There is one verse in the Bible that American culture has memorized. “Judge not so that you are not judged.” The refrain “You have no right to judge me or my actions,” rings loud and clear. But is that what Jesus was teaching, that we should not judge actions of others? Was he giving all of us a free ticket to do whatever we pleased?
We forget that Jesus also said we will know good men or bad men by their fruits (Mt 1:15-20). Paul wrote that we are to judge within the church (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). Why then this apparent contradiction? Are we to judge or aren’t we?
Paul helps to clarify the problem. We are to “judge” or make arbitration between offending parties when there is a dispute between believers, but we are not to judge unbelievers. We are to judge acts as being righteous or unrighteous, fair or unfair (I Cor 6:1-8) but not judge the worth of the opponents.
God has given us a standard by which to distinguish (judge) between a true follower of Christ and a fake (charlatan) (Mathew 1:15-20). But in our analysis of actions we must remember that the yard stick we use for someone else, God will use on us. Our yard stick must never be of our own creation, but only that which God supplies in his word. Even at that we never judge the worth of an individual, but only the act (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).
