Reference: Judging
Hastings
The subject of ethical judging meets us frequently in the NT. 1. It is the right and duty of a moral being to judge of the goodness or badness of actions and qualities; and Christianity, by exalting the moral standard and quickening the conscience, makes ethical judgments more obligatory than before. In cases where our judgments are impersonal there is no difficulty as to the exercise of this right. As possessed of a conscience, a man is called upon to view the world in the discriminating light of the moral law (Ro 2:14 ff., 2Co 4:2). As possessed of a Christian conscience, a Christian man must test everything by the law of Christ (Php 1:10 Revised Version margin, 1Th 5:21). 'He that is spiritual judgeth all things' (1Co 2:15).
2. So far all is clear. But when we pass to the sphere of judgments regarding persons, the case is not so simple. It might seem at first almost as if in the NT all judgment of persons were forbidden. There is our Lord's emphatic 'Judge not' (Mt 7:1). There is St. Paul's demand, 'Why dost thou judge thy brother?' (Ro 14:10), his injunction, 'Let us not therefore judge one another' (Ro 14:13), his bold claim that he that is spiritual is judged of no man (1Co 2:15). There is the assertion of St. James that the man who judges his brother is making himself a judge of the law (Jas 4:11), i.e. the royal law of love (cf. Jas 2:8). But it is impossible to judge of actions and qualities without passing on to judge the persons who perform them or in whom they inhere. If an action is sinful, the person who commits it is sinful; indeed, the moral quality of an action springs from its association with a moral personality. In condemning anything as wrong, we necessarily condemn the person who has been guilty of it. And when we look more closely at the teaching of the NT, we find that it is not judgment of others that is forbidden, but unfair judgment
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"Pass no more judgments upon other people, so that you may not have judgment passed upon you.
Why do you keep looking at the speck in your brother's eye, and pay no attention to the beam that is in your own?
But he turned and said to Peter, "Get out of my sight, you Satan! You hinder me, for you do not side with God, but with men!"
"But alas for you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you lock the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven in men's faces, for you will neither go in yourselves nor let those enter who are trying to do so.
And Jesus looked at him and loved him, and he said to him, "There is one thing that you lack. Go, sell all you have, and give the money to the poor, and then you will have riches in heaven; and come back and be a follower of mine."
He said to them, "Go and say to that fox, 'Here I am, driving out demons and performing cures, today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will be through.
Jesus answered them, "Did I not myself select all twelve of you? And even of you, one is an informer."
You must not judge so externally; you must judge justly!"
You judge by material standards, but I am judging nobody.
Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, if you pose as a judge, for when you pass judgment on someone else, you are condemning yourself, for you, who sit in judgment, do the very same things yourself.
When heathen who have no Law instinctively obey what the Law demands, even though they have no law they are a law to themselves,
What business have you to criticize your brother? What business have you to look down upon your brother? We shall all have to stand before God for judgment.
What business have you to criticize your brother? What business have you to look down upon your brother? We shall all have to stand before God for judgment.
Therefore let us not criticize one another any more. You must resolve instead never to put any hindrance or obstacle in your brother's way.
But the spiritual man is alive to all true values, but his own true value no unspiritual man can see.
But the spiritual man is alive to all true values, but his own true value no unspiritual man can see.
Do not form any premature judgments, therefore, but wait until the Lord comes back. For he will light up the darkness that now hides things and show what the motives in people's minds are, and then everyone will get from God the praise he deserves.
his scruples, I say, not yours. For why should my liberty of action be limited by another's scruples?
I disown disgraceful, underhanded ways. I refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's message. It is by the open statement of the truth that I would commend myself to every human conscience in the sight of God.
so that you may have a sense of what is vital, and may be men of transparent character and blameless life, in preparation for the Day of Christ,
but test them all, retaining what is good
If you really obey the supreme law where the Scripture says, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right,
Do not talk against one another, brothers. Whoever talks against a brother or condemns his brother talks against the Law, and condemns the Law. But if you condemn the Law you are not an observer of the Law but its judge.
Do not talk against one another, brothers. Whoever talks against a brother or condemns his brother talks against the Law, and condemns the Law. But if you condemn the Law you are not an observer of the Law but its judge.