Bible For Foreigners

When to Judge

Many Christians are hesitant about proving or testing things

as they tend to categorize this right along with “judging,” and

they have been taught they are to judge no man. Most of us are

familiar with the Scripture in Matthew 7:1 that says, Judge not,

that ye be not judged. If we look at only this one verse, and we

are trying to judge a situation, we will feel guilty about making an

evaluation. However, we should look at all the other Scriptures

related to this one, so we know how we are to judge. Let us

continue to read the rest of this Scripture, 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 (Matthew

7:2-5).

Examining all these Scriptures, we see that Jesus is not saying

we are not to judge, but rather how we are to judge.

Our judgment should be merciful. The judgment we judge

others with will be the same way we shall be judged. Jesus had

just instructed the people in His sermon on the mount, Blessed

are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7).

We can see here that we are able to “store up” mercy. If we want

others to be merciful to us when we fail and make mistakes, we

must extend mercy to those that we now see who are making

mistakes.

1 Corinthians 6:1-8 also tells us we are to judge:

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to

law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not

know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world

shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest

matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much

more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments

of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who

are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it

so, that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that

shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth

to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now

therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to

law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why

do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye

do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

We are going to one day judge angels (the angels spoken

about here are the fallen angels that were cast out of heaven down

to earth and are now the evil spirits that roam the earth under

Satan’s dominion). If we are to do this, we must begin by making

judgments on this earth.

We need to judge according to God’s Word. We are to see if

things line up with the Word of God. If we see sin in our own

lives, or in others, we must call it sin. Then, we are to pray for

those that are in sin, asking the Lord to deliver them. We are to

ask counsel from those in the church that are wise and humble.

We are not to go to those in the world.

Specifically, in these verses Paul is dealing with lawsuits between

Christians. He says it is a shame for Christians to go to

court against one another. He encourages Christians to give up

their rights and suffer loss of worldly things so as not to bring

reproach upon the church. We see this sadly lacking in Christians

today as there are even cases of ministries suing their elders over

ownership of church buildings when church splits occur. What a

shame for Christ's body, fighting over material possess instead of

going before God and giving Him everything, allowing Him to do

our battling for us (1 Samuel 17:47). He is able to defend us or

restore to us our material losses, if we only allow Him to have

control over situations that seem unfair. Our attitudes are so much

more important to God than maintaining our "rights." Above all

things, the Lord is interested in the love that is perfected in our

hearts. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this;

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and

devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one

of another. (Galatians 5:14-15). Fighting and going to court

with Christians or non-Christians will only produce destruction

for all parties. If we were walking in the Spirit, we would not

get involved in the things of the flesh. And if any man will sue

thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy

cloke also (Matthew 5:40).

Scripturally, we see that we can judge. In 1 Corinthians 2:14-

16 Paul writes, But the natural man receiveth not the things of

the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither

can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is

judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord,

that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

This states we must have the mind of Christ on matters to be able

to make proper judgments. We are to have spiritual discernment

and not make judgments in the flesh. It does not matter what we

may think of a situation; the important thing is knowing the mind

of the Lord. Man’s carnal judgments are not “after the Spirit”

because he cannot see into people’s hearts. If we could see the

inner man, we would not judge harshly those that are truly trying

to overcome, but are weak and continue to fail. We would extend

love and mercy. Jesus exemplified this in the account of the woman

who was caught in the act of adultery. When the Pharisees brought

Him the woman for judgment, He spoke these words, He that is

without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her (John

8:7). The punishment under the old Jewish law was death by stoning

for those who committed adultery.

The only times Jesus was ever severe in His judgment were

in cases where men were hypocritical. In Matthew 23:23 we find

the following warning, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,

hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,

and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,

mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to

leave the other undone. Verse 33 says, Ye serpents, ye generation

of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? The

reason the Lord could make this judgment is because He would

lay down His life for these men who were rejecting Him. Before

we make judgments on others, we too need to be ready to lay our

lives down for those souls. We can do this by prayer, fasting, suf23

fering under their ungodly remarks, and believing for their souls.

In this way our judgment will be pure, as we are not passing judgment

without sorrow in our hearts for them. We are never to pass

judgment as a retaliation.

The next thing we need to check when judging is to see if we

are being hypocritical by pointing to others while we are unwilling

to correct the things wrong in our own lives. Perhaps the sin

we see in others is only minor (mote), while in our lives there is a

major sin (the beam), which we are refusing to acknowledge (see

Matthew 7:3-5). Let us first deal with our own sin, before we

judge the sin in others. For if we would judge ourselves, we

should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened

of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the

world (1 Corinthians 11:31-32). How do we judge ourselves?

This only comes as we see ourselves as guilty sinners who need a

Saviour; for without Him we could not attain holiness nor be righteous.

We must judge our own lives according to the Word of

God. We must look and see how we are living up to the Word.

When we do this we must be careful not to become legalistic. (We

should obey from the heart and not bind ourselves to the letter of

the law.)

This does not mean we are free to break God’s laws, but we

are free from the bondage of the law. When we sin, we feel guilty;

and guilt brings bondage. The law was not made for the purpose

of saving or justifying. It was made to show us our need of cleansing

and to point us to the great source of cleansing, Jesus Christ,

our Lord. The Bible speaks of the law as a mirror to show us what

kind of people we really are. For if any be a hearer of the word,

and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural

face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way,

and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But

whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth

therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work,

this man shall be blessed in his deed (James 1:23-25). It is

obvious that a mirror (the law) cannot remove a spot from the

face. Its work is to reveal the spot and to point the dirty one to the

sink for the actual cleansing. The law, in like manner, only condemns

the sinner by giving him knowledge of his condition, and

then pointing him to the cross for true cleansing. For by grace

are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is

the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast

(Ephesians 2:8-9). Paul further emphasizes this point in Galatians

2:16, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the

law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in

Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ,

and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law

shall no flesh by justified.

Right here we need to consider one of the most fallacious

propositions ever set forth relating to the law. Countless sincere

Christians have accepted the idea that the Old Testament encompasses

the dispensation of works, and that the New Testament

provides for a dispensation of grace, and their separate events are

unrelated. Under this misconception, people were saved by works

in the Old Testament and by grace in the New Testament. This is

simply not true. The Bible holds forth only one beautiful, perfect,

plan for anybody to be saved, and that is by grace through faith.

Heaven will not be divided between those who got there by works

and those who got there by faith. Every single soul among the

redeemed will be a sinner saved by grace through faith. Those

who entered into salvation in the Old Testament trusted the merits

of the blood of Jesus Christ, demonstrating their faith by bringing

a lamb and slaying it. They looked forward, in faith, to the

atoning death of Jesus. We look back in faith to the same cross

and are saved in exactly the same way, by faith in what Christ did

on the cross for us. All the redeemed host throughout eternity

will sing the same song of deliverance, exalting the Lamb slain

from the foundation of the world. Law and grace do not work in

competition with each other, but in perfect coordination. The law

points out sin, and grace saves from sin.

The law is the will of God, and grace is His undeserved favor

and power to do the will of God. We do not obey the law in order

to be saved, but because we are saved. Although we live in the

dispensation of grace, and the Old Testament saints lived under

the dispensation of the law, both are still valid today as Jesus said

in Matthew 5:17, Think not that I am come to destroy the

law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

From this Scripture we can see that the law is still valid in the

New Testament.

An Old Testament example of God’s grace being available

then is recorded in the life of David. In the eleventh and twelfth

chapters of 2 Samuel, we have the story of David committing

adultery and murder. Nathan the prophet was sent by God to David

to convict and correct David. When he realized the gravity of his

sin, David immediately repented and confessed his sin. Since

David’s heart was right, God was merciful and extended grace to

him. The penalty for his sin was death by stoning; however, since

he quickly repented, his sin was put away by God, showing that

grace was indeed operating in the Old Testament. And David

said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan

said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou

shalt not die (2 Samuel 12:13). We live by His mercy and grace.

Grace is His undeserved favor and divine enablement, while mercy

requires no punishment for our sins. He took the punishment for

us, so we don’t have to take it. Praise God! Mercy deals with the

negative side of our sin, while grace is positive since we receive

things we do not merit.