Do not Judge (Matthew 7:1-2)

Matthew 7:1,"Do not judge, or you to will be judged."

• krinō, verb. To decide, consider, as preferring one thing to another or determining the correctness of a matter, to judge, pass judgement on, or condemn in a legal sense.

Many people are quick to point out Matthew 7:1 for not judging others or anything, but what does the verse say when read in context. Remember that we just can't take one verse and develop a doctrine on it, we have to take it all, even the parts that don't fit into our personal beliefs or feelings. When we read a little bit more, Matthew 7:1-5, we can see Jesus talking about hypocritical judging. "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.", Matthew 7:5

• When I think about this verse I can see how quickly we can be to point out somebody else's faults and are somehow blind to our own. This is akin to the saying that it is always easier to clean another's house.
• We must evaluate a person's character but we can not become self-righteous in doing this. Human nature is a terrible thing and many times we can easily see ourselves somehow better than those around us. That the very fiber of our being is somehow better in quality than that of the man next to me. When we start to see ourselves go in this direction let us hear clearly what Jesus tells us, "For in the same way you judge others you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
• Compare this very passage to that in Romans 2:1, "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things."

Then a little bit further in the text is tells us not to give dogs what is sacred and not to throw our pearls to pigs, how then are we to know the dogs and the pigs? If you go over to Matthew 7:15-19 you find Jesus warning us about false prophets and He then teaches us to know them by their fruits. This takes spiritual discernment on the disciple's part, or judgement if you will.

We, as disciples of Christ, must be able to tell if something is good or bad:

1 Corinthians 2:15,"The spiritual man makes judgements about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgement."

• anakrinō, verb. To examine or judge (in both a general and legal sense)

Hebrews 5:14,"But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

This is judgement on the part of a disciple. How will you know if something is good or bad if you do not make a judgement? Are we to judge in cruelness or somebodies salvation? No on both counts, but we are to make judgements within the guidelines laid out by Jesus and His Apostles.

We as His disciples must evaluate all things and choose between good and evil and with the Holy Spirit we are able to accomplish this and decide if something is good or bad. This type of judgement applies to people as well as to things.

For example, what if I preached the word at your Church but in my lifestyle I acted like a devil from Hell? You would be able to see the fruit that is being produced in my life and make a judgement on it saying that is is not good, and because of my bad fruit you will recognize me as a false prophet.

• Good fruit - kalos, adjective. good, right, beautiful, fine, and excellent.
• Bad fruit - ponēros, adjective. bad, the negative quality of an object. Evil or wicked.

We must live our lives here in accord to spiritually sound judgement and with our gift of the Holy Spirit we can!