Are We to Judge Nothing or Judge Rightly?
by Harry Osborne
January 3, 2010

Have you noticed the increasingly common practice of publicly criticizing people who publicly criticize others? Is that inconsistency striking to you? It reminded me of listening to the terrorists who repeatedly try to justify the killing of innocent people in another country to protest the killing of innocent people in their country. I never could figure out that basis of reasoning. Simply stated, the problem is that some people live by one rule, but judge others by a different rule than that imposed upon themselves. The Bible speaks of such a practice and clearly condemns it. Notice this warning given by the apostle Paul in Romans 2:1‑3:

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

In this context, the hypocrisy of the Jews is being examined by Paul. The Jews would have shouted, "Amen" to the charges Paul laid at the Gentiles' feet in the first chapter. However, while they looked down their noses in disgust at the Gentile world, the Jews were guilty of many of the same sins.

The Jews saw themselves as justified in their superior feelings because the law of Moses had been given to them. Even though they did not obey that law, they were proud of the fact that God had given it to them. Thus, Paul reminds them that hearing the law does not make one justified in the sight of God, but rather doing the law. The apostle sums up the state of such a people in this way:

Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written. For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision (Rom. 2:17‑25).  

Clearly, God condemned the Jews' practice of judging the Gentiles by the standard of the law while refusing to live by that standard themselves. Such hypocrisy has always caused the name of God to be blasphemed by those whose only view of truth is through the lives of those professing belief in God.

Jesus on Judging
It is the height of absurdity to condemn the wrong done by another when we are doing the same thing. Pointing fingers at another's wrong will not excuse us from God's judgment of our own wrong. Jesus had much the same thing to say about this in Matthew 7:3‑5 as follows:
And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck out of your eye," and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye.

The picture Jesus brings to our mind is one in which we readily see the absurdity. None of us want a doctor with a 2X4 coming out of his eye attempting a speck removal from our eye. Let him get his own eye problem fixed first. Likewise, we must first correct our own wrong before correcting someone else.

This is the point Jesus makes in the previous two verses as well when he says, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you" (Matt. 7:1‑2). Jesus is not saying we must refrain from all recognition of wrongs done by others. He is saying that we must avoid hypocritical judgment by condemning others while we are just as guilty or more so. In the same chapter, Jesus commands us to recognize false prophets by examining their lives (vs. 15‑20). Such would not be possible if all judging is wrong.

Applying the Principle
It does the cause of Christ no small amount of harm when people with foul mouths and ungodly conduct take it upon themselves to instruct their fellow citizens about morality. The point may be true, but it is coming from the wrong source. Such actions make it appear that people who stand for Bible values are just a bunch of hypocrites. The media loves to portray religious people that way. Let us never help them!

The cause of Christ has suffered from a number of preachers who have taught the truth about various subjects, but failed to live them from day to day. Some have spoken in livid opposition to fornication and adultery only to practice such in their own lives. Some have proclaimed the truth regarding the need for personal honesty and integrity only to leave town with a load of unpaid debts to local merchants who came to view the church as a gathering of thieves. Such men need to correct their own lives before preaching to others. The pulpit is not a license for exemption from God's law.

The church of our Lord has been dealt untold damage by those who defend it as the one true church purchased by the blood of Christ, but manifest a half‑hearted service as members of that body. When an outsider sees one of the brethren going about their normal routine on Saturday and Monday, but "unable" to go to services on Sunday, they know how much that member really values the church. When people in the world see Christians claim to follow only the Bible, yet know very little of it by heart, those worldly people will not be favorably impressed towards the truth. When a member of the church joins a group like the Masonic Lodge, alien sinners know that member does not really believe in only one way of salvation since Masonry teaches another. Righteous judgment demands that we actually live by the rule we claim to follow.

Conclusion
When we contrast the actions of Paul and Peter in Galatians 2:11‑14, we see the difference between right and wrong judging. Peter acted through hypocrisy on this occasion and stood condemned. Paul rightly rebuked him for such hypocrisy. Paul could effectively do this because he was not acting with the same hypocrisy as was Peter. Other cases in the New Testament show the same thing. We must oppose evil in the actions of others (1 Cor. 5:1‑13). We must oppose the error taught by others and even name the false teacher (2 Tim. 2:16‑18). However, we must be careful not to condemn them while we are doing the same thing. This demands constant self‑examination (2 Cor. 13:5). It demands that each "be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15).

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