Judge or not to Judge - smart friends!

Here are some responses I got back from some very wise peeps in my life!

Leigh, I think it sounds like you are on the right track. Parenting is such a picture of this to me……loving our kids unconditionally even when they do some pretty bad stuff. Hating the offense, but of course not them. But I’ll do some digging tomorrow in my Him time and see if the Lord shows me anything else. The other thing that immediately came to my mind as I read your words is the passage in 2 Corinthians ,”we judge no man according to the flesh”……..this is huge to me and God has been teaching me soooo much about NOT focusing on EXTERNALS! My husband and I quote this to each other probably several times a day!!!


Your thoughts are in the right direction as I see you are really taking this scripture to heart in relation to your deisre to not be "quick to judge". That being said I would not go to the extreme to say you have no right to judge. We have a right to judge as long as we understand that we should be willing to be judged. In other words, it is our right and sometimes responsibility to call another out for sin and in that sense judging them given the fact that we are willing to be judged in that area as well.


I think you are on target with the "judging" issue. In Micah, acting justly is a "mishpat" judgment. This noun was used to describe any aspect of civil or religious government in the OT. Justice is an attribute of God - rooted in His character - and He expects Godly people to emulate it, not just in our hearts but in courts of law when evidence is presented to us. It is for specific acts of civil disobedience (see Gen. 9:1-6; Ex. 21:12, 14; Lev. 24:17, 21-22; De. 19:11-19) and carries specific consequences outlined by God.

The passage in Matthew 7 takes about judging ("krino") the heart. It is a condemnatory judgment - deciding someone's eternal fate or evoking an eternal judgment call on a person's soul. Only God can do that - we are absolutely forbidden to go there. We are, however, to have discernment when we see someone's behavior not lining up with Scripture and are not to let the behavior or actions pass by, unchecked (ie...with friends, family, or in the public arena - aka...same-sex marriages, etc...). But when it comes to judging someone's heart, it is off limits to us. We are to be "fruit inspectors" only.

So...long e-mail to say that there is a difference between discerning the wrong actions of a person and evoking consequences, and condemning someone's soul to hell.


Good morning!
We are actually doing judgement tonight for the Bible study. I have an old study of judgement and the greek for judgement is Krino meaning to give sentence/condem and the way it was taught to me regarding the Matthew 7:1 verse is that the form of judgement referenced there is the condeming kind. More specificaly the meaning to condem to hell. We should not judge one anothers salvation.. Also in the new word study bible when I went to the Greek on it it also said to pass judgement on private matters.... but later in the study it does say we are to be fruit inspectors Matt 7:16, James 5:19-20, and Galatians 6:1. I have been doing research from the study and what scares me is what I keep coming back to is that we shall be judged according to how we judge. Judgement more broadly defined is a matter of judging the sin not the sinner. While I am doing this research and looking at verses I have to sy that your blog has been terribly insightful and as always God's timing is perect. To me the way you addressed it is beyond defining what is ok and not ok to judge but the way to judge in a loving Christlike matter and it be an emotion and not just an action. Thank you so much for sharing your insights I always feel encouraged and blessed by them. Hope that you have a great day.


I don’t think that you are off base at all, but I did a little dictionary comparison and what I found is that “acting justly” is really acting fairly. Treating others the way that God would have you treat them. It starts with God then involves you, and really has very little to do with the other person. And I agree with you…that if you are doing all that God requires, you won’t have the need or desire to judge.Conversely, the first definition of judge was “to form an opinion or estimation of...” In that case, it starts with them and then involves you (and in turn what opinion you form of them). Where is God in that scenario? Your focus is on the wrong thing. With that understanding, judgment is no longer about you and God, but about you. And, if you are passing judgment, you are treating the other person the way that YOU see they should be treated...not the way God would have you treat them.Intersting...thanks for starting that ball rolling! Now I want to explore where government is given the ok by God to judge, as in our court system...hmmm...


wow leigh,you've given me a lot to think about. i think i want to go home and look at my commentary on these passages. This topic reminds me of Luke 6:37-38, judge not and you will not be judged..............give and it will be given to you..........for with the same measure you use it will be measured back to you.-holly paraphrase. it seems that this reference could be refering to giving grace to one another. if you decide not to cast judgment on your brother or sister for an offense that has occured than they will hesitate to pass judgment on you when you are the offender. i love verse 38 in light of grace. if we give grace it will be given to us in good measure pressed down shaken together and running over poured out all over our lap. for with the same measure you use to give grace the same measure will be used. i think that this passage is a challenge from Jesus with how we are to interact with one another and ties in with Micah 6:8, to do justly, love kindness and walk humbly with your God. this is all of my thoughts on it at the moment but i will email you if anything else seems to be revealed.


Thank you my friends - we are learning on this thing together!