1 Cor 2:15 (KJV) But he that is spiritual judgeth all things... Mat 7:1 (KJV) "Judge not, that ye be not judged..." F.F. Bruce: "Judgment is an ambiguous word, in Greek as in English: it may mean sitting in judgment on people (or even condemning them), or it may mean exercising a proper discrimination. In the former sense judgment is depreciated; in the latter sense it is recommended." NIV Study Notes: The Christian is not to judge hypocritically or self-righteously, as can be seen from the context. [But] Scripture repeatedly exhorts believers to evaluate carefully and choose between good and bad people and things. The Christian is to "test everything": 1 Thes 5:21 (Phi) "By all means use your judgment, and hold on to whatever is good." A.W. Tozer: "Among the gifts of the Spirit scarcely one is of greater practical usefulness than the gift of discernment. This gift should be highly valued and frankly sought as being almost indispensable in these critical times. This gift will enable us to distinguish the chaff from the wheat and to divide the manifestations of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit." For clarity, let's use the word discern for the judgment that God encourages, and criticize for inappropriate judgments. By context, try to identify whether the word judgment, when used in Scripture, means discernment or criticism. Spiritual Malpractice Luke 12:57 (NIV) "Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?" Hosea 4:6 (NIV) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. It is important that we judge things properly, or discern. If a person with appendicitis is diagnosed as having an ulcer, it may seem a mere matter of terminology, but if judged improperly, treatment could lead to death! If a baby has a fever, you wouldn't put it in the freezer to cool it down. Treating the symptom may make the problem worse! Discernment by outward appearances, out of ignorance, confusing cause and effect, symptom with problem, can be devastating--even with the best of intents. 2 Cor 10:7 (NIV) You are looking only at the surface of things. Why Are Our Prayers And Ministry So Ineffective? Consider our lack of discernment: Of the causes mentioned in Scripture of God, the world, the flesh, the devil; each Christian sect seems to focus on one and ignore the others. Diseases are assumed to be demons and "rebuked" without discernment or effect. Demons are assumed to be sickness, and "treatment" is attempted. God's discipline is attributed to Satan, and made light of. The obvious promptings of the flesh are assumed to be the spirit, or even of the soul. The soul is confused with the flesh and spirit. A mere matter of terminology, right? With such faulty diagnosis, we attempt "ministry", to no effect, and often to great harm. Is this ministry? Is this us? John 7:24 (Phi) "You must not judge by the appearance of things but by the reality!" John 7:24 (NIV) "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." ....."Judges" With Dirty Hands James 4:8,11-12 (Phi) ...You are sinners: get your hands clean again. Your loyalty is divided: get your hearts made true once more... Never pull each other to pieces, my brothers. If you criticize your brother and judge your brother you have become a critic and judge of the Law. Yet if you start to criticize the Law instead of obeying it you are setting yourself up as a judge. There is only one Judge, the One who gave the Law, to whom belongs absolute power of life and death. How can you then be your neighbor's judge? Rom 2:1-3 (Phi) Now if you feel inclined to set yourself up as a judge of those who sin, let me assure you, whoever you are, that you are in no position to do so. For at whatever point you condemn others you automatically condemn yourself, since you, the judge, commit the same sins. God's judgment, we know, is utterly impartial in its action against such evil-doers. What makes you think that you, who so readily judge the sins of others, can consider yourselves beyond the judgment of God? Don't Judge Anyone But Yourself In Disputable Matters 1 Cor 11:31 (NIV) But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. Rom 14:1,4-5,10,12-13 (NIV) Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters... Who are you to judge someone else's servant?.. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind... You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat... So then, everyone will give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another... Col 2:16-17 (NIV) Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 1 Cor 4:5 (Jer) There must be no passing of premature judgment. Leave that until the Lord comes: He will light up everything that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men's hearts... 1 Cor 4:6 (NIV) ..."Do not go beyond what is written."... Personal Judgment: Discernment or Criticism? 1 Sam 16:7 (NIV) "...Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Suppose you think that your have "discerned" something. A good test of whether this "realization" is from above or from below is: what you feel. Does your discernment lead you to help, heal, love, share? Does it lead towards purity of the body, towards Christ? Then the Holy Spirit may have given you a taste of His perspective: the truth, with love. Your actions will prove the validity of what you think, and deeper fellowship and/or humility will be the result. But if what you feel in your heart as a result of the discernment is superiority, scandal, bitterness, or a desire to detach yourself from the body of Christ, then it is not of God. Whether it is correct, or not, is not the issue: The "knowledge" comes from below, not above--as judged by its fruit. God looks at the heart. If what you "know" about others isn't useful to them or you, forget what you "know". It's poison....... http://www.acts17-11.com/discern.html
Matt. 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." This is the verse so many use to try to shame Christians for discerning poor behavior, ethics, morals, and values: the "judge not lest ye be judged" verse.....Matt 7:1 is entirely incomplete. This verse is not speaking to not judging at all -- it is speaking to not judging unfairly or any other cheap and selfish way. Read the rest of the story ... Matt 7:2-5 "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged [if we judge with an evil heart or dark intent, His judgment of us will reflect it; if we judge nobly with honesty and justice, His judgment of us will reflect that, too], and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you [if we use extremes or exaggerations or other ignoble means, His judgment of us will reflect it and judging with fairness and compassion will garner likewise in His judgment of us]. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye [point out his sins, "minor" in Jesus' example here] and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye [our own sins, even and especially those we will not admit, magnified by our selective blindness]? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' [tell him of his "minor" sins] when all the time there is a plank in your own eye [that there are greater or the same sins in our own lives which we do nothing about or think we are above]? You hypocrite* [pointing out the sins of others while by pretense thinking of ourselves as above sin], first take the plank out of your own eye [sincerely ask the Lord for forgiveness and learn and live the Truth and Light by His Word], and then you will see clearly [be in a righteous position] to remove the speck from your brother's eye [to judge and to help him out of his bondage to sin]." At Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan, Jesus was talking to the multitudes gathered there after hearing of His message and of His healings to beseech them to not become like the pharisees and hypocrites who think they are above sin. * Jesus' use of "hypocrite" in this verse is "hupokrites" {hoop-ok-ree-tace'} meaning an actor, stage player, a dissembler, pretender. And, as a FEW examples of His desire for us to judge, 1Cor. 6:2-3 Do you not know that the saints [the saved; Christians] will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Prov. 3:21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Jer. 22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness... Phil. 1:10 so that you may be able to discern [judge] what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ... Phil. 1:7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you [judge you]... Matt 7:1 seems to support the allusion that we are not to judge at all if we use small-vision tactics by focusing on only that small piece of the total of what Jesus was saying. Look at John 7:24. There, Jesus tells us to judge, but to do so righteously. Righteously means to use the Truth of the Word to discern sins and not by appearances only. In 1Cor. 6:2-3 Jesus authorizes us to judge. Judge we must else we could not discern good from bad, proper from improper, righteousness from evil. But judge behavior, not the individual; the deed not the doer; the choice not the chooser. The individual/doer/chooser is accountable for his/her deed/choice, but judge the deed/choice in your judgment. Jesus could see a king in a shepherd boy. And an Apostle in a murderer. So while we must judge one's behavior we must we try to nurture the goodness in an individual: to separate the deed from the doer. And to continue, Matt 7:6 says. "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs (the KJV says "swine"). If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." How are we going to know as undesirable the behaviors of "dogs" and "swine" if we do not judge? Yes, we do have the right and the authority to judge the behavior of others as long as we honor and obey His Word in doing so. That Jesus is the only one who can judge is speaking to judging whether someone is or is not saved. Neither you nor I nor anyone else who ever draws a breath (except Jesus) has the authority to say whether another has or has not been saved. Only Jesus can make that judgment since only He can give Salvation. Nor may we who discern poor behavior based on His Word think of ourselves as "better than" the one whose behavior we judge as poor..... http://www.capalert.com/judgenot.htm
Chapter Contents Christ reproves rash judgment. (1-6) Commentary on Matthew 7:1-6 Read Matthew 7:1-6) We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our brother without any ground. We must not make the worst of people. Here is a just reproof to those who quarrel with their brethren for small faults, while they allow themselves in greater ones. Some sins are as motes, while others are as beams; some as a gnat, others as a camel. Not that there is any sin little; if it be a mote, or splinter, it is in the eye; if a gnat, it is in the throat; both are painful and dangerous, and we cannot be easy or well till they are got out. That which charity teaches us to call but a splinter in our brother's eye, true repentance and godly sorrow will teach us to call a beam in our own. It is as strange that a man can be in a sinful, miserable condition, and not be aware of it, as that a man should have a beam in his eye, and not consider it; but the god of this world blinds their minds. Here is a good rule for reprovers; first reform thyself. http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=mhc&b=40&c=7