“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment, you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:1-2
Matthew 7 has two of the most misunderstood verses of Scripture especially given that the ones who will point this out the most are the unbelievers. You may never have known where exactly you found them but here they are. The first one is the one offered above. The second one even has a name that is more memorable.
“So, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:12
The two verses have been understood to be some form of repellant spray whenever any believer presents something people do to be sinful. It has been used by some claiming to be disciples, it has been used by some claiming to be pastors and it has even been used by believers. So today, why don’t we go through the idea of judging someone and why so many people have a false notion of this in the first place. Let’s start by understanding a very obvious point of logic.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO JUDGE
Yes, the statement is not flawed. We as human beings are incapable of not exercising judgement on either ourselves or others. The idea of everyone simply minding their own business is not only impractical, it is in itself a statement of judgement against those who are nosy or interfering in the affairs of others. You see, judging carries a very negative connotation these days and it’s very common to the Church as it is often assumed that people should just live their lives and those against such are unloving or outright hostile. So, in order to understand why this is wrong, we need to start with what is right.
Judgement is basically the ability to exercise discernment on matters and come to sensible conclusions. A hypocrite is therefore defined as one who holds or claims to hold to a greater morality than they actually possess. Human beings often carry out judgement in their daily lives in three specific ways.
The Law of Common Sense
This is the idea that there are some things that should be afforded to you at no expense just because it is an obvious thing to do. For example, if someone treats you kindly, they may not expect you to do the same but there is a mutual understanding between human beings that you should do the same. This is usually what everyone can agree on when it comes to judgement because it is often seen as a ‘beneficial to all’ kind of thing.
One of the most interesting things is that this area is by far the easiest to spot a hypocrite as many of us are well versed in the idea of common sense. If you see someone cutting in line and earlier, they said that they believe that first come should always be first served, it is easier to point out that they are wrong. They say one thing and they definitely do the other. This is why most worldly people would claim that this is the one and only way to live by rules. Don’t say what you cannot do and don’t live in a way that disturbs anyone. Always apply common sense. In other words, do unto others what you would like them to do unto you.
And yet…we know this law in itself does not work because for common sense to function, there must be mutual respect and where there is none or lack of knowledge thereof, people can get taken advantage of because nothing is really set in stone. So, we set things in stone…
The Law of Authority
In this understanding, we do more than just hope people will not get hurt. We establish rules as far back as the history of independence of the state goes to ensure that people cannot claim ignorance later on. In other words, the law of authority is meant to establish accountability for those who follow and punishment and reformation for those who do not. This becomes stronger than mere goodwill as now crime is defined. I will not be the first to tell you that laws of any kind are established from the understanding of morality and depending on the country, some things are more likely to be taken advantage of than others. Now there are more rigid rules and society can function. Cars can be built without fear of theft and insurance companies can help drivers feel more at ease on the wheel from those who can do harm. Since murder can happen, we set rules to prevent murderers from ever gaining access to killing more lives. And we slowly come to some rational agreement.
We can explain it in this simple way. A child will not keep taking cookies after supper if the kid is punished every time, they keep doing it. The child comes to a rational conclusion that taking a cookie will equal to punishment and thus takes measures to either avoid it or to enjoy the cookie eating at a time where authority is not present. For as long as the child is under the parents, this rule remains ironclad and thus builds the morality of the child to not steal by actively encouraging discipline. The child has therefore exercised judgement.
Up until this point, I am very sure I will not have any issues with many given the direction of postmodernism that they have chosen to embrace. And yet…there is still something that is not answered by both the first and the second system of judgement; why rule-breaking actively remains and more importantly, why there are some things that do not adhere to either the first or the second rule and yet are held by some to be with equal authority. These matters are tricky; we cannot actively call them common sense for we know many that act as though common sense is not common and these matters cannot be considered human law for it would be nigh impossible to regulate who follows it and when and how it should be punished.
These matters have led some to the conclusion that ‘Love is Love’, these matters have led to the rise of Critical Race Theory and the near downfall of the current wave of feminism, these matters have led to the creation of non-governmental and international organizations to be able to enforce them in a way a government cannot yet as these organizations grow more powerful, they fall prey to the very same thing they once fought for. These are things everyone wants to fight for but ultimately nobody can. I am most certainly talking about…
The Moral Law
The reason we begin to disagree greatly when we arrive at this form of judgement is that, especially for moral relativists, it comes with questions that demand an answer beyond any man’s capability of enforcing it, however powerful. It is one thing to claim that rules help enforce and keep society in check but to go further and ask why society should be in check is something people do not want to do because new questions arise. You will have to find a reason why children should be protected and yet at the same time unless they are outside the womb, they aren’t considered children. You will have to find a reason why you believe people should mind their own business until you see racism happen in front of your eyes and feel disgusted. You will have to find a reason why human beings should have worth if your worldview communicates no such thing. And for many, the road stops here. No more pursuit. Just live your life and nobody should care. This is where we begin building the bridge towards the unknown. Do you know why we have so many deities in the world with similar traits even though some of these people never actually met in history? It is because they understood there were no answers to these questions in ourselves.
They created Zeus, Jupiter, Ra, Odin and each understood their deities as powerful enough to drive events. Some even have the ability to judge people. But we have a problem. If Athena or Odin was too moral, we are in trouble. So, they had to be flawed. They had to be imperfect and petty and in direct conflict with each other so we could have something to say. So, the guilt we feel is justified in understanding even our deities as morally wrong. It was basically shaking their fists at their gods. Humans had to be superior and sometimes more morally blameless than even their creators. Sound familiar? So why don’t we add the Christian God to this list? Clearly, the same traits are seen. Why not add Him? The answer is simple.
GOD CAME TO US
At exactly the right time, God came to us in flesh. 2,000 years ago, in perfect fulfillment to the prophecies offered over a long period of time (if you have time to argue on the legitimacy of the Old Testament timeline, you can look up pieces of evidence of historical, archaeological, and geographic accuracy, even by Christian skeptics and agnostics), at the end of one empire (Greece) and at the rise of another (Rome), Jesus Christ came to Earth. He was exactly what the Jewish leaders did not want and later after his ascension, he was exactly what the Roman empire did not want. In the height of Rome, a period where thousands of false religions abounded, Christ came. He was precisely everything nobody expected a deity to be.
He was not born to royalty and in fact was born to a carpenter’s heritage, almost nobody in those times. He was in a lineage that was more than tainted. Rather than appear with deity strength and power, he came in fragility as a man. Did he frequent the arenas to fight lions? No, he taught in synagogues. Rather than lead the Jewish to old fashioned combative victory, he was led in humility to serve those who were left by society. Rather than start a kingdom, he declared that he had none here. Rather than seek popularity, he spoke words that annoyed. Rather than being faulty like Odin or Zeus, he was sinless. Rather than die a glorious death, he died a shameless one. Rather than be loved by people, he was scorned several times over. Christ came at a time when everyone was drunk with the idea of gods and showed nothing but the exact opposite. This is the uniqueness of the story of Christ. He is not a legend to inspire little boys, he was simply Christ.
It is this Christ who in Matthew 7 stated that we should not judge. This King, the one who had the power to judge just about anyone, said that we should not judge. Do you think he meant that we should not exercise judgement? No. Rather we should not exercise morality we do not own. Common sense and the law of authority can only get you so far because they are basically poor carbon copies of God’s Word. This is why people feel the need not to judge. They aren’t loving. They just realize that the only thing they succeed in doing by pointing out mistakes is setting a clock for when they themselves will fail. So, people say nothing that doesn’t want to be heard. You are very unable to follow rules. You just remain silent so that when you betray your ideals, you will not be subject to scrutiny. But judgement still happens. Your soul still condemns you. God will still judge you. We can argue all day about whether He exists or not but He will judge and He already judges and you know this. And on the last day, your grammar and logical loopholes will falter when you stand before God.
So, what do you do? What hope remains for you? The Cross.
GOD IS THE AUTHORITY
Because you understand the second law of authority, you should understand that when you say ‘Don’t judge me’ you are immediately laying a greater moral foundation even if you don’t want to. This is why it is easier to claim no moral truths exist because if they do, and they do, you are going to be revealed as a hypocrite, unable to follow through on your moral ground. If you read Matthew 7, you will know that the verses following the Golden Rule are about Heaven and Hell. Do you think there is a mistake in Christ following up judge not with ‘Not all who say to me, Lord, Lord, shall see the kingdom of Heaven?’ It is because Christ wanted to make clear who gets to make the rules. It is God, whether we like it or not.
Believer, non-believer, Christ will judge us all. If you would like to argue about it with someone who points it out, sure, go nuts about it. Nothing will change. Instead of worrying about who judges you, you had better worry about Him who is able to destroy both the body and soul. In the same way, a kid will be punished for breaking rules established by their parents, in the same way a man will be punished for breaking rules established by the state, God will punish all unrepentant sinners. If this reality does not sound appealing to you, you might want to finally ask some questions.
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