JUDGMENT-OTHERS BY
Certainly, in
Matthew 7:1, Jesus did forbid judging in one sense… But for now, note that if
you read through that same gospel of Matthew, you’ll find that Jesus also
clearly called us to rebuke others for sin, even rebuking them publicly if need
be (Matt. 18:15-17; cf. Luke 17:3).
Whatever Jesus meant by not judging in Matthew 7, He didn’t mean to rule
out the kind of judging He mandated in Matthew 18… If you think about it, it is
not really surprising that we as a church should be instructed to judge. After all, if we cannot say how a Christian should
not live, how can we say how a Christian should live?
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway,
2000, p. 155-156.
Do not then
spend the strength of your zeal for your religion in censuring others. The man
that is most busy in censuring others is always least employed in examining
himself.
Thomas Lye
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 278.
How severe justicers we can be to our own crimes in others’ persons.
Nehemiah Rogers
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 278.
An individual
Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons –
marriage, or meat, or beer, or cinema; but the moment he stars saying the
things are bad in themselves, or looking down his nose at other people who do
use them, he has taken the wrong turning.
C.S. Lewis
What Jesus forbids is self-righteous,
officious, hasty, unmerciful, prejudiced, and unwarranted condemnation based on
human standards and human reasoning… [He
condemns] the judgment of motives, which no mere human being can know of
another, and to judgment of external forms.
John MacArthur
Matthew 1-7, Moody, 1985, p. 433, 432.
Whenever we assign people to
condemnation without mercy because they do not do something the way we think it
ought to be done or because we believe their motives are wrong, we pass
judgment that only God is qualified to make (Jas. 4:11-12).
John MacArthur
Matthew 1-7, Moody, 1985, p. 433.
A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a
spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.
[Christians are] not to be hasty in
making negative judgments on their fellows. It is a dangerous procedure because
it invites a similar judgment in return. And it is a difficult procedure
because our own faults make it hard for us to see precisely what is amiss in
our fellows. Jesus is not, of course, forbidding all judgments; He is warning
against the hasty condemnations that are so easy to make, and so characteristic
of the human race.
Leon Morris
Matthew, Eerdmans, 1992, p. 164.
[The one] who
judges according to the word and law of the Lord, and forms his judgments by
the rule of charity, always begins with subjecting himself to examination, and
preserves a proper medium and order in his judgments.
John Calvin
Quoted in: Tabletalk, March 2008, p. 39.
Be quick to
judge yourself and not to judge others.
Author Unknown
Self asserts
itself in criticizing others. Let this thought burn itself into your memory –
the more like Jesus Christ a man becomes, the less he judges other people. It
is an infallible test. Those who are always criticizing others have drifted
away from Christ. They may still be His, but have lost His Spirit of love.
Beloved reader, if you have a criticizing nature, allow it to dissect yourself
and never your neighbor.
Author
Unknown
The Kneeling Christian, circa 1930, ch. 11.
For some
reason, it is easier to jump to negative conclusions about people than it is to
assume the best about them. When we do this, we ascribe to them bad intentions
and evil purposes that may not be true. We also reveal something about
ourselves, for the faults we see in others are actually are reflection of our
own.
Author Unknown
Our Daily Bread.
It is better
to have eyes for beauty – than for blemish. It is better to be able to see the
rose – than the thorns. It is better to have learned to look for things to
commend in others – than for things to condemn. Of course other people have
faults – and we are not blind. But then we have faults of our own – and this
should make us charitable.
J.R. Miller
Judging Others, 1894.
We are not to
look for the evil things in others. We are not to see others through the warped
glasses of prejudice and unkindly feeling. We are not to arrogate to ourselves
the function of judging, as if men were answerable to us. We are to avoid a
critical or censorious spirit. Nothing is said against speaking of the good in
those we see and know; it is uncharitable judging and speaking, which Jesus condemns.
J.R. Miller
Judging Others, 1894.
In condemning and censuring others, we are thrusting ourselves into God's
place, taking his scepter into our hands, and presuming to exercise one of His
sole prerogatives.
J.R. Miller
Judging Others, 1894.
People are
not truly grieved by the sins in others, which they complacently expose and
condemn. Too often they seem to delight in having discovered something
unbeautiful in a neighbor, and they swoop down upon the blemish – like a
vulture on carrion! If ever criticism is indulged in – it should be with deep
grief for the friend, that the fault exists in him;
and with sincere desire that for his sake it be removed; and then the criticism
should be made, not in the ear of the world – but “between him and you alone.”
J.R. Miller
Judging Others, 1894.
Have you noticed
that even people who feel lousy about themselves are judgmental toward others?
When you feel inferior to others, you don’t respect them or treat them with
mercy. Instead, you envy, hate, grumble, and criticize. Even self-belittling
tendencies – “low self-esteem,” self-pity, self-hatred, timidity, fears of
failure and rejection – fundamentally express pride failing, pride intimidated,
and pride despairing. Such pride,
even when much battered, still finds someone else to look down on.
David Powlison
Seeing With New Eyes, P&R Publishers, 2003, p.79.
What Jesus
prohibits…is sinful, improper judging. It is the hypocrisy of condemning others
but failing to see one’s own glaring sins. Jesus forbids self-righteous
criticism, a hypercritical spirit, and a harsh, fault-finding mindset.
Alexander Strauch
Leading With Love, Lewis and Roth, 2006, p. 158, Used by
Permission.