Judgment vs Judgmentalism
“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”
Matthew 7:1-2
The title might give away where I am going with this weekly article but bear with me nonetheless. I heard one pastor call these verses, “The most quoted verses in the Bible by non-Christians.” I might clarify and say, it is the most MISQUOTED verse in the Bible. Typically they are paraphrased from the King James Bible, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” These verses are used as clobber verses in response to anyone who argues for a biblical view of morality. If we say that marriage is only between one man and one woman, that there are only two biological sexes regardless of how one feels, or that same-sex sexual relationships are inherently wrong and are offense to a holy God, people will be quick to say we are narrow-minded, bigoted, and homophobic.
Of course, in all these instances we are only saying what God has already said. God created humanity as “male and female. (Gen 1:27)” He performed the first marriage and told them to “be fruitful and multiply. (Gen 1:28, 2:23-25)” One of the stated purposes of a sexual relationship is procreation and is reserved for heterosexual marriage. This means that all illicit sexual contact outside of marriage is inherently sinful and wrong. Homosexual behavior goes against both God’s design and his express will found in Scripture. Is that being narrow-minded? Truth by definition is narrow and limited. Two opposite answers cannot both be true at the same time in the same relationship. Either God has limited sexual relations within the covenant bounds of marriage, or he has not. If he has, then stating that is not being judgmental, it is being biblical.
This helps us clarify what Jesus is and is not saying. The type of judgment Jesus is speaking against is the arrogant, condescending, graceless, holier than thou attitude that looks down on others while thinking too highly of himself. Judgmentalism is a haughty, looking down your nose at another person’s sin without recognizing the moral offensiveness of your own sin. We will look at this in greater detail next week but consider what Jesus says in the next three verses. He says to first get the “log” out of your own eye before getting the “speck” that is in your brother’s eye. He is not minimizing the other person’s sin, he is saying that if you take a long, hard look at yourself you will realize how much of a sinner you are and how much grace you have received when you were forgiven. If you go with that attitude, you will not look down on the other person but see him as a fellow sinner who needs the same grace that you need.
The Bible does NOT tell us to give up all judgment and just accept everyone exactly the way he or she is. It is important that we recognize what is right and wrong. We need to know what pleases and displeases God. We are to live lives of purity and pursue holiness. We are to call sinners to repentance which means we need to know what sin is. In all these Jesus is addressing our heart attitude of humility while we do these things. We should have proper judgment, discernment, and be able to discriminate between what is right and wrong. If we do this with an attitude of humility, we will not be judgmental, we will be biblical.
