Judge Not?

One of the most commonly used attacks from unbelievers against Christians who take a stand against sin is to misstate Scripture. For example, attackers use Matthew 7:1, Judge not, that you be not judged, as a weapon against a charge of committing a certain sin. Unbelievers, in order to deflect criticism of their own sins, will charge the believer with violating this verse of the Bible, which unbelievers claim prohibits the Christian from judging them or their sins. Unfortunately for the unbelievers, they don’t understand the context and meaning of the words in this verse. The Bible teaches that we should make judgments in our lives that are consistent with biblical truth.

One of the gifts of the Spirit is discernment. In our secular world, discernment refers to the cognitive ability to know or recognize something. Scripture uses the Greek word diakrisis which is translated by the English word discernment. It is used to describe the ability to distinguish between good and evil (Heb. 5:14) and is also used to indicate the ability to distinguish between spirits (1 Cor. 12:10).

Luke gives us a great example of practical discernment in the book of Acts when he speaks of the Bereans. Paul and Silas went to Berea and Luke notes for us that the Bereans “were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). God encourages Christians to compare the teaching and preaching and writing regarding the word of God, doctrine, etc. and to make reasoned decisions, using Scripture as our guide in the light of prayer and under the influence of the Holy Spirit. These are not human secular opinions but prayerful, biblically-based understandings of the truth God has revealed to us.

Charging that the Bible prohibits believers from making judgments regarding good and evil (e.g., is it a sin or not) is simply unbiblical. The Bible teaches of testing, for example, false teaching (1 John 4:1). Christians routinely have to recognize and distinguish, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, between God or Satan, the kingdom of God or the world, and good works or sin, for instance. Without making these sorts of judgments, it would be impossible for the Christian to walk obediently before God.

After Jesus made the “judge not” command in Matthew 7:1, He said Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you (Matt. 7:6). Here in verse 6 Jesus is commanding Christians to make judgments regarding who people are and what they stand for (i.e., “dogs”, “pigs”) and what is holy (i.e., the gospel, the word of God).

John Calvin comments on verse 6 as follows: “Christ reminds the Apostles, and through them, all the teachers of the Gospel, to reserve the treasure of heavenly wisdom for the children of God alone, and not to expose it to unworthy and profane despisers of his word.” This requires the teachers of the gospel to use discernment and to judge whether a person is a child of God or an “unworthy and profane despiser of the word.” But since we cannot know a person’s heart, how can teachers make this sort of discernment and still be true to Mark 16:15?

Calvin helps us by acknowledging that the teachers of the gospel are unable to distinguish between the children of God and swine. But he offers this as a practical tool for determining when further teaching is imprudent. He identifies these “swine” when he writes the following.

those who, by clear evidences, have manifested a hardened contempt of God, so that their disease appears to be incurable. In another passage, Christ places the dogs in contrast with the elect people of God in the household of faith, “It is not proper to take the children’s bread, and give it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:27). But by dogs and swine he means here those who are so thoroughly imbued with a wicked contempt of God, that they refuse to accept any remedy.[1]

Remember also what Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 10:14 “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.” He is telling his disciples to be discerning regarding the decision to continue to preach to certain people.

We are obligated by Scripture to make good biblically-based judgments about events and people and teachings that we come in contact with in this life. There are times when we have to identify certain beliefs or behaviors or acts to be sinful and such identification is consistent with holy Scripture.

Jesus is forbidding, in Matthew 7:1, hypocritical and self-righteous judgments, not all judgments. For example, if a Christian criticizes another person for their sin while at the same time that same Christian unrepentantly sins in the very same way, then this type of judgment is wrong. Jesus makes this clear in verse 3 when he says “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?” Jesus was prohibiting the kind of judgments that people make who are inclined to judge others by a different standard than they apply to themselves.

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[1] John Calvin, John Calvin’s Complete Commentaries: Matthew, Matt. 7:6, Kindle Edition, ed. Henry Beveridge (The Ephesians Four Group, 2013).