"Judge Not" ... Sound Theology or Sound Bite? 
by Rev. Timothy Crater
Published in Washington Watch, December 1999
Family Research Council (http://www.frc.org)

The biblical expression "judge not" is widely used nowadays to prevent social 
conservatives from criticizing secular social reformers who seek to overhaul our 
traditional mores and culture. People, who often know very little of the Bible 
and generally have less use for it, seem especially eager to hurl this moral 
grenade at opponents whose views they perceive to be based on biblical 
morality. Conscientious people engaged in the public arena should understand 
the original intent of this phrase, so that they are able to decipher whether their 
opponents have a valid moral criticism or are misusing a biblical phrase to 
squelch valid objections. Is the cry "judge not" being misused? Is the expression 
sound theology or sound bite? 

One needn't be a biblical scholar to understand that the Bible is not opposed to 
judging. The Bible contains moral standards that God expects people to keep 
and that are used in a wide variety of circumstances to measure human behavior. 
The Ten Commandments, which have recently received heightened attention in 
the public arena, are certainly moral standards by which God intended His 
ancient people to judge themselves and one another. There's little doubt that 
murder, adultery, theft, and perjury were viewed as wrong in ancient days; those 
who violated the commandments were held accountable and judged. 

Many social conservatives assert that those same commands (and their 
corresponding judgments) apply today as well. To hear postmoderns tell it, 
however, you would think that the Bible contains no standards applicable to 
human behavior today, and thus there exists no justification for making moral 
judgments of today's society. 

What did Jesus mean by "judge not" (Matt. 7:1-5)? His teaching, taken as a 
whole, shows that He was actually saying that we should not judge others 
without expecting ourselves to be judged by the same standard. Many leaders in 
His society were doing precisely that (cf. Matt. 15:1-9). Jesus assured listeners 
that their judgment against others would be used against them, both in manner 
and measure. 

He also spoke of ignoring a log in one's own eye while focusing on the splinter 
in the eye of another, indicating that a person should judge himself before 
judging his fellow. Jesus was not condemning judging per se, but only the self-
exempting type of judgment. The key to righteous judgment is the process, 
which must start with one's self. 

Moral judgments are essential and the Bible is filled with them. In the Old 
Testament, King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then conspired 
to have her husband killed (II Sam. 11). Nathan, the prophet, confronted David 
(chap. 12) by telling him a story that invited the king to judge another man for 
actions similar to David's. Falling into the trap, David became angry and 
declared "As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die." 
Nathan replied, "You are the man!" Nathan then spoke the Lord's righteous 
judgment against the king. Although God spared David's life, He judged him by 
the standards that David, himself, had set. 

In the New Testament, the adherence to righteous judgment continued. Jesus 
told the disciples, "If your brother sins against you, go and reprove him in 
private" (Matt. 18:15). Again, Jesus emphasized the process, which involves the 
presumption of a moral standard, a personal judgment that it has been violated, 
and the necessity of gracious confrontation to bring about repentance. 

The relevance of this process transcends all areas of life. The survival of the 
physical body depends on its ability to decide which cells are healthy and 
normal and which should be attacked and removed from the system. The healthy 
survival of the church (or any body politic) also depends on its ability to discern 
those elements that contribute to survival and those that cause death. 

For this reason, Jesus denounced the leaders severely for their behavior (Matt. 
23). Likewise, the apostle Paul taught that the church must judge its members, 
taking action against them if they persist in immoral behavior (I Cor. 5:3, 12). 
Paul also taught that we must judge ourselves " hold ourselves to the same 
biblically-based standards we expect of others " so that we won’t be judged (I 
Cor. 11:31). 

Since we are called to discernment, we cannot avoid judging. We must, 
however, seek to do so properly, always starting with ourselves. Then, as 
difficult or as unpopular as it may seem, judge we must.
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