Judge Not
Of all Jesus’ sayings, here’s one that really gets misunderstood.
Judge not, lest you be judged (Matthew 7:1).
Judging from how the world uses this verse, we can conclude they don’t understand what Jesus meant. (And I’m not so sure Believers understand it much better.)
To be honest, it is a bit confusing—the word “judge” has various nuances. But let’s clear up the confusion because when the Lord gives a command, it’s vital we know what He is saying, and what He is not saying.
Here’s what He’s NOT saying.
This poor misconstrued verse…
It’s been twisted and contorted, used and abused.
The unbelieving world likes to determine for themselves what’s right and wrong. And they’ve found in this verse a way to shield themselves from the gospel by using Jesus’ words against His followers. We bring Good News of salvation for those who turn from sin and trust in Christ.
But when that idea of sin and repentance comes up, sometimes we’ll hear:
Who are you to judge me? or Jesus told us never to judge people, only to love them.
This is a convenient way for a post-modern world to spin the Lord’s words to protect their desire to remain in their sin.
This attitude is fueled by relativism, the philosophy that rejects the notion of absolute truth; individuals, cultures, and societies determine what’s true for them.
For example, one can be born a certain race or gender, but that doesn’t make it true.
What makes it true (for them and YOU) is how they identify and how they define their truth.
And no one (not even God) has the right to “judge them” by suggesting they have it wrong. And this thinking goes way beyond race and gender—it’s become pervasive throughout every aspect of life.
And it’s demonic for sure. I mean, think about it…
The entire premise of the Gospel and the first step toward eternal life is to acknowledge your sin. But if God’s truth is not allowed to judge you as the sinner you are, all hope for a savior is lost.
The truth is that God actually requires us to judge (in right ways). We must make judgment calls all the time.
Here’s a couple practical examples.
If we are to obey the Word and “avoid bad company because it corrupts good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33), we must judge which behaviors are wrong, and then judge which people are behaving (biblically) inappropriately, and not make them close friends (lest we want our morals to be corrupted).
Another one.
If we are to obey the exhortation to “stay away from those who cause divisions… ” we must judge what behaviors constitute divisiveness and then judge who specifically deserves to be labeled “divisive” (Romans 16:17-18).
So, no. Jesus is not commanding us to abstain from moral judgments. He actually encourages us to do exactly that (John 7:24). Discerning good from evil, right from wrong, and truth from error is essential for everyday Christian living.
So.
What IS Jesus prohibiting?
There’s a big difference between a morally discriminating person who makes sound, biblical judgments, and a “judgmental person.”
The English dictionary is some help here:
Judgement: the ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions. (This is what Jesus wants us to do.)
Judgmental: being excessively critical, a tendency to rush to judgement without full and necessary facts, inclined to condemn.
The Lord forbids his followers from graceless, meanspirited, finger-pointing judgments. Sometimes we are quick to judge someone without knowing the full story or all the facts. And many times, it’s just impossible to know what’s going on inside a person’s heart and mind. But that doesn’t always stop us from rendering a “guilty verdict.”
And perhaps the ugliest part of all: critical people tend to be obnoxiously hypocritical—tearing people down for doing the same things we struggle with.
Listen to Paul the Apostle: “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things” (Romans 2:1).
She’s always so selfish. (Have you had any selfish moments?)
That guy cut me off, what an idiot! (No comment.)
What a loser, texting while they’re driving. (You get the point.)
Solomon wrote: Don’t overreact when you catch someone talking bad about you because you know in your heart you’ve done the same many times (Ecclesiastes 7:2).
Critical people see what’s wrong with everyone else but manage to turn a blind eye to their own faults.
Jesus paints this zany picture of a faultfinder wagging his finger at some “speck” of a problem in his brother’s eye, while unbeknownst to him, he’s got a ginormous two-by-four (of an issue) hanging out of his eye. The critical person, Jesus is saying, usually has bigger moral issues of their own than the petty ones they like to point out in others.
So, wisdom would tell us that if we are prone to the same kinds of moral weaknesses as our brothers, we should go easier on others regarding human foibles common to us all. We are to be gracious, not critical, with our fellow strugglers.
It is to a person’s glory to overlook an offense (Proverbs 19:11). (Speaking of overlooking… this Scripture has been called the most overlooked verse in the Bible!)
Gracious people lift people up; critical people drag people down.
I was out to lunch with a friend who was undergoing chemo at the time.
The therapy made him short of breath and severely fatigued. He got a handicap placard for his car because the college he was attending had a gazillion steps to climb, but there were parking spaces reserved that eliminated all that climbing. He was happy to avoid those steps!
So we pulled into In-N-Out and into a handicapped parking space in front of a well-populated outdoor seating area.
We got out of the car, laughing about something and walked past a table of young guys who had watched us pull up.
You know when someone wants to jest or tease and they put their fist over their mouth and fake cough and blurt something out? So as we passed their table, the ringleader did that pretend cough and blurted out loudly: “Faker!”
And heads looked up and scowled with disdain at my buddy, whose face was now flush with color.
Thanks for making a cancer patient’s day just a little bit harder.
Judge not, bro.
He looks okay on the outside, to you.
But you don’t know he’s got cancer. You haven’t a clue about the condition of his lungs or that he might be feeling short of breath. Nor do you know the burden he feels this day as he’s fighting for his life.
How much nicer it might’ve been for you to have given him the benefit of the doubt and a tiny drop of sympathy and (dare I say) whispered a prayer for him, rather than bring down your gavel and judge him like that.
But maybe, of course, you’re the kind of guy who would use a placard fraudulently and you’ve simply projected your own ugly tendencies onto an innocent passerby. It happens.
Well, Jesus says, it won’t be long before the Mr. Faultfinder feels the sting of unjust criticism himself. Jesus promises critical people that they will reap what they sow.
“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2).
True—critical remarks instigate the same criticism in return. But I’m glad it works both ways: When we extend grace and mercy to others, others extend grace and mercy to us.
If we want less drama with people and desire a sweeter environment, Jesus tells us, it begins with us:
Don’t judge, lest you be judged!
Measure out mercy, and mercy will be measured back to you!
Heavenly Father, forgive us for being critical of others. Help us to be gracious instead. Give us grace to remove the log from our own eye before we can, with humility, gentleness, and love, help someone else with the tiny speck in their eye. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
