Who am I to Judge?

 

Who Am I to Judge?

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“Who am I to judge?” It is a common refrain spoken by people who do not want to appear judgmental, intolerant, and unloving. But the idea that we should not to pass judgments is not only irrational, but for the Christian the idea is an unbiblical renunciation of our responsibility before God to speak truth. At best it is spiritual cowardice. At worst, it makes us guilty of complicity in the sins of others.

 

Who am I to judge? If we love our neighbor as ourselves, we WILL make judgments. What loving parent does not tell a beloved son or daughter, “Don’t hang out with those people. They’re nothing but trouble”?  Why do we make judgments about our children’s friends? Because we LOVE our children and want to protect them. 

 

Who am I to judge? Each time we vote for a political candidate, are we not making judgments, deciding if the person’s policies or promises line up with what we think are good and right?

 

Now, of course, if we are talking about deciding the final destination of people after death, absolutely and certainly only God will make that judgment. Only almighty God has the authority to judge and send to an eternity in the Lake of Fire, or an eternity with Him and all the angels and saints in heaven. The Lord Jesus tells us in Luke 12:4-5 – “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! (Luke 12:4-5)

 

And on what basis will the Final Judge make that decision? If you’re fluent with your Bible you already know the answer to that question. Only those who have by faith given their lives, their lifestyles, and their obedience to Jesus will hear the Final Judge say, “Welcome, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:23) All others will instead hear the Final Judge say, “Depart from me, all you evil doers, into the eternal fire reserved for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 7:23)

 

“Who am I to judge?” Most religious and even non-religious people who make that fallacious statement usually appeal to the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 7: “Judge not lest you be judged.”

 

But let me quickly and clearly say that those who focus exclusively on that first verse in Matthew 7 do so by ignoring the context of that text – not only the context of that chapter, but the context of the rest of the New and Old Testaments. I will demonstrate that in a short while.

 

Remember, a Biblical text taken out of context is a pretext to teach error.

The misuse of Matthew 7:1 – whether intentionally or unintentionally – the misuse of that verse serves only to mislead the biblically illiterate and the marginally illiterate into falsely thinking ‘love’ doesn’t warn others of the eternal danger they face by continuing in their sins.

 

And worse yet, as I said a few minutes ago, when we refuse to make judgments about the words and the actions of others, we become complicit, we actually assist them on their journey to hell.

 

Please hear what God said to the prophet Ezekiel. You’ll find it twice in his prophecy, in chapter three and in chapter 33. Here is only a portion in chapter 33:1-6

 

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’

 

And St. John clearly tells us in his second epistle that to protect ourselves and others from heresy that we ARE to judge what others say and do: Here are verses seven through 11: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

 

John then continues his admonition that we judge the actions of others:  Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

 

I hope the application to 2020 is obvious. If we see someone living a lifestyle of sin and we do not warn that person of the eternal consequences of that sin, then God holds US also responsible for that person’s eternal damnation AND we ultimately participate in their evil deeds.

 

I do not know how these texts in Ezekiel and John’s epistle can be interpreted otherwise.

 

“Who am I to judge?” Often those who say such things from pulpits and classrooms and through the printed media are nothing less than politically correct spiritual cowards, false teachers, and children of Satan dressed in clerical garb who do not CARE about the lost sheep; For if they cared about the lost sheep, they would search for them and lead them by the word of God back to the fold.

 

What did Jesus say about such false shepherds? Here is John 10:7-10 – “Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

 

So, is it wrong for Christians to judge others? As I have mentioned before, perhaps one of the most often cited Scriptures used to ‘prove’ Christians have no right to judge is a brief excerpt from Matthew 7: Do not judge so that you will not be judged (Matthew 7:1). 

 

But is the Lord Jesus – indeed, does the entire word of God itself teaching us that we must avoid judging others? What would societies look like if no one judged the actions of another? Courts would close and prisons would empty its prisoners back into our communities because no one could pass judgment on murderers, rapists, thieves, and other criminals. 

A society without authority to judge others would descend into total anarchy. That is why St. Paul refers to governments as having been “established by God” for the protection of its citizenry (Romans 13:1-6). 

Let's look at the context of Matthew 7: Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

The Lord Jesus is saying more than a simple “Do not judge.” Rather, He warns us to avoid judging without first examining our own lives.

 

The Holy Spirit clarifies Jesus’ point through St. Paul: Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things . . . . But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? (Romans 2:1-3) 

Thus, if we are to judge the actions of others, we must first ensure our own actions are moral and will stand up to the scrutiny of the Lord who knows all things.

Looking back at the Matthew passage, the Lord Jesus continues in verse six: Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine. . . . In New Testament language, dogs and swine referred to non-practicing Jews and Gentiles who did not follow the Law of Moses. Unless Jesus’ disciples ‘judged’ the actions of those who live contrary to Jewish law, this commandment in verse six of chapter seven does not make sense.

But the Lord was not yet finished. In verses 15-16 of the same chapter, He warned: Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. If Jesus intended verse one to be a ‘stand-alone’ commandment, then His warning about false prophets is meaningless since we would not be permitted to judge the words or lifestyles of others to know of whom we should be wary.

The Father of evil – Satan – ever strives to distort God’s truth by introducing false teachers and false Christians into the Church. That is why the Holy Spirit warns us again through St. Paul: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness . . . . (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). 

Unless we judge what others do and say, we cannot protect ourselves or others against Satan’s lies and deceptions.

 

An example of why such judgment is necessary to protect the flock is found in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. One of the men in the congregation was sleeping with his father’s wife, and St. Paul passed swift judgment on him: For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven . . . . I wrote you in my letter not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. . . remove the wicked man from among yourselves. (1 Corinthians 5:3-13)  

(By the way, besides protection, another purpose of Christian judgment is the rehabilitation and reconciliation of the sinner. We find this is what occurred with this man. By the time Paul wrote his second letter to that church, the offender had turned his life around and had been restored to the Christian community – 2 Corinthians 2:1-11).

We could examine many other New Testament texts that instruct Christians, for their own safety and the safety of others, to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). But for the sake of brevity I will cite only a few more texts which, if Matthew 7:1 was intended as a ‘stand-alone”, would not make sense – and why that passage must be read in context with the rest of Scripture:

1 Corinthians 15:33-34:  Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. Unless we use Biblical principles to judge the company we keep, we risk our own morals being corrupted.

 

2 Corinthians 6:14-15^: Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?  Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?  To avoid being “bound together with unbelievers” one must make judgments based on what God tells us marks the character of unbelievers.

 

 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15: If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Once again Paul instructs his Christian readers to judge the actions and words of others by God’s holy word.

 

1 Timothy 5:9-10: A widow is to be put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man, having a reputation for good works; and if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work. How could the church put such women on “the list” without first judging their lives to determine if their lives line up with the word of God?

 

1 Timothy 5:19-21: Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. How could church leadership rebuke those who continue in sin without judging their actions by the clear teaching of Scripture?

Ephesians 5:3-10  But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. . . . ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient . . .  ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. We cannot expose the sinful words and acts of others if we refuse to judge those words and acts by the word of God.

The Lord Jesus tells us: Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Righteous judgment means taking the log out of our own eye before we get busy taking specks out of someone else’s eye. It means approaching our brother or sister in love, and not in a spirit of condemnation – but approaching them nonetheless for their correction.

 

According to the whole testimony of New Testament Scripture, Christians obey God when we, in love, make judgments of the words and the actions of others, and when we warn them of the eternal danger they face if they continue in willful sin.

 

Who am I to judge? God’s word REQUIRES Christians to judge the words and the actions of others. He requires it in the same way that He requires us to take the Great Commission to heart and go into all the world and tell others the good news of Jesus and His offer of salvation and forgiveness and eternal life – AND to warn those who persist in their sins of eternal judgment.

 

Oh, may God the Holy Spirit fill us with boldness and passion for the eternal souls of others, that we will not refuse to tell them the truth of God’s love – and of His judgment.