If you have been a Christian for any amount of time or been near any religious debates, you will often here people accuse Christians of being judgmental. The more zealous people will do their level best to convince you that the bible says to never judge. But doesn’t Jesus say, “judge not”? How should we understand these sayings in the bible? I hope to give a quick but sufficient response in this post.
Logic is a pesky thing.
Before we get into the text let’s consider the absurdity of telling someone to never judge. To judge simply means; to form a conclusion. If we just substitute the definition for the word, the saying is now, “the bible says to never come to a conclusion”. Do you see the not-so-subtle contradiction? To say the bible is telling us to never come to a conclusion, is in itself a conclusion. “Straw man!", yells the first-year logic student. “Nobody is saying never come to conclusions, it means does not form an unfavorable opinion upon people based on their behaviors.”
Let’s evaluate this. Let’s say that I am frequenting my favorite ice cream shop with two friends, Mike and Sally. I order my usual vanilla bean with almonds and coated with chocolate. Then Sally, for whatever ungodly reason, decides to order mint chocolate chip. And I remark, “that is disgusting”. Mike may say to me, “Hey bro, you are being judgmental”. What has happened here? Well, in Mike’s judgement I am being judgmental over Sally’s lack of culture when it comes to ice cream flavors. See the contradiction? Mike has judged me. And therefore, by his own standard, he is being judgmental himself. This is inescapable.
Matthew 7:1
“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.”
Matthew 7:1 is usually the go-to text for this argument. But if we let the Lord Jesus finish speaking, we see he is not saying what some would conclude. The key to understanding the first sentence, is found is the second one. “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you”. The concern here is the standard of judgement, instead of the judgement itself. Jesus wants us to judge righteously. The only standard of righteous judgement is the Word of God.
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