John 12:47 - Exposition

If any one shall have heard my sayings, and have (guarded) kept £ them not. Here our Lord passes from the effect of his earthly life, which is light, to that of the words ( ῥημάτα ) by which the whole future of mankind will be affected, and one is reminded of the close of the sermon on the mount, where the condition of that man is portrayed who hears the λόγους of Christ and doeth them net, whose destiny will be determined by the natural course of things (see Matthew 7:26 , Matthew 7:27 ). Keep (guard) them not (see Matthew 19:20 ). The "hearing" is clearly not identical with spiritual acceptance, but is restricted to the awful charge of responsibility that comes upon every man who simply hears, knows what Christ's words are, and then " keeps " them not so as to fulfill their intention. Christ says, I judge him not. I am not now pronouncing a sentence upon him; I am his Savior; but this is his condemnation, that he believes not, etc. ( John 3:17-19 ). Our Lord claimed, in the sermon on the mount, to be the Executor of a judgment, and in John 5:22-29 he declared that he would be as Son of man, the final Adjudicator of doom on the disobedient (cf. Matthew 25:1-46 .), and in many places he made this thought even more solemn by speaking of himself on that occasion, not as the compassionate Savior, but the Administrator of an inviolable law, which cannot be swayed by immediate emotion, but will effectuate itself on eternal and unswerving principles. The Law accuses the old Law ( John 5:45 )— but I judge him not; for I came ( ἦλθον ) not to judge, but to save the world, referring to the Incarnation in its purport and supreme motive.