What does it mean to "Judge not, lest ye be judged?"?

Question

Matthew 7:1

Answer 1

In my opinion this verse must be taken in the context in which it is used: many people have often used it to justify their doing wrong by misapplying this to mean something close to "..don't tell me what i did there was wrong..."
Jesus ministry was most antagonistic towards the Spiritual leaders of the day who burden people with such rules that, the rules became a hindrances to a true relation ship with Christ. Jesus addresses the true nature of their intent: to make it difficult for anyone to be like them.
This verse is taken out of Jesus' "maiden speech" if i must call it and is a declaration of His position against hypocrisy.
In verse 5 of the Chapter He continues: "...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..."
This and a series of other attacks against religious hypocrisy continue to build up into such animosity that the religious "place" is threatened ultimately leading to his hatred and subsequent betrayal.
i believe this verse is not meant to imply that i shouldn't point out sin when i see it, but that i shouldn't do this hypocritically, while i myself am involved in the (same) sin, because then i will not be doing it out of love, but out of condemnation, and yet GOD who is just sees the intention of my heart.

Answer 2

Though I am sure most might disagree, I think that the word "judge" in this instance means to infer, think, or hold as an opinion. In a way, this is the original sin, the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve wanted to have the knowledge of God, the ability to judge between good and evil. This is of course, the one thing that humans can't help but do. We are constantly judging, predicting, calculating for the future, etc. Jesus told us that we should not worry about tomorrow, assuring us with examples of animals and plants, they do not worry about what they shall eat and drink and wear, yet God still takes care of them. No one really wants to listen to that. Of course not, the economy would crash.Though, if we were not worried about the future, we wouldn't be worried about the economy crashing. That is real faith.

Answer 3

It means that if you are judging someone in a severe manner you will be judge the same way by Jesus Christ and also I've witnessed this when people are so critical of others it always comes back in the same manner. Did you know that Jesus is going to check the hearts of men to see if it is good or bad? If we ask him to forgive us of our sins he said he will and he will keep no record of the sin, the slate has been wiped clean. So why would he want to judge us again when he said he will forgive and wipe the slate clean? When we judge we are moving in on his judging or taking his job away from him and we will be judge by the judging that we judge out.

Answer 4

This verse is addressed to a hypocrite! – not to those who sincerely want to discern, for example, whether a teacher or teaching is true or false to God’s Word. And instead of being a prohibition against honest judgment, it is a solemn warning against hypocritical judgment.

In fact, the last statement of this passage (Matthew 7:1-6) commands sincere judgment.

Some passages of Scripture seem to forbid judging, while others clearly require it. Studying the contexts of those which seem to forbid judging, we find that judging itself is not actually forbidden, but a wrong kind of judging. God hates hypocritical judging! But God loves righteous judgment on the part of His children. Furthermore, He commands it, and has given His law as a standard by which to do it.

It is, therefore, the Christian's duty to judge.

Answer 5

It means that the same measure in which you judge someone else God will judge you. If you show no mercy then God will show no mercy towards you. I can only judge whether an activity or mindset is wrong or right, not a person. When the woman was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus, He and He alone was the only one who had a right to stone her because he was without sin. We are all sinner. Hate the sin but love the person and show compassion and be merciful. Not foolish in your tolerance because everything is not tolerable but pray for the individual when you know they are bound by a particular sin, not judge them. Judgment if for God.

Answer 6

Maybe I am the only one that does this; Have you ever made a judgment against someone for what they did, say in traffic, and a few minutes later you either do or almost do the same thing. I think the verse gives good living advice; don't judge someone to quickly, because then if you do the same thing your conscience will judge yourself because you have set that standard. So we need to be forgiving of others then we will automatically be forgiving of ourselves.

Answer 7

It means God will judge you as you have judged others.
Jesus wants us to teach others of course it is still there choice to change, To judge someone by just the way they look or the way they dress is wrong, that doesn't mean you shouldn't use your better judgment on what someone else is doing may be wrong but don't ever think you are better than them because you don't do what they are doing because you are guilty of your own sins and it is not up to us to think our sins are not as bad as there's so we are better, remember we all fall short of God's glory and God dose not love one more than the other, If you see someone that is doing something against God's will it is better to show them what God wants from them, everyone is worth it! (It is only by God's grace we are saved).
If you just walk away and make judgment in your mind and do nothing but think of them as worthless, you may be held responsible for passing judgment. When you see a homeless person don't let it go through your mind they are not worth anything and not take time for them, they are God's children too.
God says it is not what we do sometimes that makes us week as Christians but it is what we don't do.

Answer 8

If you could of known my heart 5 minutes before I came back home to Jesus you would of said I was going to Hell and so would I. I remember a large part of the Christian community coming down on Stryper to include Billy Graham judging them as "wolves in sheep's clothing". I can not number the amount of Christians to include Pastors and all sorts of ministers that will tell you they came to faith in Jesus in the 80's and Christian rock bands were a large part of that. They almost always list Stryper along with Petra,Bride, Guardian, ect ect.
In short do not judge anyone for anything. If they are sinners they are doing what sinners do. If something or someone bothers you then move away from them or it then pray about it. You do not have to judge anything or anyone to react to it or them.
We ARE to judge actions and the fruit of our fellowships. If they are clearly opposed to the Bible then we deal with it. We still do not judge the person. Just the actions.

Answer 9

This means that God has the ultimate judgment and in fact he is the only one who has the right to judge and if we judge others as to whether they are saved or not. We are however called to judge the fruit of people who say they are believers to see if they are living in accordance with the word

Answer 10

i think we have to use a lot of common sense and discernment here.

For example, if we see some muscle bound guy attack an 80 year old woman, and he beats her and steals her purse, i think common sense can tell us that judging such an action as wrong would be not only ok, but the right perspective to take on such a vicious attack.

On the other hand, I usually stop short of judging specifically a persons eternal destiny; because I don't know what God has in store for them, even if I percieve them to be a vile person, I know that God is merciful and if He wants perhaps one day he will touch their heart and they will change, and I believe God can save anyone at anytime, even seconds before they die.

So I don't think it is wrong to judge certain henious actions and crimes, but we should never judge and condemn a persons soul, lest we found to be condemned.

Answer 11

I seem to have no in depth interpretation of this passage of the bible but the following readings from Never Thirsty gives me some hints of what the biblical passage means:

“Someone once said that the opening verse of this study is now the most quoted passage in the Bible and not John 3:16. The opening verse of our passage is Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. This passage is very popular! It is not unique to just one culture. Let me illustrate. There is a Japanese proverb which states, “Search seven times before you suspect anyone.” Confucius is quoted as saying, “It is not the failure of others to appreciate your abilities that should trouble you, but rather your failure to appreciate them.” The famous Rabbi Hillel of Jesus’ time said, “Judge not your friend until you have stood in his place.” There is an American Sioux proverb that says, “Before I judge my neighbor, let me walk a mile in his moccasins.” An Arabian proverb reads, “Examine what is said, not who speaks,” and Mother Teresa said, “If you judge people, you have not time to love them.” No one likes to be judged. We are all familiar with judgmental people. We are familiar with our own failings in judging people unfairly and harshly. Everyone judges others. It is like drinking water. We all do it.”