believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (Jn 3:17-19).

​

In the same sense a man "eats and drinks judgment upon himself" if he consumes the Lord's flesh and blood without "discernment" (i.e., without examining himself and submitting to judgment by the word). Paul goes on to explain, in an entirely Johannine sense: "But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world" (1 Cor 11:29-32). In the scene with the adulteress the Lord's word transfixes the sinners who were condemning her and forces them to retreat, carrying the Word's judgment in themselves: in the form of punishment; they are obliged to give way; to the judgment of mercy: "Neither do I condemn you" (Jn 8:11, cf. Jn 12:46-48). It is as though God abandons the 'sinner to the devouring self-contradiction of his opposition to God's word; it sticks in him like a "thorn in the flesh". The more he kicks against it, the deeper he drives the pain into his own flesh (Acts 26:14). The sinner bears judgment in himself; ultimately, he will condemn himself in the light of God. Nothing will fall upon him but God's light, but it will rest upon him until the contradiction is completely, nakedly revealed, until the verdict is plain to see in the sinner himself, in God's word in him. Peter experienced something of this when, placed in this burning light, he begged: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Lk 5:8); so too the Prodigal Son: "Father, I am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Lk 15:21).

Some modern theologians deny that we will be condemned for any specific actions but only for a general orientation against God. Thus, the adulterer or liar who is really a “good person” who really loves God need not fear judgement. Yet that person will be confronted with the way their actions conformed with God’s Word. Von Balthasar relates our judgement to the three stages of the mystics (purification, illumination, and union). It remains the Lord's own secret what he will do sitting in judgment after death with the sinner under condemnation by the word. What we are concerned with is how the Christian contemplative is to relate to the word which penetrates "to the division of soul and spirit", burning through him and searching him out. Out of love he exposes himself to fear, and the fear of the Lord brings him back to love. The first love is the anticipatory risk of faith; faith offers its life to the Son and, like the first disciples, follows the as yet unknown Lord. The second love is a love chastened and purified by him, the Father's Word, a love which has discovered the divine word of grace in his human word of judgment. Here we can see clearly that the classical three stages, the ways of purification, of illumination and of union, are not isolated from one another: they interpenetrate. It is the light of the Word of God, uniting with the soul, which purifies the soul - although we cannot exclude a certain temporal sequence in which first one element predominates, then another. But illumination is crucial if purification is to take place; in the teaching of the mystics, for instance, the "dark night" always presupposes a foregoing spiritual light. Similarly, the decisive union takes place not after, but in purification. For it is the refining, crucifying, word of God (which is actually stamped upon the soul) which reveals itself, at the end of the "night", in the "resurrection", as the redeeming Son.

​

All this means that salvation (eternal life) cannot be separated from judgement. If we see Christ as the Way of salvation, we must realize that judgement goes with this. Von Balthasar explains what this means. Judgment is committed to the Son (Jn 5): the wicked will rise to be judged, the righteous will rise to life. The Redeemer cannot hinder this judgment, for it is of his very essence as the Father's Word: "I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me." This is the image of the inexorable Logos, sword or sickle in hand, as the author of Revelation sees him. But this awesome figure inspires hope in those who have life, for the Word’s power is a power to make all men hear his voice, "the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live". For the Word of God has life in himself; the Son has received from his Father power "to have life in himself" and so also to give life to others through his self-communication, both as Son and as Word (Jn 5:24-30). But this acceptance of eternal life, through hearing the Son's voice, is tremendous, mysterious and full of danger, for it is an acceptance of “judgment", it involves man in self-condemnation under the Word. But at a deeper level, for the contemplative, it is full of consolation; indeed, it alone abounds with hope, for, by hearing the Word the believer genuinely participates in the life of the Word, which is a life of obedience, of the cross and resurrection. Thus, the Lord can put forward his paradox: "I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone that judge, but I and he who sent me" (Jn 8:15-16).

​

Crucified Love, in order not to judge us, takes the Father's sentence upon itself; and in doing so it becomes (by an absolute necessity) a crucifying love in so far as it communicates itself and its burning love-mystery. So he who has come not to judge but to save (Jn 12:47) ultimately has come "for judgment ... into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind" (Jn 9:39). Jesus Christ came not to condemn the world but to save it. Yet we have to accept the Gift He has given us, which is Himself. We shall be judged on how we have accepted this Gift. – Jim Nugent, CFP