And The Verdict Is...

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 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 7:1-2

I do not know about you, but almost every time I have heard that said the person doing the quoting has always said (or implied) that by judging someone, God will judge you in the same way. Problem: it does not say "God" will judge you, which makes sense since, as believers, we know that the world as a whole has been judged and found guilty right across the board and you cannot be "more guilty" (although, you can feel more guilt).

(On a side note, there are some who will read that and say, "oh no, I am a Christian, I am not judged". Wrong. You certainly were/are and you were found guilty but Christ took the punishment that you were due.)

But if the passage does not mean that God will judge, then what does it mean? Simply put, it means that other people will judge you - it is actually really solid advice. If you, yourself, are not above reproach you probably should not start nit picking other people's behaviors, habits, etc or else you may well find them pointing out your own flaws (keep in mind that Jesus was in the middle of "discussing" the teaching and behaviors of the Pharisees). Of course, none of us are actually above reproach - only One is perfect. After all, just because you do not do <whatever> does not mean you do not do something else that is at least as bad, if not worse.

There are some who may use 1 Cor.6:3, which says "Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life" to back up their judging of another person or persons. This is, again, one of those times we must look at Scripture in context, for the passage is not talking about judging the actions of another person at all.

If we read beginning at verse one, we see the passage is talking about judging matters of dispute between believers. The point being, that we - as Christians - should understand fairness, impartiality and justice even more so than the courts do, therefore we - as a group - should be better suited to make decisions between believers. After all, the courts are free to follow or create whatever precedents they wish to but we are called to follow God.

I suspect that you may have heard people argue on the basis of "judging in love" or some other variation on that phrase but, that term is not in the Bible at all. For that matter, when it comes to judging people, there is a great deal about we are not supposed to do it as there is only One judge. For example, we see in James 4:11-12: "Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?" That's pretty blunt.

So who can we judge? No one, not even ourselves for we - and our Siblings in Christ - belong to the Lord. Only He can judge (Romans 14:4). There are passages in Scripture about judging but most of those reference judging whether a mindset or teaching is in line with the Gospel or not, and not about one person judging another person. It should be noted that this also does not apply to those outside of the Church - we have no right to demand that those who are not part of the Body think as we do.

All considered, I am baffled as to why anyone within the Body would argue that they have the "right" to judge anyone. Although, no doubt, some in the early Church wondered the same considering how often it is mentioned in the NT - would not be said if were not an issue then as well, after all.