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
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"Judge not, that ye be not judged;
"And why do you behold the mote that is in your brother's eye, but consider not the beam in your own eye?
But, turning, He said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! you are a stumbling-block to Me; because you are not thinking of the things of God, but the things of men."
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for ye do not enter, neither do ye suffer those who are entering in to enter.
And Jesus, looking on him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing is wanting to you: go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven, and come, follow Me."
And He said to them, "Going your way, tell this fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons, and perfect cures, to-day and to-morrow; and on the third day I am made perfect.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and He saith to him, "Behold, an Israelite, indeed, in whom there is no guile!"
Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
Ye judge according to the flesh; I judge no man.
Wherefore, you are without excuse, O man, every one who judges; for wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
(for, when gentiles who have no law do by nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law to themselves;
But you??hy do you judge your brother? or you also??hy do you despise your brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.
But you??hy do you judge your brother? or you also??hy do you despise your brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.
Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more; but judge ye this rather, not to put a stumbling-block, or an occasion of falling, in a brother's way.
But he that is spiritual judges all things; but he himself is judged by no one.
But he that is spiritual judges all things; but he himself is judged by no one.
Wherefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, Who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then will each one have his praise from God.
conscience, I say, not your own, but the other's; for why is my liberty judged by another conscience?
but we renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, not handling the word of God deceitfully; but, by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be pure and without offense to the day of Christ;
but prove all things, hold fast that which is good.
If, however, ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," ye do well;
Speak not one against another, brethren. 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 another, brethren. 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.