In the world today (although this is nothing new), Christians are commonly faced with the argument “you shouldn’t judge!” It seems that no matter what the sin, whether it is gossip, lying, murder, or the current hot-button issue of homosexuality, the Christian is judged to have the wrong attitude by “judging” the person committing the sin. If a Christian tries to explain to a person that they are doing something contrary to the Gospel of Christ, the almost instantaneous retort is “judge not that ye be not judged!” This retort is generally followed up by an attempt to show some perceived or even real hypocrisy in the life of the Christian, which is thought to negate the sin in their own life.
Now, can a Christian be a hypocrite in their judging of others? Absolutely. Does that hypocrisy negate the sin the Christian is addressing in the life of another? Absolutely not. Can a Christian justly judge another human being as living in sin? Again, absolutely. Let us take a few moments and look at the Scriptures, not to cement our already preconceived notions (whatever they may be), but to see what the Scriptures actually say about judging.
Matthew 7:1 is possibly the most used and misused verse in the Bible (excluding, perhaps, John 3:16). Here, Jesus says, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (NKJV). It seems that many readers stop with this single verse as though it encompasses the entire meaning of the passage and there is nothing else to consider (not trying to be harsh or unfair in this assessment, only stating from experience that I have never seen anyone try to quote anything from Matthew 7 beyond verse 1). A little less often used is Romans 2:1-4. Again, it seems as though many leave off with verse 4 instead of keeping it in context. Should a discussion make it past these two verses, another popular retort comes from John 8:7 where Jesus says, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first,” but once again context is generally neglected. Now, to be fair, if these passages were the only ones that we had to go on (without even their immediate contexts), then coming to the conclusion that we as humans are not to judge one another would be a very logical and correct deduction. But we need the rest of the story, so to speak, and that is found in the contexts of these passages, as well as in some additional ones found throughout the New Testament.
If we continue to read further in Matthew 7, Jesus goes on to tell us that the same measurement of judgment that we issue will be dealt back to us. He absolutely DOES address the attitude of the judge and tells that person to remove the speck, or sin, from their own lives. A Christian who obeys the Lord’s commands (Acts 2:38; John 14:15) has removed that speck, and thus can see clearly to remove the speck from another’s eye (Matthew 7:5). Additionally, when a Christian uses the Scriptures as their measurement of judgment (again, attitude IS addressed in this passage), then of course we will be judged by the same measurement! In other words, Jesus addresses our attitude and essentially tells us not to take such a thing lightly. Likewise, Romans 2:1-4 has a context. At the end of Romans 1, Paul talks about those who are judging others as being in sin, but they themselves are doing the same things (so, for instance, an envious person is judging another person of envy, etc). Further, Paul is discussing those that laid aside the will of God and embraced the evilness of this world (Romans 1:18-2:11). In other words, the context of both of these passages does not indicate not judging at all, but only the right kind of judgment! The remainder of the context of John 8:1-7 is, actually, a perfect example to illustrate the discussion thus far.
While many people will read John 8:1-7, most will stop at verse 7, or at the very least they seem to ignore from there forward. However, Jesus does address the attitude of the accusers, but He does not indicate that because the accusers had the wrong attitude that the woman’s sin was negated! What does Jesus actually do in this passage? The scribes and Pharisees had brought this woman to Jesus and accused her of adultery (since she was caught in the very act of it, have you ever wondered where the man was that was also involved?), but they were not accusing her to either save her soul or to even fulfill the law, as we are told in John 8:6. Rather, they were brining her to Him in order to test Him! When Jesus tells them that the one without sin should cast the first stone, He is addressing their attitude, not whether or not the woman was guilty. They are convicted by their own consciences (John 8:9). Now, with the attitudes (which fully illustrates the wrong type of judgment discussed in both Matthew 7 and Romans 2) having been addressed, Jesus absolutely does show mercy to the woman. He does NOT act as though she had not sinned, which is evidenced by the fact that He commands her to “go and sin no more” (John 8:11).
Now, let’s take a step back for a moment. Let’s assume for a moment that Matthew 7:1 and John 8:7 actually mean what they are generally misapplied to mean and that we are not to judge anyone. Would that apply to the Apostle Paul? Surely we would tread carefully before judging an inspired man of God as not having the ability to judge someone in sin! Consider 1 Corinthians 5:3 where Paul writes, “For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.” Note that Paul not only judges the man who has his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1), but that he addresses the attitude with which he did the judging (“…absent in body but present in spirit…”). He also judges the congregation that had not dealt with this sin (1 Corinthians 5:2, 6)! Now, at this point, we may be tempted to make the argument that Paul was an inspired apostle and that we are not (please note 1 Corinthians 11:1 and 1 Corinthians 4:15-16 if this is your true stance). Even if we again grant that argument, Paul did have the ability to judge and he has provided numerous lists of sins! There are at least four extensive lists of sins provided by God through Paul for us (1 Corinthians 6:8-10; 1 Timothy 1:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-7). Galatians 5 also includes “and the like” in the list, which indicates that there must be some sort of judgment made by man since it was written to man! All of these passages are in addition to Paul’s depiction of a Godless society in Romans 1! Thus, even if we grant that we cannot judge and that Paul, as an apostle, was allowed to judge where we are not, we have an entire list of sins that we cannot participate in. In other words, Paul calls fornication a sin, so if a person commits fornication they are sinning…not by my word, but by the inspired writings of the apostle Paul!
As homosexuality is, as I said, the “hot-button” issue of the day, let us use that as an example. Many people today call Christian’s “haters” if they oppose the sin of homosexuality and they tell Christians not to judge. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:8-10, condemns homosexuality and sodomy as being sins. If a person is participating in those worldly things, how is it that a Christian is truly judging them? Christians merely utilize the Scriptures to show another human the path to heaven! Can a Christian do this with the wrong attitude? Absolutely. If, perchance, a Christian DOES “judge” with the wrong attitude, is the person participating in these sins no longer a sinner? Of course they are still a sinner! Remember, while Jesus did address the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees, He did not forget that the woman had sinned!
While many people don’t think about it in these terms, all people make judgments. If we decide that a person living in sin is “ok,” then we have judged them to be so. If we make that decision and nobody else shows that person the Scriptures, then we may have also judged their eternal soul and condemned them to eternal torment because we were unwilling to help them see the sin in their life. Do we want that soul’s condemnation on our hands because we had the opportunity to teach them? Do we want that on our hands in the day of our own judgment by the Lord? While they may or may not listen to us when we show them the Scriptures, our job is to show them the path to heaven!
Finally, as we begin to conclude, consider this: too much time is spent by Christians trying to defend their reasons for “judging.” Too often, we spend so much time concentrating on the messenger’s attitude and making sure that they are doing it right (which, coincidently, involves judgment…) that the sin of the “judged” is overlooked or excused. Note Proverbs 17:15 where we read, “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord,” and Isaiah 5:20 where we read, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
