TO JUDGE OR NOT TO JUDGE
Rev. Dr. Michael T. Welhous

So often among Christians we hear statements such as, “I know I’m not suppose to judge another person.” Or, “I don’t want to judge anyone, because I know Christians re not suppose to judge.” But as with everything, “He that is spiritual scrutinizes all things.” (1 Corinthians 2:15) Since to “scrutinize” means to inspect or examine closely, let us closely examine these types of statements using the Scriptures as our touchstone, to see if they are in fact correct.

Should we believe that as Christians, we must never “judge” another person? We need to find the correct answer to this question, lest we find ourselves displeasing before our God.

The most frequently quoted verses concerning the Christian’s incumbency not to judge are found at Matthew 7:1-6, Luke 6:37-44, Romans 2:1-16, Romans 14:1-23, and James 4:11-12.

We will not only look at the original Greek word that has been here translated “judge,” but also we will thoroughly examine the context in which the Greek word is used in these particular references, and a few other references in which the word occurs.

In the end we will have systematically, and most importantly biblically, established the correct viewpoint for a Christian concerning the subject of “judging.” Our concern should not be in looking to support our own individual opinions on this or for that matter any subject, but rather, we must concern ourselves with finding out definitively, what is God’s view on our “judging” of others. The Bible is the word of God. It does not contain the word of God! So, may what we discover in this study help us to grow even more into the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 7:1-6 in the King James Version reads, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

The Greek word here translated “judge” and “judged” is krino (kree'-no) which properly means “to distinguish, i.e. decide (mentally or judicially); by implication, to try, condemn, punish.” It is variously translated in the KJV “avenge, conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, judge, go to (sue at the) law, ordain, call in question, sentence to, think.”

In reference to the word krino, The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, compiled and edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D. states, “To separate, distinguish, discriminate between good and evil, select, choose out the good. In the N[ew] T[estament], it means to judge, to form or give an opinion after separating and considering the particulars of a case.”

“Context” refers to those parts of a statement preceding or following a specific word or passage that determine its meaning. In order to correctly understand what Jesus is saying, we must look at the entire statement, not just the words “Judge not.”

Jesus does clearly say, “Judge not.” And in contemporary English, this easily translates to “Don’t judge.” But, the phrase “that ye be not judged,” is often mistranslated from the archaic Old English. In contemporary English it should actually read, “as though you will not be judged!” So what Jesus is saying in its entirety is, “Don’t judge as though you yourself will not be judged.” This highlights the importance of reading various Bible translations along with Hebrew and Greek Interlinear Bibles, and a good Bible concordance.

Contemporary Bible students who limit themselves to the King James Version or other Bibles that utilize Old English are handicapped in trying to understanding various passages. For example, Philippians 2:6. While speaking in reference to Jesus, the KJV translates part of this verse, “…thought it not robbery to be equal to God.” At first glance, it appears that it should read in contemporary English that Jesus “didn’t think it was stealing to be equal to God.” Many fail to consider the context of Philippians chapter 2, and thus quote this phrase in an attempt to prove that Jesus is God Almighty. They are understanding it as meaning that Jesus did not think it was stealing to be equal to God. But the archaic Old English is being incorrectly translated into our contemporary English. “Thought it not” should be “did not think it;” and “robbery” should be “to take or grasp.” So a correct contemporary rendering would be that Jesus “did not think it something to take or grasp.” “It,” of course, referring to “being equal to God.”

In Philippians chapter 2, Paul is explaining how the believers should have the same attitude as that of Messiah Jesus, who although was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but instead (and unlike the devil), made himself nothing, and took on the form of a servant. He humbled himself to God, and became obedient – even to death by impaling! Remember, we are supposed to have the same attitude as Jesus. So if “thought it not robbery to be equal to God,” meant that he didn’t think it was stealing to be equal to God, then we should also think it would be not stealing for us to be equal to God! Obviously, this is not the case.

So, as we continue studying Matthew 7:1-6, we see that Jesus is teaching also about the nature or type of judging one should not engage in. He says, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.” The word “For” is a conjunction meaning “because; since; seeing that; owing to the fact that.” It connects his first statement, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” to the next statement, “with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.”

In other words, “Do not judge as though you will not be judged yourself; because with the type of judgment you judge with, or the degree to which you judge others, you yourself will certainly be judged also.” Jesus has also thus taught about the reciprocity of God’s righteous judgments.

For example, in the Mosaic Law, {referred to as such because it was given by God to the Israelites through Moses} it is written, “If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime, the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of Yehovah before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Deuteronomy 19:16-21)

So at Matthew 7:1-6, we next find Jesus next saying, “and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Again, the Old English of the King James Version oftentimes prevents contemporary Bible students from understanding even some of the simplest passages. So in today’s English, what Jesus is saying is, “and with the measure you use {to judge}, it will be measured to you {when you are judged}.” Or, “and with the degree to which you judge, you shall be judged to the same degree.”

Next, we see that Jesus uses an allegory {representation in a story of abstract ideas by means of concrete images; teaching conveyed symbolically} to qualify even further why he says, “Judge not as though you yourself will not be judged.” He says, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” Again, archaic English of the King James Version leaves little to be desired. Jesus is asking, “Why do you look at the twig that’s in your brother’s eye, and pay no attention to the long piece of timber that’s in your own eye?” Jesus then asks, “Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” In other words, “Or how can you possibly say to your brother, ‘Let me take the twig out of your eye,’ when the whole time there’s a long piece of timber in your own eye?”

The gist of Jesus’ teaching on judging is revealed in his next statement: “Thou hypocrite…” Jesus is speaking about judging with hypocrisy! His teaching is that we must not judge as though we ourselves will not be judged. The degree to which we judge someone of a particular fault or sin, is the very degree to which we ourselves shall be judged for the same fault or sin! How could we possibly think that what we believe is a sin or fault in someone else, would not be a sin or fault with us? We must make sure we are not guilty of the very same thing we are about to accuse judge someone else of.

Also, notice that Jesus doesn’t say to ignore your brother, rather consider your own fault before you attend to your brother’s fault. Then you can address your brother’s fault. Our Lord said, “…first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” In contemporary English, “…FIRST take the long piece of timber out of your own eye, and THEN you will see clearly enough to remove the twig from your brother’s eye.”

So when we apply this allegory to judging, we must not judge someone of something, thinking that we ourselves will not be judge for the same fault, and without FIRST making sure we are innocent of the same, lest we be hypocrites. THEN we can righteously pass judgment on another, without hypocrisy. Our judgments must be proper and fitting. Allegorically, you certainly would not “give to dogs what is sacred,” and you would not “throw your pearls to pigs.” These actions are not fitting and appropriate. Your brother will see the hypocrisy in your judgment, and will undoubtedly not accept your judgment, and would probably even turn in anger against you. As Jesus said of the sacred things to dogs and the pearls to pigs, your brother “will trample [your judgment] under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Now, let’s take a look at Luke’s account:

“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:37-49, KJV)

At first glance, Luke’s account of Jesus’ teaching appears to contradict what I have just established as the true meaning of Jesus’ teaching on judging. The word here translated “and” in the first sentence is the Greek word kai. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible defines kai as follows: “appar.[ently] a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also a cumulative force; and, also, even, so, then, too, etc.” In the King James Version kai is translated “and, also, both, even, for, if, indeed, likewise, moreover, or, so, that, then, therefore, when, yet.”

While the KJV renders kai as “and” in the statement “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged,” it can just as correctly be rendered “that” as it is elsewhere in the New Testament. Then we would have exactly what Matthew records: “Judge not, that ye shall not be judged.”

Also, it must be brought out that in the original Greek, there were no punctuation marks, such as commas. So, if we look again for a moment at Matthew’s account without a comma, and in contemporary English, we can read it as a single complete thought: “Do not judge as though you will not be judged.”

This is an important point because punctuation marks are used to clarify meaning by transferring to certain phenomena of speech not shown by the alphabet, such as juncture, pauses, pitch, and stress. For example, the Scriptures are clear that when Jesus died, he spent three days and three nights in Sheol (i.e., Hades). Yet, notice where most translators place a comma in the following reference:

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’ ” (Luke 23:39-43, NIV)

Jesus was not in paradise that day. He died and was in Hades for three days and three nights! Now, consider how much the meaning of the statement changes when the comma is placed in its proper place:

‘I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise.’ A misplaced comma can prove to make all the difference in the world! Jesus told him the truth on that day – that he will be with Jesus in paradise! Jesus didn’t go to paradise that day, and the repentant criminal didn’t either.

Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica about Jesus’ second coming. He said, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (Thessalonians 4:16-17, NIV)

The writer of Hebrews wrote about faithful of God of the past, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made complete.” (Hebrews 11:39-40) Also, according to what is recorded in Revelations, paradise will be on earth after final judgment – fulfilling God’s original plan of Eden expanding and filling the entire earth. (Revelations 20:7-22:5)

An interesting point can also be made when we read Luke 6:37 from The Interlinear KJV-NIV Parallel New Testament In Greek And English. It is reads, “And do not judge and BY NO MEANS ye may be judged…”

Again, the opinion of this author is that Jesus is referring to the mind-set of the