Should We Judge Others?

Judging others seems harsh. Afterall, who are we to judge?

I have wrestled with this question in my occupation as a pastor. The Bible gives multiple answers that seem to contradict each other at first glance. I hope to be able to show you how they work together to give you a comprehensive guide to what kind of judgements you should make and what kind you should not.

Let’s start with the most well-known passage on the topic, Jesus speaking in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or 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? ⁵ 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.”

Matthew 7:1-5 (ESV)

This seems definitive. One must be very careful about being condescending or self-righteous toward another person. We are all sinners, so feeling superior is off the table for us. But this passage doesn’t take judging an action as evil or good off the table. It forces a humble attitude but doesn’t relieve us of a responsibility to identify sin and call it out. This can be seen in Jesus’ instructions of what to do if somebody sins against you.

 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ 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 collector.

Matthew 18:15-17 (ESV)

You are definitely casting judgement if you follow this procedure. You judge the initial action to be sin. You judge the response to be adequate or inadequate. You establish a consequence of sin by shunning a person, but that is not the goal from the beginning. The goal is to elicit repentance and apology and, if successful, it obliges you to forgive.

The judgement can even be about whether a person is Christian or fallen away. Jesus instructs all of His disciples this way:

⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:19 (ESV)

Ultimately God alone judges a person’s salvation, but we, who are Jesus’ disciples, give a necessary, verbal judgement to those who persist in obvious sin. Paul did this to people in Corinth.

³ For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 5:3-5 (ESV)

Wow! The goal is, of course, repentance. Paul isn’t claiming that he is without sin. But the clear lack of repentance that went with this sexual sin was enough for Paul to call for the man to be “delivered to Satan”, who at God’s behest does something to his health. This is a judgement.

Not only may we judge, in certain situations, but we have a responsibility to do so. But we must be careful. Becoming a judgmental, self-righteous person is something to be vigorously avoided. As people with a sinful nature ourselves, we should have compassion on those who are struggling with their own temptations. It is those who justify their own actions or ignore them that need to be rebuked.