If so please EMail us with your question to jonpartin@tiscali.co.uk and we will do our best to give you a satisfactory answer. EMailus.

Doesn’t the Bible Say that We Should Never Judge Others?

We need to be careful when taking a statement from the Bible that we recognise that it must be interpreted in the light of other Scriptures. There is no statement which is correct at all times, or that covers all circumstances. Each statement needs to be considered in its context.

When Jesus said, 'judge not, that you be not judged'(Matthew 7.1-2), He added 'for with the measure you use you will be measured'. In other words we must be careful when judging to ensure that our judgment is righteous, and takes into account the frailty of those we judge, because that is the standard we will want to be judged by.

Compassion and mercy should be the watchword of the Christian. This is what Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees that they had forgotten. "Go and learn what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice (Matthew 9.13).

If we take pleasure in judging then we are more guilty than the judged. If we feel, 'there, that's shown them' we dishonour Christ. It always grieved Him to have to pass judgment. A hard judge is not a Christian judge.

But there are sadly times when we do have to judge. And for these occasions Jesus says, 'Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgment' (John7.24).

We must always look for extenuationg circumstances. We must always ensure that we have all the facts. As the poet put it - Judge not! The workings of his brain, And of his heart, you cannot see. What seems to your dull eyes a stain, In God's pure eyes may only be A scar won on some battlefield Where you would only faint and yield. That look, that air, that frets your sight, May be a token that below, The soul is closed in deadly fight, With some internal fiery foe, Whose look would scorch your smiling grace, And send you shuddering on your face.

Paul points out that we must not judge people on minor matters like vegetarianism, holy days and meat eating (Romans 14.1-6). We must follow our own conscience and leave others for God to judge. We are not the arbiters of right.

However, when someone is blatantly going against the clear word of God (and we must make sure it is clear to all, not just to us) we have a responsibility to help such a one 'in a spirit of meekness, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted' (Galatians 6.1).

The purpose must always be to win people, not to condemn them. Sadly the church, and church history, is littered with cases of people who are very good at judging, but were not good at mercy. We must not be like that. Jesus makes clear in Matthew 18. 15-17 how carefully we should go about the matter of dealing with those who offend against us. First we should seek to deal with it privately and humbly, then we should seek out fair-minded people (the test of our genuineness is that we do not just gather our cronies) so that they can come with us to witness to our genuine attempt at reconciliation, then we may declare it in the open before the whole church so that the church can decide the matter. Only then should we take the step of cutting ourselves off from the offender. At least then we have not just acted according to our own prejudices.

Even when we are dealing with the state we must try to be fair. It is not easy to rule a state, and we must consider the difficulties fairly. But we do have a responsibility as Christians to ensure justice and fairplay, and to tackle injustice, especially to the weak, to widows and orphans and suchlike.

So it is a matter of balance. We should not be 'judging' people, always condemning everything, while at the same time we must recognise that sometimes, reluctantly, we have to judge something and try to put it right.

But in doing so we must try to be fully understanding, and take care to know the whole story. Then we must ask what we would feel like in the same circumstances. Then we must bring the matter to God and talk the whole case over with Him to see if He agrees. Only then are we qualified to act - in a spirit of meekness and compassion for all parties.

Of course, there are occasional times when the position is obvious and there is no excuse (mercilessly beating people, for example). Then we have the right, yes, even the responsibility to speak out in God's name.

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THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

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