Last week, we began looking at Matthew 7:1-5 and asking the question—Can the Christian judge? We learned that condemning all judging is hypocrisy, in that you have to make a judgment in order to condemn all judging. It is for this reason that Matthew 7:1 cannot be interpreted to mean all judging is wrong (sinful). We showed this by looking at how Paul commanded Timothy to reprove and rebuke (2 Timothy 4:1-2). This would mean that Timothy would have had to remove the plank from his own eye to remove the speck from his brother’s eye. In the Great Commission, Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and teach the gospel, which would require us to remove the planks from our own eyes so that we are not hypocrites when we attempt to remove the speck from our brother’s eye. If Timothy could remove the plank from his eye to see clearly to remove the speck from his brother, then we can as well.

The fact that we can remove the plank is shown by what Paul recorded in his letter to the Corinthians — “No temptation has overtaken you except such is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 13:10). There is a way of escape and there is a means of forgiveness, but if you fail to take the escape and fall into sin by your own desires and lust (James 1:14), then your sins remain and you are lost. However, when you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and then you repent, you demonstrate godly sorrow (2 Cor. 7:10), which produces the fruit unto repentance. Then, God remembers the sin no more and casts them as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12). Thus, the sins have been forgiven and the plank is removed, so the individual can see clearly to remove the speck, which is commanded by the wording of Matthew 7:1-5. This is also in accordance with what Jesus taught in John 7:24– “Do not judge according to appearance (in other words, again, don’t judge inappropriately), but (the word “but” shows contrast and implies the doing of the contrast) judge with righteous judgment.”

When we judge with righteous judgments by speaking as the oracle of God, we are relaying His message as His mouthpiece, as we are commanded to. “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracle of God” (1 Peter 4:11a). Speaking as God’s mouthpiece is accomplished when we use God’s Word in order to make our judgments. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). When a Christian rebukes someone by the Word of God, they are attempting to sanctify them (set them apart) by truth, which is the Word of God. Therefore, it is not the individual who is judging them but the truth. They are not judging by their own standard, which is what Matthew 7:1 is warning about, but by the Word of God, which is what they are commanded to do.

If you believe the false doctrine that we are not to judge and that all judging is wrong (sinful), I plead with you to repent and allow God’s Word to remove the plank out of your eye before it is too late. Start today in teaching and loving the truth because if you do not, you will believe a delusion that all judging is sinful and be condemned eternally if you do not repent (Luke 13:3, 5; 2 Thess. 2:9-12). When the preacher of righteousness makes judgments to speak as the oracle of God, he saves both himself and the one who hears him (1 Tim. 4:16). When one judges someone properly, they love the individual by then rebuking them, but in order to rebuke, they must first judge that the individual is living in sin.

Just something to consider.