I’m kind of done with people who say “the Bible says” or “Jesus says don’t judge.” If you believe that, then, to be completely honest, you’ve never read the Bible, or Jesus’ words with any real depth. These are saying spouted by people who desire to close an argument, usually because they have no moral or spiritual leg to stand on. If we read the Bible with any intellectual, moral, or spiritual honesty, we’re told to judge all the time. This judgement, however is for RIGHT judgement, full of, as Jesus is, Grace and Truth. We’re called to judge the choices we make, whether they are for God or for selfish reasons, We’re called to judge the company we keep, as Paul says “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33) and to discipline if sin is rampant (1 Corinthians 5). We’re called to correct one another (2 Timothy 3:16 and 17, and several others), and we’re called to remove the plank from our own eye so that we can see clear enough to help our brothers with a speck in theirs, if that’s what we’re even called to do (Matthew 7:5). All throughout scripture, believers are called to judge, but with right judgement, full of grace, mercy and truth.
When Jesus declares “Judge not, lest you be judged,” it’s not a call for Christians to keep opinions to themselves, it’s a warning: if you make a call of judgement, beware; the same judgement you use will be used against you, so make sure you have it all together before calling someone out on what you’re also doing! Loved ones, it’s easy to condemn someone, but that is not our job. We do not sit on that throne (and we shouldn’t want to, either). Yet, we’re to look at situations, at our own lives, and in the lives of brothers and sisters and ask “Is this situation spiritually healthy? What does the Bible say I should do here?” That is a spiritually mature outlook on life. When loving someone, it is less loving to keep one’s mouth shut, and more loving to guide them back toward Christ. So make judgements, but make sure they’re right ones with a godly heart.
Matthew 7:1-6
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
John 7:14-24
About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
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