Judge
Not Again....
John asked me
once:
Question:
What is the correct interpretation of the admonition, "judge not
lest you be judged" found in Matthew, chapter 7? Of course, the verse
is longer than that, but so many people use it to say 'do not
evaluate another's behavior.' Is this correct?
Nope, it's
not correct at all John. Many people usually leave off the remainder
of the passage (vs 2-4):
For in the
same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the
measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the
speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the
plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take
the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in
your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own
eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your
brother's eye.
Now let's
take a quick look here: the entire passage doesn't condemn judging a
person's actions or behavior- what it does say is that you
need to make sure that first , to check yourself on
this very issue before looking to accuse another of the same
behavior. In a dialogue with a member of the Unification Church that
I had years ago and he quoted these verses to me (because I called
him a false teacher, and rightly so), I pointed out very simply that
I had presumed to judge him personally- just his teachings. I measure
my teachings against scripture- he did not (his sources were Rev.
Moon's Divine Principle, in addition to a faulty interpretation of
the Bible, which he didn't hold to be 100% authoritative anyway).
At the very least, you
can simply 'turn the tables' and say "well, verse two says whatever standard
I use to judge your teachings or your actions will be measured back at me" and
point out that both of you fall short 
,
hence the need for salvation (Romans 3:20-24). However, this really doesn't
deal with the whole aspect on how and what Christians are able to judge, as
well as it doesn't give full treatment to the passage in light of other stuff
in scripture.
As for
believers, we are indeed called to judge certain things.
Observe the following passages:
In the case
of brother in Christ vs brother in Christ, the church is called to be
a mediator: "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his
fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have
won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two
others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the
testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to
them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the
church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector." (Matthew
18:15-17)
John the
Baptist brought condemnation against Herod's actions by calling him
and adulterer (John )- notice, John didn't point out what was in
Herod's heart, but pointed out that his actions didn't square with
God's word.
Now what
believers are not to judge, is the heart or the intentions of
another person. Rightly, we cannot do so since we cannot see the
heart of a person. Makes sense.
John the
Baptist brought condemnation against Herod's actions by calling him
and adulterer (John )- notice, John didn't point out what was in
Herod's heart, but pointed out that his actions didn't square with
God's word. (Matthew 14:1-5, emphasis v. 4).
With men's
behavior, believers are called to judge such- 1 Corinthians 5 shows
us how a man caught in an adulterous-incestuous relationship was
dealt with - he was excommunicated from the church (1 Cor. 5:5)
because his actions demonstrated that his heart was not
in accordance with repentance -"Everywhere [it is]
heard that fornication [is] among you, and such fornication
which is not named among the heathen, so as one to have [his]
father's wife. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned,
that he that did this deed might be taken from your midst. For as
being absent in body, but being present in spirit, I have already
judged the [one] who has worked out this thing, as [if I
were] present: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being
gathered together with my spirit also, with the power of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the
flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." (1
Cor. 5:1-5, GLT).
Believers are
told to separate themselves from those who claim Christ's name, but
do not walk upright (1 Cor. 5:11, 1 Tim. 6:1-5, 2 Tim. 3:2-5,
etc....) - such requires the believer to go to God's word, see what
the standard is for walking upright, and pass a judgment of
some sort on the matter.
Moreover, we
are also called to judge ourselves. In 1 Cor.
11, Paul addresses the gluttony of the early church during their
observance of communion- their eating and drinking in an unworthy
fashion had brought the judgment of God upon them- hence, many of
them became sick and died (1 Cor. 11:29-30, NKJV). Paul then tells
them that if they'd judge themselves before coming to meal as
to whether or not they were heading to the feast in a worthy fashion,
they would not have to be judged by God (vv. 31-32).
Like it or
not, believers have been given authority to judge- but our
ability to do so must be in accordance with God's word and not
be done out of hypocrisy or malice. All of the above examples
require that believers take the offending brother or sister's
actions and measure them against scripture to see whether or not they
match up, and then pass a judgment on them.
The church
(the local church body) is given the authority by God to judge what
goes on in its congregation. For example, when the issue of
non-Jewish Christians came up, the church council of leaders met in
Jerusalem to make a decision on what the requirements for non-Jewish
Christians were (did they have to keep the law of Moses or not?). The
whole thing is recorded in Acts 15.
Can you Digg it?
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