I Thought Jesus Didn’t Come to Judge the World, So What About John 12:31?

Question: In John 12:31 Jesus says “Now is the judgement of this world.” I don’t understand how that can be the case when Jesus repeatedly said that his first time coming to the earth was not for judgement.

Some commentaries I have read try to reconcile this by translating “judgement” as “crisis”. They then interpret the verse as meaning “now is the crisis, or deciding scene of who will rule the world.” I don’t see how that interpretation can be drawn from the words Jesus spoke.

Answer:

John 12:30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Jesus is speaking about his death, which will not just be any death, but a sacrificial death, that is being done because of the sin of the world. This is what makes it a judgment on this world, while at the same time it is the means of saving the world. The judgment it brings “now” to the world is not the condemnation that will come at the end of time, but rather an evaluation of the world that declares it lost and helpless without Jesus’ sacrifice. He did not come to “judge” the world (John 3:17) in the sense of condemn it, but he certainly came to show that the world was in deep trouble without him.