Don’t Judge. Or Do.

I am pleased to tell you that we have a good word from a guest blogger today. My son, Stephen, has a great deal of spiritual knowledge and responded positively when I asked him to fill in for me. May the Spirit of the Lord speak to you as you read. Eric

In modern Christianity, there is a popular view that Jesus was a teddy bear while He was on the Earth. He was soft and comforting. He was really just the best hugger to have ever lived and that's why people followed Him around. So welcoming to all, He never corrected anyone or had an opinion that contradicted anyone else's opinion. This view has had a profound impact on the modern Western church and on the people who participate in those churches. The problem is, this view is a false one.

When the brothers of Jesus mocked Him because they didn’t believe He was the Messiah, He corrected them by saying, “The world can’t hate you [who don’t believe], but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil.” (John 7:7) This is a very different picture of Jesus than the one most often portrayed by current culture. The idea that Jesus held a moral standard so highly that He would correct those who broke it is often overlooked or outright denied. In truth, He presented that standard so clearly, some people hated Him and some even wanted to kill Him.

There is a scripture verse that has gained significant exposure in the past several years, both in and out of the church. It is found in the book of Matthew and is often truncated to, “Don’t judge.” However, this interpretation is a misunderstanding. The idea that “we shouldn’t judge” is, itself, a judgment. To hold up that statement is to judge it to be correct. Personal condemnation or affirmation of any moral position is a type of judgment. When people say “don’t judge” they often mean, “You shouldn’t tell people that some behaviors are sinful. People should be affirmed in whatever they choose to do.” This idea, while having grown in popular culture, has nothing to do with this passage of scripture from Matthew.

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

The point of the passage is that we should not judge right and wrong on our own, because we have sin blocking our perspective. If we make distorted human judgments, we will be judged by God for corrupting His perfect judgment. What we should do instead is submit to God’s judgment and in that way remove the sin blocking our own perspective. Once we’ve done that, we will be able to help others submit to God’s judgment so they can be freed from sin, also.

Luke offers more clarity on the passage in Matthew 7 by sharing more of Jesus’s teaching. “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37) Jesus is teaching that we should not act as personal judge, jury, and executioner because that is not our place. It is also part of a larger teaching about showing compassion to others, forgiving, and even blessing our enemies (Luke 6:27-36). This teaching is about displaying the nature of God and not choosing the sin of human retribution. However, neither of these passages instruct us to neglect God’s call to repentance or the identification of sinful behavior, which is necessary for repentance. None of us can turn away from doing sinful things if we don’t know what is sinful.

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24)

If we accept God’s Biblical judgment, how does that influence the way we interact with each other? The first thing to note is that God calls Christians to exercise judgment in the way of identifying moral truth. In the Biblical book of Isaiah, chapter 5 verse 20, we are told there is great sorrow for those who call good evil and call evil good. God’s righteousness and truth are the foundation of moral judgment and must be sought out through reading scripture.

Christians aren’t only called to recognize God’s judgment, but it is right to call other believers to repent from sin if they are openly practicing it. This call to repentance should be done with God’s love as the motivation. It should never be done with the sinful desire to hurt or humiliate the one who is sinning. If our motives are wrong, the call to repentance can become sin itself. We are told in scripture to talk one-on-one with a fellow believer who has fallen into sin. Hopefully, that will be enough and they will acknowledge their error and repent.

However, if that gentle call to repentance is ignored, then a small group of believers should lovingly call that one to repentance. Hopefully, that will be enough for the stubborn fellow believer to give up their sin. If the sinning person remains unrepentant, the entire church should address the sin and treat the sinner as though they are an unbeliever if that one remains unrepentant. (Matthew 18:15-17) That doesn’t mean to behave in a way that is cruel or vindictive, but that the sinner should be removed from the most sacred parts of Christian fellowship. This protects the reputation of the body of Jesus, which is the Church. There is also a risk others will see that the church permits sinful behavior, and they will do the same thing, believing that it is an acceptable thing to do. It also protects unbelievers because God says that participating falsely in practices like the communion sacrament can cause an unbeliever to be punished by God (1 Corinthians 11:29).

There was a man in the ancient city of Corinth who was part of the church that the apostle Paul had planted. That man was openly sleeping with his stepmother. Paul is very clear about the correct response to this man’s sin. “You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship. Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.” (1 Corinthians 5:4, 6-7)

The consequence of that man’s open and unrepentant sin was the church passing judgment and that lead to discipline; specifically, by removing him from the church’s corporate worship. However, that’s not the end of the story for the Corinthian sinner. In the next letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, we learn that the man had repented from his open sin and was to be welcomed back into the church. Judgment leading to discipline under the church should have the goal of restoration, if possible. “I wrote that letter in great anguish, with a troubled heart and many tears. I didn’t want to grieve you, but I wanted to let you know how much love I have for you. I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me. Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him. When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us.” (2 Corinthians 2:4-8, 10)

Scripture tells us that while it is right to correct fellow believers in this way, it is not the place of the church to discipline people who are unbelievers. That doesn’t mean unbelievers are free from experiencing judgment, but for unbelievers, judgment comes directly from God and not through the church. We need to remember, however, that to share the gospel of Jesus with unbelievers, we must address repentance from a sinful life.

“God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:13)

People spend too much time being concerned with human judgment. A prominent reason this happens is because people want to be their own god. They demonstrate this through their desire to decide for themselves what is right and wrong; to primarily obey themselves. In essence, they desire to worship themselves. Giving in to the lie that we are all our own gods creates a problem. Under that ideology, if a person makes a moral call on someone else’s life it is a challenge to that other person’s godhood.

The truth is that we are not God and the judgment everyone should be most focused on is God’s final judgment. Scripture says that it would be better to spend eternity missing an eye or hand than to suffer eternal punishment by the righteous judgment of God (Matthew 18:8-9). Everyone will be brought before God at this time and if Jesus is in them, God will reward them with eternal heaven. Those who stand before God under His judgment and do not have Jesus in them will be punished with eternal hell.

What are we to do to honor God and His judgments? We are not judge, jury, and executioner. God will handle that when the time is due. In the church, we are to keep the sacred assembly holy and righteous so the bride of Christ remains healthy and presentable to a holy God. Outside the church, we are to continue to preach the gospel as Jesus did; "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!" In this way, more can come to experience the grace, forgiveness, and freedom that God offers us through salvation.