Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged!
by John Duncan
The most misquoted verse in the Bible is probably Matthew 7:1, "Judge
not that ye be not judged." We hear this verse multiple times a day. At
Troy State University in Alabama, a professor we met even said that it was
one of the Ten Commandments. Too often we have heard sincere, misinformed
Christians and unbelievers alike say, "I don’t want to judge anybody,
but..." Ironically, the one who screams "judge not" is often the one
passing judgment on you!
Let’s See What the Bible Really Says About Judging:
"The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of
judgment." (Psa 37:30)
"With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth." (Psa
119:13)
"Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and
needy." (Prov 31:9)
Jesus commended Simon, "Thou hast rightly judged." (Luke 7:43)
"Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city?
yea, thou shalt show her all her abominations." (Ezek 22:2)
"But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of
no man." (1 Cor 2:15)
"Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world
shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" (1
Cor 6:2)
"Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain
to this life?" (1 Cor 6:3)
There are many other passages and verses in the Bible about judging. While
God is our ultimate Judge, He has also commanded us to judge according to
the Word of God.
According to the Webster’s Dictionary, to judge means "to discern, to
distinguish, to form an opinion, to compare facts or ideas, and perceive
their agreement or disagreement, and thus to distinguish truth from
falsehood." Therefore, when you say that your neighbor is a "good person,"
you are passing a judgment (forming an opinion) just as much as when you
say that the thief is a "bad person."
If there were no judgment...
All the prisons would be empty and thieves, serial killers, drug dealers,
rapists, and murderers would be loose in your neighborhood.
You could not discipline your children and teach them not to steal, lie,
do drugs, or give in to peer pressure.
School could not be mandated (by parents or govt) but if children did
attend, they could not be evaluated as to their progress. Everyone should
graduate regardless of their advance. Students could not be graded or
disciplined.
You could not judge any false doctrine and would have to allow it to be
taught from your church’s pulpit ("discerning" is the same thing as
"judging").
You should leave your children with anyone who said was qualified to be a
baby-sitter. You should not bother to check his/her background. Later, you
should not be upset if this baby-sitter turned out to be a child-molester,
because "thou shalt not judge."
You should marry anyone that asked. You shouldn’t worry about his/her
character or beliefs. What if he beats you up? What if she runs around on
you? You shouldn’t get so mad because "thou shalt not judge."
Hopefully you can see the folly of such silly doctrine by now. The devil
has been successful to push the church further and further into a corner,
while everyone else comes out of the closet with their sins. Most often,
those who tell you "not to judge" them do so because they are either
hiding something or want to continue doing it without reaping negative
effects for it. In the campuses where we have been, students say that we
shouldn’t judge (form an opinion of) fornicators, drunkards, liars,
homosexuals, or the like. However, they fail to realize that sin harms
them and their neighbors. A caring, loving Christian will judge all
situations according to the Word of God and call sinners to repentance.
The church has become intimidated by the opinions of the world as they
scream, "You religious bigots, hatemongers, and intolerant people (which
are judgments in themselves), do not judge me!" However, God clearly
commands us to judge so we won’t be deceived. Why would the command to
judge be so vehemently attacked in society? Obviously, if the church stops
judging and using our common sense, we will no longer be able to
distinguish good from evil, we will buy into the politically correct idea
of moral relativism (what’s good for you may not be good for me), and we
will bow down to the devil’s wishes to deceive us, our family, and our
friends.
Even more disturbing is to see church leadership saying, "do not judge."
Many pastors lead their sheep astray and keep them under their
manipulative control by telling them that they have a "critical spirit,"
they are "prideful," or "judgemental," while all they are trying to do is
to discern the truth. If you find yourself in such a church, FLEE for your
(spiritual) life!
Now let’s take a look at the famous verse that is so misquoted today and
put it in its PROPER context. If we are intellectually honest when looking
at this passage, we will find that it is actually teaching us to judge,
not to refrain from judging! We have inserted a few comments in brackets.
Mat 7:1-5 "Judge not, that ye be not judged [do not judge others if you do
not want to be judged by others; everyone will be judged by God]. For with
what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete,
it shall be measured to you again [if you judge others, they will judge
you by the same measures]. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy
brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or
how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine
eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye [how can you judge someone
when you are guilty of the sin yourself]? Thou hypocrite [this is the
audience in the context; a hypocrite is one who is not living what he is
preaching], first cast out the beam out of thine own eye [FIRST judge
yourself and get your own life cleaned up]; and then shalt thou see
clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye [THEN after you get
your life straight, you will be able to discern clearly and you are
commanded to help clean your brother’s eye!].
Other misquoted Scriptures:
Romans 14:3-10. This is about dietary preferences, things that are not
essential to salvation.
Romans 2:1-3. We have the same scenario of Mat. 7. We should not judge
others if we are guilty of the same things. We must first clean up our own
lives through repentance and faith, then we are qualified to judge others.
James 4:11 says that we are not to speak evil of other "brethren" -- those
who are obediently doing the will of God (Mat 12:50). This does not apply
to those living in willful sin.
How Are We to Judge?
1. We are to judge righteously. Jesus commands in John 7:24, "Judge not
according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
Judge by the Word of God and Its principles, not by someone’s skin color,
whether they are tall or short (inherited physical traits), etc.
2. We are to judge without hypocrisy. "And thinkest thou this, O man, that
judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt
escape the judgment of God?" (Rom 2:3)
Judge yourself first to see if you are guilty of that sin. Live what you
preach. Only after you get your life cleaned up by turning from your sins
and receiving pardon through repentance and faith in Jesus (i.e. you get
saved) you can go and help others to be saved too.
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