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 be not judged;
And why do you see a speck in your brother's eye, and not consider a beam in your own eye?
But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me! For you regard not the things of God, but those of men.
But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for you enter not into it, neither do you suffer those entering to go in.
And Jesus looking at him, loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack; go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have a treasure in heaven; and come and take up your cross and follow me.
And he said to them, Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons, and finish [performing] cures to-day and to-morrow, and on the third day I shall finish my course.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, See an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.
He answered them, Have I not chosen you twelve? and of you one is a devil.
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge a righteous judgment.
You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one;
Wherefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are that judge, for in that in which you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge do the same things.
for when the nations which have not the law perform by nature [the commandments] of the law, these who have not the law are a law to themselves,
But why do you judge your brother? why do you set at nought your brother? for we must all stand at the tribunal of God.
But why do you judge your brother? why do you set at nought your brother? for we must all stand at the tribunal of God.
Let us not therefore judge one another, but judge this rather, not to place a stumbling-block or an offense before a brother.
But the spiritual man discerns all things, and is himself perceived by no one.
But the spiritual man discerns all things, and is himself perceived by no one.
Judge nothing therefore before the time, till the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden deeds of darkness, and make known the purposes of the hearts; and then shall each one have praise from God.
I mean not your conscience, but that of the other. For why is my freedom limited by the conscience of another?
but have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but commending ourselves by the manifestation of the truth to every conscience of men before God.
that you may prove the excellent, that you may be without fault and without offense in the day of Christ,
Prove all things, hold fast the good;
If you keep indeed the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well;
Speak not one against one another, brothers. He that speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Speak not one against one another, brothers. He that speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.