In John 7:24, Jesus said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” Of course, if there is righteous judgment, there is sinful judgment, which should certainly be avoided. However, it is beneficial to be judgmental in a good way.
In my experience, the verse that virtually every American non-Christian knows and loves to quote is Matthew 7:1. Jesus said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” I’ve even had some people tell me that it was one of the Ten Commandments. In this passage, Jesus was condemning hypocritical judging. We shouldn’t call the police on our neighbors for playing the music too loud one evening when it is our regular practice to have loud parties and keep the neighborhood awake. It’s human nature to be upset and point out the one time our neighbor does something wrong, and excuse, or be completely oblivious to, our own poor behavior. That is called hypocrisy.
However, Jesus goes on, and in verse 5, He tells us that we should remove the plank from our eye, so that we will be able to help others with their speck. We are supposed to judge ourselves strictly, so that we can lovingly judge others and help them with their speck.
The Judging Trap
Many people who think it’s a sin to judge others will loudly point out when someone is judging. Of course, at that point they have identified someone else 
who is committing a sin, which makes them judgmental. The irony is that they’re committing the very same sin of which they’re accusing others.
This is exactly the type of sinful judging that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7:1. It’s a sin to get on your self-righteous high horse, and say it’s wrong for someone else to get on his or her self-righteous high horse. When you’ve removed the “It’s wrong to judge” plank from your eye, maybe you can determine whether someone is judging righteously or sinfully.
It’s not judging to tell people what the Bible says
It’s not loving to hem and haw about people’s standing before God. The loving thing to do is tell them what the Bible says. The Bible makes it clear that if you believe certain things, you can’t go to heaven.
Many Christians might say something like, “I don’t know what’s in someone’s heart. Who am I to judge?” I would agree that we generally don’t know what’s in someone’s heart—until he or she tells us. After that person has told us, it’s a good, loving thing to take the opportunity to warn someone if he or she believes something that will bring that individual harm.
The last virtue of a decaying society is tolerance 
Tolerance is a good thing. However, tolerance does not mean that we shouldn’t take a stand against evil. It seems that tolerance has come to mean that the majority must make whatever accommodations a loud minority demands. It often seems the more perverse the demand, the more effective the “tolerance” and “not-judging” card is in silencing the critics. We can let Western society wither and die for the sake of tolerance, or we can take a stand.
Every one of us makes judgments every day. We judge whether something is good for lunch or bad. We judge what shirt is best to wear. We make judgments from the smallest of decisions to decisions that affect our eternity. It’s a sin to judge hypocritically, but it’s prudent to judge properly, as Jesus has commanded us.
Christ Alone Wyoming 
Great post! love it!
It is amazing how even sincere Christians still struggle with judgement. This has to be a) not studying enough & b) letting to much of the culture dictate one’s theology. Both of which sadly abound these days……..
Note Jesus also says, “Do not give what is holy to dogs nor cast your pearls before swine” just after verse 1.
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Wonderful post! We’re ’bout finished up working through the Sermon on the Mount and last week, Voddie taught on Matt 7:15-20. While pointing out many Scriptures that command Christians to identify, expose, flee from, and fear not false prophets, he stopped and reminded us of those who throw out verse 7:1 (he called it the new John 3:16 – everyone knows the verse, even if they don’t know the reference, EVERYONE knows is unbiblical to judge) – but they don’t care to look it up and see that it’s only a few verses away from a passage that commands us to judge – “Beware of false prophets!”
Bible illiteracy is deadly 🙂 Praise God for faithful preachers.
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I think that a lot of judging is based on sheer cringe factor, but we need to base our judgements on the GREATEST commandment : are they themselves loving the Lord their GOd (and not some fantasy) with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and are they loving their neighbor as themself…SOmetimes this is obviously false and we are rightous in being offended, but sometimes it is Pharisee like…
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Excellent article! We said and needed!
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I just came across this while studying about The Commands of Jesus. Great way to explain this misquoted scripture. God Bless!
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Great post, however that is not what I experience from most Christians that I encounter. What I experience is accusations and assumptions and then judgement by those accusations and assumptions.
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Hi Persephone66,
Thanks for your comment. What you say leads me to believe you’re not a Christian. If you’re not a Christian, how would you describe yourself?
I’d also like to hear more about how Christians have judged you falsely.
Thanks,
Bill
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I think part of what we are experiencing today is some of the fruit of the unrighteous judgment that has happened in the past. Because many in the past proclaimed their preferences and theories as part of doctrine given by God – and therefore, any who hold otherwise must be ungodly – many today who lived through that are leery of making any kinds of judgment, even in areas where the Bible is clear.
And because the mess isn’t bad enough with just that, there are those today who push back against that sentiment by pushing their preferences even harder. (please understand, I am talking about areas that are preferences and personal convictions.) A great example of that is declaring that sending your kids to public school is a sin and a matter of church discipline – which is exactly what I heard from the producer of the movie “Indoctrinated” in an interview a week ago.
The trick, then, is to judge righteously, and this is where prayer and humility, and actually knowing what the Bible says, comes in.
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You should check out the blog IndoctriNation. Wow!
I find it very offensive when I find my fellow Christians judging me by their own preferences. An example I can think of is adoption. If you adopt from China, someone says why not domestic? If you adopt domestic, why not Russia? If you adopt four, why not five? When I explain to people we have completed our family ( i.e. done having children), these same Christians react with horror.
The whole public/private/homeschooled debate has becoming fascinating to me, because apparently there is a right way and a wrong way to do each one. I have to homeschool a certain way in order for it to count. If I send my children to private school, I am complacent. If I send them to public school, I am evil. If I let them ride the bus, I am the devil incarnate.
I also have to defend my giving to missions. Christians want to know how much, to who and how often? Do I give overseas? Do I help my neighbors? Shouldn’t you give more? Are you doing enough? Should you have bought those shoes for yourself, when there are children with no shoes?
These are some oversimplified examples, but all these things have come from within my Christian community. All of those things are something that my family and I have to answer, not a stranger on a blog. I will not submit myself to human approval for God’s approval. And as much as we would like to pretend, there are many things that we must use our discretion. One woman wrote in to IndoctriNation and asked about sending kids to college. Should we allow them to roam the secular hallways?
That’s one I hadn’t thought of…..yet. But thanks for the extra worry, so now when I send my kids to college, I can be prepared for the judgement! I should note that the perfect environment does not guarantee perfect children. You can get pregnant out of wedlock just as quick at a Christian college as you can at a secular college.
But I thought it was a great post and explained things well. I just wish Christians would be a bit kinder about what’s on my playlist. And a little harder on sin, like pride, idolatry, lying, adultery, unbelief.
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I think it is imperative to Judge without being judgmental….We should have the wisdom to judge between right and wrong and also to tell a tree by the fruit that it bares. Sinners cant be judged by “we” Christians because….well….they are sinners and sin is what they do. Only God can judge the sinner….Now as Christians we are to hold each other accountable (in Love) for our behaviors. This in itself is a form of judgment is it not? To hold someone accountable is to, in effect, judge their actions as being unacceptable.
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But holding someone accountable or stating what the Bible says about sin does not necessarily dictate discriminatory behavior. Aren’t we called to live by Christ’s example? And didn’t Jesus point out sin? Didn’t Jesus judge with righteous judgment? It’s never our place to yell at people and say, “You’re going to hell,” and to use discriminatory, hateful language. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stand up for what the Bible does say.
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When Jesus Christ said that he came not to judge the world …wasn’t it because the world was already under condemnation from the time of the Fall and was in NEED of His coming ….if the world were not under judgment then we would not have needed a SAVIOR…..
It is not love to allow someone to go through life without hearing the truth which is that they need a Savior to escape having to receive the wrath which God who is just must demand the payment for sin ….we either receive the pardon that Jesus bought for us or we have to endure the consequences of sin which cannot be acquitted by any person born into the world from Adam.
It is more loving and respectful to ‘interrupt ‘ someone with this information of what God’s judgment is …not our opinion… Those who know not scripture do not recognize this as love or God’s word since they know not God or his words.
It is love to speak the truth even risking rejection or worse.
We should obey God rather than man. THAT is what it is to ‘lay down your life” for others.
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Well-explained! Also, let’s not forget there are many contradictions in the secular world.
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