Judgment

In so many Christian circles, judgment would have to be the least popular action in conjunction with biblical exhortation. Many professing Christians quote Matthew 7:1 as if somehow it’s a ‘get out of jail free card’ when caught in sin. So let’s look at the entire passage carefully, because if God calls us to judge than we should understand and know that judging is not only commanded in scripture to fulfill, but also be aware that this is good! “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For with the judgment you use,[a] you will be judged, and with the measure you use,[b] it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5

The latter is what counts most in understanding judgment in verse 1. “so that you won’t be judged” in other words, don’t be hypocritical in your judgment against a brother or sister. Jesus goes onto saying in verse 5 that it is important to remove the log from your own eye prior to removing the speck. It’s interesting that Jesus never says “leave the speck in their eye.” So Christ is commanding us to carefully observe our lives before we exhort a brother or sister in Christ with judgment.

So where is biblical judgment used in our bible? In Galatians 2:11-14 Paul judges Cephas being particular with which he was eating with regarding the Jews and the gentiles.

11 But when Cephas[b] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.[c] 12 For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. 13 Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas[d] in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”[e]

So in verse 11 we can see Paul called judgment on Cephas because he stood condemned. In other words, Cephas was outwardly showing that he had his feet in two camps. What Paul did was to love, shake up and bring Cephas back to repentance. And that’s the motive of anyone who brings about judgment. I want to make it very clear that anyone who judges someone that isn’t motivated by love and to see that person repent isn’t judging by biblical standards. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul specifically states that any action done needs to be motivated by love. Motivated by a love for Christ and a love for brother, sister and the un-believer. So when you hear judgment, stop for a minute. And ask yourself “why are they judging me?” perhaps the answer is simple, that they love you enough to care about your eternity and want to see you walk the straight and narrow path for the glory of God.