Q: Matthew 7:1 says, Judge not, that ye be not judged -- a nice thought. But in John 7:24, Jesus says, Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. And Paul, in First Corinthians 2:15, 5:12-13, and 6:2-3, speaks of Christians as judges. Which one of these ideas should be followed, and which should be rejected?
A: They can both be embraced, once they are both understood. At www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2251 theres an essay which sums up what I think is the correct approach to Matthew 7:1. Jesus does not, in the preceding chapter, rule out almsgiving and prayer and fasting. Instead, He prohibits those things to be done hypocritically. Likewise, here He prohibits hypocritical judgment. But not all judgment is hypocritical or wrong. If one takes Matthew 7:1-6 as a whole, I think its clear that Jesus wants His followers to use good judgment. He summons us in 7:5 to clear up our own vision so that we can see clearly to remove the speck from your brothers eye. That idea of seeing clearly is indistinguishable from the idea of judging clearly, at least to the extent that Jesus obviously is allowing a degree of judgment capable of discerning that one's brother has a speck in his eye, figuratively speaking.
Also, Judge not, that ye be not judged, applies to personal appraisals. That does not equal a command to avoid making judgments about whether a particular action is a sin or not. We should always keep in mind that God, not man, is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. At the same time, we can often discern whether or not a particular deed that someone else is doing would or wouldnt be wrong for us to do. We can also lay a specific deed alongside the plumb-line of Gods standards, and see how it seems to align or misalign. Thats not a matter of judging; thats a matter of noticing what God has said about a particular kind of action. We can judge actions in this way (but usually not the hearts of the people committing these actions).
Now about some verses which have been used to support the idea that Christians should judge anything and anyone.
Leviticus 19:15 says, In righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
This is a word of instruction to those who would actually serve as judicial judges. Its not a call to judge people, but actions. (The two ideas are glued together -- since it is undeniable that if an act is judged to be a murder, then the perpetrator is simultaneously judged to be a murderer -- but they are still distinct. The judges ruling is (or ought to be) made on the basis of evidence and any conclusion about the perpetrator is a side-effect of his ruling about the evidence. The judge doesnt just assess the defendants character and say, Yep, I think youre a rat. So you must be guilty of murder.) No hypocritical judgment involved here. (This verse appeals to judges to judge fairly to poor and great, and to Israelite and non-Israelite equally. Thats a good thing!)
In First Corinthians 2:15, Paul says, But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. No hypocritical judgment is involved here. Especially since, framed in its context, this verse is about the evaluation of spiritual messages; its not about making judgments about people.
In First Corinthians 5:12-13, Paul writes, For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. The deal here is -- as one can see plainly from 5:1 -- that one of the members of the church at Corinth had bedded his fathers wife (i.e., his stepmother), and had not been brought to account by the church. Besides being detrimental to the spiritual well-being of the fornicator, this was also very bad for the testimony of the congregation.
Pauls statement, Do ye not judge them that are within? means that the churchs leaders had the responsibility, as shepherds of the flock, to protect and preserve the congregations integrity, and this meant that the mans act should not be ignored; it should be measured alongside Gods plumb-line and treated as what it is.
In First Corinthians 6:2-3, Paul says, 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? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? Here Paul is talking about formal judgments, not personal assessments of character. The idea is that when two Christians have a dispute (say, a Peoples Court level disagreement, like a landlord-vs-tenant problem), the first option should be to work it out by appealing to some agreed-upon mentor in the church to determine who is in the right. It might take some time to go into the fine points of what this could potentially involve, but the main point to notice is that this verse is about judicial judgment (which is not what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7:1). Judgments of intangibles are no more in view here than they are in the passage in Leviticus.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: They can both be embraced, once they are both understood. At www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2251 theres an essay which sums up what I think is the correct approach to Matthew 7:1. Jesus does not, in the preceding chapter, rule out almsgiving and prayer and fasting. Instead, He prohibits those things to be done hypocritically. Likewise, here He prohibits hypocritical judgment. But not all judgment is hypocritical or wrong. If one takes Matthew 7:1-6 as a whole, I think its clear that Jesus wants His followers to use good judgment. He summons us in 7:5 to clear up our own vision so that we can see clearly to remove the speck from your brothers eye. That idea of seeing clearly is indistinguishable from the idea of judging clearly, at least to the extent that Jesus obviously is allowing a degree of judgment capable of discerning that one's brother has a speck in his eye, figuratively speaking.
Also, Judge not, that ye be not judged, applies to personal appraisals. That does not equal a command to avoid making judgments about whether a particular action is a sin or not. We should always keep in mind that God, not man, is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. At the same time, we can often discern whether or not a particular deed that someone else is doing would or wouldnt be wrong for us to do. We can also lay a specific deed alongside the plumb-line of Gods standards, and see how it seems to align or misalign. Thats not a matter of judging; thats a matter of noticing what God has said about a particular kind of action. We can judge actions in this way (but usually not the hearts of the people committing these actions).
Now about some verses which have been used to support the idea that Christians should judge anything and anyone.
Leviticus 19:15 says, In righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
This is a word of instruction to those who would actually serve as judicial judges. Its not a call to judge people, but actions. (The two ideas are glued together -- since it is undeniable that if an act is judged to be a murder, then the perpetrator is simultaneously judged to be a murderer -- but they are still distinct. The judges ruling is (or ought to be) made on the basis of evidence and any conclusion about the perpetrator is a side-effect of his ruling about the evidence. The judge doesnt just assess the defendants character and say, Yep, I think youre a rat. So you must be guilty of murder.) No hypocritical judgment involved here. (This verse appeals to judges to judge fairly to poor and great, and to Israelite and non-Israelite equally. Thats a good thing!)
In First Corinthians 2:15, Paul says, But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. No hypocritical judgment is involved here. Especially since, framed in its context, this verse is about the evaluation of spiritual messages; its not about making judgments about people.
In First Corinthians 5:12-13, Paul writes, For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. The deal here is -- as one can see plainly from 5:1 -- that one of the members of the church at Corinth had bedded his fathers wife (i.e., his stepmother), and had not been brought to account by the church. Besides being detrimental to the spiritual well-being of the fornicator, this was also very bad for the testimony of the congregation.
Pauls statement, Do ye not judge them that are within? means that the churchs leaders had the responsibility, as shepherds of the flock, to protect and preserve the congregations integrity, and this meant that the mans act should not be ignored; it should be measured alongside Gods plumb-line and treated as what it is.
In First Corinthians 6:2-3, Paul says, 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? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? Here Paul is talking about formal judgments, not personal assessments of character. The idea is that when two Christians have a dispute (say, a Peoples Court level disagreement, like a landlord-vs-tenant problem), the first option should be to work it out by appealing to some agreed-upon mentor in the church to determine who is in the right. It might take some time to go into the fine points of what this could potentially involve, but the main point to notice is that this verse is about judicial judgment (which is not what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7:1). Judgments of intangibles are no more in view here than they are in the passage in Leviticus.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
