Judgement in the Bible has a particular meaning: the Hebrew word shaphat, for example, is used as one of the names of God in Judges 11:27; “Jehovah the judge”. Judgement is one of the divine functions and is first and foremost an activity of God. He is a God of Judgement (Isaiah 30:18) and He was known as such by Israel (see Malachi 2:17). “All His ways are judgement” (Deuteronomy 32:4) and if you want to know the ways of God you must look at His judgements.
Shaphat is the word used to describe divine judgement as an activity of rulership and this is evident in the Book of Judges, which sets forth the activities of the judges of Israel in the context of their leadership of the people. When we read that Samuel, for example, “judged Israel all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 7:15), this means that, to all intents and purposes, he was the nation’s effective ruler. Shaphat however, does not denote naked power, but rather power directed towards a right end; it carries with it a sense of justice and righteousness. Jehovah is understood to act in accordance with right being done; those whom He appoints as judges are expected to do the same.
There is another Hebrew word used to mean “judgement”; that is mishpat and this mainly signifies judgement based upon precedent or custom. This is the judgement of kings and civic authorities; judgement between men based upon laws of men; whereas shaphat is more signifying judgement of God or God’s anointed judge. Biblical judgement therefore, carries with it the flavour of relationship to Jehovah, rather than conformity to the traditions of men; the connection with God is the primary thing.
Biblical judgement also carries with it the notion of separation, both from and to; separation of truth from lies; separation of holiness from profanity; separation of righteousness from lawlessness etc; and separation from the world unto God.
In the Old Testament, judgement was given to men as a gift from God; it was a process in which one discriminates between right and wrong and takes action as a consequence of that discrimination; thus, it is dynamic, not merely an intellectual exercise. It’s use was within the covenant community of God’s people, to show them the right way and to give guidance as to how they may live their lives in faithful service to Jehovah.
In the New Testament, judgement takes on a new character altogether; it is not limited to being used within the covenant community. Judgement is dealing with eternal issues. Whereas under the Old Covenant, God judged nations, under the New judgement is a process of self examination in which the individual must judge himself against God’s holy standards. Thus repentance will follow and maturity takes place. Unless we rightly judge ourselves, we will be judged by God.
Paul writes that many are sick because they have failed to rightly judge themselves and their sickness is part of God’s judgement to bring them to repentance; this is God’s chastening of His people (see 1 Corinthians 11:32-34). The writer to the Hebrews also refers to this chastening effect of God’s judgement and its beneficial purpose (Hebrews 12:6 and 12:11). All of this is to do with sanctifying the believer, and is a process of moral conditioning. Until that has been carried out, a believer cannot be much used of God for His purposes.
A proper understanding of judgement is needed in Christians today; it can be a powerful incentive to a serious walk with Christ; it is not so much a threat as an incitement to reflection and repentance; and the truth is that God will not let us continue in our blind sinful way without judging us so that we will return to the One to Whom we owe our allegiance. The redeemed life is a serious business in which the judgements of God must be worked out; the difficulties we meet are there to allow God to bring His judgements to bear in disciplining us and guiding us; if we refuse judgement, we refuse sanctification and salvation.
Many take the view that since the nature of God is love, it is inconsistent with that nature to condemn men to hell and damnation. But this misconstrues how judgement works; a tyrannical God is not looking down grimly and picking certain men with whom He will have nothing to do. The purpose of His love is that men might have life and have it abundantly, but His purpose cannot operate by compulsion; it involves men making a judgement themselves about which one they will serve and thus, they sentence themselves.
“Still, as of old, man by himself is priced,
For thirty pieces Judas sold himself, instead of Christ”.
Jesus came to die so in that sense Judas wasn’t really responsible for Christ’s death; but if he didn’t sell Jesus he certainly sold himself and the price he set on his immortal soul was thirty pieces of silver! Many believers do the same thing today, bowing down to Mammon and devoting their lives to careers, business and other cares of this life. Men shut themselves out of heaven, just as did the foolish virgins of Matthew 25; the scriptures stress that men, by their own actions pass sentence on their souls; that is what Judas did.
The Greek krisis denotes judgement as a process; for example, the patience and faith of the saints in persecution and affliction is evidence of God’s righteous judgement as a process of making the saints worthy of the kingdom of God (2 Thessalonians 1:5) and, men are appointed to die once after which comes the process of judgement (Hebrews 9:27) and, where there is no more a sacrifice for sins because of willful sin there is a fearful expectation of the process of judgement (Hebrews 10:27).
The Greek krima, on the other hand, means judgement as a sentence, as in “there is no condemnation” (Romans 8:1) and “certain men……were marked out for this condemnation) (Jude 4).
We are told that Jesus came not to judge, but to save (John 12:47); but He was the Word and it is the Word against which we are judged so, paradoxically, judgement came with Him although it was not His purpose in coming; the word convicts and judgement is the result. As He said, “for judgement I came into this world….” (John 9:39); it came as a result of His coming. “And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
In other words, the true Light has come and obliges man to make a decision for himself; he will be judged according to his decision. We see this in Romans 1, that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (verse 18). As a result; “God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts into immorality so as to be dishonoured their bodies in them” (verse 24).
It is in this sense of judgement as self examination that baptism should be viewed. The symbolic death of the old man is an acknowledgement and acceptance of God’s judgement on sin; baptism is essentially pleading guilty and accepting the verdict. Similarly, the communion feast involves self examination otherwise it will be followed by the divine judgement of sickness or death (1 Corinthians 11:28+). Thus, the Eucharist is an occasion of judgement, either by voluntary self examination or in voluntary exposure to God’s judgement