The Mileses

Paul and Olena Miles with Grace Abroad Ministries

Judge not?

Many people are quick to quote the first two words of Matthew 7:

​Judge not […] (Matt 7:1a KJV)

​But, did you know that in the rest of the chapter, there are three judgments that Jesus tells us to make about people? Let’s take a look at what Jesus says in the rest of the chapter and see if we can reconcile it with the entirety of Matthew 7:1.

Three judgments that Jesus wants us to make

1. Judge a brothers’ eyeballs

​And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matt 7:3-5 NKJV)

Notice that Jesus wants us to be able to pluck the speck from our brothers’ eyes. There is a HUGE precondition here, though: remove your own plank first! But, having taken care of our own eyeballs, we need to help each other… which we can’t do unless we see a problem first… which means we have to make a judgment about a brother.

​2. Judge whether or not a brother is a pig

​Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. (Matt 7:6 NKJV)

In the context, our “pearls” are our efforts to help a brother with his sins. Jesus calls brothers, “swine” (especially an ugly term in Jewish culture) if they ‘turn and tear you in pieces.’ So, that’s another judgement to make. Want to help a brother? First, as mentioned earlier, you need make sure your eyes are clean, but second you need to discern whether or not he is a pig that will tear you and your advice to pieces.

3. Judge whether or not a person is a false prophet

​Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. (Matt 7:15-16a)

Immediately before these verses, Jesus talks about entering by the narrow gate, for broad is the way to destruction. I suppose we could say that judging the narrow and broad gates is yet another judgment Jesus wants us to make. Some people have twisted this passage to say that a Christian needs to examine the works of other Christians to see if they’re really saved… that’s really not at all what Jesus is talking about. With the context in mind, “false prophets” probably refers to nonbelievers teaching a false message that they say is from God. We need to judge a prophet by his fruits. What are the ‘fruits’ of a prophet? His words.

What does it mean?

​We see then that Jesus actually does want us to make judgements. But what does it mean to judge and how does it jive with “Judge not?” Well, first of all, we need to realize that ultimately, Jesus will be the judge at the Judgement Seat of Christ (hence its name). No judgment that Jesus wants us to make involves robbing Him of His work and glory, so don’t get any crazy ideas… 

Speaking of Judgement Seat of Christ (that’s the one that believers face to receive rewards for right living on earth), let’s revisit the rest of Jesus’ sentence that people keep quoting:

​Judge not so that you won’t be judged, because you will be judged with whichever judgment you judge, and you will be measured with whichever meter you measure. (Matt 7:1-2)

Notice what Jesus is saying. He’s not forbidding any and all judgement, or else the rest of the chapter (as well as many other New Testament imperatives) wouldn’t make sense. What Jesus is saying here is simply that the way we judge can come back to bite us in the butt later on when we stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ.

​Don’t ignore sin, but don’t be a hypocrite either.