Should we judge others?

If someone studies the context of Matthew 7:1 (“Judge not, that ye be not judged”), it becomes apparent that Jesus is talking about hypocritical judgment. He says not to judge someone with a standard that you are not willing to be judged against. That is why He commanded in vs. 5, “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.”

In Romans 14:13, which says, “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way,” Paul is discussing judging each other in reference to conscientious objections — objections that did not involve sin. He was telling those who ate meat not to judge those who did not eat meat.

Neither of these passages prohibit a Christian from making a judgment on someone else in regard to sin. In John 7:24, Jesus commands us to “judge righteous judgment.” This tells us that it is appropriate to judge, and that judgment is to be righteous or according to the Bible. Furthermore, it was necessary for the Corinthians to judge the situation of immorality among them so they could punish the offender (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). In the next chapter, they were exhorted to judge among themselves instead of turning matters over to a civil magistrate (1 Corinthians 6:1-8).

Humans naturally want everyone else to leave them alone. No one wants to be judged or told that they are guilty of sin. So in order to appease ourselves, we take these passages out of context and try to make them apply to our sinful situations. The Bible commends judging in the right way; it condemns hypocritical judging.

Kyle Campbell