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JOHN 7:24 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 7:23John 7:25
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge with righteous judgment — Jesus calls for true judgment (krisis dikaia) rather than judgment based on surface appearances (opsis). The authorities judge him by externals: he breaks the Sabbath, he has no formal training, he is not from Jerusalem's power structure. True judgment would recognize the redemptive significance of what he does, not merely condemn the violation of rules. This is the epistemological call of the Gospel: don't judge by appearances alone; judge with the eye opened to God's redemptive action.

Church Fathers on John 7:24

The Jews brought two charges against Christ; one, that He broke the sabbath; the other, that He said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. The latter He confirmed first by showing, that He did nothing in opposition to God, but that both taught the same. Then turning to the charge of breaking the sabbath, He says, Did not Moses give you a law, and none of you keep the law? as much as to say, The law says, You shall not kill, whereas you kill. And then, Why go you…

Chrysostom · 4th century

Or He means to say, that if they kept the law, they would see Him pointed to in every part of it, and would not seek to kill Him, when He came. The people return an answer quite away from the subject, and only showing their angry feelings: The people answered and said, You have a devil: who goes about to kill You? He who cast out devils, was told that He had a devil. Our Lord however, in no way disturbed, but retaining all the serenity of truth, returned not evil for evil, or…

Augustine · 4th century

Wherein He left us an example to take it patiently, whenever wrong censures are passed upon us, and not answer them by asserting the truth, though able to do so, but rather by some wholesome advice to the persons; as does our Lord: Jesus answered and said to them, I have done one work, and you all marvel.

Bede · 8th century
Read all 11 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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