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
"Stop criticizing others, so that you may not be criticized yourselves.
Why do you keep watching the tiny speck in your brother's eye, but pay no attention to the girder in your own?
But He turned and said to Peter, "Get out of my way, you Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for this view of yours is not from God but from men."
"A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you bolt the doors of the kingdom of heaven in men's faces, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you let those who are trying to do so go in.
Then Jesus looked at him and loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing. Go, sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come back and follow me."
But He said to them: "Go and tell that fox, 'Here I am, driving out demons and performing cures, today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will finish these tasks.
Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward Him, and said of him, "Here is a genuine Israelite with no deceit in him!"
Jesus answered them, "Did I not myself select you as the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil."
Stop judging superficially; you must judge fairly."
You are judging in accordance with external standards, but I judge nobody.
Therefore, you have no excuse, whoever you are, who pose as a judge of others, for when you pass judgment on another, you condemn yourself, for you who pose as a judge are practicing the very same sins yourself.
Indeed, when heathen people who have no law instinctively do what the law demands, although they have no law, they are a law to themselves,
Then why should you criticize your brother? Or, why should you look down on your brother? Surely, we shall all stand before God to be judged,
Then why should you criticize your brother? Or, why should you look down on your brother? Surely, we shall all stand before God to be judged,
Then let us stop criticizing one another; instead, do this, determine to stop putting stumbling blocks or hindrances in your brother's way.
But the spiritual man appreciates everything, and yet he himself is not really appreciated by anybody.
But the spiritual man appreciates everything, and yet he himself is not really appreciated by anybody.
So you must stop forming any premature judgments, but wait until the Lord shall come again, for He will bring to light the secrets hidden in the dark and will make known the motives of men's hearts, and the proper praise will be awarded each of us.
I mean his conscience, not yours. Why then should my personal freedom be limited by another's conscience?
On the other hand, I have renounced all underhanded, disgraceful methods; I neither practice cunning nor do I tamper with God's message, but by clear and candid statements of truth I try to commend myself to every human conscience in God's sight.
so that you may always approve the better things, and be men of transparent character and blameless life,
but continue to prove all things until you can approve them, and then hold on to what is good.
But if you really observe the law of the King in accordance with the Scripture, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right;
Stop talking against one another, brothers. Whoever is in the habit of talking against a brother or of criticizing his brother is criticizing and condemning the law. But if you are in the habit of criticizing the law, you are not a practicer but a critic of the law.
Stop talking against one another, brothers. Whoever is in the habit of talking against a brother or of criticizing his brother is criticizing and condemning the law. But if you are in the habit of criticizing the law, you are not a practicer but a critic of the law.