Not only does God say that we can judge, but that we need to judge. How else would we be able to help people understand their sins, the consequences thereof, or the way toward salvation unless we judge them to be in sin in the first place? It’s our duty to judge, but there are stipulations. As you will see, judgment is simply a part of the Christian walk. This is the list of Scripture I sent. These are just a few examples, but they should suffice.

Matthew 7:1-5 “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 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.”

Jesus isn’t saying that we shouldn’t judge, He is saying that we shouldn’t judge in hypocrisy. If I am committing the very same sin that the person I’m talking to is committing, then I have no right to judge them. Jesus says I need to “first cast out the beam out of” my own eye before I “cast out the mote out of” the other person’s eye. If I decide to judge someone guilty of committing a sin that I myself am committing, then I will be judged by God to be a hypocrite and will suffer the judgment I just gave.

Jesus is quite clear in these verses in making certain to say that we can’t be hypocrites in judgment, but in no way is He saying not to judge at all.

Romans 2:1-3 “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?”

These verses serve to confirm what Jesus said about judging in hypocrisy. If we do the same things that we condemn others for doing, then we won’t “escape the judgment of God”.

Matthew 18:15 “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”

How else can we “tell him his fault” unless we have judged him to be in fault? A judgment of fault must be determined in order to confront him at all.

John 7:24 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

These are the words of Christ Himself (red letter). As He makes clear here, we are supposed to judge, but we are to “judge righteous judgment”. This means that, yes, we are supposed to judge, but we must know the righteousness of God and His character before judging. In essence, we need to know the difference between holy and unholy, right and wrong, righteous and unrighteous, and clean and profane, before we judge. The only way to know these things is to study the Bible, pray, submit to God, and obey His commands. From there, He will impart His wisdom to us.

Once again, we see that Christ never said that we cannot judge, He simply says that we need to have discernment before judging.

1 Corinthians 2:15 “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

The one who is spiritually minded and not carnally minded judges all things, including the sins of others. Yes, mankind will judge the man of God, but God is saying here that none of the worlds judgments will stand against the child of God. However, the judgment of the child of God will stand because it was done in righteousness and without hypocrisy.

The verses preceding this one say,

1 Corinthians 2:13-14 “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Spiritual matters are spiritually discerned. Because of that, the worldly person cannot understand the judgments of God’s people. Without spiritual discernment (which only comes when we fully submit to God), we cannot understand much of anything, let alone judgment works.

1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

The word “try” here just means “test”. What this means is that we need to test, or judge, whether what we hear, read, see, or believe is actually true. Whenever someone tells us anything, it is our obligation to determine whether they are being truthful or lying to us. This is precisely why I have always encouraged everyone, you included, to test everything I say and match it up with what the Bible says.

If we are told something, our duty is to see if the Bible confirms the claim or not. If the person is lying, we then have judged them to be lying. So, even when it comes to the things people say, we have a heavenly calling to judge if they are telling the truth or not. Once more, we see that judgment is just a part of life.

James 5:19-20 “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

How can we “converteth the sinner from the error of his way” unless we have first judged that they “do err from the truth”? It is absolutely ESSENTIAL for us to judge if someone is in sin so that we may take the opportunity to correct them and lead them back to Christ so that they can repent and be saved from death.

This sentiment runs all throughout Scripture. What many are unaware of is the fact that if we do not correct someone for their sins, and they die while in those sins, God holds us accountable for their death and their blood will be on our hands!

Ezekiel 3:18-21 “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.”

Ezekiel 33:8-9 “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

Praise the Lord! If we do judge someone to be in sin and we obey the Lord to warn them of their sins, then if they die in their sins, we will no longer be held accountable! Our obedience in judging them guilty of sin and properly warning them of said sin actually saves us from their blood being on our hands. Praise the Lord for He is merciful to the obedient!

Proverbs 31:9 “Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”

I don’t think it can be said any more clearly. We MUST judge. We MUST open our mouths, especially when someone is in sin. We just need to be careful that we judge righteously.

As I said in the beginning, these few verses are just meant to get the point across. In reality, we see judgment being cast from the first page of Genesis to the last page of Revelation. All of God’s people have cast judgment upon the innocent for praise and upon the guilty for condemnation. What we do not see, however, is any command to not judge at all with one exception. There is one type of judgment we are not allowed to make: whether someone is going to Heaven or not. That judgment is for God alone.

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