“You shouldn’t judge, it is wrong to judge.” I have heard this self-refuting statement enough times now that I need to address this in a blog post.
One of the favorite verses in the Bible for the unbelieving world is Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (NIV). We should not be shocked when unbelievers quote the Bible out of context but the thing that concerns me most is when professing Christians quote this verse out of context. Let us examine this verse in it’s context and also with the rest of the Bible. This statement was made by our Lord in the famous Sermon on the Mount, often the individual waving this verse in the face of the Christian is inconsistent because they would reject much of the remaining teachings of Jesus in this sermon. Out of context this verse would seem to fit their world view so they find this verse to be a convenient way to suppress the conviction of God. The very next verse, Matthew 7:2, starts putting this statement into perspective. “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (NIV) Jesus is stating here that the standard by which we judge others will be the standard by which God will judge us. The first question we should ask ourselves when reading this verse is what is the proper standard? Is the standard our own arbitrarily assumed standard of right and wrong or should it be grounded on the Word of God? The question is really rhetorical, of course the standard should be the Word of God. We as Christian should be living our lives in line with the Word of God so that we can judge with that proper standard without hypocrisy.
