Judge Not

If there was ever a verse that the non-Christian loved to beat over the head of the Christian, it must be Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged."

And, sadly, many a Christian is so easily duped and befuddled over the meaning of this verse that they lay down, roll over and play dead in the face of obvious sin and violation of God's standards.

Even, I, who know better, have totally blown it when confronted with this verse being horribly misapplied and taken out of context. So, in order to (hopefully) spare you some of the confusion and conviction that I experienced after I DID blow it, I thought that a little bit of expounding might be in order.

Keeping in mind, of course, that I will only handle this topic lightly, and can't possibly cover all of the nuances of such a complicated topic in one blog post. But I'd like to give you a jumping off point to think about or study this topic further.

First of all, that verse, Matthew 7:1, is part of the Sermon on the Mount, one of those sections of the Bible that is somewhat well known even among non-Christians. For that reason, we, who are Christians, ought to be very familiar with it and able to talk about it with our friends and neighbors.

And, yes, clearly, Jesus says those words "Judge not, that you be not judged." But you can't just stop reading there. Like all of Scripture, this verse must be taken as part of a whole. You should never ever take one verse, isolate it from the context in which it was given, isolate it from the whole teaching of Scripture, and build a truth on it. That, my friends, is how heresy is born.

So, let's look at some of the other things that Jesus has to say about how we judge others in the Sermon on the Mount, and a few of the other directions that Scripture gives us on this topic.

First, if you will look at Matthew 7:5-6, you will immediately see two situations which do require that we make a judgment of some kind:

Matthew 7:5-6

"Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

I realize that in verse 5, which refers to the plank and the speck, Jesus is primarily chastising people who are blind to their own sins while at the same time happy to self-righteously condemn every minor infraction of those around them. But, still, clearly, you have to admit that person number two does have a speck in his eye that needs to be addressed. Jesus doesn't say to remove the plank from your eye, and then pat your brother on the back and lie to him that there is nothing wrong with his peepers. That wouldn't be helping the poor guy out at all. He still has a speck to deal with.

What Jesus is saying, is first, see your own sin. And really, see how huge and gross it is. C'mon, you have a PLANK sticking out of your face! Deal with that first! Presumably, once you have, you will be able to approach your brother and his problematic speck with humility, compassion and gentleness. Much like the attitude described in 2 Timothy 2:24-25:

"And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." (emphasis mine)

And secondly, getting back to Matthew 7:6, the Christian is commanded not to throw their pearls before swine, or give what is holy to the dogs. I'll admit, that verse seems harsh. I've heard people explain it all kinds of ways that seem to strip the plain meaning right out of it. But, the best explanation I have heard, and the one that I ascribe to is this: Don't keep preaching the gospel to those who have overtly and consciously rejected it.

In order to follow that command, you must be able to judge, or discern, who should be considered a swine or a dog. (Hey, I know those are strong, insulting words, but Jesus used them, not me.) I really like the word discern better than the word judge. Because while we are explicitly commanded NOT to judge, we are elsewhere told that we must use discernment. And in verses 15-20, we are told what the criteria should be when we practice this discernment.

Matthew 7:15-20

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, not can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

By their fruits you will know them. By their fruits you will be able to discern who is a sheep and who is a wolf in disguise. That, my friends, in our language, is referred to as making a judgment. And that kind of judgment is necessary so that the sheeps don't get eated by the wolfs.

In Galatians 5:22-23 we are told that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Right before that, in Galatians 5:19-21, we are given another list. This one lists the works of the flesh, the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. And those works are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness and revelries.

Usually, in my experience, when people pull out the "judge not" card, it is for one of two reasons. Either they are blatantly sinning, and resent the idea that another person finds fault with their sin, or they are scared to call a spade a spade. Saying, "but you know, the most important thing is that we don't judge other people," is often a cop out for saying something unpopular, like, "the Bible calls that a sin."

I know that from experience. Because I've pulled out the "judge not" card in the past. And pretty much, my motivation was that I was being a yellow bellied chicken. In other words, I was not willing to deal with the truth, because it might have been uncomfortable to do so. I (think) I'm over that.

Well, let me put it to you this way...by the grace of God, I will do better next time. I will speak the truth in love, with gentleness and humility. But I'll speak it nonetheless. If there are no swine or dogs involved, of course.