Everyone knows Matt 7:1 Judge not but do you know what that section of scripture is really about?

Question

Everyone knows Matt 7:1 Judge not but do you know what that section of scripture is really about?
Taking this scripture in proper context, it is talking about not judging while being guilty yourself. Don’t be a hypocrite.

Exodus 21 makes it clear that we ARE to judge! 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
Leviticus 24: " 'If anyone takes (steals) the life of a human being, he must be put to death.

Answer 1

Yeah the bible also says to gather sticks on saturday and to stone whores. . . do you do those things? You can't take bits and peices of the bible in a literal sense and then disregard the rest. . .

Answer 2

Exodus and Leviticus are from the Old Testament. The rules are different now that Jesus has been here. Jesus died so that we may be forgiven. Matthew is in the New Testament (after Jesus was here), so we are forgiven for hurting eachother if we purely want the forgiveness. People hurt others, but when they accept Jesus into their lives, those things are forgiven. If we kill them before they have the chance to accept Jesus, we are also committing a sin. Though we cannot be perfect, we can still strive to be sinless by not doing things we know are sins. It is not our place to judge and punish those who sin. That is only God's job. Instead, we should try and let them know what they did is wrong and try to help them. That is the new way of living because Jesus was here. This question is one example of what Jesus did for us. We should be thankful and respect and worship our God.

Answer 3

Great question! And very complicated. I will try...
Yes, judge not lest you be judged speaks of two things in particular. You are absolutely right - God alone is the judge and those who follow him know that their sin is forgiven by God's grace alone.
Therefore in response to that we can't judge others due to our own guilt - and which we live in joy at being forgiven by God. Always remembering we have been forgiven and giving that grace to others in our own way. So remember our own forgiven sin and in response be gracious to others, not judgmental.
And you make a very bright observation in the Exodus scripture. It is one of those issues where there are good arguments on both sides - like the death penalty.
My belief is that when Christ came and died for us, and gave the Holy Spirit, many things changed in New Testament times. Because we have the Holy Spirit of Christ living in us, and guiding us, we have a closer walk and knowledge of God. Many of the Old Testament people did, but not in the same way we do now (the old has gone, the new has come). In New Testament times, I do not believe in an eye for an eye - look at Christ who took a beating without saying a word against it - he said to turn the other cheek. There is power in that, and that is what he modeled for us.
So I don't believe in the death penalty or revenge - Romans says "vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay." God will, in perfect timing, take the steps where needed, we are to love and trust. I have seen him do amazing things to deal with people and acts, things I could never do or that are far more effective than my judgment. Because he knows all, and knows all hearts and motives and I trust him.
Don't judge - trust God in all things, and follow his direction of kindness and love.

God Bless - really great, thoughtful question.

Answer 4

In [1-12] 1. Matthew 7:1 Matthew returns to the basic traditional material of the sermon (Luke 6:37-38, 41-42). The governing thought is the correspondence between conduct toward one's fellows and God's conduct toward the one so acting. 2 [1] This is not a prohibition against recognizing the faults of others, which would be hardly compatible with Matthew 7:5, 6 but against passing judgment in a spirit of arrogance, forgetful of one's own faults. 3 [5] Hypocrite: the designation previously given to the scribes and Pharisees is here given to the Christian disciple who is concerned with the faults of another and ignores his own more serious offenses.
4 [6] Dogs and swine were Jewish terms of contempt for Gentiles. This saying may originally have derived from a Jewish Christian community opposed to preaching the gospel (what is holy, pearls) to Gentiles. In the light of Matthew 28:19 that can hardly be Matthew's meaning. He may have taken the saying as applying to a Christian dealing with an obstinately impenitent fellow Christian (Matthew 18:17).5 [9-10] There is a resemblance between a stone and a round loaf of bread and between a serpent and the scaleless fish called barbut. 6 [12] See Luke 6:31. This saying, known since the eighteenth century as the "Golden Rule," is found in both positive and negative form in pagan and Jewish sources, both earlier and later than the gospel. This is the law and the prophets is an addition probably due to the evangelist. 7 [13-28] The final section of the discourse is composed of a series of antitheses, contrasting two kinds of life within the Christian community, that of those who obey the words of Jesus and that of those who do not. Most of the sayings are from Q and are found also in Luke.
8 [13-14] The metaphor of the "two ways" was common in pagan philosophy and in the Old Testament. In Christian literature it is found also in the Didache (1-6) and the Epistle of Barnabas (18-20). 9 [15-20] Christian disciples who claimed to speak in the name of God are called prophets (Matthew 7:15) in Matthew 10:41; Matthew 23:34. They were presumably an important group within the church of Matthew. As in the case of the Old Testament prophets, there were both true and false ones, and for Matthew the difference could be recognized by the quality of their deeds, the fruits (Matthew 7:16). The mention of fruits leads to the comparison with trees, some producing good fruit, others bad. 10 [21-23] The attack on the false prophets is continued, but is broadened to include those disciples who perform works of healing and exorcism in the name of Jesus (Lord) but live evil lives. Entrance into the kingdom is only for those who do the will of the Father. On the day of judgment (on that day) the morally corrupt prophets and miracle workers will be rejected by Jesus.
11 [23] I never knew you: cf Matthew 10:33. Depart from me, you evildoers: cf Psalm 6:8.
12 [24-27] The conclusion of the discourse (cf Luke 6:47-49). Here the relation is not between saying and doing as in Matthew 7:15-23 but between hearing and doing, and the words of Jesus are applied to every Christian (everyone who listens).

Answer 5

Those passages are not about God wanting us to judge. They are about giving a more fair and just judgement in situations where humans would normally have judged much more harshly. In other words, if you injured someone's eye, they weren't supposed to kill you for it. They couldn't take more from you than the thing was worth that you took.

Answer 6

Jesus sais the first and FOREMOST commanments are: to love God with all your being and above ALL "things" - and love your neighbours as yourself (even if they are your enemy!). Any law or interpretation deviating from those two are invalid. See Matthew 5.

You have heard that the ancient ones were told... - But I tell you...

Judging others while we are not perfect ourselves is definitely not loving them and for "not loving" we are in danger of God's judgement.

Answer 7

Exodus 21 is not about YOU judging, it is a proscribed treatment for what GOD judges to be wrong behavior and the appropriate punishment in HIS eyes, not yours.

Answer 8

Yea but it is a way to make the world blind and toothless.

In many cases the punishment should fit the crime where possible.
A thief should be made to work off his punishment to the person he stole from!
Things like that.

Answer 9

Isn't there also a section that says, the one without sin may cast the first stone. I don't know anyone without sin, do you?

Answer 10

1 Cor. 2:15 - "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.".