Judge Not That Ye Be Not Judged
Chad Johnson
June 14, 2012

This verse is taken out of context more than any verse I know of. Those who use this verse by isolating it from the rest of the verses do much damage to the truth.

In John 7:24 we are told not to judge in appearance, but in a righteous way. In Proverbs 2:11 we are told that discretion or judgement will preserve us and keep us from the way of the evil man. In I Corinthians 5:12, the subject of church discipline is taught and we are told to judge those immoral people in the church.

Now, we know the Bible does not contradict itself. We have to make judgements every day of our life. From where we go, what we eat and how we spend our time.

I believe there are two things that Jesus wants us to get from Matthew 7:1-5. First is the attitude or spirit in which we judge. When we say that someone or something is sinful and ungodly, it is not to be based on our thoughts, but based on thus saith the word of God.

When we rebuke sin, whether it be individually or as a matter of church discipline, we must never do it with a mean spirit. We must never seem to enjoy judging sin or look at others and say I am better than they are are.

We must do it out of love and the thinking that had it not been for the grace of God, I could be in the same place or worse.

Secondly, Jesus was teaching us to judge ourselves and always be examining ourselves. In Matthew 7:5, we are told to cast out the beam in our own eye, then we can see clearly to cast the mote out of our brother’s eye.

If we are continually confessing our sin and following God, we can make that righteous judgement and not be a hypocrite.

In reality, we judge ourselves so we can help our weaker brother. When we tell someone the truth, even if it hurts, it is to help them, not hurt them.

If I took this verse like 99 percent of professed Christians and preachers did, I would never preach against sin. So before you quote this verse and use it as a license to excuse sin, please read the rest of the story. Amen!