“Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1)
Most all unsaved people have a Bible that they live by. The problem is that it has only about ten verses. This is one of them. Matthew 7:1 has been quoted by more lost people than Christians and it has been memorized by more lost people than John 3:16, “ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Unfortunately, this obsession with a verse that they don’t even understand has rubbed off on so many Christians that it is almost universally believed that it is wrong to judge. The following four verses (Matthew 7:2-5) plainly show that the verse one is not a commandment against judging, but rather a warning against unfair and harsh judgment.
“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:2-5)
After all, the same Jesus that gave Matthew 7:1 also gave us John 7:24, “ Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Of course the unbelieving world doesn’t know that verse because it isn’t in their sick and twisted Bible of less than a dozen verses, nor is I Corinthians 2:15, “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” I Corinthians 6:1-5, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?” Proverbs 31:9, “Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”
Therefore every serious Christian needs to know how to handle Matthew 7:1 responsibly.