to execute judgment
The phrase "to execute judgment" indicates the active role of Jesus in the final judgment. The Greek word for "execute" is "poieō," meaning to make or do, suggesting an active and deliberate action. Judgment here is not merely a passive observation but an active administration of justice. In the historical context, the Jewish people anticipated a Messiah who would judge the nations. Jesus, as the divine judge, fulfills this expectation, but His judgment is based on righteousness and truth, as seen throughout the New Testament.

because He is the Son of Man
The title "Son of Man" is deeply rooted in the Old Testament, particularly in Daniel 7:13-14, where it describes a heavenly figure given dominion and glory. In the New Testament, Jesus frequently uses this title for Himself, emphasizing both His humanity and His divine authority. The phrase "because He is the Son of Man" links Jesus' authority to His unique role as the incarnate God. It highlights the mystery of the Incarnation—Jesus is fully God and fully man. This title reassures believers of His empathy and understanding of human frailty, while also affirming His divine right to judge. Historically, this title would resonate with a first-century Jewish audience familiar with Messianic prophecies, affirming Jesus as the awaited Messiah who bridges heaven and earth.

The Son of man.--Render, a son of man. The term differs by the striking omission of articles from the usual term for the Messiah, and occurs again in Revelation 1:13; Revelation 14:14. It is here in contrast to the "Son of God" in John 5:25. The explanation is, once more, to be found in the thought of the Incarnation as an emptying Himself of the attributes which are the glories of the divine nature. It is not because He is Messiah (the Son of Man), but human (a son of man), that the Father gave Him the power to have life in Himself, and the authority to execute judgment. (See Note on John 5:26.) Still His humanity is not here dwelt upon as a qualification for the office of judge, because it is of the same nature as that of those He judges. This thought and the thoughts which flow from it (comp. Acts 17:31) are full of beauty and truth, but the side of truth prominent in this verse, and all those which follow John 5:17, is not His relation to man, but His relation to God. All are a sermon on the text, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." . . .

(2) Second "greater work" - judgment of the world. Verse 27. - And he gave him (i.e. the Son, the God-Man) authority to execute judgment, because he is Son of man. He has vindicated his power to confer life upon the dead by asserting the possession by "the Son" of the Divine Sonship. He now adds, so far as the relation to man is concerned, his fitness and authority to administer justice, to preside over the entire juridical process, to lift the scales, to determine the destiny of the human race. The fitness is seen in this, that he, "the Son," is "the Son of man." The one term, "THE SON," entirely covers the twofold Sonship. The proof of his humanity is assumed to be complete. The fact of it is the ground that he who knows what is in man should be the Judge of men. By personal experience of man's temptations and frailties; by knowing every palliation of our sins, every extenuation of our failures, every aggravation of our weakness; by gazing through human eyes with human consciousness upon our mysterious destiny, he is competent to judge; whereas by being Son of God as well as Son of man, he is entrusted with power to execute the judgment of the Eternal. The principle involved is based upon perfect justice. The honour thus conferred on the God-Man is infinite, the consolation thus held out to man unspeakable. We are being judged by Christ, not by impersonal law. The entire incidence upon every individual of the Law is in the hands of the Redeemer. The Saviour, the Life-giver, the Voice which quickens the dead, assigns the judgment. We must be careful, in any inference we draw from this grand utterance, to avoid all suspicion of schism or rivalry between the Father and the Son. The Son is not more merciful than the Father. For the Father of the Old Testament pitieth his children, and knoweth their frame (Psalm 103:13, 14), and the Father of Jesus Christ loves the world, and counts the very hairs of our heads. The Son will not exercise this judgment with less regard to the claims of eternal justice than the Father; but his knowledge of humanity is, by the nature of the case, a guarantee of such application of the justice of God to the case of every individual, that man's knowledge of himself will be able personally to justify and verify it. The Divine judgment will go forth from the heart of man himself.

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