- John 5:22 [Jesus speaking]: "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgement to the Son....''
- John 8:15 [Jesus speaking]: "You [Jews/Pharisees] judge by human standards; I pass judgement on no one."
- John 12:47 [Jesus speaking]: "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it."
Even superficially, there is no contradiction here. John 5:22 states that Jesus has been given the potential for judging, Nothing here is said in this passage about the actualization of the judging, which judgement will take place at the end of the world. In John 8:15, the context clearly indicates that Jesus' words "I pass judgement on no one" are to be construed as saying that He does not pass the earthly, casuistic, and superficial judgements that the Pharisees do.
Grammatically, in 8:15 the plural address "you" in the phrase "You judge by human standards" is emphatic: hymeis .... krinete . Similarly, in 8:15 the "I" in the phrase "I pass judgement on no one" is emphatic: ego ou krino. Grammatically then, we have a direct contrast here: Jesus does not judge as the Pharisees do. " You judge by human standards, but I do not." As far 12:47, there is a qualifier: "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them..."
Some more facts need to be stated. In 5:22, in accordance with the analogy of Scripture, we see that the judgement that Jesus has been entrusted with is the judgement at the end of human history. Jesus' earthly sojourn was to save the world -- see 3:17 for verification.
Keeping this in mind, 12:47 most naturally echoes 3:17 along similar lines. If one wants to follow the context and allow a document to interpret itself, then this solution is faithful to the text as well as the context.
Objection: In John 9:39, Jesus says, "For judgment I am come into this world." This clearly contradicts the statement that "the judgment that Jesus has been entrusted with is the judgement at the end of human history. Jesus' earthly sojourn was to save the world...."
The context of John 9:39 deals with Jesus being judged by the world, as in either accepting Jesus or rejecting Jesus. The Greek word here is krima and means a decision; it is not a "judicial" word like krisis or krino. In essence, Jesus says here he came to be judged by us, and it has nothing to do with the other passages where Jesus himself is the judge.
-Eric Vestrup