Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? (Matthew 7:1-3)
One of Jesus’ most straightforward, and yet most difficult, instructions is, “Do not judge”. The breadth of this directive is astonishing.
To judge someone means to form an opinion on their moral standing. Such judgements happen in the privacy of our minds, which makes this directive of Jesus easy to ignore. But here’s the thing about judging people. While it occurs in the privacy of our minds, it affects both the way we view the person we are judging and the way we treat them. It can show up in everything from a sudden coolness toward someone to a determined zeal to fix them. When we judge a person, it affects the way we think and act, often shutting down the type of relationship and even conversations that allow faith to be shared and cultivated.
Of course, it would be much easier not to judge people if they didn’t give us such good reasons for doing so. Why shouldn’t we judge the politician who accepts a bribe, or the teenager who destroys property, or the perfectly healthy-looking panhandler, or the racist in a white hood? How could Jesus mean that we’re not to judge anyone? We judge people because they often deserve it!
But if we’re honest, we judge people for a less worthy reason. We often judge people because we think of ourselves as worthy and morally obligated to pass judgment. In John’s gospel account, a crowd preparing to stone a woman thought they were both worthy and compelled to judge her. While Jesus recognized the woman’s guilt, he shut the stoning down with one statement, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
It is important to note that the Bible distinguishes clearly between our judgment of good and evil itself, and our judgment of people. We are never supposed to turn a blind eye to evil. We are supposed to rightly discern right from wrong. But that doesn’t make us the rightful judge of those whom we think do wrong. Discerning good from evil, and judging people, are two different things.
The Scriptures teach that the reason we are not to judge people is that as wrongdoers ourselves, we often don’t make good judges. It points out that we tend to see others’ sins while ignoring our own. We are easily swayed by appearances. We are prone to our own self-interest. We favour those who are most like us, or who are rich or influential. As individuals, we simply aren’t very good at judging people accurately.
This is why our judicial system involves so many people in the process of determining legal judgements: those who collect evidence, witnesses, experts, and those trained in the law. We do our best to ensure sound legal judgements, but this always involves many people. Yet we recognize that miscarriages of justice still occur from time to time.
The Bible teaches that God is the one truly able to perfectly judge human beings. God alone has all the facts. God alone knows the motivations of the heart, and the factors that gave rise to them. God alone sees deeply enough to discern intent from mistake.
A time will come when everything each of us has done will be revealed. Clearly, how we live matters. Whether we follow our Saviour’s instructions matters. Our faith, as Christians, is meant to be linked to how we live. This includes us trying our best to follow Jesus’ most challenging directives, such as “Do not judge”.
Although worthy to judge people, Jesus tempered judgement with mercy. To the woman caught in adultery, He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Later, in chapter 12, John records Jesus saying these words, “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”
Jesus commanded us to simply refrain from judging people, even when we think we have good reason for doing so. That’s because there are good reasons to let go of judging. When we let go of judging others, it frees us from pride and hypocrisy. But letting go of judging people not only frees us from things. It frees us for things. It frees us to see the best in people. To see the potential that each person has, no matter how much they’ve messed up in the past.
When we let go of judging people, we are free to participate in God’s new creation begun in the resurrection of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians we read, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. Look, new things have come into being.” Are you able to look at the world and see the new things God is doing, despite the frailty and brokenness of human beings? A refusal to judge people provides fertile ground for building authentic relationships with them and for sharing our faith with them. Simply put, judgement is a hindrance to both of those things.
As Christians, we are called to live out the forgiveness that God has shown to us. God is perfectly able to take care of the judgement bit. Simply decide, and ask God to help you, to be gracious to each person your life intersects with. Take a moment to think of someone that you have had a judgmental attitude towards. Call them up, invite them for a coffee or a beer, and start building the sort of relationship that will allow you to share your faith and to hear what they believe. Let go of judging and see what new thing God grows in its place.
Do Not Judge: A Major Hindrance to Sharing Faith
One of Jesus’ most straightforward, and yet most difficult, instructions is, “Do not judge”. The breadth of this directive is astonishing.
To judge someone means to form an opinion on their moral standing. Such judgements happen in the privacy of our minds, which makes this directive of Jesus easy to ignore. But here’s the thing about judging people. While it occurs in the privacy of our minds, it affects both the way we view the person we are judging and the way we treat them. It can show up in everything from a sudden coolness toward someone to a determined zeal to fix them. When we judge a person, it affects the way we think and act, often shutting down the type of relationship and even conversations that allow faith to be shared and cultivated.
Of course, it would be much easier not to judge people if they didn’t give us such good reasons for doing so. Why shouldn’t we judge the politician who accepts a bribe, or the teenager who destroys property, or the perfectly healthy-looking panhandler, or the racist in a white hood? How could Jesus mean that we’re not to judge anyone? We judge people because they often deserve it!
But if we’re honest, we judge people for a less worthy reason. We often judge people because we think of ourselves as worthy and morally obligated to pass judgment. In John’s gospel account, a crowd preparing to stone a woman thought they were both worthy and compelled to judge her. While Jesus recognized the woman’s guilt, he shut the stoning down with one statement, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
It is important to note that the Bible distinguishes clearly between our judgment of good and evil itself, and our judgment of people. We are never supposed to turn a blind eye to evil. We are supposed to rightly discern right from wrong. But that doesn’t make us the rightful judge of those whom we think do wrong. Discerning good from evil, and judging people, are two different things.
The Scriptures teach that the reason we are not to judge people is that as wrongdoers ourselves, we often don’t make good judges. It points out that we tend to see others’ sins while ignoring our own. We are easily swayed by appearances. We are prone to our own self-interest. We favour those who are most like us, or who are rich or influential. As individuals, we simply aren’t very good at judging people accurately.
This is why our judicial system involves so many people in the process of determining legal judgements: those who collect evidence, witnesses, experts, and those trained in the law. We do our best to ensure sound legal judgements, but this always involves many people. Yet we recognize that miscarriages of justice still occur from time to time.
The Bible teaches that God is the one truly able to perfectly judge human beings. God alone has all the facts. God alone knows the motivations of the heart, and the factors that gave rise to them. God alone sees deeply enough to discern intent from mistake.
A time will come when everything each of us has done will be revealed. Clearly, how we live matters. Whether we follow our Saviour’s instructions matters. Our faith, as Christians, is meant to be linked to how we live. This includes us trying our best to follow Jesus’ most challenging directives, such as “Do not judge”.
Although worthy to judge people, Jesus tempered judgement with mercy. To the woman caught in adultery, He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Later, in chapter 12, John records Jesus saying these words, “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”
Jesus commanded us to simply refrain from judging people, even when we think we have good reason for doing so. That’s because there are good reasons to let go of judging. When we let go of judging others, it frees us from pride and hypocrisy. But letting go of judging people not only frees us from things. It frees us for things. It frees us to see the best in people. To see the potential that each person has, no matter how much they’ve messed up in the past.
When we let go of judging people, we are free to participate in God’s new creation begun in the resurrection of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians we read, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. Look, new things have come into being.” Are you able to look at the world and see the new things God is doing, despite the frailty and brokenness of human beings? A refusal to judge people provides fertile ground for building authentic relationships with them and for sharing our faith with them. Simply put, judgement is a hindrance to both of those things.
As Christians, we are called to live out the forgiveness that God has shown to us. God is perfectly able to take care of the judgement bit. Simply decide, and ask God to help you, to be gracious to each person your life intersects with. Take a moment to think of someone that you have had a judgmental attitude towards. Call them up, invite them for a coffee or a beer, and start building the sort of relationship that will allow you to share your faith and to hear what they believe. Let go of judging and see what new thing God grows in its place.
The Reverend Canon Dr. Judith Paulsen is an Anglican priest and the author of the recently released book, A New and Ancient Evangelism: Rediscovering the Ways God Calls and Sends. She served for fifteen years in parish ministry, followed by eleven years as Professor of Evangelism at Wycliffe College. For seven of these years, she also directed the Wycliffe Institute of Evangelism, working with churches, dioceses, and denominational leaders across Canada and parts of the United States.
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