Judge Not Lest You Be Judged?

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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." (Psalm 37:30)
"With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth." (Psalm 119:13)
"Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." (Proverbs 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." (Ezekiel 22:2)
"But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." (1 Corinthians 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 Corinthians 6:2)
"Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?" (1 Corinthians 6:3)

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 judgement passed on people no one could be said to be guilty of anything no matter how hanis the crime.
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." No grades would be given at school with everyone passing. Science and math would fall apart because belief itself would be unfounded at the seams. It's the breakdown of faith in what can and can not be said of something. Judgement is nessisary to declair with any amount of certainty the truths that a sane person holds to.

So this is the Scripture that people misquote Matthew 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 you measure, 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!].

Too long has the church been PUSHED INTO A CORNER. Take a stand of faith on what the Bible says and speak what you trust God said in His word my brothers and sisters!

Yes, remember, Satan is the accuser, especially of the brethren. This means that the world will judge you for speaking about God's truth. Be sure to deliver grace with gentleness. Grace has two sides, truth of sin, establishing the threshold to cross, separating good from evil, and the gentle, loving-kindness of a Savior. Amen? And Also we don't want to be like Satan with our purpose being to shame people, whether it be in or out of the church just for the purpose of shaming them in the name of God or justice. That WOULD be judging in the way that only God should and artificially taking His place. John 8:7 "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Recognize this? Realize a couple things here. 1. In the Old Testament God established stoning laws to establish the eternal seriousness and graveness of sin. 2. The Pharasiees who dragged her from this sin were only out to destroy Jesus's popularity and could care less about humiliating or killing this guilty woman. And 3. God can and should rightly judge, as can people who God has set up in authority. By establishing the laws of Mosses, this gave proper right and authority to carry out the death penalty for heinous crimes against a loving God. 4. Jesus came into the situation of that time in particular in part because it was ripe for being a savior, and a great savior He was shown to be to the masses. And yes there is a spiritual science to why He established new laws with a new covenant, but that's too much to explain here.


It is good to invoke discussion on personal ethics in Christian circles and in everyday life. Don't be one of the secular people who are apathetic towards issues that matter and who say "Let's not mention religion or politics, (or any philosophy or deeply held belief for that matter).

(Most of this material is not my words, but was written by John Duncan)

 

[Action238]

the funny things is if we don't "judge" we can not walk away from sin, situations and sometimes people...It is when

we still walk in sin and judge others for their actions...that judgment.. it has to come back on you so you can be judged for the same thing...and when we walk in His Spirit...the "judgement and the "feelings" that go along with it are somehow different...there is judging for righteousness and there is judging to condemn..I pray that we walk in all of his glory through all things...thank you for your blog...I pray the anointing power of God be on it and all receive it with gladness and Grace



thanks....

 

[fullofgrace]

i believe that we do not judge people per se but we do judge based on the action done or deed.



in this way, we can be more objective as to how we view things and that would be our bases for



judging... such as we abide by the commandments and laws given for it is the standard that was



given to follow for those who believe in the One True God our Lord, Maker of the heaven and



earth.

 

[GoldHelper]

Action238 I really appreciate you saying that. And you're welcome. I try to live by Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."



fullofgrace. You're right. Matthew 7:16 "By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?"

 

[Chilton]

GoldHelper I am still having difficulties with Judgement. This is not argumentative, people I know and trust have made the same comments. Do we judge believers and non believers, if so the same?



Is the point to remove the log from my eye so I have clarity to judge others?



Thank you

 

[GoldHelper]

It depends on what you mean by judge. In one sense, we do NOT judge believers and non-believers the same. We don't judge non-believers because we expect them to behave poorly. They are the world and the Bible tells us that the world is evil and we are set apart from them. But at the same time we DO judge people to see if they ARE believers or not because to be friends with the world is to be at enmity with God. 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.†And James 4:4 "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." I know this is ratical to many people, but the word of God tells us things that are very contrary to what the world will tell you.