To Judge or Not to Judge

Jesus, the Great Teacher, once told a group of people, "Judge not, that you be not judged" (Matthew 7:1). At another time, He said, "...judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24).

There are people who think that Jesus spoke a contradiction. This means they believe the Lord taught one thing one time and the exact opposite at another time.

It is very important to study the words of Jesus to know that He truly is God's Son. it is also important that we do not accuse Him (or anyone) of something He did not say.

Jesus was sinless, and definitely did not contradict Himself. He was talking about two kinds of judging. In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus was teaching against judging as hypocrites. A hypocrite is one who says one thing, but does another.

But, in John 7:24, the Savior was teaching that there is a right and a wrong way to judge. Some people had accused Jesus of wrong-doing. They had judged Him unfairly; they should have judged Him according to truth.

What does it mean to judge? It simply means to decide that a person is doing wrong (or right). Paul, an apostle of Christ, judged a sinful man in the church (I Corinthians 5:3). He knew that the man was living against God's law. If you saw a person steal a lady's purse, you would correctly judge that the person was a thief.

Righteous judgment is judging with a right attitude. In other words, judging with love and kindness, and according to truth.

We all judge. But it must be done God's way.

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