Bible Synapse
Should Christians judge others, or judge no one?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 4 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Judge not, that you be not judged; first take the beam out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to help your brother.
Judge not, that ye 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.
The church is to judge those within it and put away the wicked person; God judges those outside.
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
The saints will judge the world; they should be able to settle disputes between believers.
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.
The spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes and reveals the counsels of the hearts.
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
The objection
Jesus said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Yet Paul tells the Corinthians to judge those inside the church, says the saints will judge the world, and expects them to settle disputes among believers. He writes that “he that is spiritual judgeth all things”, yet also, “judge nothing before the time.” Are Christians to judge or not?
The answer
The Greek verb krinō, like the English ‘judge’, ranges from ‘discern’ and ‘decide’ to ‘condemn’, and the context shows which sense each passage means. In Matthew 7 Jesus forbids the hypocritical, fault-finding judgment that sees “the mote that is in thy brother’s eye” while ignoring the beam in one’s own (7:3–5). He does not forbid all judgment: once the beam is out, “then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye”, and the same chapter requires discernment about false prophets, known “by their fruits” (7:5, 15–20); elsewhere he commands, “judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 5–6 are of that righteous kind: a church is to deal with open, unrepented sin among its own members and to settle its members’ disputes instead of taking them before pagan courts. When he says that “he that is spiritual judgeth all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15), his verb is anakrinō, ‘examine, discern’: a believer taught by God’s Spirit can weigh spiritual things (2:14). In 1 Corinthians 4:5 he means something else, the final verdict on a servant of Christ, which depends on “the counsels of the hearts” and belongs to the Lord when he comes. Christians may weigh conduct, but they may not pass final sentence on another person’s heart or standing before God.
Other answers Christians give
Romans 14 and James 4
Romans 14:10 and James 4:11–12, also cited in this debate, forbid despising fellow believers over matters of conscience and speaking evil of them. That is the condemning kind of judgment Jesus forbids, not the discernment he and Paul require.
From the classic commentators
This is not to be understood of any sort of judgment; not of judgment in the civil courts of judicature … nor of judgment in the churches of Christ … but of rash judgment, interpreting men’s words and deeds to the worst sense, and censuring them in a very severe mannerJohn Gill, Exposition on Matthew 7:1 (1746–1763)
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 7, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: 1 Corinthians 4, at Bible Hub
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 7, at HelloAO