Do not judge
so that you will not be judged:
Me krinete, (2PPAM) hina me
krithete; (2PAPS)
(
Isaiah 66:5; Ezekiel 16:52-56; Luke 6:37; Romans 2:1,2; 14:3,4,10, 11,
12, 13; 1Corinthians 4:3, 4, 5; James 3:1; 4:11,12)
Artwork related to
Mt 7:1:
"Jug not that ye be not jugged"
Artwork related to Mt 7:3-5:
The Speck and the Beam
Artwork related to Mt 7:7-11:
Pray, and It Shall Be Given
Artwork related to Mt 7:7-11:
About Praying
Artwork related to Mt 7:12:
Love for Enemies
Artwork related to Mt 7:13,14:
The Two Ways
Artwork related to Mt 7:15-23:
A Tree and Its Fruit
Artwork related to Mt 7:24-27:
The Wise and Foolish Builder
Spurgeon encourages us...
While we .are reading, let us also be
adoring at the same time, for the. words of Christ have a gracious
divinity about them; they are infinite; they are omnipotent. There is a
kind of life in them; a life which communicates itself to those who hear
them. Our Savior did not preach sermons: he preached texts; all his
sermons are full of golden sentences, not hammered gold leaf, like those
of men, but they are ingots of solid gold, and the gold of that land is
good, the most fine gold; there is none like it. Thus he preaches in the
seventh chapter of Matthew.
Here are some other
translations...
Do not criticize, do not sit as a
judge upon another man’s motives, do not attempt to interpret the
desires of his heart. (Pentecost)
Do not judge others until you are
prepared to be judged by the same standard. And then, when you exercise
judgment toward others, do it with humility. (Weber,
Stuart, Max E. Anders, Ed: Holman New Testament Commentary: Matthew)
John Lightfoot writes that...
This is a very common proverb among
the Jews: In the measure that a man measureth, others measure to him.
Spurgeon writes...
Use your judgment, of course: the
verse implies that you will judge in a right sense. But do not indulge
the criticizing faculty upon others in censorious manner, or as if you
were set in authority, and had a right to dispense judgment among your
fellows. If you impute motives, and pretend to read hearts, others will
do the same towards you. A hard and censorious behavior is sure to
provoke reprisals. Those around you will pick up the peck measure you
have been using, and measure your corn with it. You do not object to men
forming a fair opinion of your character, neither are you forbidden to
do the same towards them, but as you would object to their sitting in
judgment upon you, do not sit in judgment upon them. This is not the day
of judgment, neither are we his Majesty’s judges, and therefore we may
not anticipate the time appointed for the final assize, nor usurp the
prerogatives of the Judge of all the earth.
Surely, if I know myself aright, I
need not send my judgment upon circuit to try other men, for I can give
it full occupation in my own Court of Conscience to try the traitors
within my own bosom.
Oswald Chambers writes...
Jesus says regarding judging - Don't.
This is not completely accurate
however and in fairness to Chambers he does speak to the "quality" of
this judgment noting that Christians can be exceedingly critical
individuals. God is the only One Who can be justifiably and perfectly
(in turns of motive) critical, for He alone can tell us what is wrong
without destroying us. And so Chambers is not saying don't ever make a
judgement, but be careful about the spirit in which you pass a
judgement. If you are going to judge with a critical spirit - Don't.
Citizens of the Kingdom of heaven are challenged (and empowered by the
Spirit and grace) to cultivate an uncritical temperament. They must ever
be alert to the temptation to place themselves in a position of
superiority over others. Superiority belongs to God's alone and He will
not allow it to be usurped, subverted, supplanted or superseded!
Obedience to Jesus' command is good for your spiritual health! To break
this command is sin and to suffer disruption of fellowship with your
Father Who is in heaven. Do
you need to confess and repent of this sin (and/or this sinful attitude)
even as you read these notes? Why is this so important to your spiritual
health? John explains
that...
If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us
from all sin... If we confess our sins (naming specific sins, agreeing
they are offensive to Him and destructive to us and exhibit a
willingness to genuinely repent from the sin - not just "confess" so we
can get a "clean slate" and go out and immediately commit that sin
again), He is faithful and righteous to forgive ("send them away from")
us our sins and to cleanse (katharizo - give us a spiritual "catharsis"
so to speak) us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:6,7, 9)
Spurgeon writes...
You are not called to judge; you are
not qualified to judge: “&God is the Judge: he putteth down one, and
setteth up another.&” There is much better work to be done by us than
that of setting up as judges of others.
Set not up for critics, especially in
the act of worship. Probably there. is no greater destroyer of profit in
the hearing of the word than is the spirit of carping criticism.
Do not judge
(2919) (krino
related to English > critic, criticize) primarily signifies to
distinguish, choose, separate or discriminate; then, to distinguish
between good and evil, right and wrong, without necessarily passing an
adverse sentence, though this is usually involved. It means to sift out
and analyze evidence.
A judge observes
the evidence, evaluates it, and arrives at a certain conclusion. In sum,
krino has a wide semantic range that can mean to: judge
(judicially), to condemn, or to discern. In context, Jesus clearly
does not forbid all judging of any kind, for the moral distinctions
drawn in the Sermon on the Mount require that decisive judgments be made
and are even mandated (eg "you will know them by their fruits"
Mt 7:20-note).
What Jesus is
addressing is the spirit and/or motivation of one's judgment. The OT
prophets were often very judgmental toward Israel, but the difference is
that they were speaking God's words to His rebellious chosen people!
Do not judge is
in the
present imperative
with a negative particle (Greek = "me" = negates) which calls for them
to stop doing this implying that they were judging. The truth is that
fallen
flesh
is by nature critical and
condemning. And so in these first two verses of chapter 7 Jesus is
telling His audience (and us) to...
Stop
hypercritically judging others, in order that you
may not be the recipient of similar judgment.
He is saying
cease judging others with a spirit which is censorious, carping (marked
by or inclined to querulous and often perverse criticism), caviling
(raising annoying, petty, trivial and/or frivolous objections),
condemnatory, critical, disapproving, disparaging, fault-finding,
hypercritical, scathing or severe. Why? For such judgment is harsh,
self-righteous, lacking in mercy and short on love. Unfortunately the
church of Jesus Christ is far from immune and as someone has quipped a
few in the church even think their critical spirit is their spiritual
gift! They euphemistically call it a "spirit of discernment"!
Even
Shakespeare saw the light on this precept writing...
Forebear to judge, for we are sinners
all.
James has
a similar admonishment...
Do not speak against
(present imperative
+ negative particle = Stop speaking ill of, in a degradingly, defaming
or slandering manner) one another,
brethren. He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks
against the law (NLT "If you criticize each other and condemn each
other, then you are criticizing and condemning God's law"), and
judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law,
but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is
able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
(James 4:11, 12) (The person who judges his brother disobeys the law,
thus in effect placing himself in a position above the law and thus treating it with contempt.)
In a parallel
passage Luke quotes Jesus' (four) commands
including...
Be
(present
imperative) merciful,
(How? What is our "standard"?) just as your Father is
merciful. And (note the connection of mercy and inappropriate
judging - a judgmental attitude is not merciful)
do not judge
(present imperative
+ negative particle = Stop passing unfavorable, critical, fault finding,
condemnatory judgment) and you
will not be judged; and
do not condemn (this is God's right)
(present imperative
+ negative particle = Stop declaring or pronouncing others guilty [as if
you were the Judge of men!]) , and you
will not be condemned;
pardon
(present imperative), and you will be pardoned. (Luke 6:36, 37)
So that (2443)
(hina) introduces a purpose clause - in this case the reason we
should not judge others hypocritically and/or hypercritically is so that
we "cut off" a similar judgment upon ourselves. This purpose clause
should serve to motivate us to obey this command enabled by the Spirit
and grace.
Be patient with the faults of others.
They have to be patient with yours!
D A Carson
comments that...
Those who "judge" like this will in
turn be "judged," not by men (which would be of little consequence), but
by God (which fits the solemn
tone of the discourse). The disciple who takes it on himself to be the
judge of what another does usurps the place of God ("Why do you judge
your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with
contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God" -
see note
Romans 14:10) and
therefore becomes answerable to Him. The hina me ("in order that...not";
NIV, "or") should therefore be given full telic (tending
toward an end) force
Do not assume
the place of God by deciding you have the right to stand in judgment
over all-do not do it, I say, in order to avoid being called to account
by the God whose place you usurp (cf. b Shabbath 127b; M Sotah 1:7; b
Baba Metzia 59b).
(Gaebelein,
F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament.
Zondervan Publishing)
Judge Not
Judge not: the work of his brain
And of his heart thou canst not see;
What looks to thy dim eyes a stain,
In God's pure light may only be
A scar, brought from some well-fought field
Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.
The look, the air, that frets thy
sight,
May be a token that below
The soul has closed in deadly fight
With some internal fiery foe,
Whose glance would scorch thy smiling grace,
And cast thee shuddering on thy face.
--Selected
Guzik
has an excellent exposition of this command writing that...
This is the Bible verse that
seems to be most popular in our present day. But most the people who
quote this verse don't understand what Jesus said. They seem to think
Jesus commanded a universal acceptance of any lifestyle or teaching. If
we see what Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-16, He commands us to know people
by the fruit of their life, and some sort of assessment is necessary for
that.. The Christian is called to unconditionally love. But the
Christian is not called to unconditional approval. We really can love
people who do things that should not be approved of. Instead, Jesus is
speaking against being judgmental, that is, judging motives and the
inner man, which only God can know. We can judge the fruit of a man, but
we can rarely judge their motives with accuracy.
Jesus does not prohibit judgment
of others. He only requires that our judgment be completely fair, and
that we only judge others by a standard we would also like to be judged
by. Most of our judgment in regard to others is wrong, not because we
judge according to a standard, but because we are hypocritical in the
application of that standard - we ignore the standard in our own life.
We judge others by one standard,
and ourselves by another standard - being far more generous to ourselves
than others. With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you:
According to the teaching of
some rabbis in Jesus' time, God had two measures that He used to judge
people. One was a measure of justice and the other was a measure of
mercy. Which measure do you want God to use with you? Then you should
use that same measure with others. (Mt 7:2). (Matthew 7)
Be quick to judge yourself
But slow
to judge others.
People Magazine
was interviewing a well-known actor who was defending the moral
indiscretions of former President Clinton.
Why should we be upset over such a thing? We're all sinners, and it just
shows that President Clinton is just like the rest of us. The Bible
says, 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'
Whenever
Christians warn against or condemn our society for its loss of moral
moorings, it is not uncommon to have them misquote Matthew 7:1 to
counter our "judgmental attitude", but as discussed in this section such
a use represents a distortion of what Jesus actually meant in
context
(remember context is "king" in [accurate] interpretation). Clearly Jesus
was not forbidding one from making moral evaluations which is the way
this actor and the unregenerate world interprets this verse. They say
"Do not judge. Do not make moral evaluations. Do not condemn anything."
Wrong! That is not what Jesus is commanding, for all through the Gospels
He teaches we are to continually make moral judgments about both issues
and people (cp Jesus' moral judgment regarding adultery - Mt 5:27, 28-notes)
If we interpreted Matthew 7:1 the way the world wants us to interpret
it, we could not say there was such a thing as adultery... it's just an
"affair" (note the world's euphemistic way of toning down evil.)
Christians as salt and light are to make sound moral judgments, but we
must do so with a humble, loving attitude for nothing is more harmful to
the cause of Christ than believers who cry out with a shrill voice using
harsh language which condemns others (there is only one Judge) with an
angry, unkind attitude. The point is that believers are not to manifest
a judgmental, critical, fault-finding attitude, always being negative,
always carping about things, always being aware of minor problems in the
lives of others while oblivious to the faults they are demonstrating in
there negative, judgmental attitudes. Believers can and should make
Spirit-led moral judgments, but not in an unloving, unkind manner. We
are never to despise others or regard them with contempt. As we have
often heard, God hates the sin, but loves the sinner, which is why He
sent His Son. We are to "be imitators of God, as beloved children and
walk in love." (Ep 5:1, 2-notes)
Dwight
Pentecost addresses the problem of judging others by reminding us that...
God’s standard of conduct for His
children is His own unalterable, intrinsic righteousness and holiness.
Peter stated this so clearly in
1 Peter 1:15,
16 (note)
As he which hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be
ye holy; for I am holy.
When a man asks himself, “How
good must I be?” the biblical answer is, “As good as God.” While that
standard is written into the hearts of all, they acknowledge they cannot
attain it. So men universally set aside God’s standards and substitute
their own. Every religion, no matter how depraved it may be, has its own
standards of conduct. But the standard of conduct is not the standard of
the character of God, nor of the Word of God...
When a man sets up his
own standards of conduct in lieu of the standards of God, he must become
a judge of men’s conduct. When men make their own rules, they then
become judges to determine what is acceptable and what is not
acceptable, and to distinguish who conforms to their standards and who
does not. The peril of legalism is that it will not lead a man to
holiness in his conduct. Also, inevitably, it makes a man judge both the
actions and the motives of other men.
(Pentecost,
J. D. Design for living: Lessons in Holiness from the Sermon on the Mount. Kregel Publications)
Oswald Chambers writes that
Jesus is charging His disciples to
Stop having a measuring rod for other
people. There is always one fact more in every man's case about which we
know nothing. The first thing God does is to give us a spiritual
spring-cleaning; there is no possibility of pride left in a man after
that. I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what
lies in me apart from the grace of God.
The fault we see in another
may be
the reflection of our own.
The Holman NT Commentary
writes that...
It is one thing to
exercise judgment, and quite
another to have a judgmental attitude. One is an action that might be
carried out with right or wrong motives; the other is a negative
character quality... This is the central application of 7:1-5. Our
habitual response to Scripture must be to say, "What about me?" rather
than, "What about others?" (Weber,
Stuart, Max E. Anders, Ed: Holman New Testament Commentary: Matthew)
An Appropriate
Time to Judge
As alluded to Jesus
is not saying we are to condone or excuse sin, for the Scriptures
clearly do not forbid men to distinguish between good and evil.
Yes, we are
to get rid of a critical spirit, but we are encouraged to cultivate a discerning
spirit as in the exhortation in Hebrews where we note that...
solid food is for the
mature (see
teleios), who because of practice have
their senses (see
aistheterion)
trained to discern (gumnazo
-
perfect tense
= they have been
mentally and spiritually trained and are still in that condition) good
(see
kalos)
and evil (See note
Hebrews 5:14)
And so contrary
to popular opinion, Jesus is not
forbidding all judgment but He is condemning hypocritical
judgment of those who held others to a higher standard than they
themselves were willing to live by. In fact, in the following verses Jesus clearly
indicates that taking a speck out of your brother’s eye is the correct
thing to do, as long as you have been careful to first remove the log
out of your own eye. On the other hand, we are forbidden to judge the
motives or attitudes of others for unlike God, we are not able to
discern “the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (see note
Hebrews 4:12).
Only God can judge the heart, because only God can see the heart (1Sa
16:7). As the psalmist rightly asks...
Would not God find this out? For He
knows the secrets of the heart. (Ps 44:21)
As Spurgeon rhetorically
asks...
Would God not with holy indignation
have detected unfaithfulness to itself, even had it been hidden in the
heart and unrevealed in the life? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
He is acquainted with the inner workings of the mind, and therefore this
could not have escaped Him. Not the heart only which is secret, but the
secrets of the heart, which are secrets of the most secret thing, are as
open to God as a book to a reader.
As God cannot be deceived by our
subtlety, so he cannot be excluded by our secrecy. Thomas Watson.
In Proverbs
we read...
All the ways of a man are clean in
his own sight, but the LORD weighs the motives. (Pr 16:2).
And in Romans
Paul instructs us that there is coming a day when...
according to my gospel, God will
judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. (see note
Romans 2:16)
And writing to
the Corinthians Paul instructs his readers...to
not go on passing judgment before the
time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the
things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts;
and then each man's praise will come to him from God. (1 Cor 4:5)
The upshot is
that judgment of other's motives is not our job but God's job.
To reiterate, Scripture does urge us to judge between truth and error, right and
wrong, good and evil. For example, Jesus said
Do not judge according to appearance,
but
judge
(present imperative) with righteous judgment. (John 7:24)
("Righteous judgment" implies we are in communion with God, that our
conscience is clear, that we are filled with His Spirit, and we are
motivated by a desire to further His glory. Fulfill these requirements
[among others] and then you can "judge according to appearance.")
Paul wrote to
the Corinthian believers
I speak as to wise men; you judge
what I say. (1 Cor 10:15) (In context Paul is saying he is confident
that the Corinthians had the wisdom to understand the correctness of
what he was about to tell them and that they could make correct
judgments about what they should do - read 1 Cor 10 for the full
context)
Clearly, God
requires us to be discriminating when it comes to matters of sound
doctrine.
We are also
instructed to judge one another with regard to overt acts of sin.
Writing again to the Corinthians, he asked...
Is it not those inside the church
whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Remove
(aorist
imperative = do it
effectively. This command even conveys a sense of urgency.) the evil
person from among you’ (1 Cor 5:12-13)
Comment: Paul is referring to
the ministry of other believers in judging sin which took place within
members of the body. In addition to rightly judging sinful behavior,
disciplining was called for as shown by the context. This type of
prescribed proper judgment within the body of Christ is often shied away
for fear of being too confrontational when in fact it is the very
process by which the body is kept spiritually sound and vibrant.
This same
process of discipline ("judging") is outlined by Jesus Himself in
Matthew 18...
"And if your brother sins, go and
reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
16 "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so
that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE
CONFIRMED. 17 "And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the
church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to
you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer. 18 "Truly I say to you, whatever
you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 "Again I say to you, that if two
of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done
for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 "For where two or three
have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst. (Mt
18:15-20)
Comment: Note that the verse often quoted in the
context of prayer or fellowship is in fact usually taken out of context
for it is clearly in the context of disciplining a brother - compare the
phrase "two or three" to the previous verses!
Thomas Constable
agrees writing that...
It should be obvious from the context that this
promise does not refer to whatever two or three disciples agree
to ask God for in prayer. The Bible contains many promises concerning
prayer but this is not one of them. In the context “anything” {v19}
refers to any judicial decision involving an erring disciple that the
other disciples may make corporately. God has always stood behind His
judicial representatives on earth when they carry out His will (cf. Ps.
82:1). This is a wonderful promise. God will back up with His power and
authority any decision involving the corporate discipline of an erring
brother or sister that His disciples may make after determining His
will. Here again Jesus takes God’s place as “God with us”. This
statement implies a future time when Jesus would not be physically
present with His disciples, the inter-advent age, specifically the
period following His ascension and preceding His return. Jesus
anticipated His ascension. (See
Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible)
Another kind of
judgment which is required of every believer is to
examine and judge our own selves at the Lord's Table for Paul states
that...
if we judged ourselves rightly, we
should not be judged. (1 Cor 11:31)
This
self-judgment calls for an honest, transparent searching of one's own
heart every time we partake of the Lord’s Supper. And Paul preceded this
admonition by giving us ample motivation to judge ourselves rightly...
For he who eats and drinks, eats and
drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For
this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep (some
even died). (1Cor 11:29,30)
When
was the last time Paul's complete admonition was emphasized in your
church prior to communion? Could it be that some of those in your church
are weak and sick or have even died because they have taken the Lord's
Supper in an unholy manner with unclean hands and unconfessed hearts?
God has not changed, and
His strong words caution through Paul are not meant to hurt us but to
heal us. We must not back away from speaking the whole counsel of God's
Word. The reason I am so emphatic is I have been in so many communion
services where Paul's warning was not read in its entirety. Only rarely
has it been read in its entirety and then without any significant
exposition. Am I being judgmental? Perhaps!
In a similar
way, all other righteous forms of judgment depend on this honest
self-examination which is exactly what Jesus was alluding to when He
said
Or how can you say to your brother,
'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you
yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite,
first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to
take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. (Luke 6:42).
Hendriksen
explains that...
To be discriminating and critical is
necessary; to be hypercritical is wrong. One should avoid saying what is
untrue (Ex 23:1), unnecessary (Pr 11:13), and unkind (Pr 18:8)... the
habitual self-righteous faultfinder must remember that he himself can
expect to be condemned, and this not only by men but also and especially
by God, as Mt 6:14, 15 has already indicated. Cf. Mt 18:23-35.
(Hendriksen,
W., & Kistemaker, S. J. Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew
Grand Rapids: Baker Book House)
Writing to the
Corinthians, Paul addressed the issue of the church's lack of action and
failure to mourn over and deal with the grievous immorality in their
body...
For I, on my part, though absent in
body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so
committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus,
when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our
Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the
destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus...For what have I to do with
judging outsiders (unbelievers)? Do you not judge those who are within
the church (The NLT paraphrases it "but it certainly is your job to
judge those inside the church who are sinning in these ways")? But
those who are outside, God judges. (2Corinthians 5:3-5, 12-13)
Similarly
believers must distinguish (judge) between true and false doctrine.
And thus we read passages like...
Beloved, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many
false prophets have gone out into the world. (1John 4:1)
Now these (Bereans) were more
noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with
great eagerness, examining (a word used in Greek to describe the
questioning of someone in order to pass a judicial sentence!) the
Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so. (see note
Acts 17:11)
But
examine
(present
imperative =
command to continually be testing in order to draw a conclusion about
the worth of) everything carefully;
hold fast to that which is good (1Thes 5:21)
Beware
(present
imperative =
command to continually be watching out for or guard for) of the false prophets, who
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves... So then, you will know them by their
fruits." (see notes
Matthew 7:15;
7:20)
We are also at
times called to
judge whether others are true believers, for otherwise we could never
recognize the unequal yoke that Paul commands us to avoid...
Do not
be
(present imperative
+ negative particle = Stop being unevenly yoked or mismatched) bound together with
unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or
what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14)
Jesus is telling
His audience to avoid the hypocrisy and condemning spirit that arises
from self-righteousness. Believers are not in the condemning business
and are to leave any necessary condemnation to God the only righteous
Judge. To reiterate, we are not to judge other peoples motives for as
Scripture clearly teaches...
God sees not as man sees, for man
looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
(1Samuel 16:7b)
"Speck
ministers" tend to emphasize the faults of others rather than their
strengths and to focus on other's faults rather than their own faults.
Criticism of others is foolish because our knowledge of them is only
partial at best. But even if we had all the facts, we still might
misinterpret them because our judgment, unlike God's, is fallible. And
such judgmentalism generally tears down rather than building up.
Stated another
way, we can judge what people do or say, but we cannot judge why they do
it or why they say it. How can we know the heart motives of other people
when Jeremiah tells us that our...
heart is more deceitful than all else
and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Solomon
warns us that...
Death and life are in the power of
the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21)
Ray Pritchard
elaborates on "faultfinders" ("spiritual vultures")
concluding that...
Faultfinding is the “venom of the
soul.” It destroys our joy, drains our happiness, and prevents us
from having close friendships. No one likes a faultfinder because no one
likes being around a nit-picking critic. This sin comes partly from
spiritual pride and partly from disguised envy. We criticize others in
order to bring them down to our level. Or worse, we tear them down to
prove they are really beneath us. Faultfinding is a deadly disease
because if not kept in check, it turns us into cynics (people who
believe the worst about other people or the outcome of events) who
expect the worst from others. The faultfinder expects failure and
secretly gloats when he finds it. Is it any wonder that the faultfinder
almost always is a gossip and a talebearer? First we spot the flaws of
others and then we can’t wait to spread the news. There is such a thing
as a spiritual vulture. Like the vultures of the air that live
off dead, rotting flesh, these sad individuals thrive on the mistakes
and sins of others. They fly across the landscape, keeping a close eye
out for the failures of others. Then they swoop in for their daily
feast. (Matthew
7:1-5 Judge Not!)
(Bolding added)
H W Beecher
once said that...
The cynic is one who never sees a
good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one
Richard
Strauss adds that...
Negative criticism is a poison that
kills the enthusiasm of Christian leaders and hinders the progress of
God’s work. It is a contagious disease that spreads among God’s people,
and can turn a loving community of believers into a battleground. It is
a sledgehammer that breaks marriages, homes and lives into little
pieces. That is why Jesus said, “Don’t judge.” Stop dwelling on the
flaws in others, real or perceived. (Matthew
7:1-5 Bits and Beams)
In Romans
Paul addresses the religious person (including unsaved, orthodox
Jews) who were judging the pagans for their horrible sins in Romans 1...
You (you self righteous religious
people), therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment
on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you
are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the
same things. Now we know that God's judgment against
those who do such things is based on truth. (see notes on
Romans 2:1-2)
(NIV) (The principle in this verse is that the things we criticize most
in others are usually the very things of which we ourselves are guilty.
We don’t like those things in ourselves, but we have a tendency to
overlook them. Seeing them in others reminds us of these ugly faults,
but instead of dealing with them in our own lives, we focus attention on
the same faults in other people's lives. As long as we are occupied with
the "speck" in the eye of others, we can avoid dealing with the "log" in
our eye. And if we can keep the attention on them, they will not be
putting pressure on us to change.)
In Romans
14-15 Paul addresses the issue of judging other
believers in the body of Christ writing...
1 Now accept the one who is weak in
faith (one who does not yet have full knowledge of how to live as a
Christian. In this case it is one who eats only "vegetables" and not
meat.), but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his
opinions.
2 One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats
vegetables only.
3 Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat, and
let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has
accepted him.
4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master
he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him
stand.
5 One man regards one day above another, another regards every day
alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.
6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats,
does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not,
for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself;
8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the
Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord
both of the dead and of the living.
10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you
regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the
judgment seat of God.
11 For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO
ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD."
12 So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
(so be careful how you judge others!)
13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine
this-- not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.
(Comment: In this section Paul is referring to making critical judgments
regarding the inward reasonings of others and says don't argue with them
about what they think is right or wrong. We dare not be judgmental in
disputable or "gray" areas. Unless a practice is specifically revealed
in Scripture to be right or wrong, each believer should be free to
formulate his own personal convictions about it. New Christians may
still feel constrained by certain criteria they had followed earlier,
and thus may be reluctant to change when they become saved. Unless the
practices are specifically prohibited in the Word of God, older
believers should receive them into fellowship without arguing or
critically judging them. Paul emphasizes that believers are not to judge
one another in the matters such as food, etc, because God has received
both the weaker and stronger believer, because we can differ in good
conscience (as discussed in verses 4-6) and because we shall all be
judged by the Lord (verses 7-12). (See notes on
Romans 14:1-6,
Romans 14:7-9,
Romans 14:10-12,
Romans 14:13-15,
Romans 14:16-22,
Romans 15:1-3,
Romans 15:4-6,
Romans 15:7-10)
Ryrie
adds that Jesus...
does not mean that one is never, in
any sense or to any extent, to judge another, for verse 5 indicates that
when one's own life is pure he should take the speck out of the
brother's eye. It does mean, however, that a follower of Christ is not
to be censorious.
(The
Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: 1995. Moody
Publishers)
Morris
adds that...
Here Jesus warns against condemning
the actions or motives of others. Only the Lord has the right to condemn
since only He has full knowledge of a person's actions and motives (John
5:22; Romans 14:4,10). On the other hand, He has commanded us to "judge
righteous judgment" (John 7:24). We should be able to recognize false
teachers and "from such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:5; see also Matthew
7:15-20). Also, we should discern and rebuke these false brethren who
are encouraging others to sin (Ephesians 5:7,11). In other words, we
should be able to judge that which is wrong, in either doctrine or
practice, and avoid (or correct) those who are involved, but we must not
condemn them--God will do that. (Morris,
Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)
Alexander
Maclaren has a rather graphic explanation of "do not judge"
writing that...
The ‘judging’ of which He speaks sees
motes in a brother’s eye. That is to say, it is one-sided, and fixes on
faults, which it magnifies, passing by virtues. Carrion flies that buzz
with a sickening hum of satisfaction over sores, and prefer corruption
to soundness, are as good judges of meat as such critics are of
character. That Mephistophelean spirit of detraction has wide scope in
this day. Literature and politics, as well as social life with its
rivalries, are infested by it, and it finds its way into the church and
threatens us all. The race of fault-finders we have always with us,
blind as moles to beauties and goodness, but lynx-eyed for failings, and
finding meat and drink in proclaiming them in tones of affected sorrow.
How flagrant a breach of the laws of the kingdom this temper implies,
and how grave an evil it is, though thought little of, or even admired
as cleverness and a mark of a very superior person, Christ shows us by
this earnest warning, embedded among His fundamental moral teachings.
He points out first how certainly
that disposition provokes retaliation. Who is the Judge that judges us
as we do others? Perhaps it is best to say that both the divine and the
human estimates are included in the purposely undefined expression.
Certainly both are included in fact. For a carping spirit of eager
fault-finding necessarily tinges people’s feelings towards its
possessor, and he cannot complain if the severe tests which he applied
to others are used on his own conduct. A cynical critic cannot expect
his victims to be profoundly attached to him, or ready to be lenient to
his failings. If he chooses to fight with a tomahawk, he will be scalped
some day, and the bystanders will not lament profusely. But a more
righteous tribunal than that of his victims condemns him. For in God’s
eyes the man who covers not his neighbor's faults with the mantle of
charity has not his own blotted out by divine forgiveness. (Sermon:
Judging, Asking and Giving)
As the context
reveals, Jesus clearly does not prohibit all types of judging (see Mt
7:5, 16). There is a righteous kind of judgment we are supposed to
exercise with careful discernment...
"Do not judge according to
appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." (Jn 7:24) (Jesus
commands us to judge, but to do so fairly and on the basis of truth and
fact rather than by outward appearances)
Censorious,
hypocritical, self-righteous, or other kinds of unfair judgments are
forbidden. On the other hand the church is in a desperate need for sound
Biblical correction. Some actually misapply Mt 7:1 to avoid
correction. As alluded to in Mt 7:2-4, Jesus is warning us not to judge
someone's motives, for we cannot see into their heart.
Ray Pritchard
explains what our Lord does not mean by the command "Do not judge"
writing that...
Jesus is not saying we should never
pass any sort of judgment. Every day we make hundreds of judgments about
things around us. It is not wrong, for instance, to sit on a jury and
render a verdict. Nor it is wrong for an admissions committee to decide
which students to accept and which to reject. Nor it is wrong for an
employer to decide who gets a promotion and who doesn’t. Nor is it wrong
for schools to judge certain students worthy of high honor at
graduation. Nor is it wrong for Glenbrook North High School to expel the
students who participated in that ugly hazing incident and to ban them
from attending graduation ceremonies. We all have to make decisions
every day that involve other people. We pass judgment on appearance,
behavior, speech, deportment, attitude, work ethic, productivity,
keeping or breaking a promise, guilt or innocence, which person we
believe and which person we do not believe. Whatever the words of Jesus
mean, they can’t mean that we never pass judgment in any sense at any
time. (Matthew
7:1-5 Judge Not!)
John Stott adds that here
the command to judge not is not a
requirement to be blind, but rather a plea to be generous. Jesus does
not tell us to cease to be men (by suspending our critical powers which
help to distinguish us from animals) but to renounce the presumptuous
ambition to be God (by setting our selves up as judges)
(Stott,
John: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: 1985, Intervarsity Press)
John Wesley
told
of a man he had little respect for because he considered him to be
miserly and covetous. One day when this person contributed only a small
gift to a worthy charity, Wesley openly criticized him. After the
incident, the man went to Wesley privately and told him he had been
living on parsnips and water for several weeks. He explained that before
his conversion, he had run up many bills. Now, by skimping on everything
and buying nothing for himself he was paying off his creditors one by
one.
Christ has made me an honest man and
so with all these debts to pay, I can give only a few offerings above my
tithe. I must settle up with my worldly neighbors and show them what the
grace of God can do in the heart of a man who was once dishonest.
Needless to say,
Wesley apologized to the man for judging him unrighteously and asked his
forgiveness.
Reminiscent of
this is another story of the rural church member who used tobacco by
dipping snuff. When the preacher thundered out in his sermon, “And
God is going to judge the idolaters,” the brother shouted, “Amen!”
When the preacher, waxing more vigorous, shouting “And God is going
to judge the adulterers,” the brother followed with “Amen!”
But when the preacher then bellowed, “And God is going to judge the
snuff dippers,” the unhappy brother in a barely audible voice
responded, “Now he’s done stopped preachin’ and gone to meddlin.’“
Sinning Davids are always unhappy with Nathan's proclamation that "Thou
art the man!" (Ed comment: I do not consider snuff dipping
a sin. As a physician, I think it is very harmful and deleterious to the
health of one's oral mucosa, but in and of itself is not a sin...in my
opinion.)
Pastor Ray
Pritchard presents a practical checklist to assess whether one is
prone to judging with a critical or condemnatory spirit...
Blowing small things all out of
proportion.
Maximizing the sins of others—their faults, foibles and their petty
ways.
Coming to quick, hasty, negative conclusions.
Making mountains out of molehills.
Getting involved in situations where you should not be involved.
Passing along critical stories to others.
Having a strong bias to find others guilty.
Being too harsh even when speaking the truth.
Adding aggravating remarks when telling a story.
Dismissing an unkind remark by saying, “I was only joking.”
Saying something critical and then trying to cover it up.
Being unkind and then quickly changing the subject.
Telling too many people about what others have done to us.
Taking pleasure in condemning others.
Telling the truth in order to hurt, not to help.
Putting others down in order to make yourself look better.
Minimizing your sins while magnifying the sins of others.
Note that it is quite possible to
have a judgmental spirit even while telling the truth. Some people use
the truth as a club to beat others over the head. Simply saying, “Well,
it was the truth, you know,” does not get you off the hook.
Our judgment is wrong when it is—Needless, Unfounded, Hasty, Severe.
Here is a simple guide to help guide
our speech. It’s an acrostic based on the word NEED.
N—Is it necessary?
E—Will it encourage?
E—Will it edify?
D—Will it dignify the other person?
When I shared that in the first service on Sunday, a friend told me that
when his family eats dinner, they have a similar rule: The TKN
rule.
T—It is true?
K—Is it kind?
N—Is it necessary?
If the statement doesn’t meet the rule, it doesn’t get said. It might be
a good idea if every family in our church adopted that rule for mealtime
conversation, although it might mean most of our meals would be eaten in
total silence. But silence would be preferable to breaking the Lord’s
command. And that brings me back to the speck and the log. It’s easy to
see the speck in your brother’s eye, much harder to see the log in your
own. In dealing with the faults of others, our greatest need is clear
vision. (Matthew
7:1-5 Judge Not!)
Hughes gives an illustration
of this critical spirit in the experience of a young bachelor...
Every time he brought a prospective wife home, his
mother criticized her unmercifully. The young man was at his wit's end
when a friend offered this advice: "Find
someone like your
mother." So he looked and looked until he found a clone. She looked like
his mother, her gait was like his mother's, she talked like his mother,
and she even thought like his mother. It was amazing! So he took her
home. The next time he saw the friend who had given the advice and was
asked how his mother liked the girl, the bachelor answered, "It went
great. My mother loved her, but my father couldn't stand her." (Hughes, R. K.
Sermon on the Mount: The Message of
the Kingdom. Crossway Books)
><> ><> ><>
Judge Not
Matthew 7:1
Let us believe the best; there are
enough, you know,
Judging by what they see–wronging each other so.
Let us believe the best; there are enough to blame,
Numbers to think the worst–numbers to brand a name.
Many a man would rise out of his dark despair,
If there were only one, just to believe and care–
Out on the losing side, daring to take his stand–
Heedless of what men say, holding a brother’s hand.
E. H. Divall (By Permission of the Sunday School Union)
><> ><> ><>
D L Moody - You may find
hundreds of faultfinders among professed Christians; but all their
criticism will not lead one solitary soul to Christ. I never preached a
sermon yet that I could not pick to pieces, and find fault with. I feel
that Jesus Christ ought to have a far better representative than I am.
But I have lived long enough to discover that there is nothing perfect
in this world. If you are to wait till you find a perfect preacher, or
perfect meetings, I am afraid you will have to wait till the millennium
arrives. What we want is to be looking up to Christ. Let us be done with
faultfinding.
><>><>><>
Our society detests moral
absolutes - A recent poll estimated that 72% of Americans between
the ages of 18-25 do not believe in absolute truth or in moral
absolutes. Daniel Taylor, a professor at Bethel College in St. Paul,
Minnesota, put it this way: "(Relativism) takes the clearly observable
fact that we have a multitude of views and values and practices in the
world--pluralism--and draws the illegitimate conclusion that there is no
justifiable way of choosing among them. Truth is merely opinion,
goodness only what the majority says it is." In one public high school,
the sociology textbook being used says "Everything is right somewhere,
and nothing is right everywhere." Translation - There are no absolute
moral standards in the universe. Everything is relative.
The mantra of "No Absolutes" causes
many to shy away from the exclusivity of the Christian message for fear
of backlash. The Wall Street Journal had a story on Reverend Bruce
Robbins the ecumenical staff leader for the United Methodist Church, who
was explaining that Methodists are encouraged to share their faith but
qualified this statement with the caution to be very careful about
trying to target other groups for evangelism, explaining "We have to
honor diversity. We believe that God's call through Jesus is universal
and that other people know God through their religious traditions."!
><> ><> ><>
HASTY CONCLUSIONS - The folly of snap judgments of others
is well illustrated by a story the last Bishop Potter of New York used
to tell on himself.
He was sailing for Europe in one of the great trans-Atlantic liners.
When he went on board, he found another passenger was to share the cabin
with him. After going to see his accommodations, he came up to the
purser's desk and inquired if he could leave his gold watch and other
valuables in the ship's safe. He explained that ordinarily he never
availed himself of that privilege, but he had been to his cabin and had
met the man who was to occupy the other berth and, judging from his
appearance, he was afraid that he might not be a very trustworthy
person.
The purser accepted the responsibility of caring for the valuables, and
remarked, "It's all right, bishop, I'll be very glad to take care of
them for you. The other man has been up here and left his for the same
reason."
One is reminded of the lines of Robbie Burns,
"Oh, wad some power the giftie gie
us,
To see oursel's as others see us."
It is very easy to form snap
judgments, only to find out afterwards that they are utterly unfounded.
Love "believeth all things, hopeth all things." (Harry A.
Ironside)
It is much easier to be critical
than to be correct.
—Disraeli
F B Meyer has a chapter
entitled "TO THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT" (Matt. 7:1-6.)
Along as we are in this mortal life
we shall necessarily come into contact with those whose lives are
godless and evil. Evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse. People
will always abound who will not consent to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to
godliness. There will always be perverse disputings of men of corrupt
minds, destitute of the truth, and enemies to whatever is pure, lovely,
holy, and of good report. In this paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount
our Lord sets Himself to show us how to act towards such. It is clear
that the Master had no desire that His servants should retire from human
society, but should live amongst men as salt and light arresting the
progress of corruption, and abashing the evil deeds that hide under the
cover of darkness; but, in addition to the quiet influence of our
character, there will always be scope for a further exercise of
Christian principle. In what direction, and to what extent, is this to
take effect, and by what laws is it to be governed? In answer to these
questions our Lord lays down a general principle, which is removed as
far as possible from that which obtains among men. He says: Whatever you
do, think, or say about others must be in precise accordance with what
you would like them to do, think, or say about yourself. Judge not, for
with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. With what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you again. All things whatsoever ye would
that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them; and all things
whatsoever ye would not that men should do unto you, do ye not so to
them.
It is clear that there are three
circles in this paragraph of men with whom we are constantly thrown into
contact. First, our Associates and Neighbours, whose characters and
conduct are constantly passing in review before us; secondly, the Erring
Ones, whose motes trouble us; and, thirdly, the Dogs and Swine, which
stand for the notoriously vicious and profane.
As to our Associates and Neighbours,
Our Lord says:
(1) "Judge not." We need
hardly say that there is a sense in which we are bound to form careful
judgments on those around us. The judgment is one of the noblest
faculties of our moral life, and our surest safeguard from the sharks
that infest the seas. The young girl must use it of the man who is
seeking to engage her affections; the young man must use it of the man
who offers him a partnership; the seeker after truth must use it of the
teacher who professes to be able to lead him. There is no prayer that we
need more often or more fervently to make than that God would give us
right judgment in all things. "He that is spiritual judgeth all things."
But the judgment prohibited by our
Lord is altogether different from this, and is that spirit of
censoriousness and unkindness which is always lying in wait for others,
and making strong and uncharitable statements on the most superficial
view of their words and actions, without trying to understand the
motives by which they have been actuated or the difficulties of their
position.
The natural man is proud, haughty,
and self-opinionated. He has a great contempt of and a great prejudice
towards those who do not belong to his own sect or party. He is,
therefore, very censorious of them, making faults where there are none,
and aggravating them where they are. When he has formed, however
hastily, his judgment, he is not content with contemplating it for
himself, but takes every opportunity of venting it in word and act. If
such men can win another to their party, they are perfectly willing to
condone his faults; otherwise they will not scruple to extinguish him
and his influence by poisoning the minds of his neighbours and
contemporaries. This sin of censorious judgment is a constant peril to
us all, and one against which we need to watch and pray.
Beware lest you have a secret joy in
seeing that another who had borne an irreproachable character has
failed! Beware lest you form your estimate of another on idle stories,
suspicions, suggestions, and surmises, and without sufficient evidence!
Beware of seeking after a reputation for quickness in estimating the
true worth of others, since the desire to maintain such a reputation is
fraught with temptation! Beware of speaking of the faults of others,
except you have prayed about them first! Beware of uttering your
criticisms unless there is some end to be gained in warning others!
Beware of speaking of others till you have looked at home! Remember the
proverb about glass houses!
There are some who seem unable of
forming a generous estimate of any. According to them there is always
some evil motive behind apparent goodness, which 'detracts from all
merit or virtue. "Yes, he does seem religious and humane, but then, you
know, there is a rich old relative in the background, and it is
all-important to keep in touch with him, and that sort of thing goes
down well in that quarter." Or, "Yes, he is religious enough just now,
but, you know, there is a lady in the question, and he is perfectly
right in the way he is taking to win her." Ah, it is a sad and miserable
state of mind to have no eyes but for wounds, and bruises, and
putrefying sores, and to find these beneath the surface when they do not
appear to the eyes of others. There are many young men and women amongst
us in society who can hardly indulge in any language but that of
depreciation.
(2) Our ignorance of most of the
facts should give us pause before passing harsh and censorious judgments.
Take this, for instance: A merchant was thought to be very selfish with
his money. He was known to be very rich, and yet when asked for
subscriptions he gave always a small sum (5 Pounds) where his neighbours
thought he ought to give 20 Pounds. He was therefore in ill odour for
miserliness and greed. This went on for years, and many closed their
hearts against him. One of his friends, however, who felt that there
might be some other explanation, set himself, with careful inquiry, to
ascertain the facts. It was with some difficulty that he finally
discovered that this much-abused man was supporting handsomely a large
family of poor relatives. He educated them well, and put them out in
life with no niggard hand. They lived in another town, and no one knew
of the source of their income. Their benefactor never allowed his left
hand to know what his right hand did. Here was a man whom all were
misjudging because they did not know all the facts. Is it a solitary
instance?
(3) The fact that we cannot judge
others adversely without revealing ourselves may also make us pause.
The man who imputes low motives to
the conduct of another is probably conscious of their presence within
himself. He is already actuated by them, or would be if he were in the
place of the man he criticises. He has no higher standard for another
than that which rules in his own breast, and almost unconsciously in his
criticisms he is revealing his own soul.
(4) It is inevitable that our
harsh judgments of others will come back on ourselves.
A man receives back what he gives.
There is an automatic law of compensation in society. Kindness begets
kindness, censoriousness begets censoriousness. Ishmael's hands were
against everyone, and every man's hand was against him. Adonibezek cut
off the thumbs and great toes of seventy kings; and as it was done by
him it was done to him. Haman was hanged on the gallows which he had
erected for Mordecai. The Jew, who banned all men as heathen dogs, is
himself banned. The world may fitly be compared to a vast field in which
each man drops his seed, and it comes back to him, not just the same
that it was when he dropped it in, any more than in the autumn you reap
from the earth the black berry which you hid in its broad bosom in the
spring, hut something which has its true correspondence and proportion
to it. Every gift has its return, every act its rebound, every voice its
echo. The Lord states the alternative in another discourse, closely
corresponding to this, when He says:
"Give and it shall be given unto you'
good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall
men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal
it shall be measured to you again."
"Wherefore judge nothing before the
time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden
things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts,
and then shall each man have his praise from God" (1 Cor. 4:5, R.V.).
Especially guard against prejudice, that is, pre-judgment. Remember that
there are dogs and swine in the makeup of your own heart, and you must
see to it that their presence does not trample under feet what is
purest, noblest, and best, and rend men and women who, if you did but
know and understand them more fully, would attract your loving
veneration. Remember the words with which our Lord prefaced His warning
against censorious judgment: "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father
also is merciful."
As to the Erring,
(1) Consider the beam that is in
your own eye.
The beam is, of course, a log,
rafter, or joist, and is the extreme contrast to the chip or splint of
wood which is light enough to float in the air; and a child can
understand what our Lord means when He employs a well-known Jewish
proverb to give the flavour of homeliness to His speech.
(2) By nature we are extremely
prone to put other people right.
We behold the mote that is in our
brother's eye till we can think of nothing else. All the good qualities
he possesses weigh lighter than swansdown against that one inconsistency
that presents itself to us at each mention of his name. Finally, we go
to him with the fixed resolve of ridding him of his mote, saying, "Let
me pull out the mote that is in thine eye." Now in all this there would
be nothing to condemn, indeed, there would be much to commend, if it
were done lovingly, humbly, and after the due confession and putting
away from our own life of all inconsistency and sin; but it is the
height of absurdity to attempt to extract the mote when your own vision
is distorted by the presence of the unextracted beam. How dare you
presume to deal with the faultiness of others when your own faults have
not been corrected! It is like Satan rebuking sin. Well may men cry,
"Physician, heal thyself."
(3) It is evidently a very
delicate operation to correct the faults of others.
Our Lord compares it to the
extraction of a little piece of grit, or dust, or a minute insect, from
an inflamed eye. A clumsy hand may well make the matter worse. Only the
tenderest, strongest hand can be trusted for the operation; and, if I
might choose, let me have one who has himself suffered, being tempted.
It is only He, who has been tempted in all points like as we are, though
without sin, who can be trusted to deal with our inner temptations,
inconsistencies, and failures. It is the man whose own transgressions
have been forgiven according to the multitude of God's tender mercies
who can teach transgressors His ways.
(4) First cast out the beam out of
thine own eye.
There is a beam there, if you only
knew it. We look, it has been said, at our neighbor's errors with a
microscope, but at our own through the wrong end of a telescope. We have
two sets of weights and measures, one for home use and the other for
foreign. Every vice has two names; and we call it by the flattering and
minimizing one when we commit it, and by the ugly one when our neighbour
does. Everybody can see the hump on his friend's shoulders, but it takes
some effort to see our own. A blind guide is bad enough, but a blind
oculist is a still more ridiculous anomaly. The more we know of
ourselves the more pitiful we shall be of others; the less likely to
form rash and harsh judgments; the more sweet and tender we shall be in
trying to make men better.
(5) Then thou shalt see clearly.
Only the pure heart sees; and when
once some heart-sin is put away a flood of light pours on all things in
heaven and on earth. We see sin as we never saw it, and the love of God
and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green;
Something shines in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen.
Birds with gladder songs o'erflow,
Flowers with brighter beauties shine,
While Christ whispers in my ear,
I am His and He is mine."
"To Them that are without."
As to Dogs and Swine, Use a wise
discrimination Suppose a priest, on coming out of the Temple, encounters
a hungry dog, one of those yelping, voracious, unclean animals, which
are the scavengers and pests of Oriental cities, would it be seemly for
him to return to the Temple and take a piece of the flesh which was
reserved from the sacrifices for the use of priests, and therefore holy,
and give it to the dog for food? He might relieve the creature's hunger,
but not with such food as that. Or suppose a man, carrying a bag of
pearls through a forest, were to encounter a hog, would it be wise or
seemly for him to place the pearls before it, when it needed acorns?
Similarly, it is unseemly to offer
the sacraments of our holy religion or the forgiveness of Christ's
Gospel to the notoriously unclean and untrue, or to discuss the sacred
mysteries of the Epistle to the Ephesians with those who are set on
coarse and carnal pleasures. First, their natures must be changed. They
must be born from above. Old things must pass away, and all things
become new. Then, when the heart of stone has been removed and the heart
of flesh substituted, the soul will hunger after the Divine mysteries,
and will be able to appreciate them in such a way as to justify us in
presenting them. The raven may feed on carrion, but the dove will return
to Noah's Ark until she can find her natural food.
For all this we need something which
was not fully revealed when our Lord was speaking, but has been revealed
since. The soul which stands before this high ideal is filled with
despair until it remembers, first, that the precious Blood cleanses from
all sin and shortcoming; and, secondly, that the Holy Spirit longs to
make possible and real these heavenly ideals. May that Blood cleanse and
that Spirit renew and perfect thee and me! (F. B. Meyer. The Directory
of the Devout Life)
