Today, the idea of making judgments concerning others is often scorned.1  Many, especially in the West, prefer to adopt a non-judgmental posture when it comes to other people. Being tolerant, open-minded, and accepting – in everything from politics, art, and technology to lifestyle choices and personal ethics – is seen as virtuous.

 

To top it off, some advocates of this kind of non-judgmentalism quote Matthew 7:1 as their authority. This is the famous text where Jesus says: ‘Don’t judge or you too will be judged.’ (Some mouth our Lord’s words without even realising the source.)

 

This can be puzzling for Christians.  If it’s true that Jesus forbids making judgments concerning people, then is our Lord expecting us to be totally open-minded and affirming of all people in all things? How does this sit with other biblical texts which appear to call for discernment – and, at times, even separation or rejection – when we confront certain situations?

 

To help resolve this puzzle, let me offer three observations. First, a closer reading of Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:1–5 shows that he’s not forbidding the making of all judgments with respect to people. Rather, I take this as Jesus chiefly forbidding hypocritical judgments. Imagine if Bob rebukes Tom for stealing an apple from the supermarket when Bob himself is stealing another man’s wife by having a secret affair with her. That’s where Jesus’ hyperbole hits home: the implausibility of removing a speck in someone’s eye when we have a log in our own eye. In fact, our Lord tells us what we should do in verse 5: ‘first take the log out of your own eye’ (my emphasis). This implies that there are occasions when we can correct others. However, we should first self-reflect and acknowledge our own sins before we point to sins in others.

 

Second, limiting Matthew 7:1–5 principally to hypocritical judgments is consistent with other biblical passages which envisage Christians making judgments in certain situations. Consider John 7:24 which calls us to ‘judge with righteous judgment.’ Here, Jesus instructs his disciples to judge or evaluate people and situations based on true substance, not just by appearances. In both John 7:24 and Matthew 7:1, the Greek verb krino is used. Depending on the context, krino can mean to judge, condemn, evaluate, form an opinion, or discern.

 

Consider other routine matters. If you wish to date someone, how can you proceed without making at least one (maybe tentative) judgment of the person you wish to date? Or, if you wish to choose which religious leaders to follow, how can you proceed without evaluating them? As Jesus once cautioned: if we don’t evaluate leaders by checking the fruits which they bear, it’s easy for us to fall prey to false prophets (Matthew 7:15–20).

 

Third, the meaning of hypocritical judgment also merits elaboration. Some understand ‘removing the log in our own eye before removing the speck in someone’s eye’ to mean that we must be practically sinless before we can correct sin in others. According to this logic, Christians can’t call out sexual immorality or financial shenanigans simply because we’re far from sinless ourselves – as evidenced by the numerous moral and financial scandals enveloping churches in recent decades. Some say: if Christians have the temerity to do otherwise, then Christians are hypocrites!

 

However, I suggest that such logic misconstrues hypocrisy. The essence of hypocrisy is applying a double standard to a common situation: one (less strict) standard for me and another (more strict) standard for you. Recall Bob and Tom: with regard to stealing, Bob is applying a lower standard for himself but a higher standard for Tom. Typically, when we use a double standard, this leads to behaviour which contradicts what we preach. It can also make us appear to be pretending to be someone we’re not.

 

In reality a church comprises imperfect people. All Christians are sinners (Romans 3:23). At the same time, we’re sinners who have been baptised and forgiven of our sins, and are enjoying new life in the Spirit through God’s abundant grace (Acts 2:38; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 6:3–4).
When sinful – but forgiven – Christians exhort us and others to live according to God’s perfect standard, that’s not hypocrisy. Why? Because we’re using the same standard – namely, God’s Word – to evaluate ourselves and others.

 

Hence, the key is for Christians to acknowledge our sins and repent of them, even as we urge fellow believers and others to live according to Scripture. We can then evaluate, discern, or judge without hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Put differently, this means that Bob doesn’t have to be sinless before he can correct Tom. But Bob should first confess and repent. In this way, Bob can exhort Tom with humility and grace as a fellow sinner on a journey towards greater holiness.

 

To summarise, then, while Matthew 7:1 may appear initially to be a puzzling text, a closer reading of our Lord’s words in its wider biblical context yields helpful insights. Jesus warns us against making hypocritical judgments, using double standards, and condemning others unfairly. Instead, we’re to exercise righteous judgment by discerning matters according to substance and not just appearances. Finally, we should evaluate ourselves and others using one standard – God’s Word – as we navigate our complex 21st century world. May God help us do this well!