To Judge or not to Judge?

The Scriptures seems to encourage us to not judge others but also to judge rightly.

“Judge not, that you be not judged.” Matthew 7:1

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” John 7:24

So how do we reconcile this?  I believe it helps to realize that there are (at least) 2 types of judging in Scripture and in life. 

The first type of judging is selfish. Its motivation is pride and its goal is to build ourselves up by stepping on the backs of others.   This is what Jesus talks about in the early parts of Matthew 7.  

 “… how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (verses 4 and 5)

Hypocritical judgement compares and looks down on others. Jesus forbids judging this way but, in the end, he does prescribe a fair judging. 

If the first type of judging is selfish, then the second type is selfless. Its motivation is love and its goal is to see the other person restored to a healthy place with God, themselves and the community. 

Paul exemplifies this when he confronts his fellow Apostle, Peter, in Galatians 2. 

Peter knew that he should no longer keep himself separated from Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians yet, essentially because of peer pressure, he does just that.  Paul says, “When Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face…” because his, “conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel…”(verses 11 and 14)

Here, Peter played the hypocrite and stepped outside of Gospel truth. He was thus in need of someone who cared about him (and cared about the Gospel) to call him out and bring him back to a healthy place. 

Its worth noting too, that later in Matthew 7, Jesus us calls us to judge whether prophets are true or false “by their fruit”.  Clearly healthy discernment is needed in our lives. 

May we have wisdom when judgement is needed. And may that judgement be filled with compassion; always seeking the best for others while fully humbled by our own hypocrisies.