For the next several weeks, because of some feedback I’ve received from last week’s article, we will be looking at Matthew 7:1-5 and considering the question—Can the Christian judge? This question arises from a misunderstanding that Matthew 7:1 condemns all judging. In order to condemn all judging, one could not judge whether someone was right or wrong on a specifi c topic at all, without being a hypocrite.

In condemning all judging, you are making a judgment that judging is wrong, and that is judging others. There are people in the world today who have a problem with deciding whether someone is a Christian or not. The problem they have with someone saying that someone else is not a Christian is that it implies that they are not saved. They site Matthew 7:1 as their proof text that a person is not capable of making this judgment. By doing this, these people are actually making the same judgment they claim is impossible to be made.

So, if the Bible condemns judging whether an individual is a Christian, then it would be sin to do so. Therefore, if it is sin, it would separate one from God (Isa. 59:1-2). If one is separated from God without repenting, then they are lost (Luke 13:3,5). Thus, if this individual is lost, the same conclusion is reached as if he’s not a Christian and the same judgment is made. Therefore, these people are doing the same thing they are condemning others of and have made the same judgment, so they are in violation of the very verse they use, if their interpretation is correct. This is hypocrisy, which is condemned in the same context of Matthew 7:1-5.

In this passage, hypocrisy is being condemned, not judging. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:1-5). The very hypocrisy people accuse others of is the hypocrisy with which they are guilty. This verse clearly does not teach that we are not to judge but that we are to judge properly. Proper judgement is removing your own hypocrisy (the plank in your eye) to see clearly to then remove the speck from your brother.]

Some would protest, “But it’s impossible to remove the plank, because we’re all sinners!” However, Paul told Timothy to do this exact thing — “I charge you (go and do this) therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke (to rebuke, we must be able to judge), exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:1-2). For Timothy to remove the speck from his brother’s eye, the plank had to be gone from his own eye. If we cannot remove the plank from our eye to see clearly, then God was commanding Timothy, a human, to do something impossible. However, because we know God would not do this, we can conclude that Timothy WAS able to remove his plank so he could see clearly to rebuke, and we are also able.

Jesus commanded His disciples to go into all the world and make disciples. They could not have made disciples if they could not decide who was a godly person and who was not. Christ’s purpose was to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). In the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16), He commanded us to do the same. If we cannot judge whether someone is a Christian, then how can we SEEK the lost?

Just something to consider.