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 you may be judged, yourselves;
"And why do you look at the mote in your brother's eye, and fail to notice the beam which is in your own eye?
But he turned and said to Peter. "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me, because you are not intent on what pleases God, but what pleases men."
"But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces; for you do not enter, yourselves, nor do you permit those who are about to come in, to enter.
Jesus loved him as he looked at him, and said: "One thing you lack. Go, sell all you have and give to the poor; and you shall have wealth in heaven; and come, follow me."
"Go, tell that fox," he answered, "'Lo, today and tomorrow I am continuing to cast out demons and perform cures, and on the third day I finish my course.'
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, and said, "Behold a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit."
In reply Jesus said to them. "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? And yet even of you one is an enemy."
"Do not judge according to appearance. Judge justly."
"For you are judging according to the flesh. I am judging no man.
You are therefore inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, that sits in judgment; for in judging another you are condemning yourself. You, the judge, are habitually practising the very same things.
For when Gentiles, who have no law, obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they even though they have no law, are a law to themselves.
But you the abstainer, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you again the non-abstainer, why do you despise yours? For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God.
But you the abstainer, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you again the non-abstainer, why do you despise yours? For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God.
So let us no longer pass judgment on one another; rather let this be your judgment, that no one put a stumbling-block in his brother's way, nor any cause of falling.
But the spiritual man discerns everything, yet is himself discerned by no one.
But the spiritual man discerns everything, yet is himself discerned by no one.
So make no hasty judgment until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make plain the purpose of men's hearts. Then each man's due praise will come to him from God.
and for your conscience sake??is conscience, not your own. "But," you may object, "why should my freedom be decided upon another's scruples of conscience?
I have renounced the hidden things of shame, not spending my life in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God; but setting forth the truth openly, I strive to commend myself to every man's conscience as in the sight of God.
for testing things that differ, so that you may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
But try all, holding fast to the good.
If you are keeping the royal law, which says, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thou dost thyself, you are doing well.
Do not be talking against each other, brothers. He who is talking against a brother and condemning his brothers is talking against the Law and condemning the Law. But if you are condemning the Law, you are not a doer of the Law, but a judge.
Do not be talking against each other, brothers. He who is talking against a brother and condemning his brothers is talking against the Law and condemning the Law. But if you are condemning the Law, you are not a doer of the Law, but a judge.