(ThyBlackMan.com) Clearly you hear many people quote where the Bible says “judged not lest ye be judged” from Matthew 7:1 but it is not that simple. People usually cut it off at that and ignore the next verse. Verse 2 explains that judging in the wrong way is wrong and has consequences. His point is not to judge hypocritically because you must be willing to abide by the same standard. Thus we need to over stand a personal judgment is likely to be wrong but relaying the judgment of God from the Word of God is something all together different. In the same book, Christ in fact tells us to confront other believers caught up in sin (Matthew 18:15-17). But if we are not to judge under any circumstances, we would not be able to say a person did anything wrong against us. Matthew 18:15-17 says we have a right to make that determination. And since Christ does not contradict himself, we in fact can and should correct others.
If we could not make judgments, none of us could ever say what is right or wrong.
I Corinthians 6:1-8 says the saints will judge the world.
The Bible is constructed line upon line and precept upon precept, thus one verse will not likely give you the full context on any topic. To overstand a topic, you will have to look up several verses relating to that topic – verses that are scattered throughout the Bible in different books. And very often, several words in a verse must be looked up in a Concordance to get the original meaning from the original language of Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. This is studying to show yourself approved and this is the most common way to verify what you believe the Bible is saying. If you do not use these methods (and others), you are likely to come up with an interpretation instead of the truth.
There is a difference between standing on a scripture and hiding behind it. Many of the people who say “you can’t judge” are those who tend to ignore what God says is correct on a given issue where they do not want to change. They don’t want correction so they will not justify your right or responsibility to correct others. They do not like the idea of accountability to each other so they reject accountability by lumping it under “you can’t judge a person“. But the Bible says we are in fact accountable to one another, not just to God (Ephesians 4:25, James 5:16, Galatians 6:2, Colossians 3:16, Romans 15:1-2, Luke 17:3, Proverbs 27:17).
Galatians 6:1 clearly commands those who are spiritual to correct those who have fallen away from what is right. Obviously that calls for you to determine what is right and to determine that a person has fallen away from it. When done correctly, you are relying on God’s judgment of what is right and wrong, not your own personal judgment. Thus you are relaying his judgment, not your own. This is not only allowable by God, it is expected of you and commanded by Him in Galatians 6:1. And when we do not follow through, we place ourselves and the person who has gone astray at further risk (Ezekiel 3:20).
Correction is uncomfortable but necessary. And because it is uncomfortable, people avoid doing it while they also make excuses to block receiving it. People dislike correction by God or man. We all have a right to correct, a responsibility to correct and the necessity to be corrected.
We say “God alone will judge and punish” as we quote where the Bible has lumped judgment and punishment together. yet we have no problem punishing our children, disciplining our employees, submitting to the laws and judicial punishment from the courts or law enforcement when we are wrong. And we both want and accept that others are punished when they break the laws in ways that hurt us or cause us loss. Therefore there is much more to the issue of judgment and punishment than meets the eye and a study of the proper context in the Bible should bring a better over standing.
I Corinthians 12:12-27 and Romans 12:5 show that we are accountability to EACH OTHER.
Church leaders everywhere have skillfully and covertly used “judge not least ye be judged” of Matthew 7:1 to silence legitimate objections against their personal and ungodly agendas. While pastors buy $67 million dollar jets, live in mansions and molest young boys, the congregations are silenced because of the misuse of Matthew 7:1. The church as a whole has very little accountability to its members and apparently even to Christ himself. Many churches and pastors are on a worldly, carnal mission with a corporate approach while our neighborhood are filled with crime, the homeless, the poor and the fatherless. Too many churches get away with this because they say we cannot judge. Wake up.
None of us are perfect and we all fall short. But that is not an excuse to avoid getting better. Nor is that an excuse to tolerate sin from ourselves or those around us who impact our lives. Nor is that an excuse to be accountable, receive correction and correct others. Once we realize the value and the purpose of correction, we will readily accept it. Once we overstand, we will then want to do unto others as we would have them do unto us – correcting them based on God’s guidelines and God’s judgment instead of our own. And we need to be careful not to be brainwashed into accepting sin (homosexuality, LGBT etc.) as it hides under the banner of “tolerance“.
So many people are coming out of the closet while the church refuses to clean the closet out.
The leaven of compromise, perversion, lust and materialism has infected the church and the salt has lost its savour. To make it worse, very few people will speak up. But I will and you should.
Righteous judgment and correction has been relayed on behalf of God by his children, disciples and vessels since God created man. We are to set the example by the life we lead and correct others, whether in the spirit of meekness and humility or by stern rebuke. Either way, open your mouth and stop being silenced by those who manipulate the scriptures in order to keep legitimate correction quiet. Surely if God used a donkey and a big fish (whale), He can use you.
Just use wisdom and discretion and be led by the Holy Spirit because there are a lot of people out there the Bible calls fools. Proverbs 23:9 tells us not to speak to fools. Proverbs 12:1 tells us those who love discipline are those who love knowledge. And Proverbs 15:32 tells us those who despise or reject discipline are those who despise themselves.
Staff Writer; Trevo Craw
A Free Thinker, who loves to talk about Politics, etc. Also, all about uplifting the Black Community even if it doesn’t fit your mindset. One may hit me up at; TrevoCraw@ThyBlackMan.com.
