Aletheia

Q: When is judging someone wrong or right?

Scr.: Mat. 7:1-5; Rom. 14:12-13; 1 Cor. 5:12-13

Everybody on earth judges others. Whether they are petty judgments, substantial judgments, physical judgments or personality judgments, people make them every day. Some say that judging is wrong and evil and should never be done, while others would say that it builds others up and helps them to grow. Who is right? First though, we must define judging.

To judge is to decide authoritatively after deliberation. Sound almost Greek. The basic interpretation is that it is to decide something after thinking over evidence. An example of judging a person would be to look at someone in very expensive clothes, driving an expensive car up to a huge house and based on that evidence, concluding that the person is rich. It's an assumption or a conclusion based on evidence.

In class, Anthony said that it's always wrong to judge because none of us are God. In a way he is correct because in 1 Cor. 5 God commands us to not judge those outside the church, but rather to leave their judgment to Him. But, the reason that Andy was partly wrong is contained in the same verse where it says that we are to judge those inside the church. But this seems almost contradictory to Rom. 14:12-13 where we are told not to judge anymore. However, since we know that God does not contradict Himself, the context explains what type of judging we should stop doing. Paul here was talking about judging within the body about pointless things. But, he didn't just tell them to stop judging, but also to not do anything that another may judge to be wrong or that will cause him to fall.

But, since Jesus is our ultimate roll-model, what did He have to say about it? Most would say that Jesus said not to judge. He never said that. He simply said that when we judge others, God will use the standard we used on others, on us. What He did command, though, was that we were not to be hypocrites and unable to sympathize with those trying to stop sinning. We are commanded to deal with our own problems before we try to help another with the same problem we're having. If we do what we are commanded, then not only will we have integrity, but also a greater ability to help others in need of the help we never got or give what we've received.

Based on the verses and the paraphrases above, it can be see that there are usually two very different ways people judge with two equally different motivations. People either judge vaguely, critically and with condemnation, or they judge specifically, lovingly and toward edification. Their motivations are just as opposite at their actions. The first is self-glorifying or degrading of the object of judgment, the second is glorifying to God and beneficial to the object of judgment. The standard the first uses to judge is either themselves or their idea of the norm. The second uses God and His word as the standard. The first kind is what Christians are thought by the world to practice. The second is what we should be doing. The first is wrong, the second is right. And also, both are wrong to do to those outside the church, for God will judge them, not us.

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