christianityisitagainstchristianprincipl
Christianity
Is it against Christian principles to judge others?
Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you will be judged”
Luke 6:37 “Do not judge, or you will be judged”
Rome 2:1 “…., you who pass judgment on someone else, for at ever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”
Romans 14:4 “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand?”
1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore, judge nothing before the appointed time: wait till the Lord comes”.
1 Corinthians 5:12 “What business are you to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside”?
What are all these verses actually saying in respect to Christians judgment? We will look at each one to see their teachings.
Matthew 7:1 is Jesus’ teaching on Christian not to judge hypocritically or self righteously. We can see the context here in the following verse 5 when Jesus says, “You hypocrite”. The same thought is also expressed in Mt. 23:13-19.
Again in Luke 6:37, Jesus did not disallow his disciples not to make judgment as can be seen in the following verses of 43-45, but he simply condemned unjust and hypocritical judging to others.
Paul is clearly teaching in line with that of Jesus of hypocritical judging in Rome 2:1
Romans 14:4 does not teach us not judge but not to mind business of other household or servant to other master whom he stands or fails.
Here in 1 Corinthians 4:5, Paul is talking about judgment at the end time, the appointed time, upon Christ’ 2nd return.
1 Corinthians 5:12 here Paul is referring to spiritual discipline of the believers not the unbelievers.
We can see that all these frequent verses are warnings against the danger of passing judgment on others in a way which attempt to anticipate the final divine judgment. We should not pass judgment on salvation, sin, faith and the like. We should not play Pharisee in praising self righteous and judging others hypocritically.
Not only Bible does not forbid Christians to judge, there are numerous verses that call upon Christians to judge. Jesus says in Luke 12:57, “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right ….” Again Jesus says in John 7:24, “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”
Other Biblical commands to judge are Romans 15:14; 1 Corinthians 2:15; 6:1-6; 10:15; 2 Corinthians 13:5 Philippians 1:9f. Colossians 1:9 and 1John 4:1
Just as God is a righteous judge, Christian is expected to show discrimination and judgment in matters of His concerns. It is our responsibility, duty, and obligation to judge. We should judge all wrongs, condemn sins and take a stand. Christians should have not fear to oppose injustice, immorality, and all vice.
No, judging others is not just a Christian principle, it is a Biblical command and it is only right to do so.