Judging
Matthew 7:1–2 says, “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. (NASB 2020)
1 Corinthians 6:1–3 says, “Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? (NASB 2020)
Is the word judge used interchangeably?
Does the meaning differ in the manner it has been used in each verse?
What is judging another believer?
Matthew 7:1-2 is part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus elevated the Law to show that no one could keep the Law perfectly. He showed that the spirit of the Law was self-giving Love and that no one could attain to it.
Jesus was speaking to Jews under the Law of Moses, as he says later, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24, NASB 2020)
Given that context, we must take care not to appropriate these seemingly imperative statements about judging as directives for us living under the new covenant. Rather, when we read these teachings, we should see that any idea that meritorious conduct can please God is misguided.
Of course, we can take from such teaching certain principles of godliness, but these are not to become measuring sticks or litmus tests of devotion. An example of a principle we might take from this passage might be that we ought not to condemn others for failings because we ourselves fail.
A friend of mine just released a podcast episode entitled, "I Can Tell Who is Judgmental Just by Looking at Them." I really love that title because it gets right to the heart of the error it communicates. I think this is what the Lord was teaching as a practical matter. If we go around judging people, we can expect to be judged by them.
1 Corinthians 6:1–3, NASB 2020 says, “Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?”
"The world" in this passage refers to humanity in general. (BDAG *) We see in several places that the Scriptures speak of the saints reigning with Christ and ruling over the nations. Take a look at Psalm 49:14, Daniel 7:27, Revelation 2:26, 3:21, and 20:4, for example.
So, Paul is teaching the Corinthians that going to secular courts to resolve differences between believers is silly. Surely, they should be able to resolve these things themselves. Seriously, if Holy Spirit lives in us and is leading us, how can we not find unity?
We are not judging anyone's salvation. Only God and the person themselves knows that. This is a matter of the heart, which we cannot see or know. Yet Corinth is the place where one brother in Christ was behaving immorally and bragging about his freedom in Christ to do so. He was abusing the grace of God and using it as an excuse for licentious living. He was unrepentant, unwilling to listen to godly counsel and change his mind about the matter. We can judge such things, and we should, but we should do so within the fellowship.
Judging is not to become a weapon. Far too many religious institutions have made it into one. “Church discipline” has been misused, abused, and recklessly taught. Many of God's children have been deeply wounded by it.
Our practice must be to go to the offender privately and gently. If s/he will not listen, we take one or two other mature believers with us and try again gently to restore them. If they are rebellious and will not hear good counsel, then we might take steps to exclude them from fellowship, cease fellowshipping with them ourselves, and (as Paul did) allow them to suffer the natural earthly consequences of their conduct so that they might come to their senses and return to fellowship.
To put it in the vernacular, I think what the Scriptures are teaching us is to judge without being “judgy.” Our goals are protection of the local fellowship and gentle restoration.
* William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 2000 562.
