# Jesus as judge **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432 "2006-05-27T11:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432/1 "2006-05-27T11:21:39Z")
Note: I’m not trying to start a debate here! There’s a church I pass every morning on the way to work that has a sign out front where they can do a couple of lines of a changing message. Right now they’re advertising sign-up for summer day-care, but the message prior to that was “Jesus: Savior and Judge.” It’s clear from the name of this church (which isn’t affiliated with a mainline denomination) and from other messages they’ve had that this place is fairly conservative theologically. My question is – _Jesus_ as judge? I thought that was more his father’s role? How common is the understaning of Jesus as judge, and what might that mean, exactly? (Note for context: I am not a Christian; I do have a PhD in sociology of religion, and I did teach Religion in America for several years – but that was a couple of decades ago, and my area of expertise was marginal groups. I fully admit that I’m very weak on the Bible and Christian theology.) TIA. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432/2 "2006-05-27T12:26:31Z")
> [@](#): > > My question is – _Jesus_ as judge? I thought that was more his father’s role? There’s actually at least one passage which says exactly the opposite: > [@](#): > > Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. – [John 5:22-23](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205:22-23;&version=31;) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432/3 "2006-05-27T14:55:30Z")
Jesus’s earthly ministry was one of forgiveness and atonement, bringing people back to God. But the _traditional_ understanding has always been that at the Second Coming, Jesus returns as _Judge_. > [@Nicene Creed](#): > > He ascended into Heaven. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. In connection with all this, it’s probably important to remember that mercy is an act of judgment – an act of “tempering the wind to the shorn lamb.” There’s a quote from somewhere in theology that “Perfect judgment is perfect mercy” that is appropriate in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432/4 "2006-05-27T15:28:59Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] _Jesus_ as judge? I thought that was more his father’s role?. [/QUOTE] I thought they were one, along with the Holy Spirit. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432/5 "2006-05-27T15:51:19Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Jesus’s earthly ministry was one of forgiveness and atonement, bringing people back to God. But the _traditional_ understanding has always been that at the Second Coming, Jesus returns as _Judge_. [/QUOTE] One Biblical reference to this is in the 4th chapter of 2nd Timothy: > [@](#): > > v.1: 1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead… > > v.8: Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day… Are there others? Is this where the idea originated? (I suppose the sign’s message _could_ have been referring to the idea that we are judged according to how we respond to Jesus, but that’s stretching it.) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432/6 "2006-05-27T16:02:18Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Jesus’s earthly ministry was one of forgiveness and atonement, bringing people back to God. But the _traditional_ understanding has always been that at the Second Coming, Jesus returns as _Judge_. [/QUOTE] Ah, yes, of course. Thanks, all! ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432/7 "2006-05-27T16:08:42Z")
According to [Matthew Chapter 25](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:31-46;&version=31;), in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats, it’s the Big J doing the field work to separate out people into two groups: > [@](#): > > When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. > > Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’ Clearly it’s the Son (Jesus) that is mandated with the task of judgment, in the name of the Father. In a somewhat off-topic aside: why are goats typically held up as the allegorical opposite of sheep/lambs in Christian texts? When you get right down to it sheep and goats are pretty similar (or maybe that’s part of the point). I mean, you’d think it’d be a contrast between sheep and wolves or something. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-as-judge/358432/8 "2006-05-27T23:16:32Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] My question is – _Jesus_ as judge? I thought that was more his father’s role? How common is the understaning of Jesus as judge, and what might that mean, exactly? [/QUOTE] Common enough for Michelangelo to make the Last Judgment by Jesus the climax of the Sistine Chapel paintings: [Last judgment](http://snowmass.stanford.edu/~fred/trip/Rome/sw.jpg).