"Don't judge me!"- Matthew 7:1-2

original photo by Flickr user Robin Hutton

Oh, the abuse that Matthew 7:1 has taken. I would venture to say that it may be one of the most often quoted...and misapplied verses in the Bible. It typically happens when someone is feeling guilty or feels like they are being made to feel guilty for something they have done. In that situation, it doesn't take long before someone says, "Don't judge me!" Occasionally, they will know the second half of the line and throw it in as well, "lest you too be judged!"

Before we dig into the verse...let me ask a couple of questions so we can start on the same page.

<sup>Is murder wrong?
Is stealing wrong?
Is abuse- physical, sexual, or emotional- wrong?
Is hypocrisy wrong?
Is genocide wrong?

I would venture to say that there are not very many people in the  world who will have a difficult time answering those questions. There are some issues of right and wrong that cut across all cultures, time periods, and social settings. People internally know that some things are just wrong. Even those who would deny the truth of those standards of absolute right and wrong will be very quick to demand retribution when they or their family is wronged in one of those ways. So let's just cut to the chase and make the statement that there are at least some things that are categorically wrong. By doing so, we have just ruled out that making judgments about the rightness or wrongness of an action is not what Jesus is forbidding.

Once we have established that, we don't need to argue about the "gray" areas of morals that people get into so many arguments about. That is a different discussion about where we turn for the standards of right and wrong. In this discussion and in this passage, the question we want to ask is not "which things are we allowed to pass judgements on and which are we not?" The question we must ask is, "what type of judgement at all is Jesus forbidding." And we have already established that He is most certainly not forbidding the judgments of individual actions as right or wrong. Jesus made very explicit judgment statements about actions of people. See Matthew 23 for several examples. "But," someone might say, "that was Jesus. He had the ability to see people's hearts." That's correct. However, Jesus also commanded us to evaluate fruit as either good or bad only verses later in the same chapter he told us not to judge (Matthew 7:15-20). His apostles also passed judgments about the wrongness of different actions. You can see an example of Paul rebuking Peter for being hypocritical and cowardly in Galatians 2.

So what, then, is Jesus forbidding the judgment of?


James Coffman's commentary on Matthew has an excellent explanation of what the word for judge really means in this passage.</sup> 

^{"The word 'judge' in this place is translated from a Greek word, krino, also found in such passages are John 12:48, Acts 17:31, and 2 Timothy 4:1, indicating that the type of judging forbidden in this place is that of presuming to determine salvation, or the lack of it, in others. Not even Christ did this while on earth. 'I came not to judge the world but to save the world' (John 12:47)."}

 The Tyndale commentary has this:

"This passage, however, is concerned with the fault-finding, condemnatory attitude which is too often combined with a blindness to one's own failings."

So how does this play out in real life?

Well, for starters, it does not mean that what we do doesn't matter. That idea would contradict everything Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere. It also doesn't mean that we don't point out wrong when we see it and ignore things that, according to scripture, kill people's souls. (See Matthew 18:15-17; and Acts 8:14-24 for just a few examples.) In fact, we have a duty to call sin, "sin" just as a doctor has a duty to call disease, "disease." If we fail to do it for fear of offending the person who is sick with sin, then we are just as negligent and infinitely more so than a doctor who neglects to inform their patient of a treatable tumor!

However the manner in which we do it  MUST ALWAYS BE IN LOVE AND NOT WITH A "FAULT-FINDING CONDEMNATORY ATTITUDE!"

I would also say based on the meaning of judging that we have already discussed, that while we have a duty to guide people to the truth, at absolutely NO point at all do we have the duty...much less the ability...to say who is and who is not eligible for heaven. We state the truth that we know from scripture- that the only way to the Father is through the Son (John 14:6), that we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8), that in response to recognition of our sinfulness and Jesus' act of redemption as the Son of God we are called to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38), among other doctrines that are clear and easy to understand- and then we leave room for God to judge as He sees fit. It is not my place to say what God will or will not do on judgment day based on whatever hypothetical situation someone brings up. That is a foolish argument to have with someone. It is my place to proclaim from the rooftops that sin is a killer of souls, but God in Christ is a Savior of souls. It is not my place to figure out which groups have enough correct doctrine to get into heaven because they are doing it right. It is my place to study and be as obedient as I can possibly be to what I find in scripture and to help others study and obey the truth as well.

I realize that some might take offense at this article...from either side of the argument. On one side, some might accuse me of still being judgmental because I proclaim that Jesus is the only way and I point to how He and his apostles instructed to get into the Way. On the other hand, some might accuse me of being too liberal and failing to stand for the truth because I am teaching that we do not have the right to proclaim who is and who is not counted among the saved.

I pray that you will hear what I am saying. I'm saying that Jesus calls us to righteousness. He calls us to preach righteousness. He calls us to repentance. He calls us to preach repentance. He calls us to grace. He calls us to preach grace. But He doesn't call us to judge. That is God's job. It makes no difference what I say about the destiny of someone else's soul. God will judge. So why should I say anything at all? Wouldn't I spend my time better by preaching Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2) and then leave room for God to open someone's heart to respond to the gospel (Acts 16:14), and for the Holy Spirit to convict someone of sin, and righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-11)?

And as if the fact that God is the judge and I am not is not reason enough to make me think twice about pronouncing condemnation upon someone's soul as opposed to pronouncing the way to life and letting them choose, Jesus follows the command not to judge with a pretty good reason to obey.

"For in the same way you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

I will never, to the best of my ability, shirk from preaching and teaching the truth that I find in the scriptures. I will never, to the best of my ability, dismiss as insignificant what God has already called sin. But I will tell you this. The one thing I most certainly do NOT need to hear God say on judgment is that He would be more than willing to forgive me this sin or that based on the grace and sacrifice of Jesus, but unfortunately He is going to use my standards of judgment instead, and those are stricter than His.

How silly to think that Jesus needed to remind us-- horribly imperfect, consistently inconsistent, selfish, and constantly caving to temptation us-- to not use stricter judgment on our brothers and sisters than the Almighty Creator and Judge of the living and the dead uses.

And yet as we think about the lines that have been drawn, the articles that have been written, and the relationships that have been destroyed...how necessary.

May we seek to "speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent." May we rightly judge actions based on God's standards found in scripture. And may we leave the judgment of someone's heart and soul to the only One capable of doing that job justice.