The Bible Doesn't Say That - Part 3

Do Not Judge Others

One day a prim and proper elderly Christian woman was driving on the Interstate when suddenly her car sputtered and died. She was stuck in the middle of traffic with no idea what to do. She said a quick prayer, “God, please send me an angel to help.” That was when a motorcycle stopped directly behind her and this big, burly man got off, took off his jacket, set it on his bike, and walked toward her window. She was afraid to even roll down her window.

He told her to pop the hood and he would take a look. She watched him as he worked on her engine. He had long hair that was tied in a ponytail, a long beard that almost completely covered his face, and tattoos all over his body. She realized that she had always judged these motorcycle riders as gang members and criminals. She reminded herself not to judge others as she said another quick prayer, “Thank you, God, for sending me my angel.”

The man quickly was able to fix the problem and she thanked her angel. Just then the man passed her on his motorcycle and she saw the words embroidered on the back of his jacket that read, “Hell’s Angels.”

As we continue our series on The Bible Doesn’t Say That, today we look at one of the most misused scriptures in the Bible. It has become a mantra of those who desire to do whatever they want and not be judged by others.

¹ “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. ² For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, 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, HCSB)

You Can’t Judge Me

Everywhere you go you will hear people say, “You can’t judge me.” Songs and books have been written about how we can’t judge others. It has caused people to walk on eggshells for fear of accidentally saying something that will be taken as being judgmental. But the world has completely missed the point of this passage.

“This is one of the most often misunderstood and misquoted passages in all the Bible. It is important to understand that Jesus was not making a blanket prohibition against all judgment and discernment, but only against that which is done in self-centered pride. A good summary of his meaning is, “Do not judge others until you are prepared to be judged by the same standard. And then, when you exercise judgment toward others, do it with humility…It is one thing to exercise judgment, and quite another to have a judgmental attitude. One is an action that might be carried out with right or wrong motives; the other is a negative character quality…A primary evidence for this interpretation is in 7:5. Jesus did command his listeners to help their brothers and sisters with the speck in their eye (exercise judgment concerning another person), but only after we have taken the log out of our own eyes. This presumes that we have acknowledged that we have at least as great an offending capacity as our brother or sister, and so have no cause to think of ourselves as better.” - Anders, Max.

It is important to understand that the Bible does not say “don’t judge…ever…period.” The Bible cautions us to judge rightly only when we have taken the time to make sure that we are right with God first. This helps us to better understand how we are to judge others by the fruit they produce, which is found in verse 16 in the same chapter.

You see, if we take just that one verse from the Bible, we can make it sound as though God is saying we should never judge others. It is important that we use the entire Bible to understand an issue.

Before you think I am just preaching to the lost world that doesn’t want to be judged, or that I am telling you that you have the freedom to go around and judge and condemn others, let’s look at some additional scripture.

⁹ I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. ¹² For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? ¹³ But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves. (1 Corinthians 5:9-13, HCSB)

Judge The Insiders

Here Paul is clarifying something that he wrote earlier in 1 Corinthians 5:11, “¹ But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.” Paul felt the need to remind them of what he originally wrote.

Notice that Paul originally said not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer who does these things. In other words, Paul is saying that we should judge the actions of those who claim to believe in Jesus. When we see that they are continuing to live sinful lives, we are to avoid them.

Even still, we are not to confront fellow believers for just any sin. The Bible teaches that we are to confront each other when the sin is public, consistent, and unrepentant. Some people take one scripture and use it to launch their own personal witch hunt in the church. They attack anyone and everyone just as soon as they see a sin.

So, yes, we are to judge fellow believers, but Paul then adds, “For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders?” Who are these outsiders? They are the lost, the unchurched, those who have yet to accept Jesus as their boss and to ask Him to forgive them. When Paul said to put away the evil person from among you, he is talking about a person who claims to be a Christian but lives like the devil instead.

While we are not to judge the outsiders, notice that God does judge them. This is an important point because too often we see pastors preaching from their pulpits or Christians posting on Facebook comments about how the lost world needs to act. We see Christian leaders trying to get the country to make laws that force the lost to act in a spiritual manner.

What it boils down to is Christians that are trying to make disciples out of the lost before they have even led them to Jesus in the first place. You cannot expect an apple tree to grow pears. You cannot expect a honeybee to make peanut butter. Why should you expect a non-Christian to act like a Christian? Not even Jesus expects that.

¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God. (John 3:17-18, HCSB)

God Condemns, Not Us

This is something that we need to understand about the relationship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I know that it may be difficult to think of God in this manner. God is One, not three different people, but God interacts with us through three different unique ways.

God the Father condemned all of humanity way back in Genesis 3. That condemnation was spiritual separation from God for all of eternity because of our sins. Yet because of His great love for us, God made a way for us back to Him through Jesus Christ who died in our place so that we could have forgiveness of our sins. God the Son did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. God the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and guides us to become more like Jesus.

We are called to lovingly judge those on the inside, those in our church, those that are believers. We are called to lovingly judge those who are followers of Jesus, to hold each other accountable to live in a Christ-like manner, to become more like Jesus each and every day. But we are not called to condemn or judge the lost.

How are we to treat the lost? With love. Remember that the commands of God can all be found in the two great commands to love God and love others. Everything we do should be based on love. When we approach a believer that is sinning, we do it in love. When we meet a lost person who is living a sinful life, we do so in love.

Nothing will chase away the lost faster than a Christian that is condemning them for the way they live their life. Nothing will cause the lost to hate us more than when we fail to show love to them regardless of their past or current situation. We are to love always no matter what.