Revisiting John: krisis and us
How judgment in John's Gospel sets the stage for asceticism
In the comments that followed my recent post on Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 82 (81, LXX) in John 10:30-38, my brother David (or “Ben,” as we call him in the family) and I had an exchange on the subject. His interpretation of the same passage differs from mine. His view has a venerable history among patristic exegetes, some of whom saw in it a hint of the doctrine of theosis (“deification”). But although I concur with the overall theological soundness of theosis, heaven knows, I don’t believe it’s what John meant to convey in those verses (there are many other NT passages to draw upon for that, including other Johannine texts). You can re-read the post and check out our comments here. At any rate, in the course of our fish slapping dance, I remarked that I could say more on the subject. In this post, I will indeed say just a little bit “more,” zeroing in – because it has a great deal to do with the how and why of Christian ascetical/mystical practice – on the weighty subject of judgment in John. “Judgment” and to “judge” (sometimes translated as “condemnation” and “condemn”) are words that appear in a few highly significant places in the Gospel. Although they don’t show up explicitly in John 10:30-38, they are nonetheless implied in those verses, as I pointed out last week. The Greek word is κρίσις – krisis (verb form: κρίνω – krino) and, in addition to “judge,” it means to separate, distinguish, determine, and decide. As a caveat for the curious, what follows is not a direct continuation of my discussion with Ben. Instead, it will provide economically the overall thematic context in which John 10:30-38 fits. From there, I will make an effort (a necessarily limited one) to show what that theme means for you and me in practical terms.
