Nor does the Father himself judge anyone may be rendered “my Father does not judge anyone.” There are, however, some difficulties in the selection of a term for judge. The tendency is to select a term which means “to condemn,” but this specific function of God’s Son is ruled out in the present passage. What is needed is a term for judge which will imply neutrality or unbiased judgement, resulting in spiritual life or death.

He has given his Son the full right to judge is literally “he has given all judgement to the Son.” As in verse 19 (see there), so here Good News Translation renders the definite article “the” as his.

It may be helpful to note the way in which He has given his Son the full right to judge is treated in various translations. New English Bible is essentially the same as Good News Translation, but the level of language is different: “but has given full jurisdiction to the Son.” Jerusalem Bible “he has entrusted all judgement to the Son” and New American Bible “but has assigned all judgement to the Son” are rather close. Phillips renders by “he has put judgement entirely into the Son’s hands.” Moffatt has “he has committed the judgement which determines life or death entirely to the Son,” thus making explicit the meaning of the phrase “all judgement.” Moffatt probably does not go too far, inasmuch as the judgement referred to in this verse includes both the power to give life and the power to condemn those who do evil. See further the comments on verse 23.

He has given his Son the full right to judge may be rendered idiomatically in some languages: “He has put in my hand the power to judge” or “He has said to me, ‘You are the one to judge’ ” or “He has put me on the stool of judgement saying ‘Now you must be the judge.’ ”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .