“Judge not, that you be not judged” (Mt 7:1). No one denies this maxim taught by the Divine Master. However, the same Lord promised those who followed Him that they would sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (cf. Mt 19:28). Is there a contradiction in this? Of course not. So what does this “following Christ” consist of, which gives men the power to judge alongside God Himself?
The Angelic Doctor analyses the question,1 first clarifying the different meanings of the term to judge. According to his explanation, one can judge by comparison, by equivalency or by similarity. Let us consider each of these modalities.
By comparison, some men judge others by showing by their conduct that these others deserve judgement. This is clear from the Divine Master’s invective to His contemporaries when He gave them the example of the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh, who had repented of their faults on hearing the words of a prophet, while Israel, which was witnessing the miracles of the Messiah, was obstinate in its errors: “The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgement with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Lk 11:32). But this kind of judgement is common to the good and the bad, and therefore does not apply to the promise made by Our Lord.
One who consents to the judge’s ruling judges equivalently and, therefore, by approving of the judge’s decision, participates in it. This form of judgement will be proper to all the elect, because the wicked will never agree to the actions of Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, those who are elevated above other men and sit next to the Supreme Judge will judge by similitude, since they receive the honourable judicial power of acting as His assessors, just as in human courts the judge’s assessors share his authority. These, according to St. Thomas, will be the holy men who, on the day of the Last Judgement, will go out to meet Christ in the air (cf. 1 Thes 4:17). This is a very beautiful and mysterious announcement which, however, does not entirely fulfil the requirements of the promise contained in the Gospel… In fact, in the latter Our Lord adds to the honour of sitting with Him the actual faculty of judging: “You who have followed Me will also sit […] judging” (Mt 19:28).
The Aquinate then presents a fourth way of judging, “which will be competent to perfect men as containing the decrees of Divine justice according to which men will be judged.”2 They could be called living books or, as it were, lawmen, because they have transcribed on the pages of their hearts what they have contemplated from the Word of Life.
From this perspective, perfect men are those who have assimilated the divine will and teachings in everything, following Christ in such a way that He lives in them, as the Apostle says: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). They will be judges to whom God will reveal the secrets of His Heart, allowing them to reveal, at the appropriate time, the sentence handed down by the Most High and engraved on their souls. ◊
Notes
1 Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Summa Theologiæ. Suppl., q.89, a.1.
2 Idem, ibidem.
