Judging in the Light of Scripture

How many times have we heard others say, “Judge not, that you be not judged, (Matthew 7:1), making it sound as if we won’t have to stand in judgment ourselves if we do not judge others. However, this is not what this verse means. Ecclesiastes 3:17 reads, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.”

Matthew 7:3-5 goes on to say, “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? 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? 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.” In other words, we will be guilty of hypocrisy if we even attempt to deal with a ‘brother’ or ‘sister’s’ transgression- IF we are in unrepentant sin ourselves.

Matthew 7:6 tells us “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” Jesus makes it clear in this verse that shortly follows verse 1 that says “Do not judge, that you be not judged,”- that we must make a judgment on those who would be considered ‘dogs’ or ‘swine’ that we need to beware of.

Jesus said,”The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak” (John 12:48-49).

In other words, we will all be judged by the word of God, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). We cannot judge another person’s heart, “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). However, we are to judge clear violations of the commands of God’s law.

John 7:24 tells us, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” We can judge (in the sense of determining whether an action is right or wrong) only in the light of scripture, not according to what we ‘think’, or how things may appear to be, but only with right judgment according to the truth of God’s word and knowledge of His law.Matthew 7:15-16 tells us to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.” 

 In 2 Corinthians 13:5 we are told to, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test” (2 Corinthians 13:5)! Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:25-27).

Our desire should be to act out of love for others with the desire to see them follow after Christ, and so our judging must be done in the light of this, in order to steer others toward obedience to scripture’s teaching, so that they would become more and more like Christ. This is the way God judges us, and this is how we should want others to judge us as well, “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). When we fail to judge according to the truth of scripture’s teaching, we fail to display a true Christ-like love to others.

Discipline versus Punishment

From a worldly perspective there is really no difference between the following two terms; discipline and punishment. If we look up the word punishment, it is defined as “the infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense.” The definition of discipline is “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.” In other words, one is punished because they have caused an offense by failing to follow rules or a code of behavior as set forth by the one offended. However, from a biblical perspective there is a vast difference between discipline and punishment. Punishment is still the infliction of a penalty as retribution for an offense- which amounts to God’s wrath against sin, however, discipline is the training of one to be a disciple. The correct definition of the word discipline does not involve punishment. If we are being disciplined by God, it is in order to train us toward being a better disciple of Christ. If we think, as children of our Heavenly Father, that we can still be punished for our sins, then we are in grave error.

God’s word tells us that, “….. God is love” (1 John 4:8b). It also tells us that, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love, (1 John 4:18). We are not understanding the perfect love of God if we believe we can still be punished for our sins.

IF we have truly been ‘born again’ into God’s family, Christ has already paid the full punishment (that being the wrath of God) for all of our sins, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:8-9). A righteous and just God will not require the suffering of added punishment on top of Christ’s atoning work.

We should, however, understand that there are always consequences suffered to sin. We may experience many hardships and dire consequences due to our disobedience to our Father’s commands. King David can attest to this. When Nathan confronted David he said to him, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites” (2 Samuel 12:9). Then he told David what the consequences would be to his transgressions, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house” (vss. 10-11); “because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die” (2 Samuel 12: 14).

If we are living in unrepentant sin, God may allow difficulties into our lives in order to steer us back to Him and obedience to His word, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons, (Hebrews 12:6-8). The longer we fail to seek God through His word and an exercising of our wills toward obedience to that Word, the more and greater consequences we may have to suffer. If we continue to live in disobedience and fail to repent, we are giving evidence to show that we are not true sons of God.

In John 3:36 we are told, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Ephesians 5:5-6 gives this warning, “For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). These verses speak of God’s punishment toward those who fail to come to repentance.

Thankfully, Jesus intercedes for His own, praying to the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). If we are not understanding that, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11), then perhaps we do not have the assurance that we are indeed sons of God, nor “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Let us be mindful of the following verses in Revelation 3:13, 19, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,…..Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” In displaying a Godly repentance, we show that we are not illegitimate sons who will suffer God’s punishment for their unrighteous deeds. Praise God that those who are true sons “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”(Romans 3:24).

Deceivers and Deceived suffer the same Consequences

Due to my recent scripture reading, I’ve been thinking on the fact that not only those who deceive others will suffer the consequences to their wrong actions, but those who are being deceived themselves will also suffer those same consequences.

In 2 Peter 2 verses 1-3 we read; “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

2 Peter 2:10-13 and 15 reads, “Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you….. Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.”

In 2 Peter 2:17-19 we read more of the fate of these deceivers,“These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”

False teachers promise great things to those they deceive, but those promises will never be fulfilled because they serve the Father of lies, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The fate of those who are deceived will be the same as that of the deceivers (who for the most part are religious leaders). In Matthew 23:15 we read, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves,” and 2 John 9-11 reads, “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” 

 

Only those who serve the living God of the Bible can be assured of fulfilled promises. As those who “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” (Titus 1:2), we know from history that, “Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:45); “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Pray we not suffer the fate of the deceivers or the deceived who serve the Father of lies. Rather may we be found to serve the true and living God of the Bible who cannot lie and is working through all things for the good of those who love Him. Deuteronomy 10:12 reads, “.. what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good”?