By David Wood
“Judge not lest you be judged!” This phrase is possibly the most used phrase by unbelievers when speaking with a Christian. These words, found in Matthew chapter 7, have been taken and used out of context maybe more times than any other phrase found in the Bible. Not only do unbelievers use this as a protective barrier when a Christian tells them what God’s word says about something, but even Christians use these words as a way to never have to tell someone they are wrong.
The issue of Christians judging has never been an easy subject to deal with. This has been even truer over the past decade as the “new tolerance” has taken hold. With the teaching of the new tolerance, we are never to judge anyone or any belief as wrong because it might offend or hurt someone’s feelings. If you were to say that someone’s belief is wrong or that some teaching is false, you would be guilty of intolerance. This has lead many believers to never question teachings, which has led to the growth of many false teachers in the Church today.
There exists a huge imbalance in the Church today concerning the issue of judging. On one side there are people that will judge every action and every opinion as being satanic, and on the other side, people that will never judge anything as ever being false or wrong. There must be a balance when it comes to judging and that balance is found in the Bible.
All through the Scriptures we are commanded to “test all things”. Keep in mind that it is impossible to test anything without also judging it. In truth, you can’t get away from judging. A perfect example is when a Christian tells another believer that it is wrong to judge. When a Christian tells another Christian that it is wrong to judge, they have judged in their very statement because they have judged the other Christian as being wrong for judging.
First, let’s take a look at (Matt 7:1) where it says “Judge not lest you be judged”. Because Jesus is the one that said this, many believe He was commanding believers to never judge. But when you read the context of the passage, it is clear that Jesus was in fact telling believers that we can judge, but never judge hypocritically. As Jesus states in verse 3, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Then in verse 5, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Jesus makes it clear, before we go to judge someone about something, we need to make sure we aren’t judging them about something that we ourselves are guilty of doing. First we remove the plank in our own eye, and then we help our brother with the speck of sawdust in his own eye. If we judge, it can’t ever be hypocritically.
Another verse that is used concerning judging is found in (Psalm 105:15) where it says, “Touch not Mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” This verse is used by many teachers in the “word of faith” movement and also in many cults. Anytime someone questions the teachings of a “word of faith” teacher, many times you will hear Psalm 105:15 used in attempt to block people from questioning their teachings and doctrines. I can almost assure you that if you see a teacher questioned and this teacher proclaims “Touch not Mine anointed”, there is a very good chance that teacher is teaching something false.
The problem is, the verse has nothing to do with testing the teachings of a Christian. When you read the verse in its intended context, it is talking about causing physical harm to someone. Specifically, the Lord’s “anointed” in Psalm 105 is used to refer to the kings of Israel (1 Samuel 12:3, 24:6, 26:9,11,16, 2 Samuel 1:14, 19:21, Psalm 20:6). The Lord’s anointed can also refer to King David’s royal family line.
To prove a point concerning Psalm 105:15, let’s say that it does teach that we are not to question the teachings of church leaders. Now, how would we know who these “anointed” are? Are they the “Lords anointed” just because they say they are? Are they “anointed” because they have a million followers that say they are? The New Testament teaches that “all believers have an anointing from the Holy One” (1 John 2:20) Does this mean we are to never question the teachings of any Christian?
The Bible makes it clear that we are to test the teachings of Christians, including church leaders. (Acts 17:11), “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul taught was true.” The Bereans judged whether Paul was a false teacher or not, and they did this by comparing what Paul taught against what the Scriptures said. For this, the Bereans were called “more noble”. Notice that Paul didn’t scream out, “Touch not Mine anointed!" We are commanded to test the teachings of Christians, and if the apostle Paul didn’t get upset about it, then neither should any church leader today.
As for a church leader, the Bible says that they themselves have an obligation to judge. (Titus 1:9) says that an Elder should “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” The word “refute” means: to prove to be false by argument or evidence. You can’t refute unless you also judge truth from error. (2 Timothy 4:2) says that the Scriptures are not only for teaching but also for “rebuking and correcting.” The only way to rebuke and correct is to judge truth from error.
In (1 Thess. 5:21-22) the Thessalonians were commanded to “test all things.” To test is to judge.
(Titus 1:13) says that a “false teacher should be sharply rebuked so that they will be sound in the faith.” Once again, to rebuke you must also judge something as being in error.
(Matthew 7:15-16) talks about how we are to watch out for false prophets, and we are to judge the fruit of their actions.
(1 John 4:1) “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
The Church as a whole is seriously lacking in discernment. To discern means: to examine, investigate, or judge closely. There are a few reasons why there is such a lack of discernment among believers. One is the fact that many church leaders tell their followers that to truly be a “spiritual” person and get closer to God, you must shut down your brain to do it. Of course, this goes against what the Bible says about a believer using their mind in everything from worship to prayer. The other thing is that many people don’t use discernment simply because they are afraid to judge. The issue of "tolerance" has scared people away from judging any belief, action, or view as false. In our culture today it seems the number one sin is "intolerance." All of this has led to the Church being filled with false teachers, false healers, and false prophets.
One ploy used by many false teachers is what is called “revelation knowledge”. Many preachers and teachers tell their followers that the message is coming straight from God and by saying this, these teachers hope to keep people from questioning their teachings by making it sound as if God is by-passing the Bible and giving new “revelation knowledge” to the Church. This causes people to never judge or test these teachings because in a way the people feel like they would be judging God Himself.
Remember that to discern is to judge. We are to judge teachings and compare them to God’s word. In the 2nd chapter of 2 Peter, the entire context is Peter judging false teachers. In the 5th chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul makes it clear that he is judging, and he tells the fellow believers that they should do the same.
There are Christians today who believe that it is fine to judge the teachings of someone, but we should never mention the false teacher’s names. But look how Paul handled that situation. In (2 Timothy 2:17) Paul not only warns people of the false teaching of two men, Paul also specifically names these men (Hymenaeus and Philetus).
As we have seen, the Bible makes it clear that not only is judging Biblical, but when it comes to “teachings” and “spirits“, judging is commanded. But, there are areas where we are told not to judge. One such verse conveys both a command to judge, and a command against judging in the wrong way. In (John 7:24) Jesus Himself said, “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”Another area where we are not to judge is when it concerns “non-essential” beliefs. If I believe that eating meat is ok, but a fellow Christian believes that he shouldn’t eat meat, I have absolutely no right to judge that person in any aspect. If you believe that you should go without food three days a week, you shouldn’t judge me if I don’t do the same. If your entire church believes you should wear a suit and tie to church, or for the ladies a nice dress, but you decide to always dress casual for church, nobody in that church has the right to judge you because of your clothing decision. These are non-essential matters.
(Romans 14:1-6) addresses the subject of judging when it concerns non-essential matters and beliefs. “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, who faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks.”
Although the above passage is talking about things associated with the Old Testament (eating habits), we can still look at this passage and realize that God does not want us to judge people concerning disputable matters. We can discuss differences when it comes to non-essential matters, but we are to never condemn or divide over such matters.
