Do Not Judge?

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If you were to guess what the most often quoted Bible verse is, you would probably say John 3:16. Right? If so, you may be wrong.  Erwin Lutzer, in his book Who are You to Judge?, says that the popular John 3:16 may actually be the second most quoted verse.  He says that the most often quoted words from the Bible are not "For God so loved the world..." but, rather, "Do not judge..." (from Matt. 7:1).[1]  While Lutzer doesn't cite any evidence to prove his assertion I tend to believe him.  This same assertion is made by Paul Copan in his book "True For You, But Not For Me".[2]  

Of course you are familiar with the recent statements (read article here) made by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame. Robertson's words had barely left his lips when a chorus of postmodern voices shouted him down with chants of "Judge not!".  Even Christians joined in the act of condemning Robertson for supposedly condemning others. This is just one incident in a long history of misapplying Jesus' words in Matthew 7:1.
The verse literally says:

Do not judge, so that you won't be judged.  (Matt. 7:1) HCSB

What does the verse mean then?  Are we to judge or not?  If the verse was isolated out of context it would indeed appear that Jesus has told us to not judge.  Furthermore it appears that if we do judge, we will bring judgment down on our own heads!  But one of the most important rules in understanding any given Scripture is to study it in its context.  A look at the context of the verses surrounding Matt. 7:1 gives us the ability to better grasp the meaning of this misunderstood passage.

Matthew chapter 5 begins Jesus' Sermon on the Mount given to those to whom He had previously called to "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!" (Matt. 4:17).  Jesus gives the Beatitudes to demonstrate what citizens of His kingdom should look like.  The righteousness of the Pharisees was the standard of the day.  The common Jew would have looked up to the Pharisee as the epitome of holiness.  The Pharisees looked pious and they sounded pious. Surely, if anyone was to be go into the anticipated kingdom of God, the Pharisees would be the first in line.  Jesus had a different assessment of righteousness.  In Matthew 5-6 He proceeds to contrast true (kingdom of God) righteousness with the righteousness of the Pharisees.  He does this in two ways.  First, He addresses the Pharisees' preaching, then He addresses their practice.

Concerning their preaching, Jesus confronts it beginning in Matt. 5:21-22, where He says:

You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.  But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement.  HCSB

Jesus proceeds to talk about their teachings, showing that the Pharisees thought they were righteous because they were externally focused, but they failed to see the sin in their own hearts. For example, they thought that they were clean because they had not physically committed adultery, but Jesus said that they had already committed adultery in their hearts. (Matt. 5:27)

Concerning the religious practice of the Pharisees, Jesus gets to the heart of the matter in Matt. 6:1:

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Jesus talks about their giving, their praying, and their fasting.  He shows that they did those things in a way to draw attention to themselves so as to gain the praise of men.  He used one word in each instance to describe people who practice religion for man's recognition... He called them hypocrites.

So the context leading up to Matt. 7:1 is that Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for being quick to drop the hammer on anyone who broke the rules externally, but at the same time, failing to realize that they were guilty of the same sins in their hearts.  Furthermore, He rebuked them for practicing religion hypocritically, seeking man's approval rather than the approval of God.

Now, in Matt. 7:1-2, Jesus continues His rebuke of the Pharisaical way of acting.  He is not prohibiting the act of judging, as is commonly taught today.  Rather, He is warning against hypocritical judging.  In other words, Don't judge like the Pharisees who are quick to find sin in other people, but fail to judge the sinful condition of their own hearts.  Jesus isn't saying, Live and let live.  In fact, in this passage Jesus actually encourages us to deal with sin in our own lives first so that we then can help the brother who has sin in his life. He says:

Hypocrite!  First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matt. 7:5) HCSB

Christians are encouraged to judge in Scripture.  We are to judge doctrine, conduct, sin, etc.  We will one day even judge angels!  The message of Matthew 7:1 is not that we should never judge, but rather, that we should first judge sin in our own hearts.

END NOTES 

[1] Erwin W. Lutzer, Who Are You to Judge?: Learning to Distinguish Between Truths, Half--Truths and Lies (Chicago: Moody, 2002), p. 16.
[2] Paul Copan, "True For You, But Not For Me": Deflating The Slogans That Leave Christians Speechless (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1998), p. 32.