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
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
why do you observe the mote that is in your brother's eye, and not consider the beam that is in your own eye?
but he frown'd upon Peter, and said, out of my sight pernicious obstacle to my designs; your views are all worldly, regardless of what is divine.
Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who prey upon the estates of widows, under the pretext of making long prayers; therefore ye shall be punish'd with the greater severity.
then Jesus looking upon him with a favourable eye, said, there is one thing still to be done; go, sell all your estate, and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; then come, take up the cross, and follow me.
but he answered them, go, tell that fox, that to-day and to-morrow I am casting out demons, and performing cures, and the third day my course will be finished:
Jesus seeing Nathanael coming, said of him, there's a true Israelite, in whom is no guile. how do you know me?
Jesus answered them, have I not chosen you all twelve, and yet one of you is an avowed enemy?
judge not according to appearances, but judge according to equity.
you pass sentence according to your passions: I pass sentence on no man;
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art, that condemnest another, for by condemning them, you condemn yourself; since you that condemn them, do the same things.
when the Gentiles who have not the law, do by nature what the law prescribes, tho' these have not the law, they are a law to themselves:
why then dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou think contemptibly of thy brother? since we shall all of us be brought before the judgment-seat of Christ.
why then dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou think contemptibly of thy brother? since we shall all of us be brought before the judgment-seat of Christ.
let us not judge one another any more: but rather come to this determination, not to put a stumbling-block, or any thing in a brother's way, that may make him fall.
but they are all expos'd to the judgment of the spiritual, whilst he himself is not subject to the judgment of any man.
but they are all expos'd to the judgment of the spiritual, whilst he himself is not subject to the judgment of any man.
therefore suspend your judgment till the Lord comes, who will bring to light the secrets of darkness, and expose the counsels of mens hearts: and then shall every man have his due reward from God.
when I say conscience, I don't mean your own, but that of the other: for why should I expose my liberty to the censure of another man's conscience?
renouncing all secret dishonesty, and void of all artifice, I deliver the word of God unadulterated, and recommend my self by urging the truth home to every man's conscience, as in the presence of God.
that being capable to distinguish what is best, you may remain stedfastly sincere until the day of Christ,
bring every thing to the test: if it be proof, abide by that:
If, agreeably to the scriptures, you observe that royal law, "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self," you do well.
Don't, my brethren, treat one another with detraction. he that reflects upon his brother, and censures his brother, reflects upon the law, and censures the law: if you censure the law, instead of obeying it, you set up for a judge.
Don't, my brethren, treat one another with detraction. he that reflects upon his brother, and censures his brother, reflects upon the law, and censures the law: if you censure the law, instead of obeying it, you set up for a judge.