Continuing our in-depth study of the Sermon on the Mount, we are taking a microscopic look at its truths. As someone wisely said, it is far more profitable in the long run to study a portion of the Bible in microscopic detail rather than taking a quick, telescopic view of the whole. This is because a detailed study of a specific subject will inevitably touch on the most important truths of the Bible due to the great unity within God’s Word. The three chapters of the Sermon on the Mount are a prime example; if you know this sermon, you will know the entire Bible. We have already seen how themes like being poor in spirit, mourning, sin, depravity, repentance, and sanctification are woven throughout the Bible. So do not worry about a detailed study, as it is the healthiest way to learn.
Last week, we saw what God is not forbidding when He says, “Judge not.” This verse is often misused as an argument against judging people for their life patterns or outward sins, against calling out false prophets based on their teachings, and against exercising church discipline. We established that this is a wrong understanding by using the principles of context and scriptural comparison, which are crucial for understanding the Bible and guarding against false teachings.
What “Judge Not” Truly Means
Now, we will explore what “judge not” truly means. It is important to take the time to clearly understand the Lord’s words so we do not go to either extreme, as seen in the Book of Joshua. We must meditate on God’s law day and night to avoid going to the right or the left. In this verse, we see a classic example of this danger.
One extreme is to not judge at all. People on this end say, “We should love everyone and never judge anyone or think badly of them.” The other extreme is to be always judging everyone, to the point of being unable to maintain a good relationship with anyone. This is the danger of going to the right. Many books and sessions on relationships teach how to give feedback without hurting feelings, yet some people never learn and spoil every relationship with their judgmental attitude. No one can get along with them. Our Lord teaches us not to be like that and to know when and how not to judge.
The climax of all good relationships is the Golden Rule, which states, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12).
What did Jesus mean when He said, “Do not judge”? To understand, we must again look at the context. The key to the whole sermon is found in Matthew 5:20: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” All that follows in the sermon is an explanation of the low standard of the Pharisees and how to exceed it. He shows how they perverted the law and then gives the true meaning. In Chapter 6, He tells us not to be like them when we give, pray, or fast. Similarly, here, He is saying, “When you evaluate your fellow men, don’t be like the Pharisees. Judge not as the Pharisees judge, lest you be judged.”
Luke 18:9 gives the best description of their attitude: Jesus told a parable to “some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.” They thought they were above everyone else. This is a characteristic of proud and self-righteous people. They would strain at a little gnat of someone else’s fault while swallowing the camels of their own sins. While they scrutinized others and found fault with everyone, their pride and self-righteousness blinded them to their own major sins. This is why verse 3 says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
Jesus is condemning the hypercritical, condemning, self-righteous egotism of the Pharisees. They did not criticize others because of sin against God’s Word, but because of personal weaknesses, mistakes, personality quirks, or the fact that others did not do things their way. They thought they could judge others’ motives as if they were God. This spirit assumed they were so perfect that they could sit on a throne and decide who was qualified. Their pride and smugness resulted in an oppressive, unforgiving, and unkind attitude. They were constantly criticizing everyone who did not meet their standards, which made it impossible for them to have good relationships with anyone outside their own group.
Our Lord clearly shows that kingdom children should never be like this. This hypercritical spirit is contrary to every Beatitude. A man who constantly sees specks in others has never truly looked at his own heart. How can a man who realizes his own spiritual poverty and mourns for his own sins keep looking at the specks of others? He has an ocean of sins in his own heart; why would he look at the specks in others? A meek person, who has no ill will toward others, would never accuse them. A person hungering and thirsting after God would have no time to go after specks. Jesus is condemning a hypercritical spirit that places ourselves on a pedestal and assumes we are better than others.
This is a self-righteous attitude that, under the guise of spirituality, tears down and despises all others. It says, “Since I am better than others, I have the right to pass judgment, and they are therefore below me.” Such people always carry a magnifying glass and, if they cannot find a fault, will keep looking until they do. Their eyes only see specks. When we have such hypercritical eyes, we cannot see anything else. A person might have a thousand good qualities, but we will only see their faults. This is the complete opposite of 1 Corinthians 13, which says that love “rejoices not in iniquity” and “hopes all things.” A person with this spirit secretly rejoices when another’s weakness appears, instead of grieving. Love always puts the best construction on a situation.
Five Ways to Avoid Unlawful Judging
To be practical, here are five ways we should not judge others:
- Do not judge presumptuously. This happens when we treat mere suspicions or unconfirmed rumors as facts and when we ascribe motives to others’ actions that we cannot possibly know. To pass judgment on another’s motives, which are only known to God, is an intrusion upon His divine prerogative. It is devilish. Satan, in the Book of Job, judged Job presumptuously by assuming he only served God for gain. We should never assume we know the hearts of men.
- Do not judge hypocritically. This form of judgment was a particular focus for Jesus, as seen in the following verses. A person who is quick to find the minor faults of others while blind to his own more serious sins is dishonest. As Romans 2:1 says, “You are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judges, for in that you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” A notable example of this is David, who became furious at the rich man in Nathan’s parable for stealing a poor man’s lamb, all while being guilty of far greater sin himself.
- Do not judge hastily or rashly. We must investigate and obtain clear proof before we think the worst of someone. Before God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, He said, “I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me” (Genesis 18:21). . God gives us an example to follow: we must take the time to obtain decisive proof of a person’s guilt before we pass sentence in our minds. John 7:24 says, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” What we see or hear may be deceptive; a thorough investigation is needed to find the truth. We should always give the person an opportunity to clear themselves. As Proverbs 18:13 says, “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”
- Do not judge unnecessarily. This is when we go beyond the rules set in God’s Word. The Bible condemns some things and commends others, but there is a third class of “indifferent things” on which the Scriptures do not pronounce a verdict. This is the area of Christian liberty. To condemn someone for using things that are not forbidden in the Bible is to be “righteous overmuch.” The apostle Paul rebuked some of the saints at Rome for judging their brethren over things like meat and drink. As James 4:11 says, judging a brother in such cases is speaking “evil of the law,” because it implies that God’s Word is not a perfect rule.
- Do not judge unmercifully. While we are not obligated to consider someone with fundamental errors to be a good Christian, the law of charity requires us to put the best construction on doubtful actions and to never assume good deeds are done with evil motives. We should not make a person “an offender for a word” or hold onto suspicions without evidence. A lack of love in our hearts is the “plank” in our own eye that makes us look for specks in our brother’s eye.
If we have this hypercritical, self-righteous spirit, we must address it as a sin and confess and repent of it. God’s Word is sure; your judgment will be according to the measure you use. By nature, we tend to go to extremes, either being hypercritical or not critical at all. We must find balance by using discernment only when we see a clear pattern of outward sin and never assuming others’ motives.
This passage is a command, and disobeying it is a sin with serious consequences. The Lord’s warning of divine judgment should make the most thoughtless among us consider our actions and make the stoutest heart tremble. The tone and way we judge others will be the basis for how God judges us in this life and for eternity. As Romans 14:10-12 says, we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of ourselves to God.
Ultimately, we must remember the importance of treating others well without judging them and live by the Golden Rule in all our relationships.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 