Judge Not, That You Be Not Judged

“JUDGE NOT, THAT YOU BE NOT JUDGED. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”(Matt.7:1-5)

Like the vast majority of the word of God, this passage, and this verse in particular - “Judge not, that you be not judged” - is one of the most abused and misapplied verses in the entirety of God’s Holy Word. I was raised my entire life as a child and teen, constantly upbraided and warned by well-intentioned, though uninformed individuals about making or passing judgment on anything or anyone. Was that the intent of our Lord’s words when He made this declaration? On another occasion, the same Christ who said “Judge not that you be not judged” declared: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” (Jn.7:24) Was our Lord confused, or did He forget what he had previously said? Is there a contradiction between these two truths spoken by our Lord? CERTAINLY NOT! The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian believers: “But he that is spiritual JUDGETH ALL THINGS, yet he himself is judged of no man.”(I Cor.2:15) Our Lord WAS NOT FORBIDDING JUDGMENT by His people through these words, “Judge not, that you be not judged”. What Christ was forbidding was JUDGING BY A WRONG STANDARD! As children of the living God, those KNOWN of God, loved by God, redeemed by Christ, and regenerated by God the Holy Spirit, we are to judge EVERYTHING by the only true standard of righteousness, even the “righteousness of God” set forth and seen in the PERSON and WORK of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One of whom the Apostle John wrote: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.”(I Jn.2:1,2)

If we’re honest (which most folks aren’t) all of us JUDGE EVERYTHING! If you are reading this article, and you don’t agree with what I have written, YOU HAVE MADE A JUDGMENT that I am in error, but you have judged it based on the WRONG STANDARD. The Apostle John told every justified saint - “Beloved, believe not every spirit, TRY THE SPIRITS, whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”(I Jn.4:1-3) This COMMAND to “try the spirits” is not a request for the child of God. We are to “judge righteous judgments.”