It may be the most often quoted and yet most misunderstood verse in the whole Bible. People who have never even cracked open a Bible have heard and quoted this verse. “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” Matthew 7:1
Usually that verse is used like a hammer to immediately stop any discussion about the rightness or wrongness of a persons behavior. Almost invariably if someone claims that a certain action or behavior is wrong, someone will say, “But Jesus said we are not to judge anyone”. The clear implication is that we can never say if some behavior is sin or not because we are not to judge. Sometimes these words are shouted out in anger and rage, “You can’t judge me!”.
What is possibly more amazing than the fact that so many people quote this verse and the concept of not judging, is that so many people could get the real meaning so completely wrong. This is especially true since the context makes it clear what Jesus meant by these words. When Jesus said that we should not judge unless we be judged also, he was not saying that we are to never judge if behavior is sin or not. What he was doing was giving us a caution to make sure that we are willing to be judged by the same standard of judgment. This verse is not a warning against judging an action. It is a warning against self deception and hypocrisy.
The way we know this is the same way that we usually know what the Bible teaches. We look at the context. The verse that immediately follow helps explain what Jesus was saying. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:2 In other words, if you are going to say that what someone else is doing is wrong then you better be prepared to be judged by the same standard. If you don’t want your life to be scrutinized, then don’t judge others. If you can stand the scrutiny then go ahead. Think of Al Gore telling us that we need to cut down our energy use in order to save the planet and then finding out that he has three large homes and the carbon footprint of Godzilla. He needed to read this verse first.
Just in case we still have not figured out that this is not a complete prohibition on judging behavior, the next few verses make it even more clear.
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3-5
Before you ever start to tell someone else what is wrong with their life, make sure you take a good look at your own life first. But notice, Jesus does not say, take the log out of your own eye and don’t say anything about the speck in the others persons eye. That would be the result of never judging anyone about anything. Instead Jesus says that after you take care of your own stuff, then go and help your brother. So you are to help then with their issue but only once you have done a personal spiritual check to make sure that you are right with God.
We need to see this as a matter of helping someone, not beating them down. Jesus used the example of having something in your eye. In order to get it out, you often need the help of someone else to see it and remove it. When we see something wrong in the life of a friend we need to point it out and help them deal with it. When we do that, we are serving them, not condemning them. What this is really all about is determining if something is right or wrong behavior, sin or not sin. We can and should do that with a loving attitude and not a condemning, superior, hypocritical attitude. Pointing out destructive behavior in another person is actually an incredible and brave way to love your neighbor. We understand this when the situation becomes so serious as to require and intervention. How much more loving would it be to step in long before it got so serious?
There are a couple of final reasons why this verse cannot mean that we are never to judge if what a person does is right or wrong. First, Jesus makes it very clear that we are to forgive people when they sin against us. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray that God would forgive us as we forgive others. Well in order to forgive someone, you have to first, “judge” that they have done something wrong. The very act of forgiveness that Jesus teaches so clearly, requires that we identify some behavior as wrong. To fail to judge it as wrong or sinful in the first place, makes it impossible to forgive.
Secondly, the Bible is filled with admonitions that we avoid evil, flee from temptation, cling to what is good and lovely. In order to do that, we have to make judgment calls. We have to decide that one thing is good and another is not. We make these decisions all that time as a matter of course in life. We do it if we are a follower of Jesus or not. Everyone has somethings that they decide are right to to and others that are not. Every society and culture has these things and every member of those cultures has to think and decide, has to judge what behaviors fit the standard.
Bursting forth with the words, “judge not”, should in no way intimidate anyone from deciding if something is sinful or not. If anything slows us down it should be the warning from Jesus that we not be hypocrites who are unable or unwilling to live according to that same standard.
Excellent! And, I agree… this may be one of those oft-misunderstood passages.
This is such an important passage to understand. I’ve heard some people refer to this verse as the “John 3:16″ for non-believers, or those in a backslidden state. Paul also shows us that we are to judge sin. 1 Corinthians tells us the story of a man sleeping with his stepmother, and how the church should have removed him from the local body so that the man would repent and be restored. Great post, Dan.
What a powerful message! Definate food for thought… Brilliant Dan!!
You explained this really well, Dan. Thanks!
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Very good message. I use “judge” as something I try never to do and “discern” as something I try always to do.
Who are you to post such a definitive and potentially judgmental essay, Dan? Just kidding! Well said, and I, too have heard this verse used many, many times in ridiculous ways, often contributing to what some have called “the tyranny of the weaker brother.” But that’s for another post, I guess.
Roger,
I love it. Great sense of humor and a great idea for another post someday.
Thanks
Dan
Well, I’m still muddling along mightily in my pursuit of living like Jesus. But I’ve had the wisecracker role down solid for a while now!
I’ll look forward to your post. By the way, I think it was at http://www.preachermike.com where I first heard the phrase and concept of “tyranny of the weaker brother.”
If you tell someone he is sinner and leave it at that then you are being ignorant that you are also a sinner (Romans 3:23). If you tell someone that he is sinning and then teach him the gospel that he is saved through Jesus (and only through Jesus) then you are picking him up and pointing him towards Jesus…The path to eternal life (Romans 6:23)
If you preach the Gospel you become a tree of life because you are preaching The Words of Eternal life (Another name for Jesus is “The Word of GOD”) Read in the bible that Jesus is the vine that gives life and we are branches of that vine if we live in Jesus as our Lord and saviour so we become part of the tree of life. Branches that do no preach Jesus is the way are dead branches and will be gathered and burnt at the end times as chaff blown by the wind.
Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6)
If you want to become trees of life Preach the Word, Preach the Gospel of salvation through Jesus then you will walk with true power and faith.
In addition to that. Once you know that Jesus is the only way that you get to the Father in paradise you can then understand the flaming sword that guards the path to the tree of life (Genesis). That flaming sword is protecting your heart from living in sin for eternity. Once you find Jesus and join your heart with His heart then your heart changes from a heart of stone (which does not beat) to a heart of flesh (which beats with love) and then you can understand that “The Word became flesh”. Its all about love and having eternal relationship with GOD
That said don’t think that your heart will change from stone to a beating heart overnight. Before that happens all the wrong in you will be taken out of you through fire. You will fight with yourself until you become loving. Ever got down on your knees because you just don’t understand the torment you are going through…You are reading the bible and trying to live it but those around you are against you and you fight with them!?
That is your fire that is purging the old self. Its the Holy Spirit changing you from a heart of stone to a beating heart. Its your path.
Being a Christian is Simple but never is it easy!
What about people who ae judging others sin’s and are committing the same sin of adultry and lust over and over again? How can we teach these christians that before they start telling their brother to remove the speck in their eye they should remove their own board. What if you have politley and kindly done this and they have taken offence? What if you lose a friendship over this?
We all have the right to judge the actions of others, but we cant judge them for those actions. Just as someone can be committing a sin right before your eyes does not mean that that the other person walking the righteous path is to be put higher than the other. No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. Looking beyond our judgment and seeing the person with in is the true challenge. judgment exists, but it is up to us to see how to use it. We don need to be judging others as we will never know why or how they came to be. I see a clear difference with judging the action vs judging the person.
I’ve really learned from what you explained i really appreciate it
you’ve given a clear definition of this action – ‘Judging’. Thanks, like your insight.
This is a great explanation! Deb
I am not of any particular faith, I came upon this site to read this interpetation of this particular Scripture verse.
Very well written and understandable for any one’s faith or path.
This is one of the better interpetations I have read .
It is clear, consise and realistic , in terms that we can relate to and act upon this “act” in this day and age. It has never sat well with me, when people use this passage to do what is sinful, without being judged correctly {out of love and compassion}, in an attempt to deflect from wrong-doing. If judging is done so with the right “mind-set”, than both parties grow in their walk.
Both parties can exercise an action and behavior that is befitting of a ‘believer”. Romans 2:1-3 is another verse that helps illustrate the wrong kind of judging.
Its really a great discussion about the scripture judge not!
This is a great help for me. Im currently researching for our small group topic this sunday about judge not and your site is the exact answer. Thanks!
so sad but this is soo true with so many of us…specially with so many of us christian…forgetting that we are all sinner.this article is such a great help and an eye opener for so many of us.i was soo disappointed after seeing a post msg in one of my christian friend in facebook.just because he sees some pictures of some people posing with their car,taking a picture with beautiful clothing,looking good in the picture he is already assuming that people like that only shows that love for themselves.i was like shock like i didnt say or comment anymore but i was really disappointed…i mean how can u just judge a person that u dont even personally knw just bec u saw a picture like that u will judge them and tell them that they only have love for themself.its very sad…really sad…=(
Well done idiot. You, like so many self righteous religion spewers like you, have managed to skew the words written in your outdated textbook, to justify the sick and twisted pleasure you get from the thought that you are superior in Gods eyes to anyone else.
Let he without sin cast the first stone. Did Jesus shout abuse, and laugh in the faces of the two criminals who hung either side of him? Did he run about telling homosexuals that they would burn in hell?
Okay, well, you can silver tongue your way around, and I can do the same, and in the end, I’m sure it will become a beautiful debate between a blind, baseless creationist with naught more than an old, millionth time reinterpreted book, to justify his claims, and I, the evolutionist, armed with reality to justify mine… But lets not go there.
Simply I will tell you again, the phrase, John 8:7 “Let he without sin cast the first stone.” and then I will further with the phrase, Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Now I know what you are thinking. Why is this evolutionist quoting the bible, to support his argument? Well, I believe that much of the bible is worthy of note, as it presents to the world, a very humanitarian style of living, provided of course that it’s many meanings are not twisted to be used to serve those that need to feel superior to others. Simply put, it’s a good guidebook for life, which is intended to offer it’s service to individual interpretation, for therapeutic counsel. Not to be used to develop cults, which, lets face it, your so called religion, by definition, is.
Furthermore, I like to use whatever opportunities I am given to point out the contradictions in ignorant peoples many different interpretations of the one book.
A truely unbiased reader would say, the bible is, when entirely disseminated, completely self contradictory, and the only way around this is to pick and choose which phrases to associate with others, and which phrases to take literally, and which to take metaphorically. Unfortunately, doing great damage to the integrity of your sadly common beliefs, is the fact that there are so many completely different religions, all self serving, all self righteous, all unwilling to accept that they might be incorrect, and all based on the exact same book.
Your need to throw big words together, and present your interpretation of a bible verse or two, to be used by other blind, self serving christians, who’s agendas match yours, but who’s ability with big words does not, is transparent to anyone who would disagree with you.
You are simply trying to convince yourself that you are righteous in Gods eyes, and therefore, right to judge others. Self justification is, after all, the foundation of all religion, and all those throughout history. Used to justify war, slavery, racial prejudice, cultural prejudice, sexual prejudice, gender prejudice, pedophilia, and the like, for generations gone, and generations to come.
I can attest to this, being an ex church goer, and having been personally disgusted time and time again, by the hypocricy, intolerance, and above all else, the contempt for human life, and the excitement shown by your kind at the hell- condemnation of all those who have opposing views.
You have no right to suggest that you are infallably correct. There are countries full of people who have not even been given the opportunity to get to know your God, or they are simply to strong willed and stubborn to accept that their beliefs might be wrong… Just like you.
If you were truly righteous, you wouldn’t feel the need to tell anyone else that they are wrong. It is your self doubt that drives your need to self justify.
This is Matt, signing off by saying, judge not, lest ye be judged. Your judgement itself is based on pride. One of the deadly sins. You cannot deny, without me pointing out your failure to convince he who you condemn otherwise, and therefore, contradicting your next likely suggestion that you are trying to spread the word of God. The phrase “Judge not, lest ye be judged” contains a purpose which is beyond your interpretation. That purpose is, don’t alienate people against the word of God.
Dear Matt,
I am somewhat amazed by your comments. Did you read the article I wrote about not judging? Bottom line of the article was that Jesus warns us to look to our own hearts and actions before ever judging someone else. There was no suggestion of being “infallably correct” as you say. In fact it is just the opposite. I would love to have you read the blog again and talk about specific points that you disagree with.
Dan
You provided insight and relevance but lost credibility when you added political commentary. What did Al Gore have to do with your breaking down of the Word? I am neither in support or against Al Gore, I simply wanted to understand more of the implication of this particular verse. Name-calling is one of the primary rules of “no no’s” in persuasive writing. It is called a fallacy and it weakens your legitimacy with your audience!
This difficult verse is telling us to not make hypocritical judgements. We are to make sober, honest, judgements. Do not call another a “thief” if you are doing the same. A few verses later Jesus tells us not to throw pearls to pigs or give what is sacred to dogs. This would require a judgement. Also he tells us how to make judgements as to who are false prophets.
Matt.7
A Tree and Its Fruit
15″Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21″Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
I cannot believe some of these people are actually judging Dan for judging. How incredibly hypocritical. This is the exact thing Jesus is warning about in Matt.chapter seven. Every person on earth is required to make judgements every day. We are to make judgemnts base on Gods holy word not our own opinions, likes, or dislikes.
Dan’s whole argument is that we CAN judge…so wouldn’t people judging him be appropriate?
Rene says:
“Dan’s whole argument is that we CAN judge…so wouldn’t people judging him be appropriate?”
No, but thanks for asking.
It is impossible for any one of us to remove the log of sin that blocks our sight. Hence, in the act of judging we commit the hypocrisy. Because we cannot escape the sin ourselves, we are to forebear judging sin in others. If you are looking at the sin in others, then you are not looking at the sin in yourself. Removing the log from one’s eye is not the act of a moment; it is the struggle of the lifetime. It is the Christian destiny.
If someone says to me “I’m saved,” I know he is deluded. He is telling me that he knows the mind of God. If someone says to me, “I have removed the log of sin from my eye,” I know he is so blinded that he sees nothing but his own sin and mistakes it for the world.
“Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. And grace is getting what you absolutely don’t deserve.” (Cathleen Falsani)
I do not completely agree with your assesment of “Judge not and you shall be not be judged” tied in with forgiveness.
1.We have to rememeber that most often time we use judge not when we want to find an excuse to not be corrected. Most of us christians find it wise to persecute people by their actions which is totally wrong. I believe that you can make someone aware of their wrongdoing without persecuting their person. We are not the judges of sin… ONLY GOD IS. So if some is a prostitute and another is a fraudulent wall street banker who are we to say that this one sins more and this one less????I think what we need to do before we offer our two senses or cast the first or second stone is to stop and pray to God about our plan of action. No one has the right to tell anyone that they are a sinner. Our job is to show the way to rightoeusness by your actions without casting a stone. I want to tie this verse to the incidence when Jesus allows himself to be annointed by Mary and dine with Zacharias. He already knew their sort of life but did not condemn them. Instead, he showed them mercy and he won them over and thats what we should do. Rather we spend time chastasing people and labelling this and that as sin, we too shall be judged. No where in these verses are expressely told to judge ourselves. Yes the verses reveal that we need to first take out the log before we remove the speck in another, yet how many do actually spend time self assessing?? (here i do agree with you dear author). If we actually spent time evaluating ourselves we would have no time to judge others
We as christians should have our churches filled with so called prostitutes, homosexuals, drug addicts, etc who most of us spend time calling sinners. The christians church needs to embrace all and allow them to receive salvation. It is free for all. Who are we to deny them??? Just because we worship in fancy looking temples and deck on nice clothes when we go to church does not make us any better than them. We need to learn from the foundations of the early church that from Jesus’ death, Paul, Steven etc…If all the church of GOD- all christianity was not so condeming, our churches would be filled with real God fearing followers. we have turned out to be hatemonger and overzealous hypocrytical self professing christians. We all need a rvival
Dear Silva,
I understand your concern about the kinds of abuses, shame, and judgmentalism that occurs in churches. However the presence of those wrong practices does not mean we should stop trying to judge in a correct way. You are right in a sense, that only God is the judge of sin. If by that we mean the only one who can judge people as condemned do to sin and the only one who can determine what sin actually is, then I agree. However, I still maintain that this verse and others in the Bible mean that we are to identify sin in our lives AND in the lives of others so that we can be restored, not condemned. The very fact that this passage says to take the log out of your own eye, before removing it from your friends eye, means that we are to help other people identify their sin and deal with it. In Matthew 18 Jesus says that when a brother sins against you, you are to go to that person and point out their sin and seek to be reconciled. You cannot do that unless you have first judged that what they did was sin. It is not the act of judging that is wrong. It is the attitude of superiority that we so often have, and the shame we heep on others that Jesus condemns, especially when we have our own sin that we refuse to acknowledge.
My hope that all our churches could be filled with prostitutes and drug addicts and homosexuals, and gluttons and gossips and every other kind of sinner. That will only happen if we have the attitude of Jesus with the woman caught in adultery where he very lovingly forgave her and urged her to go and sin no more. In order to forgive someone of sin you must first identify the behavior as sin. But as always, we must speak the truth in love.
Dan
I believe that there is confusion about judgement. There may be 10 million gays, muslums, and child molesting rapist in heaven when I get there, I don’t know. Only the Lord God Almighty is the judge of condemation; however, we all make judgemental decisions every day. Because I think my pal is doing something wrong does not mean I can condem him. I do not have that right; but it is my duty as a Christian to attempt to lead my pal to Christ. We are all bias in are own way. Eventhough I do not condone the activitys of some that may enter my church, as long as I am a member, the doors will not be locked to anyone willing to praise God and glorify Christ. Sin is sin in God’s eyes. If you steal a piece of bubble gum it is no different than stealing 28 brand new cars. Judgeing someone’s actions can be OK, do not condem them, you do not have that power. I think this verse means that we should all be prepared for our own judgement, and that scares the heck out of me.
Good sermon. For Matt from February, I say: I was once like you, indeed I led people who speak as you speak, and they looked up to me as I led them away from the Holy One. Hope then, the rest of you, in him, because I stand before you a humble Believer and a staunch Creationist today.
As for the sermon, long have I thought of this, as a Jew (Messianic), and it strikes me as similar to the letter to the church in 1st Corinthians 5, around verse 12 I think, wherein we see some measure of admonishment that Paul has with the fledgling church, to stop their judging everyone under the Sun, and focus like true Jews should, keeping in mind the many, many times the Torah the law of God is given to purge the land of evil, seeing here the spiritual reasons for that law, the ways in which it applies to us as individuals, using Israel as a giant symbol for the ever-conflicted self. Israel was constantly, constantly purging itself of evil, and they never could do it quite right despite God’s many admonishments and interventions, much to the failure of Israel, but not to the failure of the law itself, for God has still accomplished what He set out to do — show the world what sin is, and what it does.
A friend of mine, however, recently interpreted this fine sermon of Dan’s as stating, falsely in light of 1st Corinthians 5 and the rest of the earlier Bible, that God never tells us who to judge, but only how to judge. I think it is worthy of note to state that not only is context key as it always is, but also the greater context is consistent throughout the Bible and worth keeping in mind when reading virtually any verse at all — that God has a specific purpose in bringing out and encouraging fellowship among believers in a fallen world, and this purpose is that we would be one, united in holiness, helping one other be holy, and shining with the light of God in this world that we were once a contributor to its deep darkness. Jesus prayed for that, in John 17, and here in Matthew 7 he tells us that we must admonish our brothers, and help them. Jesus does not say fix your own problems and leave everyone else alone, no, he then says help your otherwise seeing brother with his minor problem, once you can judge sin properly, especially anything that causes blindness of sin — the log analogy. If you have a 2×4 in your eye, you are assuredly not going to be using that eye for seeing, yes? You may even need your brother with the spec, who can at least see mostly, to help you with that. This is the allusion to helping, and contrary to Matt’s earlier reply, Jesus never says first deal with your spec, then deal with your brother’s log. No, we all have eyes full of the dust of this world, which leads us so very often to the statements in Romans 7 — “I find that I do what I hate, and I do not do what I love, what a wretched man am I — who will save me from the body of death!” But thanks be to Jesus Christ, because also in that chapter, “If I sin, it is not I who sins, but sin that is living in me.” We struggle, in this world, and we have a face full of specs that get in the way, from the dust from this world and from ourselves. To claim perfection is to claim God is a liar, but if we can help each other with the logs in our eyes (how are we to do this ourselves?? If my brother was struggling with his spec, in Jesus’ illustration, am I not to struggle magnitude more with my log? But God often guides brothers to help us).
Overall, once you can be alleviated of what which causes blindness, you are not only able to see, but admonished to put that sight to good use.
Thanks Dave P, well paraphrased.
To say initially, I am not a christian, nor a believer in the concept of mass organised religion as a whole really, but I do appreciate this incisive clarification. The bible, like most religious texts holds the same ideals and moralistic principals by which to live. This is another great one, and I must admit I am richer for understanding it more completely.
Now to find the replicas in all other texts and make sure they are understood to be the same message as well
Thank you!
Jamie,
Great to read your comments. I hope you will feel free to stop back and comment on other things on this site. I appreciate the perspective.
Dan
So let me get this straight. Jesus was saying it’s okay to judge others as long as all your ducks are in a row? Boy are we in trouble? It seems as though that whole thing about the speck and the beam is just totallly kind of lost on you, oops, here I go judging you. I think that maybe what he was trying to say, was that it’s kind of hard to truly love your brother, when you are sitting in judgement of him. I think also that so many of us find it so hard not to judge others, that we would rather take the bible and take it apart and put it back together again the way it suits our needs. Did you forget the part about ” for all have sinned”. Your judgement of others makes you just as unfit to enter the kingdom of heaven as any drunkard, whore, or thief.
Don’t you people remember who Jesus told the pharases he was here for? And didn’t say that he was here to judge them, and I know that this disapoints and alienates a lot of you, but he came to show all mankind the path to peace and salvation, and the only gate through which you can access that path is love.
Kevin
Yes all have sinned, me included. But the Bible is also filled with teaching that we are to work to restore one another when we fall into sin. Matthew 18 is nearly a whole chapter on what to do when someone sins against you. You are to go to them and point out what the offense was and seek to be reconciled. In order to do that one must first determine that an action was wrong, you have to make a judgement. That is different from being “judgmental” and saying I am great and wonderful and you are not. Jesus warning about the log in our own eye is to make us aware of the fact that we are bigger sinners than we want to admit and therefore need to be gentle and loving with one another. That does not mean we never point out sin and call people to a holier life. It is a false dichotomy to think there is only hyper-judgmentalism or no judging of right or wrong as our only options. If we are to in fact help someone deal with the “speck” in their eye, Jesus metaphor for sin, then we have to determine that it is sin. The idea that we are to never, ever point out wrong doing because we are all sinners, would leave us incapable of ever having laws or rules for behavior, or if we did they would be meaningless.
Dan
He came to show a path to peace and salvation. But in doing so he also pointed out that we are sinners in need of that salvation. Even the woman caught in adultery he told to “go and sin no more”. In doing so he had to make a judgement call that her actions were sin. Now we can either do that in a loving manner or in a harsh, self righteous manner. That fact that many have done that later, does not mean we should abandon the former. Jesus never did and neither did Paul or any of the other writers of the New Testament
give me the verse where Jesus actually said that.
so then again, let me reiterate, you’re telling me that you are pure and without sin, and therefore qualify to judge others. this huberis alone, combined with the fact that you are instructing others to follow in your footsteps is enough to seal your fate, oops there I go judging you again.
If you are referring to the reference to go and sin no more it is John 8:11
Kevin, never said I am pure and without sin. In fact I said I am a sinner. The very fact that I recognize a log in my own eye means I know I sin. What I am saying is that scripture calls us to watch out for one another and in humility point out when there is sin in our lives so we can repent and be restored. That is exactly what Paul means in Galatians 6:1 when he says “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” You seem to be saying that there is never a situation in which one person can tell another person that they are sinning. Is that the case? Is there no instance what so ever in which a person can say, “what you are doing is wrong”?
Dan
what I was refering to was, as you said Jesus wants us to judge others. Where is the scripture wherein Jesus himself says this?
The biggest problem I see with whole judgement thing is that often times. said judgement is rendered before all the facts and relavences, have come to light, and been weighed, especially with regard to a religious community, not to mention the fact that since all have sinned, and are not therefore infalible, the very act of judging our fellow human beings, comes up just a little short of the mark that Jesus was trying to establish for us.
Kevin
Here is the section on dealing with sin that I was referring to.
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Matthew 18:15-17
How can I go to my brother who has sinned against me if I have not first made a judgement call that he has in fact sinned? The purpose of going to him is to get him to stop the sinful behavior. If he continues to sin against me then the stakes are raised and I am to bring in others who will judge between us to see if in fact he has sinned against me.
I am still wondering, are you saying that there is never an instance in which one person can tell another person that what they are doing is wrong/sinful?
Dan
who was talking here Dan? Jesus, or Mathew?
The thing is Dan, we are human and therefore falible, and we never seem to know where to draw the line. ” Give us an inch and we take a mile”. Ever had the phrase,”power corupts, and absolute power corupts absolutely”?
It was Jesus speaking. The whole chapter is a discourse from Jesus on relationships, forgiveness and the like.
Kevin,
Can’t argue with what you say. But I don’t think the answer is to then abandon any effort to spur one another on to holiness of life. What we need to do is figure out how to humbly and lovingly confront sin. I also think that we need to understand that far to often Christians confront sin in the world and condemn that and never deal with it in the Body of Christ. The Bible teaches is the opposite. First and foremost we should deal with sin among Christians and not be so concerned about it in the world. I suspect if we did a whole lot less shouting and the sinful world and a lot more humbly challenging one another to live holy lives, things would be much different.
Dan
Nice idea Dan, but I have seen far too many christians, and in some case entire churches, led by some lunatic, jump right onboard the judgement train, without even knowing all the facts, and not caring to know them, because they were having too much fun being part of the crowd, and feeling better than some else.
Kevin,
I have seen too much of the same. But I still want to shoot for the ideal that I think Jesus teaches, no matter how fine a line it may be or how hard it is to achieve. I find that as long as I keep reminding myself of the depth of my sin it makes it easier to be gentle and humble when seeking to help a brother or sister avoid disaster in their own life. When people have come to me trying to “fix” me because they think they have it all together, my reaction is to discount them. When someone I know loves and cares about me and comes with a concern about my behavior, I am much more willing to listen.
Thanks for engaging in the conversation. I have enjoyed it and look forward to more with you. Keep the idea coming.
Dan
Dan,
The most important point I receive from this message is the ideal that I need to make sure I take care of the log in my eye before I cast judgement on others.
Will not the size of the log cloud my judgement of the speck in my brother’s eye. If my brother has only a speck in his eye should I not consider him a wiser man? My focus should be to remove my log.
In other words this message tells me to judge myself by the same thoughts and beliefs which I am about to judge my brother. Without my brother speck I would not be able to see or attempt to remove my log. Therefore I should hold sacred those who I am about to judge consider them a true gift from God. Not someone I need to save from their speck.
I think the meaning is lost if you focus on justifying the ability to render judgement. We should judge ourselves and leave the judgement of others to God. The world would be a better place.
Amen Richard
Tricky business , I say it is , when one says what Jesus was thinking , or doing , what he meant.
And here’s my take. We don’t know the minds and hearts of others. We don’t understand their reasons because we’ve never walked in their shoes. In order to make a judgement, we need information. If it’s not given, we don’t have the truth, we merely have our take on it. The only person we need judge is ourselves. And an offer to help and to listen without judging, preaching or trying to save souls often does more than all the judgement in the world. You lead by example, not by flaunting your interpretations on others. You show the way to Christ, it’s much more effective than telling. If you lead well, they’ll never even know you did it. You’ve taught them to fish.
Are you not being hypocritical by putting in this part, “Think of Al Gore telling us that we need to cut down our energy use in order to save the planet and then finding out that he has three large homes and the carbon footprint of Godzilla. He needed to read this verse first.” as your message is clear without it. Your own political views need not to be added
Bruce,
I don’t think my statement is an indication of a political view on any level. If it was George Bush instead of Al Gore the illustration would still stand as valid. Someone who makes a big deal out of the need for people to do something, should make sure their house is at least somewhat in order on that issue and be willing to face the same scrutiny that they place on others. This example was readily at hand because the report on his homes had come out recently and was fresh in my mind at the time of writing. In reporting on Gore’s three homes the news report even mentioned the irony of it all, given Gore’s stance on energy usage and global warming. It was that perceived inconsistency by the news media that made this a reasonable illustration in my opinion.
Dan
Yes it is a lesson in the law of cause and effect, if you condemn your neighbour you will be condemned yourself. So judge not. Perfect and pure.
I love the discussion that this has generated. I’ve had this discussion with a lot of people before and the one thing I always forget in the moment is that there is more scripture that deals with judging others. 1 Corinthians 5 verses 12 and 13 add much clarification to this issue. As Christians we are called to teach,correct, and exhort each other. But we are not to condemn non-Christians as they aren’t bound by the same covenant of Christ’s blood that we are under.
This explanation came so handy for me today. It definiteluy clarified everything. Thank you for your insight!
Just one more question, Someone very close to me failed again to keep his promise, not only to me but most importantly to God. He promised God to quit smoking and to be more patient and not break rules. After breaking the rule again to the point that this person might lose his job, he went out and settled his nerves with a pack of cigarrettes. I don’t think smoking is immoral. I thinks is bad for you and if you promised not to do something and then do it (whatever that something is — then perhaps that is immoral or sinful). Since I too made a point/promise/commitment to God to be patient and loving, I decided not to confront this person on this, but I also decided that I did not want to hear him out. I did not want to hear one more time: “I’m sorry. I fell/failed again. But a Christian is supposed to forgive and I know now what I need to do and I will do it.” I’ve heard this speech in all its variations a million times. Because I knew that if I started speaking I was going to start “judging” I politely requested that I be left alone and said that I did not want to hear or discuss the issue. That it wasn’t with me whom he need to speak with. Was my behavior the correct way to handle such a situation? I also did not want to be an enabler.
This is not my site savorthemomentnow, and I do not consider myself to be the best christian/advisor, but since no one else has stepped up to the plate on this one, I will offer you my thoughts on your dilema.
My aunt Lily,( who I later found out was not really my aunt at all, just a very nice and kind and sweet,and wise, gentle lady who was a very close friend of my family), told me that whenever I had a problem with someone, that I should always remember the golden rule. Treat them as I would want to be treated.
Talking to someone about their smoking addiction is always a very difficult, frustrating, enterprise.
This however, is not in anyway being judgemantal. The person you are dealing with knows as well as you do that smoking, is slowly killing them, but as I pointed out earlier, this is an addiction, not simply an err or foible. And one of the hardest forms of addiction there is in this world to break.
So keep this in mind when you think about shunning your freind. If this is someone you care about, do not shun them because of what they doing to themselves.
This will only serve to harden your hearts against one another, and you will never be able to help or influence your freind again, because you wil no longer be freinds.
Instead, maintain your freindship, in fact nurture it, show your freind at every opportunity, how much you truly care about him. and then if the opportunity does present itself, to speak with your freind about his addiction, do so with love and caring, and as much as is possible, try to see from his perspective. You will have a much better chance of helping your freind, and at the same time, not only preserving your freindship, but improving it.
Congratulations for your post! I’ve always thought this way, but was in a hard way to put in so clearly in words.
You know, the devil fools people by having them misunderstand biblical concepts and telling them half trues. Sometimes, it gets difficult to argue against so subtle fallacies. You’re helping people to elucidate right concepts in their mind.
By the way, I still have a doubt. Yes, according to the aforementioned biblical texts, being NOT a hypocrite is mandatory in order to make someone eligible to point out / judge someone else. But this makes things appear a little bit relative, since “There is no one righteous, not even one; (Rom 3:10″, then no one is allowed to judge another one. And even if you haven’t fallen in sin in a way, you’ve certainly have already fallen in other kinds of sin. How to solve this apparent paradox?
ior, instead of judging people?
Well, I’m not sure whether it may be proven on biblical basis, but it looks fairly reasonable for me to think that even a sinful might judge a sinful / wrong behavior (instead of judging another person). It would solve the issue of relativity in the judgment. As long as one was judging according to God’s laws, it would be irrelevant the righteousness of the judger.
Also, would the term ‘judging’ used by Jesus be related to the acts of both point out a sin and setting a penalty to the sinner? If you are able to recognize the sin, in order to help the sinner, but not punishing him/her, the judgment act would be ok, wouldn’t it?
Regards from Brazil,
Jorge Leandro
Thanks for your comment Jorge. The biggest problem I see with the whole concept of judging someone so I can help them is that if they feel that they are being judged, most often, the person that they feel is judging them, is the last person in the world that they would allow to help them or even take advice from. Do you see the problem? That is why Jesus said to first remove the beam from thine own eye, the real beam being the desire to judge someone else, instead of themselves. If everyone in the world focused everyday on what they could do to make themselves better people, how much better would this world be?
In looking back over these postings, something stood out that I wanted to comment on. Colin wrote about telling someone that he is sinner and then teaching him the gospel. Have you considered Colin that, as soon as you tell this person that they are a sinner, you have pretty much invalidated yourself to them as someone that they want to learn anything from, so if anything, you have not only made yourself into a stumbling block for them, but also made it harder for the next person who might want to try to reach out to them the message. And I think that, is the hardest part for most christians to get, all we are supposed to do is pass on the message, and the best way to do that is by example. If you are living well and being joyful in your spirit, other people will see this, and often will come to you wanting to know what your secret is. This gives you the opportunity to then pass on the gift of christs’ word, and it will stand a much better chance of being accepted. Thanks for reading my thoughts on this.
Was very glad to have come across your website. This is an excellent post and so useful for those who are searching for an answer to the worn-out quote of “Judge not lest you shall be judged”. Thanks for posting.
Joan, thank you for the kind words. I am glad it was helpful for you.
Dan
Love it!
And pretty plainly “John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
If you have to take one quote on the subject. That’s the problem with people quoting one verse from the bible. They aren’t providing the back up, or context. Sad, but it happens all the time.
Proverbs also talks about judging or pronouncing righteous sentence, AFTER hearing just cause.
TX_Val
You make a very good point. Thanks for joining the conversation
Dan
Christians, Jews, non-believers, everybody judges. Some do it gently, some do it harshly. But, for me, judging very, very seldom has anything to do with telling the person the conclusions I have come to about their behavior. When raising my children, I judged what was best for them, that was my job. Now, I only have to judge what’s best for myself. Say for example, I meet someone who would like to be friends. I have to judge for myself if that would be good for me or not. If I decide it wouldn’t be in my best interest (AKA – Judge), I don’t then go tell the person. I don’t think I have that right. I think the general rules about judging in the bible, such as don’t be a hypocrite, etc…are for everybody. But the specifics on how to approach the person that has been judged of some wrongdoing to admonish them was for members of clergy. Sadly, a lot of people that believe they are being Christian-like walk around verbally judging EVERYTHING, because they misinterpreted what they read.
So we have to judge, but really, we only should be doing it for ourselves. I can’t quote where it is but somewhere in the bible I know it says “For I have given you the gift of discernment.” Discernment is judgement, and it’s being called a gift. It’s how we govern our OWN lives. Leave the admonishing to the clergy. Or an intimate conversation between 2 people trying to gently& lovingly fix something their relationship.
The faithful that run around telling people they’re going to burn in hell haven’t helped with the negative images that the word (judgement) conjures up.
I heartily agree with most of your post. However, rather than judging others for ourselves, or for them, or for anyone, we should first judge ourselves. When this judgement proclaims our infallibility, then may we proceed to judge the rest of the world. If the entire worlds populace spent as much time, evaluating, and judging themselves as they do others around them, we would live in a utopia, this would be heaven. But such is not the case, thus we find ourselves not in heaven, because we are born into sin and all fall short of the glory of the lord. This I think is the hardest part for most christians to get through their overinflated opinions of themselves.
And to Tx_Val, I understand how hard it is, not to judge others, and that it is even harder to judge ourselves, but this is the message that should be broadcast throughout humanity, judge yourselves to the point that you can find no blemish. If we all could accomplish this there would be no need to judge anyone else. For in that event, it is my humble opinion, the world would be made perfect, and might in fact be worthy of the glory of God. For did not Eve cast all of us into sin by eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of right and wrong, AKA, the tree of judgement?
Thank you Kevin, I agree we should judge ourselves first. I believe in order to judge another’s behavior, we have already judged ourselves, that’s how we develop a value system. Now, whether we have judged ourselves correctly or not, well that’s the job of the people who love us to lovingly show us the error of our ways. I think the word judge has been given a bad rap. It should never be used to elevate one’s own stature above another’s. It is simply a tool to determine if some behavior/morals, etc… is in line with our own. I also think that when a lot of people hear the word judge, they associate it with whatever negative experiences they have seen where someone is judging in order to feel better about themselves,not help the person. Love is not involved in that kind of judging. What is the person’s intention when they judge? Love should be. Most of the negative, non-loving judgement is done against complete strangers. We all sin, but we are all on the same journey, so we should be able to empathize with the struggles of others, because we know we have our own. Psychology definitely plays a role here also, because some people who cannot judge themselves honestly and correctly use judging others harshly and negatively as not only a way for them to feel better about themselves, but also as a way to avoid confronting or changing themselves. It is easier to see the specks in others, isn’t it? It’s a lot of work , consistently checking and correcting ourselves. – peace, love & loving judgement – deb
Hello Deb, thanks for commenting on my post. As I have said before, I know that this is very hard for people, maybe the hardest thing some have ever done in their lives. But it must be done. I did say judge ourselves first, but to the point of infalibility. Having accomplished this task, we would then be ready to judge what remains of humanity, because we will be in essence infalible. There could be no possible error in our judgement. Until this task is accomplished however, we remain, sadly falible. As I stated in my previous post, we are all born into sin. Going back to the oringinal sin, which was, “partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Ergo, judgement, it was at this moment that god realized, that his perfect creations were no longer perfect, for they would presume to take his place in the seat of judgement. This was the message Jesus was born into this world to spread. And this was what led to his being crucified. JUDGEMENT!!! Why do you thonk he cried out to his father, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He realized that mankind was so enrapt, with the judgement of others, that they felt as if they were doing the right thing. We need to judge ourselves ONLY!!!! If we all do this, there will be peace and harmony in the world. There wiil be no need of judgement. Thank you for taking the time to read this post. May god bless you and keep you.
Im not saying you missed the point because you didnt but when Jesus said judge not lest ye be judged that wasnt anecdotal it was absolute law. As we judge so we shall be judged. He was basically saying “when judgement day comes know it is you who have judged yourselves according to your mercy.” If we are merciful in our judgement God will grant us mercy if we are wrathful obviously he will grant our wrath upon ourself. Thats free will in a nutshell. You get what you give. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Thats why Jesus replaced the old law of eye for an eye with turn the other cheek. Of course we are at liberty to choose which law we follow Satans or Gods, wrath or mercy, fear or love. But the judgement we receive will be based on the judgement we give. It wasnt about judging sin it was about judging the sinner of course sin is evil and we identify it and steer clear best we can but when we are confronted with the sins of others we have to have mercy for them and help them to understan Gods love and mercy by being loving and merciful.
We are not to judge! It is not our place to judge the righteousness of others. We are flawed creatures and burdened with our own sins. Hence the Lord tells us, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” And Jesus looked into each of the men of the town and, one by one, they bowed their heads in shame, feeling he had looked into their souls and saw their sins. They dropped the stones they held and walked away. When they were all gone, the Lord said, “Is there no one here to judge you? Neither do I judge you.” Walking to my office one morning, years ago, I stooped and picked up a smooth, round, flat stone. I was bemused to discover a nick in it just about sized for a thumb to fit neatly into it, making it a perfect fit in the hand. The first thing that came to my mind was the line, “let he who is without sin …” I carried that stone to my office and for all the years I worked there (State Court) I kept that stone on my desk to remind me of my place in the world and to keep me humble in my dealings with others. Perhaps, Kevin, we should be more focused on correcting our own imperfections than working to the pretense of being in a position where we are of sufficient goodness and righteousness to pass judgment on others.
It is the pompous self-righteousness of men to believe we have the right and authority to pass judgment on others. It is the humility of man which gives us jury trials so that no one man should have the power to pass judgment on anyone else!
And I have to thank Matthew (above) for his astute, and right on point, observations.
Dan … sorry.
Matt and T.R., I think you have somehow missed my point. What I was saying, was in essence, that we are not to judge. I was not suggesting that we work to some pretense of sufficient goodness and rightousness, rather that it is not possible for us to attain that position, as we are born into sin. I urge you to go back and reread my other posts.
And as for jury trials, I am assuming that you are suggesting that those have never been botched, and that all those judgements are sound? As I said in my earlier post in reply to Deb, judgement was the original sin. Jesus did not come and die on the cross to teach us that it is okay to judge others Matt. When he cried out to his father,
(Then Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.)Luke 23:34, he was saying that they don’t realize that their judgement of me is greater than any sin ever commited. In their judgement, or trial, if you will, witnesses were called fourth, and I am sure that in it’s day, it gave every indication of being a fair trial, but at the end of the day they cast JUDGEMENT on the son of god.
Im sorry I didnt mean it to read as if I think you were wrong in any way. I just wanted to share some ideas on the nature of judgement. Galatians 3:26 (I think its 3:26, but I know for certain its Galatians) says for whomsoever is baptised in Christ takes on Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek neither slave nor free neither male nor female for all are one in Christ Jesus. I take this literally because Jesus told us what you do unto these the least my brethren you do unto me. So Im not saying your wrong about the passage I wanted to further elaborate. How we judge others is our judgement of Christ is our judgement of our self because we are one with Jesus Christ. Jesus told us “on that day you shall know that I am in my Father amd you are in me and I am in you.” This world of sin is an attempt to make us deny Christ not only as Jesus who is our head and High Priest but us as well who are the body of the congregation. Once again Im sorry if I came across as if I were under the impression you didnt understand forgive me for miscommunicating. After all communication is vital to communion.
Very good article. And what’s more fascinating are the comments that have followed. In my humble opinion, we are all judges, whether or not we like it. For example, before I give my beloved daughter away in marriage, I would need to know who she is going with, his background, his beliefs, what he does, etc before I make a judgement call on him. Why? Because it is my duty to ensure she is in safe hands. Now, whether or not she takes my advice is entirely up to her.
That said, I have no business getting involved in anything outside my home, in other words, outside my jurisdiction. God has placed my kids in my care and I would be held accountable. Similarly, I am supposed to judge brethren in the body of Christ – I am my brother’s keeper. I will exclude judging those outside the church as it is none of my business anyway. (1 Corinthians 5:12 if you care to read). When a brother errs or when we notice something a brother (or sister if you may) may have done wrong, naturally, because we are god-like or gods, we are inclined to judge. We have been made in His image, so we reflect His attributes, judging being one of them. However, we are not sovereign, in other words, we are not all in all or all knowing. We have our flaws. If we were sovereign, we would be able to look far beyond the outer (John 7:24) and look into the inner and then have a clearer understanding before making a judgment call.
I believe what Jesus is saying in Mathew chapter 7 (and not just verse 1 alone) is that we should strive to attain holiness after which we would be able to rightfully judge. (Isn’t it coincidental that Jesus also says that without holiness, no man can see God?) Remember, we would judge angels and saints after the work of redemption is done, in other words, when we are past this body of sin and clothed in righteousness.
In conclusion, don’t feel bad if you are compelled to judge. (It is the god-like nature in you taking effect. Just like when we see immorality, the god-like nature in us repels it while the sinful nature in us embraces is. This explains the fact that we are a spirit being in mortal body.) If however you decide to proceed with your judgement:
1) Make sure it is righteous judgement (according to God’s Word) and not superficial (according to your perception);
2) Make sure it is merciful judgement and not harsh, so you can obtain mercy yourself;
3) Make sure it is done in love so those we are admonishing may accept our judgement;
4) Make sure you are open to accepting others’ judgement and criticism of you;
5) Make sure it is not condescending out of pride, but humility.
God bless.
Humble???? Humility????? We are god like, or gods??????????
@David Grant I think your confusing discernment with judgement. Judgement comes with a sentence. Being sinners, as we all most certainly are, we have no right to judge. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord. Psalm 82:6 says we “are gods sons of the Most High but nevertheless we shall fall like any other man and die like any other prince.” So in that sense we are gods but not like God. I cant remember every verse but I know “faith without works is dead” and “we are not saved by our works lest any man should boast but through faith in Christ Jesus.” So Im certain that the judgement is not in our court but His. That being said we have to discern the truth. Following Gods commandments. Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart all your mind and all your soul and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. He also taught us to love our enemies. Thats how we are to “judge”. “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” Its a consistant message throughout the Bible. He that leads into captivity goes into captivity. He that kills with the sword dies by the sword. Eye for an eye. Turn the other cheek. Its all the same concept just expressed in different terms. Thats how you know its true. How you judge is how you will be judged. Jesus said “what you do unto these the least of my brethren you do unto me.” I dont take that as a metaphor and thats His judgement.
Kevin,
Only point I want to make is that judgement was not the original sin. The original sin was disobedience to God born out of the desire to become like God and not have to submit to Him. Satan said that eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil would make you like God. Adam and Eve liked that idea and that the fruit looked delightful. You can say that they “judged” what it was like to be human and to be God and that was the sin but it would miss the point of the text. They could have made that judgement and decided not to eat the fruit and thus no sin. WHat they did was disobey God in order to overthrow God as their Lord. In essence it was idolatry. They wanted to replace the one true God with other gods. In this case, themselves. All sin is an attempt to replace God with something else that we want more. That is idolatry and that is what is at the root of all sin, even the original sin.
Dan
T.R.
Thanks for sharing that. I love the story of the stone and yes we are to be working more on our own imperfections. That will certainly keep us humble. My concern in dealing with this verse is in part that many people are mistakenly using it to say that we can never say that what someone else is doing is wrong. The fact is we are to tell others when they are doing something wrong. How else can we correct someone who is in sin unless we judge that they have sinned? We are not to judge people to condemnation, which the casting of stones at the woman caught in adultery would have been. Jesus did however say to her, go and sin no more. So he did judge that what she did was sin, he just did not condemn her to death. It is a fine distinction, to judge something as sin, but not condemn the sinner. Yet we are to judge if something is sin or not and therefor if someone has sinned.
Dan
Speaking of judging and politics (the Al Gore reference brought up politics in some peoples minds,when it was just a good analogy about not judging hypocritically),…What about a Christian’s DUTY to “judge” who and what to vote for on election day ? (not to mention who to allow in a position of authority in the Church itself).
When you have two candidates and one SAYS,with his own lips,that he is in favor of the Homosexual agenda and thinks it is just another valid life style,and he says he will vote in favor of that life style being taught in our schools etc.,then should we not “judge” that he is unworthy of a Christian’s vote,since he is OBVIOUSLY going directly against Scripture ? When that same candidate says with his own lips that Abortion is the right of every Woman and that it is wrong to want to put any restrictions on killing your own baby,then is it not the DUTY of a Christian to vote against that candidate ?
Of course we,as Christians,would love if every non-Christian,like this candidate seems obviously to be,would turn to Christ when his obvious sin is pointed out to him by loving Christians,who only want him to turn from his sin and be saved.But the reality of life is that not every sinner wants to be saved by the Lord and not ever sinner wants to change.Some,like our current President are told over and over again that his policies are anti-Christ,but he only doubles his efforts in favor of the enemy. So what are we to do? IMHO we are to vote out such politicians who vote for and promote evil with their actions and policies.And we are to pray for them to be changed by the saving grace of Christ,as we were changed.But praying for them and hoping they will change does the society no good,they must be removed from authority if they continue their sinful ways and with a stiff neck continue to fight against God.
We should pray for them and talk to them lovingly about changing and about submitting to Christ,but it is a Christians DUTY to remove them from any authority over Society,unless we don’t mind that they are ruining that Society for our Children and our Grandchildren (if Christ should delay his coming).
If some of you want to continue to rant about how it is not right to judge others,then I say to you,why don’t you take into your home,with your children,all the homosexuals and drug dealers in your neighborhood ,and allow them to keep living their life styles ,with no repentance,under your roof ?You would never think of such a thing,because you JUDGE it is an unwise thing to have your Children exposed to that evil. It is the same with allowing such evil under the roof of our society. Vote out the people who you know are supporting evil with their votes and with their signatures on bills etc,and don’t forget to pray for them to repent and turn to the Lord !
Of course there are not too many ideal candidates.Some are Christians in word and deed but often we must simply choose which candidate we believe (because of what they SAY they believe in) ,will actually vote the right way,wheather he or she is actually a Christian. If we waited to vote until we got a perfect candidate,we wouild never vote at all would we? All I am saying is that we should choose the candidate that we believe/hope will vote the way a Christian should vote on issues. And reject the ones that obviously will vote against Christian values,like President Obama does .
Thank-You, Thank-You, Thank-You! I have always felt what you said in my heart. It is too easy nowadays for people to escape (or at least try to escape) the consequences of their actions and take no responsibility because God forbid we judge them! The entire New Age Movement is based on this lie. I am constantly amazed that people cannot see how this “new spirituality” twists biblical principles around to fit their agenda. I promise to try to get this point across with compassion; but the next time someone complains “I am judging them”, I am prepared. And Yes, I will gladly have myself measured by my standards. Thanks Again!
Dear Maya
It is good to know that this has helped you. I really appreciate your willingness to take steps in your own life to live as Jesus called us to.
With you in His great adventure,
Dan
@Matt Did you even read the article? First of all, Jesus was not giving advice to himself, but to humans. He was the Son of God and not totally human at all. It’s obvious that the Bible may contradict itself in certain places. I totally agree that evolution makes total sense and is basically scientifically proven, but this article does not even bring up evolution, so I’m sensing you really did not even take the time to consider the points within the article. I just get so tired of people going to websites or Youtube videos just to make someone else feel like an idiot. So, Dan, props to you for your analysis of this passage! And Matt, I don’t choose religion. I choose a personal relationship with God and have experienced things beyond my comprehension. I respect your beliefs, and I would hope that you would respect mine. I agree that there are some corrupt religions and false doctrines, but don’t judge others based off of that for the sake of humanity.
What a load of crap. Twisting the scripture so that you can spout of religious morality non-sense all over the place is exactly what is wrong with religion in the first place.
Let he with no sin cast the first stone.
This is the same message he is repeating in these verses, and you people are the freaking hypocrites Jesus is referring to every single time you judge someone else.
The fact is – you will never get the freaking log out of your eye. That is the whole point! Therefore, let God be the judge of others, and live your life through your convictions, so that on one can say anything against you.
Don’t pretend to take up the mantle of judgement and assume that you are not exactly the hypocrite Jesus is warning about.
Dear Common Sense,
To be a hypocrite means to deny your own sin and instead point out the sin of others. You won’t find me denying my sin but freely admitting that I am a wretch in need of a savior and forgiveness on a daily basis.
That said I do have a question or two and an observation. Is it correct to assume from what you have said here that you think we are never in a position to be able to tell someone else that their behavior is wrong or sinful? Would pointing out another persons, speck, log or any other metaphor for sin, constitute judging them and thus make us open to the charge of being hypocrites? That is certainly how I understand what you mean when you say, “let God be the judge of others and live your life through your convictions so that no one can say anything against you”. But are you not violating that very principle by calling out people here as hypocrites? Have you not judged them?
So either there are times when it is possible and even good to point out where people are wrong and have sinned or else you have fallen into the same load of crap that you think others are guilty of.
Dan
I truly enjoyed what you wrote Dan and you have helped me with a relationship that I have been struggling with. My understanding of this, if we want the right to judge a person and tell them where they are screwing up, 1. we should have been there ourselves and know our way out 2. be of service. Don’t watch someone tear their life a part doing the same stupid things you did and do nothing. Step up to the plate and say, here let me help you with this. If they don’t want help move on in life, don’t fight with them, don’t call them names or condemn them to hell. We have no idea what God’s plans are for anyone, and it is not our place to dictate to God what should happen to a person who we have judged to have sinned, lest we want them to return the favor. Basically, learn when to keep your mouth shut! Thanks again Dan!
Bess, you are certainly welcome and thanks for the encouragement. I think you are on the right track with how to apply this passage in real life. Praying for you to live provocatively as you love God with all you are and your neighbor as yourself.
Dan
Only God can judge, never man.
Dear Jim,
I agree with what you are saying in a certain sense. Ultimately only God can judge us in terms of salvation or condemnation. However, my concern about saying that only God can judge and never man, is that it becomes understood to mean that we are unable to ever determine right and wrong and declare it to be so. In John 7:24 Jesus said to “stop judging by mere appearances and judge correctly”. In other words there is a right way and a wrong way to judge. Sometimes he simply have to determine that someones behavior is wrong, sinful. If someone is regularly sneaking into their neighbors driveway and syphoning gasoline out of their neighbors car, then they are stealing and for me to judge that behavior as sinful and wrong it totally appropriate. In fact to not judge such behavior as sinful stealing is to actually do a disservice to both the thief and the victim. So I go back to my point in the blog, Jesus was not saying that we are to never judge. He was saying that we are to be extremely careful in our judging that we are not guilty of hypocrisy by being even more guilty of the same sins as we accuse others of being.
Dan
I have just come across this site in my search for comments on the Matthew chapter 7 passage. I have some friends in a well-known cult who are currently using this to stop others who are very concerned for them from discussing the differences between what the cult teaches and what Christianity teaches. Thanks for all the insights, everybody.
It has been my experience that most of the time people who use the passage (“Judge not lest ye be judged”) are in fact doing so to imply that those who might confront an issue are always wrong to confront the issue. But, of course, that changes the subject from the behavior in question to the motives of the person questioning it. And then it’s easy to be sidetracked in the weeds of blame, while the original topic is (conveniently?) side-stepped.
Even common sense sans any religious context informs us that we must make choices and every choice we make is based on a judgement. Every health and safety promoting law, regulation, ordinance, ruling, etc., for example, comes first from a judgement. It’s not that anyone is saying the person who, for example, jay walks, or who drives 70 mph in a 40 mph zone, or who pays the rent late is a bad person. Those who do such things (including perhaps us from time to time) are simply people who do something that has been deemed harmful in some way to themselves or to others. We don’t pull a toddler from the street because he or she is a bad little person, for another example. We do it so he or she does not get hit by a car. (Thus, it is possible to love the sinner and hate the sin–which is another related topic often brought up by those who engage in the argument when it comes to more serious transgressions.)
And, anyway, in a discussion around sin and judgement I am often reminded of what Jesus said about such matters: ” And when he (Jesus is here referencing the coming of the Holy Spirit) is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16: 8-11, KJV).
Jesus, whom Christians believe to be the only perfect One, therefore, the only One Who can “throw the stones,” or “lay the blame,” if you will, did so by taking the blame–yours, mine, his, hers–with Him to the cross and there allowed, once and for all time, the punishment for sin to be meted out on His own body. And yet, each one is still invited to accept that. Or not.
Understanding that, why would I NOT deal with my own shortcomings? Why would I NOT tell my loved ones of the power of the cross, the grace of it, the extraordinary love of it? And invite them to apply the power of Christ’s love to their sins: addictions, bad habits, harmful practices?
You see, the power of the cross is an invitation. Jesus took the condemnation. Not only that, He is now our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). May the light of understanding guide us in comprehending that extraordinary gift.
Phyllis, pnissila.wordpress.com
Phyllis, I will repeat what I have pointed out before. Go back to adam and eve, the original sin that made them abhorent to God, was judgement. The ” eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil”, is merely symbolism for judgement. And I understand that it is very hard for people to accept this, because our vanity makes us want so much, to judge others. As the saying goes, we first have to realize ourselves, that we have a problem, before we can begin to remedy it.
Kevin,
I have disagree with you on the symbolism of the sin of Adam and Eve. Of course I realize ahead of time that you have already stated that this will be hard for me to accept because of vanity. There is nothing in the biblical literature to show that eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was a symbolism for judgement. The sin of Adam and Eve was that they thought the eating of the fruit would make them like God. That was what the temptation was and that was what they desired. Their sin and all our sin ever since then is based on that. We want to be God. We have made idols of ourselves and we want to replace God. You see, denying that judgement was the sin is not based on my vanity. Instead it is based on the fact that I and all other human beings are wretched sinners who have sought to overthrow God from every area of life.
I really don’t want to judge others. It is too much of a hassle and causes me too much grief. But there are times when I am required out of love for them and for Christ, to point out sin in their lives, call them to repent, and do whatever I can to restore them to a relationship with Christ. Of course I need to do that for myself even more and need others to do it for me. Out sin is a matter of huge self-deception. Sometimes we absolutely must have a brother or sister in Christ call us on it in order to shake us out of our downward spiral.
Tell me, if you were in some serious sin obsession in your life that you couldn’t control, but at the same time were ashamed to admit, wouldn’t you want someone who knew you well and loved you deeply to call you on it and then offer to walk beside you to correct it? Or what if you didn’t realize the sin? What if for instance you had a huge problem with, anger, or racism, or some other sin. Everyone around you knew you had a problem with it because it oozed out of you and impacted them but you just didn’t see it. Wouldn’t you want someone to lovingly come alongside you and say, Kevin, I love you but man you have a problem with anger and I want to help you? That is what we mean by the biblical example of discerning sin, judging it for what it is and helping someone grow passed it. I just don’t understand what the issue is what that?
Dan
Kevin,
I realize you and I may never agree on this issue, but just out of curiosity, what do you call it when society calls murder, assault, robbery, etc., wrong, or when a jury or a judge comes to a decision?
Even Jesus, a little later in the the Matthew text (chapter 7), after he finishes commenting on hypocrites, does imply to go ahead and “pull the mote” out of another’s eye (even if one might have to remove one much bigger out of one’s own, first).
And why is it hard to imagine that we must sometimes “judge” a behavior? I know I’ve explained this in my previous post, and I think others have also shed a lot of light on this, but there still seems to be some fundamental point of yours I am missing, I think. Care to clarify?
I hope it’s not because you feel you’ve been given up on because somebody, feigning God, declared you lost forever. The Good News is still Good, please know…
Sincerely,
Phyllis, pnissila.wordpress.com
Dan,just one question. What is the knowledge of good and evil, if not judgement? Just wondering. Come on, you’re a bright guy, I know you can do it.
No fair Kevin. I asked you a questions first. I know Jesus did the whole, “I will answer you if you answer me’ thing but I won’t.
What about the scenario I gave you in my last reply?
The short answer to your questions is this, prior to eating of that tree they had no experience of good and evil and could not have judged anything. So how could eating that tree be judgement? If you have no knowledge of evil you cannot discern what is evil and judge it. No, their sin was disobedience of God. If judging is always a sin as you say then Jesus statement in John 7:24 telling us to Judge correctly must be understood as telling us to sin correctly. That my friend just doesn’t wash
Dan