I honestly don’t know what I expected when I sat down to write this. I don’t know why this had been on my heart and didn’t know where I was going to go with it. I originally wanted to write in praise of how the bible is so consistent. Over 40 authors writing 66 books over thousands of years to form a book that despite its diversity, speaks with clear, over-arching messages. I was even going to skip the message of love and speak of another message found from Genesis to Revelations; “thou shalt not judge others.” This command is generally quoted from Matthew 7:1-6 where Jesus instructs his disciples, “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?” (v.1-3)
These verses are used by many pastors, youth leaders, teachers, parents, etc. to instruct others not to judge and to be kind. It is used as a defense against criticism that Christians are judgmental and hypocritical. People point to it and say, “the bible commands us not to judge!” I was going to show how God never intended for us to judge others and how throughout the bible, that message was repeated. Its funny how God has a sense of humor though isn’t it? As I researched scripture for this message, I noticed something else. I noticed that every time I typed in “judgment”, “judging,” or “judge” into scripture finders, I would get the verse from Matthew 7 and then a bunch of others that showed instances where man is rebuking and correcting, essentially judging, his fellow man. The entire book of Judges tells of how God called prophets to rebuke and condemn the Israelites. I was a little frustrated to be honest. I didn’t know what to think as I found a basic biblical truth that I had been resting on for years, suddenly contradicted by scripture itself. But as I began to look into the issue more deeply, I realized it wasn’t so much of a contradiction as a subtle distinction. Those same pastors, youth ministers, etc. that use Matthew to teach others not to judge; many of them also use it as an excuse not to do what God has called us to do.
According to biblegateway.com, the word “judge” is found in over 226 verses across the Old and New Testament. The majority of these are found in the Old Testament and an important difference happens in how the word “judge” is used between Genesis and Exodus. In Genesis, judge is usually a reference to God. For example, In Genesis 16:5, Sarah says to Abram, “May the LORD judge between you and me.” However, from Exodus to the rest of the Old Testament, it is man that is more often looked to as the judge. In Exodus 18:13, “Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning to evening,” and in 1 Samuel 8:1, Samuel makes his sons judges over Israel. Why this sudden shift in who plays the role of judge? I believe the answer lies in the book of Exodus, chapter 20. It is here that God gives Moses the Ten Commandments, which become the base for the Jewish law. According to Paul throughout various parts of the New Testament, the law exists to make man conscious of sin. Now that man is more aware of his sin, he is able to better judge how closely someone upholds the law.
I want to chase a rabbit for a moment and clarify something. I don’t believe that God ever intended man to sit as judge over his fellow man. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were given abundant life and simply told not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17.) Verse 25 shows the huge difference between the times as “the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” When the serpent (Satan) came and tempted Eve, he promised that if Eve ate from the tree, “(her) eyes would be opened, and (she) will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (3:5)
What does this mean? Verse 1:27 says “God created man in His own image,” so man and woman were already “like God.” So how then could eating from the tree make us more like God? I think that the true translation comes if we remove the word like. Satan is essentially saying that once man possessed knowledge of good and evil, he will be God. At this time, because man could not discern between good and evil, only God held the power to judge. It is because of this that I believe that man was originally not intended to judge over his fellow man. But when man ate from the tree, he went against God’s desires and his free will changed the earth. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” (3:7.)
Unfortunately, man was never worthy or capable of having this power, and have ever since abused it. This is why Christ instructs us not to judge in Matthew 7. Even the angels do not hold this power as “Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (Jude 9.) Instead of writing in praise of how consistent God is, I found myself instead writing in praise of how flexible and alive He is. God began with a plan in the garden, and man ruined it. So then, God “parented” us and presided as judge over us, maybe to show us how it was done? I don’t know. Next, He gave us the law as a guide and once again, allowed us to try and rule… but once again, we messed it up. So then, God sent His son to die on the cross for us and to establish a new covenant. How amazing our God is! He could have looked at our first attempt and simply said, “well, that didn’t work… back to the angel thing!” Instead, he has given us His own son so that we could have a second, third, fourth, etc. chance.
I would like to close this message but noting an important distinction and providing some more verses on judging. First of all, simply because we are told not to judge, doesn’t give you an excuse not to call someone out for not living as they should. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” (NIV.) And in chapter 4, verse 1 and 2, Paul reminds us that Christ will judge the living and the dead, and to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” Although Matthew 7 commands Christians not to judge, it does not give us an excuse not to rebuke our brothers and sisters in Christ from living in sin. Just as Paul says in Romans 6, shall we go on sinning simply because we know that God will forgive us? By no means! So should we also avoid our obligation to our brothers to keep them accountable, simply to avoid confrontation? By no means, for we are servants of Christ. To close and put all of this in perspective, I want to leave you with John 12:47, which says, “(Christ) did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”

His,

Dustin L. Taylor




In an attempt to keep these posts semi short, I don’t use all of the verses that I find. But I will try and include them in the end so that anyone that reads this can look them up on their own. Psalm 50:6, John 7:24, Romans 14:1-4, 1 Corinthians 6:1-5, 1 Timothy 5:20, James 4:11-12, John 12:47.