the Father does not govern the world, but only in the person of his Son, being made manifest in the flesh: so he says below in Joh 5:30, that he came not to do his own will: that his doctrine is not his own, that the blind man and his parents did not sin Joh 7:16 Joh 9:3, etc.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 5:22 does not state the ground of the Son’s call to bestow life (Luthardt, comp. Tholuck and Hengstenberg), but is a justification of the οὓς θέλει,—because the κρίσις refers only to those whom He will not raise to life,—in so far as it is implied that the others, whom the Son will not make alive, will experience in themselves the judgment of rejection (the anticipatory analogon of the decisive judgment at the second advent, John 5:29). It is given to no other than the Son to execute this final judgment. The κρίνει οὐδένα should have prevented the substitution of the idea of separation for that of judgment (comp. John 3:17-18).

οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ π.] for not even the Father, to whom, however, by universal acknowledgment, judgment belongs.[209] Consequently it depends only upon the Son, and the οὓς θέλει has its vindication. Concerning οὐδέ, which is for the most part neglected by commentators, comp. John 7:5, John 8:42, John 21:25. The antithesis ἀλλὰ, κ.τ.λ., tells how far, though God is the world’s Judge, the Father does not judge, etc.

κρίνει] the judgment of condemnation (John 3:17-18, John 5:24; John 5:27; John 5:29), whose sentence is the opposite of ζωοποιεῖν, the sentence of spiritual death.

τὴν κρίσιν πᾶσαν] judgment altogether (here also to be understood on its condemnatory side), therefore not only of the last act on the day of judgment (John 5:27), but of its entirety (see on John 16:13), and consequently in its progress in time, whereby the οὓς θέλει is decided.

[209] Weiss, Lehrbegr. p. 185, explains it as if it ran: οὐδὲ γὰρ κρίνει ὁ πατήρ, etc.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 5:22. But not only does the Son quicken whom He will, but He also judges; οὐδὲ γὰρ … υἱῷ. “For not even does the Father judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son.” “For since He knows Himself to be the sole mediator of true life for men, He can also declare that all those who will not partake through Him of this blissful life, just therein experience judgment whereby they sink into death.” Wendt, ii. 211; and cf. John 5:27. οὐδὲ γὰρ introduces the fresh statement, that He judges, not only as the reason for what goes before, but on its own account also, as an additional fact to be noticed. It would seem an astonishing thing that even “judgment,” the allotting of men to their eternal destinies, should be handed over to the Son. But so it is: and without exception, τὴν κρίσιν πᾶσαν, “all judgment,” of all men and without appeal.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. For the Father judgeth no man] Rather, For not even doth the Father (to Whom judgment belongs) judge any man. The Son therefore has both powers, to make alive whom He will, and to judge: but the second is only the corollary of first. Those whom He does not will to make alive are by that very fact judged, separated off from the living, and left in the death which they have chosen. He does not make them dead, does not slay them. They are spiritually dead already, and will not be made alive. Here, as in John 3:17-18, the judgment is one of condemnation; but this comes from the context, not from the word.

hath committed] Or, given; there is no reason for varying the common rendering.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 5:22. Οὐδέ, neither) The Father does not judge alone, nor without the Son: yet He does judge; John 5:45, “Do not think I will accuse you to the Father;” Acts 17:31, “He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained;” Romans 3:6, “God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?” Nor is the word δέδωκε, He hath given, in this passage, opposed [to the Father’s judging]: comp. John 5:26, “As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given the Son to have life in Himself,” with John 5:21, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them: even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.”—γάρ, for) The Son decides by His own judgment whom He pleases [wills] to quicken. [And for that end the dead are raised up, that they may be judged.—V. g.]—οὐδένα, no man) To this refer πάντες, all men, in the ver. following.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - That οὕς θέλει is the point of connection with what follows, and that the Son quickeneth whom he willeth, is more clear, seeing that (γὰρ) the Father even judges no man; judges no man apart from the Son. "Pater non judicat solus nec sine filio, judicat tamen (ver. 45; Acts 17:31; Romans 3:6)" (Bengel). The word κρίνει does not mean exclusively either "condemn" or "acquit," but the exercise of judicial functions which will either acquit or condemn. As in John 3:17, the "condemnation" is rather inferred than asserted. Moreover, we are there told that the Son was not sent into the world for the purpose of judgment, but for the larger purposes of salvation, and "to give eternal life." Nevertheless, "life" to some is judgment to others, and judgment even unto death is the obverse of the gift of life when the conditions of life are not found, in John 1:39 Christ declares that one solemn consequence of his coming was εἰς κρίμα, "unto judgment" - to reveal the final decisions of the Judge. How, then, shall we reconcile these apparently incongruous statements? Judgment unquestionably results from the rejection of the proffer of mercy. The judgment rests on those who say, "We see." Their sin remaineth. Those who are not willing to be made whole remain unhealed. Those who love darkness rather than light abide in the darkness. This is the judgment, but this judicial process was (not the end, but) the consequence of his mission. The Father's ordinary providence, which is always passing judgment upon the lives of men, is now placed in the hands of "the Son." Howbeit he hath given the whole judgment - i.e. the judgment in all its parts - to the Son. He has made the entire juridical process which brings to light the essential tendencies of human hearts, issue from the reception given by man to the Son. The whole question of right against wrong, of life versus death, acquittal against condemnation, is determined by the attitude of men towards the Son. In many passages this plenipotentiary endowment of "the Son" with functions, powers, authorities, is expressed by this same word (δέδωκε), "he hath given" (ver. 36; John 3:35; John 6:37, 39; John 10:29; John 17:2, 4). Meyer limits the meaning of κρίνει to "condemnation," and Slier includes in it the separation of sin from the life of believers; but surely the judgment of the world is effected by the light that shines upon it, and the essence of the judgment (κρίσις) is the discrimination which infailibly follows the revelation of the Father through the Son. John 5:22

Vincent's Word Studies

For the Father (οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ)

The A.V. misses the climax in οὐδὲ; not even the Father, who might be expected to be judge.

Hath committed (δέδωκεν)

Rev., given. The habitual word for the bestowment of the privileges and functions of the Son. See John 5:36; John 3:35; John 6:37, John 6:39; John 10:29, etc.

All judgment (τὴν κρίσιν πᾶσαν)

Literally, the judgment wholly.