Question not found.
Luke 6:37
ESV - 37 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.
I humbly submit this one, often misunderstood scripture wielded by our antagonistic enemy and his idealogical minions has been quite successful in silencing and removing moral debate from the public square of ideas. (Psalms 149:6; Psalms 149:9; Matthew 7:6; 2 Timothy 3:5) A once moral people have been deceived into silencing themselves via a withering juggernaut of coercion and heretical spiritual capitulation. (Galatians 1:6-7) Every moment on this sphere we are making judgment calls without much thought, what to eat, wear, etc. Even whether or not to get out of bed in the morning. Consider if no one is accountable for their actions, you are condoning and thus partaking in those actions and this morally confused secular landscape is the devils playground, that is what we are witnessing currently. (2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:16) In this utopia the guilty are never held to account for any of their transgressions (glass house) but are the first to see and then judge minor faults in others without a though of mercy.(Matthew 18:33; John 8:7) The standard for all judgments under which we are all held accountable is the complete Word of God, whether one chooses to believe it or not, sin is sin and abominations are abominations. (Psalms 149:8; 2 Timothy 3:16) As sinful humans we ought to be very careful when we assign blame to others, while we ourselves are in need of merciful allowance. A humble forgiving spirit that mirrors the Lord will reap much for the kingdom and ourselves. (Psalms 119:98; Colossians 2:13) (Matthew 7:1) Do not judge, or you will be judged. (Matthew 7:2) For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:41) Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? (Romans 2:1) You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. (Romans 14:10) Why, then do you judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. (Romans 14:13) Therefore let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. (James 4:11) Brothers do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the Law and judges it. And if you judge the Law, you are not a practitioner of the Law, but a judge of it. Bottom line When engaged in all out struggle with kingdom enemies on the field, there are those who question or judge your form and decorum from the safety of the teams bench. In the Lord’s freedom and accountability …..warrior on
Jesus is not talking about moral behavior here. He’s talking about judging a brother by his looks, by his clothes, by his money, by maybe even his strange behavior, but not his moral behavior, that we can and are required to judge. John 7:24: Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Paul judged the Corinthian man in 1 Corinthians 5:3: For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, him who has done this deed. We are to judge our brothers’ immoral and sinful behavior and try to set them right as Paul did with this Corinthian. James 5:19-20: Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. We have to make a judgment on a brother who is sinning and wandered or left the truth. That is judging with righteous judgment. And we are to do our best to turn this brother back and in so doing save his soul.
This is another one of those 'secular Jesus' approaches being exploited by the world as they create a wide variety of 'false Christs' to serve their various agendas. The REAL Jesus presciently described that they would, convincingly enough to nearly deceive even His elect. (Matthew 24:24). The secular world likes to drag these verses out and use them against genuine Christians while trying to defend their rapid reversion back to the evils of pre-Christian paganism and its open embrace of sodomy, abortion, various 'new' forms of marriage and other practices quite popular in Christ's day among the ancient Romans. There is nothing 'progressive' about any of it. Jesus not only requires us to 'judge righteously' among each other, but He gives us an exact protocol to follow in Matthew 18:15-18. In His famous 'Judge not...' commands, He is actually just warning us against departing from the above 'steps' and attempting to apply our own 'standard of measure' in its place. So when we think we see one of our own Christian brothers or sisters caught in a sin, we are supposed to 'judge' them accordingly: 1) Love them enough to go to them privately and confront them honestly about it; 2) Bring two others with you and do this again so that the sinning person knows that this perception is not merely 'inside your head only'; 3) Make the matter public in the Church and make it a 'project of love,' involving many others until a 'solution' is reached through collective inspiration. Work on this together until the person rejects every possible idea or approach potentially leading towards repentance; 4) Ostracize the person socially and financially until they acknowledge the sin and repent. If they repent, hold no grudges and welcome them back without further judgment. If we do that EXACTLY as Jesus describes, we can avoid 'judging' others unrighteously and being condemned ourselves by our own false standard of personal measurement.
Luke 6:37 is written directly to Hebrews, God's chosen people, not to you or I (Matthew 10:5-6, Matthew 15:24). Jesus is also speaking prior to His death on the cross and prior to the revelation of the mystery gospel given to our apostle Paul (1 Timothy 1:16, Romans 16:25). We learn from Paul, after Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, that we Gentiles are given new instructions to live by (Romans 16:25, 1 Timothy 1:11). We as believers in Christ as our savior are to help other believers teach the only gospel message that saves today (Galatians 1:6-10, Galatians 6:1-6). Even the apostle Paul had to correct Peter and the others as they began wrongly instructing Gentiles that they needed to practice the law of Moses for righteousness (Galatians 2:11-14). We today are also to correct other believers regarding their representation as members of the church the body of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:2, Galatians 5:16). There is no benefit to us as believers to judge those yet to believe, as we were also at one time lost and without hope (Ephesians 2:12, 1 Timothy 1:15-17, 1 Corinthians 6:9-12). Our purpose as believers is to share the good news for today with others, not to condemn those who are lost, without hope, and dead in their sins as not yet having found their savior Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:13). Sin is no longer the issue for salvation, therefore judging others of their sin only pushes a lost person away from discovering the truth: How that God was in Christ no longer imputing the worlds trespasses unto us (2 Corinthians 5:19), and that He died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14), was buried and rose again the 3rd day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), so that all who believe this may have everlasting life in Him (Romans 4:25, Ephesians 1:13). Lack of faith in Jesus Christ being our savior is the ONLY issue regarding salvation today (Romans 3:20-28), during God's dispensation of grace to us (Ephesians 3:1-6).
All answers are REVIEWED and MODERATED.
Please ensure your answer MEETS all our guidelines.
A good answer provides new insight and perspective. Here are guidelines to help facilitate a meaningful learning experience for everyone.