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Jesus’s Courtroom in John
[Page 325]Abstract: John Gee gives us a sketch of the divine judgment as presented in the gospel of John. “In John’s gospel, the individual is the defendant; Jesus is the judge; the devil is the prosecuting attorney; and the Holy Ghost is the defense attorney.” Somewhat surprisingly, this model “fits more closely the Roman model of judgment than the Jewish one.” He concludes with a lesson for the reader: “Since all will have to stand before the judgment bar, all of us will need to heed the counsel of our defense attorney.”
[Editor’s Note: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article is reprinted here as a service to the LDS community. Original pagination and page numbers have necessarily changed, otherwise the reprint has the same content as the original.
See John Gee, “Jesus’s Courtroom in John,” in “To Seek the Law of the Lord”: Essays in Honor of John W. Welch, ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson and Daniel C. Peterson (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation, 2017), 135–50. Further information at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/to-seek-the-law-of-the-lord-essays-in-honor-of-john-w-welch-2/.]
Given Jack Welch’s propensities, I would expect any topic that I might write for him would trigger in him a desire to produce a forty page treatise on the subject that would far outdo anything I might do. So I thought that I would provide a sketch of a legal subject that he could fill in with greater detail and more expertise at another time.
[Page 326]While the final judgment is mentioned in each of the standard works,1 the picture of what it is like has some subtle differences across the various texts.2 Some of these differences reflect the difference in legal procedures of the various writers and their various audiences.
The situation of the judgment in the Gospels provides an interesting picture reflecting ancient society. I will concentrate on the gospel of John. Scholars have noted that “differences emerge in John’s view of eternal life and judgment” by comparison with the synoptic gospels,3 though similarities exist as well.4 Because we believe the Bible as far as it is translated correctly (Article of Faith 8), I will provide my own translations of all relevant texts. As I presume that the original language versions of biblical texts will be readily available, I will quote the texts in the original only for non-biblical sources.
Judgment under Roman Law
Roman law, like most legal systems, had specific procedures dealing with legal cases. These differed between civil and criminal procedures. In civil procedures, “the bringing of an action began with an extra-judicial summons, in jus vocation, by which the plaintiff personally summoned the defendant to follow ...
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[Page 325]Abstract: John Gee gives us a sketch of the divine judgment as presented in the gospel of John. “In John’s gospel, the individual is the defendant; Jesus is the judge; the devil is the prosecuting attorney; and the Holy Ghost is the defense attorney.” Somewhat surprisingly, this model “fits more closely the Roman model of judgment than the Jewish one.” He concludes with a lesson for the reader: “Since all will have to stand before the judgment bar, all of us will need to heed the counsel of our defense attorney.”
[Editor’s Note: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article is reprinted here as a service to the LDS community. Original pagination and page numbers have necessarily changed, otherwise the reprint has the same content as the original.
See John Gee, “Jesus’s Courtroom in John,” in “To Seek the Law of the Lord”: Essays in Honor of John W. Welch, ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson and Daniel C. Peterson (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation, 2017), 135–50. Further information at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/to-seek-the-law-of-the-lord-essays-in-honor-of-john-w-welch-2/.]
Given Jack Welch’s propensities, I would expect any topic that I might write for him would trigger in him a desire to produce a forty page treatise on the subject that would far outdo anything I might do. So I thought that I would provide a sketch of a legal subject that he could fill in with greater detail and more expertise at another time.
[Page 326]While the final judgment is mentioned in each of the standard works,1 the picture of what it is like has some subtle differences across the various texts.2 Some of these differences reflect the difference in legal procedures of the various writers and their various audiences.
The situation of the judgment in the Gospels provides an interesting picture reflecting ancient society. I will concentrate on the gospel of John. Scholars have noted that “differences emerge in John’s view of eternal life and judgment” by comparison with the synoptic gospels,3 though similarities exist as well.4 Because we believe the Bible as far as it is translated correctly (Article of Faith 8), I will provide my own translations of all relevant texts. As I presume that the original language versions of biblical texts will be readily available, I will quote the texts in the original only for non-biblical sources.
Judgment under Roman Law
Roman law, like most legal systems, had specific procedures dealing with legal cases. These differed between civil and criminal procedures. In civil procedures, “the bringing of an action began with an extra-judicial summons, in jus vocation, by which the plaintiff personally summoned the defendant to follow ...