The Problem Of Judging People (2)

By James Quansah, Pastor

IN THE part one, we laid a solid foundation by making a reference to a popular passage of Scripture which many use to criticise people who attempt to judge others. Jesus Christ is quoted to have said that, “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).

Many interpret the words of Jesus Christ to mean that His disciples should not judge at all. In other words, they should avoid judging people. Thus, many often say, “Thou shall not judge.” But when this view is maintained it would mean that Christ’s words contradict the words of Paul, who writes that Christians can judge themselves.

“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it is certainly YOUR JOB TO JUDGE THOSE INSIDE THE CHURCH who are sinning in these ways. God will judge those on the outside; but as the scriptures say, ‘You must remove the evil person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5: 12- 13, NLT).

We know that there are two groups of people living on the earth namely Christian believers and non-Christian believers. And so when Christ Jesus tells His followers not to judge, we must know those they must not judge. Christians should not judge non-Christian believers, but they have every right to judge themselves. That was the same thing Paul wrote about as expressed in the passage of Scripture above. The church has business judging its members who practice sin to promote purity until the Lord appears.

Clearly, Jesus Christ and His servant, Paul, do not contradict each other at all. Rather, they agree that Christian believers be judged, but avoid judging unbelievers. That is why Jesus Himself refrained from judging sinners, but welcomed them. The biblical truth is that sinners who are yet to become Christians should not be judged, criticized or condemned for their sins.

Our Saviour came to save sinners and not the righteous. And He would not judge or condemn them and so must we. We ourselves were dirty sinners before we were saved and washed by the precious blood of Christ. And Jesus Christ does the same thing for every sinner who comes to Him with genuine heart. He showed an example in John chapter eight where a woman who was caught in an act of adultery was brought to Him.

“The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say? This they said to test him…” (John 8: 3- 6).

The Bible says when Jesus heard the woman’s accusers, He kept quiet for a while, and later said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8: 7). Obviously, each one of them was a sinner so they could not throw even one stone, but left the scene, leaving Jesus Christ and the woman. Our Lord then said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ It was at this point that the Lord Jesus said to the woman, ‘Neither do I condemn you” (John 8: 9- 11a).

The first thing we must understand about this story is that both the woman and her accusers were not Christians. They were sinners because they had not believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ to be His disciples. Christ would not condemn the woman because she was an unbeliever, a sinner. She was ignorant of the message of salvation. She had not tasted of the glorious presence of the Holy Spirit.

So Christ had no reason to condemn her of her actions. His only choice was to pardon and save her. That was to fulfill His mission to save sinners. Our Lord showed the same love and mercy to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in John chapter 4. She was not a Christian either, but a sinner who needed salvation.

However, there is an interesting aspect to the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. After Christ Jesus had pardoned her, He changed His manner of dealing with her. He stopped being soft to her. Jesus Christ spoke authoritatively to her under the evangelistic anointing this time. He was more interested in the eternal salvation of her soul. Our Lord did not want the woman to go back and continue practicing sin. So our great God said to the woman, “go and from now on sin no more” (John 8: 11b).

Under the Old Testament too, God instructed the priests, who had the charge to teach the congregation of Israel the Word of the Lord, to act as judges. He said: “In a dispute, they (priests) shall acts as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments…” (Ezekiel 44: 24).

This clearly tells us that the leadership of each local church has the right to judge its members who practice sin or are plunged into disputes. But we should do this with love and in the spirit of gentleness. I mean, we must judge with the purpose of restoring fellow Christians in humility and meekness, considering that each one of us is under the grace of God. We should therefore avoid being arrogant, proud or haughty. We must be sympathetic and be clothed with love.

It is also important for us to understand that Christians are called to judge in order to build up one another, correct one another and save one another. But we are not called to judge one another to destruction. If our motive or purpose for judging is to promote self-righteousness, tear apart, break away, destroy, shame and disgrace, then, our action is not inspired by God (Romans 14: 10, 13).

To be continued…