Righteous Judgment

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

John 7:24

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 

Isaiah 11:3-4

In times past in a society of so called "tolerance," Christians were often struck with the opposition of people who cried that no one has the right to judge them. In fact, there are some who went so far as to claim that "Jesus never judged people; He even taught that we are not to judge!" However, there is truth that the prince of this world has blinded the minds of most unbelievers and some believers in this area.  Saddly society today is not interested in rather or not they are judged; another area in which the ruler of this world has blinded the eyes of the people.  It is one thing not to want to be judged in wrongdoing or not to even care, but to use scripture to justify it, is truly the work of the enemy.  

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.  2 Corinthians 4:4

The favorite scripture they will quote is:

Judge not, that ye be not judged  Matthew 7:1

in attempts to convince others that Jesus has condemned all judging. 

In the first two words of this passage, Jesus does tell us to "Judge not...".    But these two words have been perverted and twisted to teach that when one calls the actions of another error and expresses that continuance in such ways will condemn the soul, that individual is judging, which is supposedly "condemned" in the word of God.  But from the context of this passage, what judging is forbidden? Is it judging that makes a distinction between right and wrong? Is there never a time and place for seeing and reprimanding or correcting a wrong?

If we take the view that judging is completely and totally forbidden, then that would make the doctrinal and moral purity of the church impossible to maintain. This would violate other teachings and divine examples that Jesus has revealed in His word.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  Matthew 7:15 

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.  John 5:30

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. John 7:24

It would commit us to neutrality and that is the very opposite of the stance Christ wants His body to take!

Let us consider the prophet Isaiah who speaks of righteous judgement:

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.  Isaiah 11:3-4 

What many fail to realize is that Jesus taught, (in the same context of instructing us to "judge not") that we are given the right and responsibility to make judgments in order to help our fellow man with their bondage to sin, provided we have first "removed the plank from our own eye." Jesus expects you to be able to see clearly, so that you can 

"remove the speck from your brother's eye"  Matthew 7:5 

So there are judgments to be made, within ourselves, and of others. 

But then, what judging is the Lord telling us not to practice? In this text, Jesus is forbidding the judging that is for the purpose of putting down others to exalt one's self. It is the habit of finding fault in others when really there are more faults within yourself. How can you expect to help a person with a few transgressions when you are overwhelmed with sin? Jesus simply teaches that in order to pass righteous judgment on another, we ought to first examine ourselves. Let us remove the plank in our eye. Then, and only then, can we see clearly to remove the speck in our brother's eye.

The teaching of Jesus in this passage is concerned with the attitude of a man, not a complete absence of our judgment.   It is not that Jesus is not permitting us to avoid making hard decisions or taking difficult stands, He is warning us not to have a bitter, hypercritical, faultfinding spirit. That is a haughty attitude God will not tolerate.

However, as God's children, although we must be cautious in our judgments concerning ourselves and others, we cannot ignore God’s commands that instruct us to make judgments. Jesus said,

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment  John 7:24

Here we are clearly commanded to judge with righteous judgment. But what does it mean to judge with righteous judgment? Jesus revealed this earlier when He spoke, saying,

"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."   John 5:30

If we seek and follow the true will of God, which can only be found in His word, when it becomes time for us to help people discern between right and wrong, then we will not judge with our opinions or what we think is right, but just like the mind that Christ had, we will only seek to do the will of the Father. Following the limitations for judgment that are taught throughout the scriptures, all we are to do in order to judge righteous judgment is to hear God's word, and judge using His standard.

How can anyone honestly say that Jesus didn't judge? For that matter, when the Lord's true followers make righteous judgments, based on His word, in order to expose sin and help the lost to be saved, why would anyone ever think that Jesus would condemn them for that? Jesus has plainly revealed that those who abide in His ways will judge with righteous judgment.

Cross-reference scriptures for John 7:24:

- Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Leviticus 19:15

- And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. Deuteronomy 1:16

- and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; Isaiah 11:3

- This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Zechariah 7:9

Sin is no longer creeping in the church, it is now boldly sitting in the pews and daring the true believer to do anything about it.  We see in the account of Jesus in the church that He did not tolerate any type of behavior or actions in the house of God:

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. Matthew 21:12-13

Nor should we tolerate any ungodly thing that desecrates the house dedicated to the glory of God.  This does not mean that we do not accept those with sin to enter in; we do not allow those actions, deeds, attitudes and any other form of sin to overtake -  they should be addressed and correctly dealt with before it infiltrates and infects others in the church.

(Biblical Studies)

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