Dr. Anthony Raimondo

How often have you heard from a fellow believer or even a none believer in Jesus Christ says, “You are not to judge.” Those who are familiar with Matthew 7:1 or know the quote will throw it in your face quoting Jesus, “Dot not Judge or you will be judged.” It is their way of silencing your comment about their behavior or attitude. Very often when this is done you stopped from saying anything further and made to feel guilty for making a judgment. However, did Matthew share just this one brief sentence to be the total of Jesus Christ’s lesson on Judgment or was there more. Did Jesus merely imply that He would judge you as a result of judging others? Based solely on that simple command it would appear that Jesus does not want us to judge, but was that all Jesus Christ had to say on the issue?

Satan knows scripture better than most Christians, and even theologians for that matter. Since he is a witness to all that God has done and said and in the very language that God spoke, we have evidence from Genesis Chapter 3 verse 4 he merely added the word “not” and he changed the whole meaning of God’s command from “You shall die, to you shall not die.” Today Satan has the clergy twisting the meaning of a verse or taking a single verse and creating a false doctrine around just a few words. Satan also has people overlook and ignore verses from the Bible to further distort the truth and to lead people astray. The fact is that Jesus Christ had more to say on the subject of judgment. The lesson in Matthew does not end with chapter seven verse one but continues.

Let’s examine what Jesus continues to say in this lesson. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 1:3-5 NIV) The example Jesus is using her if your brother can’t see he has commented a minor sin make you sure you have stopped doing a greater sin before offering judgment for correction.

Let’s reexamine verse 2, “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.“ Here is an example of what Jesus is saying, Someone steals a dollar, and you call him a thief, while you just took 10 dollars. Jesus will no Judge you for being a bigger thief, but if you were a thief and stopped stealing and you called out someone for being a thief to stop stealing than the Lord would not Judge you for being a thief because you are not one. Therefore, before calling someone unrighteous, examine yourself as to how the Lord would see you.    

The Lord’s teaching does not end there. After giving us the lesson to first examine our faults before judging the failures of others in verse six the Lord adds, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs” Now we are told not to give dogs something sacred. Who then are the dogs? “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” (Revelation 22:15 NIV) Jesus has ordered us not to give these types of sinners anything scared. Now, who are the pigs? The pig in the first century was regarded as unclean and worse than a dog. Jesus here is teaching that the Word of God is Holy and Good and we can expect to encounter some people who will not see the value of it. These are the people who will mock and ridicule you and God’s Word and despise you for presenting it to them. Therefore the Lord’s command is not to provoke such people to mock the Holy Gospel of God.verse 15-17 Jesus warns us, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” Jesus is teaching how to judge correctly. How are we to discern who are the “dogs” and “pigs” and “false prophets”? The answer is by making a judgment call based on the Word of God and the result of living His Word. Good fruit is the living example of God’s Word, while bad fruit is not. In essences, the theme of Christ’s teaching is how to judge right from wrong, good from evil, and to be an example of Good Fruit based on God’s Holy Word.

The Bible, the Word of God, teaches what is the truth, righteous and good. Anything that contradicts God’s Word is a lie. To call something a “lie” is to pass judgment for having discerned between God’s Word and a contradiction. When we base our Judgement on God’s Word, it is God’s Word that judges and therefore we have judged correctly. Our Judgement is not based on our standard. We have removed the plank to see as God would see. It is the Holy Spirit that provides the Judgement. It is the Word of God that provides the bases of good and evil.