If He is a mighty God, the Sovereign, the Prince of Peace, then He is the Judge of the living and the dead. The above words were spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ about His second coming, when He will judge the living and the dead. When you read His words: "I judge no one," then know that here He is speaking of His first coming, of which He said: "I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world" (John 12:47).

The Lord says: "If I bear witness of Myself, My testimony is true," for "the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me" (John 8:18): both Himself and through the prophets. God the Father Himself bears witness to the Son on the Jordan and on Mount Tabor, saying: "This is My beloved Son... Hear Him" (Matt. 3:17; 17:5); the ineffable signs and wonders manifested at the Nativity and Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ also bear witness to the Son of God; therefore the testimony of the Son of God about Himself is true.

However, the Lord Jesus Christ said, "If I bear witness of myself, my testimony is not true." If this is so, then why did He repeatedly say: "I am light and life" (cf. John 8:12; 14:6)? Why did He say to the Samaritan woman and the blind man: "I am the Christ" (cf. John 4:26; 9:37)? Why did He many times call Himself God, equal to the Father, saying: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

— and again: "All that the Father has is Mine" (John 16:15)? How can we reconcile all of this with the words, "If I bear witness of myself, my testimony is not true"? If His testimony is not true, what hope of salvation can we have? The Lord Jesus Christ said this because of the Jews, who wanted to rebuke Him in this way: "Thou bearest witness to Thyself, but no one who bears witness to Himself is worthy of faith" (cf. John 8:13).

Contradicting them, the Lord says: "If, in your opinion, I am not worthy of faith, inasmuch as I bear witness to Myself, that is, the other man who bears witness to Me is the Forerunner" (cf. John 5:32-33). After all, the Jews sent to ask the Forerunner about Christ, and John answered them: "I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God" (John 1:34). And again John said: "He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not in the Son shall not see life" (John 3:36).

The Forerunner gave many other testimonies about Christ to the Jews who came to him. Therefore Christ said to them, "Behold, you have sent to ask John about me, for you believe him, and listen to him more than to me. Therefore I say to you according to your thoughts: If My testimony is not true, then be ashamed of the testimony of the Forerunner, to which you yourselves sent, deeming it worthy of faith, for you all bear witness of it that it is true.

I have three witnesses: My Father, My works, and John, all of whom bear witness to Me." There is much similar in the Holy Gospel, which seems contradictory, but in fact agrees with each other. And in the writings of the apostles one can find the same imaginary contradictions. The Chief Apostle Peter says: "Verily I know that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth Him, and doeth righteousness, is acceptable unto Him" (Acts 10:34-35).

Likewise, the great Apostle Paul says a similar thing: "Glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, first to the Jew, then to the Greek!" (Romans 2:10) Many are amazed at the contradiction between the words and the lives of the apostles: why the apostles, who themselves apostatized from the Jewish faith and exposed the Hellenic faith, established the Christian Church and set an example of a truly Christian life, endured many sufferings and deprivations without count, and in the end shed their blood and laid down their lives in order to lead Jews and Greeks to Christ, in order to abolish the Jewish faith and paganism, Why do they say, 'In every nation he that feareth God, and doeth righteousness, is acceptable unto him;' and 'Glory and honour and peace to whosoever doeth good, first to the Jew, and then to the Greek!'"

If this is true, then why does the divine Peter say: "There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven... by which we ought to be saved" (Acts 4:11-12), except in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? "Of Him all the prophets bear witness, that whosoever believeth in Him shall receive forgiveness of sins in His name" (Acts 10:43). And in another place the Apostle Peter says the opposite: "In every nation he that feareth God, and doeth righteousness, is acceptable unto Him." How can these words be reconciled and reconciled?

Сначала апостол сказал: “Нет ни в ком ином спасения”, — и: “Нет другого имени под небом... которым надлежало бы нам спастись”, — а после: “Во всяком народе боящийся Бога и поступающий по правде приятен Ему”. Если “во всяком народе боящийся Бога... приятен Ему”, то почему Петр не оставил Корнилия и его близких пребывать в их прежней вере, хотя они боялись Бога и совершали добрые дела больше всех, — но повелел им креститься во имя Христа?

Если бы во всяком народе боящийся Бога и поступающий по правде Его приятен был Ему, то почему Господь наш Иисус Христос сказал Своим святым ученикам: “Идите, проповедуйте Евангелие всем народам, крестя их во имя Отца и Сына и Святого Духа, уча их соблюдать все, что Я повелел вам”(Ср.: Мф. 28, 19 — 20.)? И еще сказал Господь Иисус Христос: “Кто будет веровать и креститься, спасен будет; а кто не будет веровать, осужден будет”(Мк. 16, 16.).

Запомни слова Господа: “Кто будет веровать и креститься, спасен будет”. Господь учит апостолов не только крестить, но и соблюдать все, что Он повелел им. И еще Господь говорит: “Если кто не родится от воды и Духа, не может войти в Царствие Божие”(Ин. 3, 5.). Почему, в таком случае, “во всяком народе боящийся Бога приятен Ему”? Ни у каких народов нет рождения от воды и Духа, но у иудеев — обрезание, у язычников — обеты идолам; почему же “во всяком народе боящийся Бога приятен Ему”?

Великий апостол Петр сказал: “Во всяком народе боящийся Бога и поступающий по правде приятен Ему” о праведниках, живших прежде Воплощения Христа, Его Распятия и Воскресения, о тех людях среди иудеев или в других народах, кто боялся Бога и поступал по правде, кто поклонялся не идолам, но истинному Богу, как Корнилий и подобные ему. Но после Воплощения Христа, Его Распятия и Воскресения “нет другого имени под небом...

которым надлежало бы нам спастись, кроме имени Господа нашего Иисуса Христа”. Господь говорит в Святом Евангелии, что тот, кто не родится от воды и Духа во имя Отца и Сына и Святого Духа, не может спастись, даже если будет праведнее всех людей. Это засвидетельствовал и апостол Петр, крестив праведного Корнилия, о котором Бог объявил апостолу. Как мы сказали, апостол Петр говорил о праведниках, живших прежде Воплощения, Распятия и Воскресения Христа.