To Judge Or Not To Judge?

The Bible almost seems at first glance to contradict itself on the topic of judging others, here's the general verses for both;

Judge not.
Matthew 7:1
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Luke 6:37
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged.
Romans 2:1
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Romans 14:10
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
James 4:12
Who art thou that judgest another?

Judge everything and everyone
Leviticus 19:15
In righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
John 7:24
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
1 Corinthians 2:15
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
1 Corinthians 6:2-3
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?.

What does "Judge not" actually mean?
Does it or can it mean that we are in no way to judge right from wrong or good from evil, saint from sinner, if something is from God or from satan?
A good text to explore this is actually Matt 7:1 and the following verses which hold this first part "Judge not, that ye be not judged" but continues;
"For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

At first thought this seems to me to set a context for judging; first judge ones self and only then may we judge our christian brothers and sisters in order to help them live victoriously over sin and temptation. This would fall in line with 1 Corinthians 2:15 "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." Spirit filled people may judge! So the premises for judging is that we are walking and filled with the Spirit.
Also the text in John 7:24 "judge righteous judgement" also sets a firm precedent for how to judge. We humans have not got authority to declare what is right and wrong nor who is sinner or saint, but God has! Our judging must be and only be according to the Word of God, God has authority to declare judgement on all and His word has given very clear definitions of sin!

So It is by God's judgement that right and wrong is judged!

"For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you"
when we judge others by our own hypocritical standards and by non Biblical standards and with wrong motives, we will be judged by God with the same measure.

"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye"
Here the Scriptures are clear that it is wrong (this being a judgement) to pick out faults, flaws and sins of others when our own lives are full of sin, faults and flaws. We are to remove the plank [sin] from our own lives and then with clear vision (Spiritual fullness) remove the speck (sin) from our brother's. Note also that we are only to do this to 'brothers', not to random strangers, but to Christian's that the church may be purified, that they may be holy and Christ uplifted.
Humility is called for here, there is a difference (often mis-seen) in judging with love and judging with condemnation. In love we ought to confront sin in the church by following Christ's method in Matthew 18:15-17 which also leads to casting out the unrepentant 'christian'!

Unfortunately there is a lot of judgement from Christians that is unBiblical, unmerciful and downright hypocritical, condemning others when we have no place to condemn, nor no warrant to do so. Often we spend time judging those outside the faith for their sinfulness and take pride that we are not like these sinners.

When it comes to those outside of the church we are called by Christ to love them, yes we are to confront the fact that they are sinful, disobedient to God and seperated from Him as well as being condemned by Him, but remember that we were exactly the same and that it was only grace that changed that! We are still sinful, we have not attained perfection and we are often disobedient to Christ. It is only His grace that has brought us to forgiveness and unity with God.

Time for a quote or two
John Macarthur - "The Savior does not call for men to cease to be examining and discerning, but to renounce the presumptuous temptation to try to be God."
William Burkitt - "Self-judging is a great duty; judging others a grievous sin; yet is not all judging of others condemned, but a judging of our neighbour's state or person rashly and rigidly, censoriously and uncharitably: especially unrighteously and unjustly. And the reason of the prohibition is added; if we judge others rashly, God will judge us righteousl"
Dr. Ray Pritchard - "Perhaps it is easier to say what he did not mean. Jesus is not saying we should never pass any sort of judgment. Every day we make hundreds of judgments about things around us. It is not wrong, for instance, to sit on a jury and render a verdict. Nor it is wrong for an admissions committee to decide which students to accept and which to reject. Nor it is wrong for an employer to decide who gets a promotion and who doesn’t. Nor is it wrong for schools to judge certain students worthy of high honor at graduation. We all have to make decisions every day that involve other people. We pass judgment on appearance, behavior, speech, deportment, attitude, work ethic, productivity, keeping or breaking a promise, guilt or innocence, which person we believe and which person we do not believe. Whatever the words of Jesus mean, they can’t mean that we never pass judgment in any sense at any time. "


Another trait about "judge not" is that often people use it to say "don't judge" or "you shouldn't say that" often leading to a declaration that you are "judgemental". Here's the thing, in declaring you to be in the wrong and of being judgemental they are themselves passing judgement!
I say this not to be smart but to show that in one way or another we all pass some sort of judgement! (If I were to say that you are judgemental then I am passing judgement on you). And where does this statement end? Does the judge in the court of law lose his job? Do police stations close their doors?

In Summary
We are first to assess and judge ourselves!
We are to walk in the Spirit & be filled with the Spirit.
Only then may we judge other Christians, in mercy and with loving compassion in order to build up and exhort to holiness.
We are not called to judge those outside the church, but to mercifully tell them of sin and seperation from God and lovingly call them to repentance and faith in Christ.
All judgement is to be only in accord with Scripture, (what Gos has declared right from wrong).



On the side, I found a great quote while reading up on this by Dr. Martin Luther King;

“There are two men I am supposed to hate. One is a white man, the other is black, and both are serving time for having committed murder. I don’t hate either one. There is no time for that, and no reason either. Nothing that a man does takes him lower than when he allows himself to fall so low as to hate anyone.”