I Am Your Judge

"You shouldn't judge."
"I am not your judge."
"Judging others is wrong."
--or my favorite--
"The Bible says not to judge."
Does the Bible say not to judge?
These phrases and the idea that encapsulate all of them is very popular today. In fact, this article is another in a series that I am writing so that I don't have to keep re-writing the same thing over and over again when someone posts some silly meme about how righteous it is not to judge others. This doctrine that it is wrong to judge stems from two main causes: 1) the desire of the one being judged to avoid feeling bad for doing something wrong, 2) mindless perpetuation of something that sounds good without checking whether its correct. The concept that it is wrong to judge others is not only wrong, it's inherently illogical and impossible to live by.
== What Does the Bible Say About Judging? ==
First, it's important to state that everyone agrees that the Bible says that God, that Jesus is the ultimate judge of humans. That's not really the main point of this topic, though. Yes, God is the Judge. What we are interested in, is how does judging relate to humans who judge other humans. What does the Bible say?
=== Matthew 7:1 ===
One of the most abused passages in scripture is Matthew 7:1. As is usually the case with abused verses, it is used out of context. Matthew 7:1 - "Judge not, lest you be judged" is only part of what is being taught here and taken with the rest of the passage, the meaning of this statement changes.
Matthew 7:1-6 - "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."
Read in context, the command not to judge is specific to hypocritical judging. If you are a liar, don't condemn someone else for lying. If you are a thief, don't condemn someone else for stealing. Or even more generally, if you are living in sin, don't condemn others until you get your own life straight.
Yet, the context itself clearly shows that judging in itself is not wrong. IF you cast out the beam in your own eye, then you are enabled to help your brother with the mote in his eye. Even more, Jesus goes on to teach that people are not to give that which holy to dogs or cast pearls before swine. You can't follow those commands if you can't judge who is a dog or who is a swine!
Ultimately, this passage is not a passage against judging, it's a passage that promotes judging righteously.
=== John 7:24 ===
" Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
This statement of Jesus as recorded by John is not quite a parallel of Matthew 7, but it does show that there is a distinction between different kinds of judging. In Matthew 7, it was about hypocritical judging versus righteous judging. Here, it is a contrast with judging according to appearance, according to what something looks like rather than by what actually is.
However, this verse is powerful in this argument because this is quite literally a command from Jesus to judge. It is an imperative statement to judge and judge righteously.
=== 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 ===
"Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge messengers? how much more things that pertain to this life?"
This passage explicitly teaches that Christians (saints) judge the world. Contextually, it goes on to talk about judgments made between each other. Messengers (the word here is aggelos, which is usually translated as angels, but the word can refer to human or celestial messengers or even Jesus Himself) of the gospel - or those pretending to be messengers of the gospel (Gal. 1:8) - are to be judged by Christians.
=== Conclusion ===
From just these few passages alone, we must conclude that not only can Christians judge others, Christians must.
== Why Is Judging Commanded In Scripture? ==
God does nothing without purpose. By commanding Christians to judge, there must be a reason why we judge. What does the Bible say about this?
=== James 5:19-20 ===
"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."
We judge to determine which of our brethren have erred from the truth so that we can convert them back to Christ and save their soul from death. Without judging, it is not possible to save our fellow Christians when they have gone astray.
And of course a host of passages across the NT speak of Christians preaching the gospel to a lost and dying world. This job we certainly could not do properly if we could not judge who are the sinners to better convince them of the sin in their lives and the need for Christ.
== The Not-Judging Position is Inherently Illogical ==
I began this article looking at this from a Biblical perspective, which is proper. However, even if one does not hold the Bible to be true, if they have any capacity for proper reasoning, a person can understand how illogical this position is.
Me: <Judges someone.>
Non-Judger: You shouldn't judge. The Bible says don't judge. You're a Christian. You are sinning.
Me: You just judged me to be wrong for judging.
Non-Judger: It's not me judging you, it's the Bible.
Of course God is the ultimate Judge, the one who will do the sentencing. I have neither the right, nor even the ability to sentence people to Heaven or Gehenna. But the word judge, as used by both of us in the above conversation is not about the sentencing portion, its about the discerning of the nature of the action portion of judging. And while they may be using the Bible (incorrectly) as their standard, they are still the one judging. It's a hypocritical, self-condemning position to take.
Furthermore, those who condemn others for judging (I know right, its sounds silly to even say it), don't have any problems judging others for doing right or going to Heaven. "Old preacher Brown was a faithful man. He is in Heaven for sure!" Why are you judging him? Doesn't the Bible teach you not to judge?
== Conclusion ==
I think I've shown rather conclusively and succinctly from scripture that it's not only okay to judge, but that it's righteous, necessary, and even mandatory for Christians to judge. And if you think I'm wrong, well, best keep that to yourself. Wouldn't want you to sin by judging me.
In Truth and Love.