And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
All Commentaries on John 12:47 Go To John 12
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And if any hear My words, and keep them not, I judge him not. That Isaiah , does not retain them in his mind, "believes them not," as in the Greek, though the Vulgate, agreeing with the Syriac and Arabic, reads "Keep them not;" as Christ explains in the next verse. By the words "I judge him not," Christ means, I came not into the world to judge it but to save it. But a man who believes not on Me, is at once condemned and judged by his own wickedness and unbelief, and also by the eternal decree of the Father. This is plain from what follows. So S. Cyril, Theophylact, Leontius, and others. See notes on chap. iii18. This decree of the Father I will execute at the day of judgment, when I shall return to judge the world, as I have now come to redeem it. S. Chrysostom says, "I judge not," that Isaiah , I am not the cause of his ruin, but he is himself its cause in despising My words.
For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. That Isaiah , the inhabitants of the world. "Now," says S. Augustine, "is the time of mercy, hereafter the time of judgment."
