Is Matthew 7:1-5 stating a Christian should never judge, or should only judge righteously free of hypocrisy?

Question

Many quote Matthew 7:1-5 to support their understanding, that Christians should "never" judge.

Rarely is emphasis placed on the last sentence which states: "You hypocrite, FIRST take the plank out of your own eye, and THEN you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matt 7:5)"

Jesus COMMANDS in John 7:24 "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a RIGHT judgment."

Paul states in 2 Timothy 4:2 "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine."

Psalm 119:138 states: "Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful."

Thus, this is my question:

Based on the complete context of the above scriptures, not bits and pieces, do "you" believe, these scriptures are saying a Christian should "never" judge, or are these scriptures a reminder, that only Christians led by the Word of God, and free of hypocrisy, are equipped to judge Righteously? Why or Why not?

Blaise on the contrary - I'm asking a question to determine if the entire context of these scriptures are considered by those who quote the scripture, and if so, how they interpret the meaning. The answers are sure to differ and I'm interested in the responses.

Answer 1

Christians are COMMANDED to judge, but we need to distinguish what sort. We are to judge an action as to whether it is right or wrong, but we are not to judge the heart. If someone lies, we can say with confidence and gentleness, "That's not true," or "that's a lie." What we can NOT do is say, "You obviously lied because you are a black-hearted devil-possessed son of hell..." Judgement of the heart and motive belongs to God, and whenever we try to guess at that, we are liable to be wrong and only compound matters. Worse yet, our position is indefensible; even if we should happen to correctly guess the motive, we still can not prove it.

Lastly, the scripture says, "And what have I to do judge those that are without [outside the church]? Them that are without God judges. Do you not judge those that are within? Cast the immoral person from among you."

Hope this helps!
Tom

Answer 2

I've found the best way to "judge" righteously is to concern myself with myself. In other words - does a particular person, thing or event have positive or negative effect on me personally? If I deem that it may have negative effect, I will choose to walk away and leave it. I try very hard not to impart judgment on an individual after such a decision. I have failed a few times, but time usually helps.

Answer 3

It is so incredibely interesting to see the different responses to your question. It just shows how 2 different sides will interpret one text completely different. The Non-Christians think you are backing up the Christians and attempting to give them a right to be judgemental by using scripture to back it up while the Christians think you are calling them judgemental and using the scripture against them. I just simply wanted to note how laughable it is. It looks to me as if you are asking a non-biased question in hopes of receiving intelligent answers from both sides but both sides want to bicker instead.

Answer 4

actually you have an authentic perspective.

Jesus did say judge righteously, but it is better not to judge at all, and let God.
Now, there is a difference between judges that man and government appoint and the those that God appoints. If God gives a calling to a prophet to judge a matter, then He also allows a way to teach how to judge righteously.
Most people who are judges and who do judge probably do not follow the spirit of God.

Answer 5

As Christians we are to uphold and pronounce judgment based on the scriptures not based on our opinion. I think most people forget judgment is a everyday event...
Break the law...judgment
Break the rules of the house...judgment
Break the commonsense rules of medicine...judgment

We ALL live under rules and guidelines so people refuse the guidelines of Christianity and just want the "Nice" verses


Matthew 7:16-18
16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

Answer 6

To Judge we must pass sentence on someone that we cannot do only God can.....But.. we are fruit inspectors
Matt 7:20" Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them"
We can look at individuals and see by the fruits of their attitudes and behaviors as to whether they are producing real genuine fruits of the spirit or not God does not want want us to be deceived by people . Matt 7:15 also states" Beware of false prophets" Have you seen any of those lately? Only a minute % of T.V. ministers are legit.
Galatians 5:22 lists the fruit of the spirit or you could say the evidence of Christ being in someone..Love, Joy, Peace,Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness,Faith, Meekness, Temperance. Those are the fruits your looking for and inspecting

Answer 7

I do not believe that we, as Christians, are supposed to enter into judgement of whether another is saved or lost. Only God knows the answer to that about each of us. On the other hand, I do believe we are supposed to be conscious of the fact of bearing good fruit. If we have a brother or sister in Christ who is doing more harm than good for the cause of Christ, I beleive we are to enter into judgement of their actions. Church discipline was taught in the New Testament church. First Corinthians 5 even says not to eat with another Christian who is living a lifestyle incompatible with the Word of God. How can we follow this direction if we are not allowed to make a judgement? I believe we ARE to police the church and attempt to correct any faults in the membership in order for the church to remain salt and light. And as the faults of others are brought to light, it causes us to look at the faults in our own lives, and make the necessary corrections to conform to the image of Christ.

Answer 8

God is saying....that we should never judge, period. when Jesus commands that we make a right judgement....He doesnt mean...judge the person rightousely....He means instead of thinking u know the person just by their appearance....first actually talk to them...and then see who they are. its okay to have an opinion of someone...but never okay to judge. its hard to understand the difference between an opinion and a judgement. i dont understand it fully. God also calls us to help eachother...and to try and correct people. but we cant judge them based on what we know...but we should correct them based on the Bible.

and when jesus says to plan out of our own eye and then we will see clearly...He means...dont judge whether a person is rightouse or not...because ur not righteous urself. then Jesus says that then we can see what the person has done wrong in...or what they did...and then we can help. but if we are in no better state than them...what right do we have to judge the person? we all fall short of the glory of God. so we cant judge.

Answer 9

Yeah we as Christians should not judge, it is a bad testimony to the world...BUT we are to teach, rebuke, correct and train

Answer 10

So, just to subtitle this, you know what you're doing is finding scripture that justifies your being judgemental.

Honestly, it reminds me of the southern pastors in the 1840s, and their pages of scripture that justified slavery. If you try hard enough, you really can get a holy book to say a lot of immoral things.