Sunday, January 19, 2014

Who judges us?


According to chapter 46 of Gospel Principles posted online at lds.org, at the Final Judgment, people will be judged by "The Son" with the assistance of the "The Twelve." I presume they mean Jesus and his apostles. To support this idea, they quote Matthew 19:28, which in the King James Version reads,

"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
In the New Revised Standard Version,
"Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
It seems that they take the English word "judging" literally. In Greek it is κρινοντες and can mean to preside over, or to rule, as well as pass judgment. I looked through several Bible commentaries available online and couldn't find any support for the LDS doctrine that the apostles would be helping Jesus in the Last Judgment. Instead, I found multiple sources that said something similar to this statement from the Scofield reference notes:
"The kingdom will be administered over Israel through the apostles, according to the ancient theocratic judgeship."
In my personal opinion, Jesus doesn't need any help to judge us. The triune God is perfectly loving and omniscient and it's a relief to entrust my eternal salvation to God and not to any other person.

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