Do Not Judge

Do Not Judge

By Apostle Felix

1  “Refuse to be a critic full of bias toward others, and judgment will not be passed on you.
2  For you’ll be judged by the same standard that you’ve used to judge others. The measurement you use on them will be used on you.

Matthew 7: 1, 2

This is a portion of scripture used to stop others from speaking against the wrong practices in the body of Christ. It is vitally important to understand the context in which Jesus wrote those words. May times, we tend to interpret what was said without first endeavoring to understand the context. The above scripture is often misinterpreted as a prohibition against all judgement. However, Jesus is not warning against discerning, but against condemning others. The Greek word used for judgement is krino, which can mean both “to discern” and “to condemn.” Jesus is therefore, urging us to avoid condemning others and at the same time maintain a posture of discerning evil from good. This is because in the same vein, Jesus urged the people to be constantly on their guard against the false prophets.

15  “Constantly be on your guard against phony prophets. They come disguised as lambs, appearing to be genuine, but on the inside they are like wild, ravenous wolves!
16  You can spot them by their actions, for the fruits of their character will be obvious. You won’t find sweet grapes hanging on a thorn bush, and you’ll never pick good fruit from a tumbleweed.

Matthew 7: 15, 16

In the gospel of John, Jesus made a profound statement when He said that He did not come into the world to condemn the world, and the later in John 9: 39, He said that His purpose of coming into the world is for judgement. The two statements may look contradictory in nature. Jesus says one thing this time and then later says something to contradict the first statement. This is reason why we need to understand context properly in order to appreciate what the writer meant.

17  “God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it! 

John 3: 17

39  And Jesus said, “I have come to judge those who think they see and make them blind. And for those who are blind, I have come to make them see.” 

John 9: 39

Jesus is not contradicting Himself at all. It is the misinterpretation that can help us to misunderstand what Jesus meant. The above scriptures from the book of John were said in different contexts. In chapter three, Jesus meant to say that His mission to earth was to save as opposed to condemnation. In chapter nine, He meant that He brought about a separation and the determining factor is man’s heart towards God.

The ‘do not judge’ Jesus stopped is the one that is void of compassion and mercy, and whose intentions are to destroy and not restorative. And then He said, before one would even consider correcting another person, should practice self reflection and humility. It is not wise to be reprimanding someone else over outbursts of anger when one is also struggling with the same problem. Such a tendency is hypocritical. He was also urging us to avoid to be over critical of one another, and portraying self righteous attitude. Any correction should be done in the spirit of love and humility.