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Do Not Judge

             “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2)

 

            Some people love to trot out the first verse of today’s passage: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” The first problem with doing so is that telling someone not to judge involves judging the person as guilty of judging others. Of course, the whole idea is that its wrong for anyone who claims to be a Christian to judge someone who is doing something the Bible says is wrong. Since the person pounding his fist on the pulpit and shouting “Do not judge!” is not a Christian, they are free to judge.

            Historically, this passage tends to be seen as a command from Jesus. I’m not saying it’s not, but another perspective might be involved. When we judge others, others will judge us – positively if they agree and negatively if they don’t. The same people who scream, “Do not judge,” will applaud your judgment if you condemn someone they don’t like or if they don’t like the thing for which you’re judging someone. Those who think guns should be strictly enforced aren’t going to complain about your judging someone who commits mass murder. They will cry, “Preach it!”

This leads to the question of the extent to which Jesus’ words are prescriptive and to what extent they are descriptive. They are likely both. It is true that if you tell someone what they’re doing (or approving) is wrong, and they’re likely to reciprocate and escalate.

There’s also the question of why we wouldn’t want others to judge us. Putting aside the obvious fact that being told one is doing wrong isn’t enjoyable, I can change my ways if I am doing something wrong and you tell me. If you don’t tell me, I may be stuck in the misery of that sin forever. Judging me may change me for the better.

But, bringing it all back to the more traditional view, God will judge us according to our own standards if we judge others. If I condemn someone else for X and do X myself, God will condemn me for doing X. However, if I tell someone that X is wrong and agree that it is wrong even if/when I do it, that’s dealing in facts, not attacking another person. I don’t have a problem with God judging me according to the same standards as I judge  you for murder when I haven’t committed murder, and murder should be condemned, no matter how we feel about the murderer.

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