Do Christians Judge Others?

"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

It is most certainly not against Christian principles to "judge" the actions of others, but we must be very careful of our interpretation of the word and its many uses scattered throughout the Bible. We all "judge" in one form or another. 

Here's a perfect example: Let's suppose we hear a news report on the 6 o'clock news that involves the murder of two small children. The video shows the father, who is in handcuffs, being placed in the back of a police car. I would bet my next paycheck that the following thought (or something similar) is going through the minds of 90% of the people who saw the newscast "They shouldn't even waste the money and time to try that scum, they should just hang him from the public square." The sad thing is that we don't even know whether or not the man has been accused of a crime or not.

In reading the Bible, we must understand that the word "judge" is widely used and can mean "someone capable of making a final decision", "to govern or rule", "to criticize", or simply "to form or state an opinion".

God will be the final "judge" as we can see in the book of Hebrews:

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27(KJV)

In the book of Exodus the accounts of how Moses actually attempted to judge the people of Israel are described. The difference here is that the word "judge" was used to mean, "govern". Moses' father-in law saw that he was listening to all of the grievances and all the questions that the people had for God, so he thought it would be a better idea to divide some of that responsibility among the people and here is what he had to say:

"Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. Exodus 18: 21-22 (KJV)

The people could decide whether or not an idea was within God's law or not and "judge" correctly.
In this passage we find that "judge" would pertain to showing favoritism toward any one group of people and to not spread gossip against our neighbor:

"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." - Leviticus 19:15

Here is another passage of scripture to support the previous one and of course here the scripture is referring to the establishment of a court system:

"Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. - Deuteronomy 16: 17-19

The verse found in Chapter 7 of the book of Matthew is widely used to reject the concept of "judging":

"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."

Before we get all carried away here, we must first look at Chapter 6 in the book of Luke. Here we find Jesus' disciples picking grain from the fields on the Sabbath and eating it. Jesus also healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath and the Pharisees said, "Wait a minute, this is the Sabbath and a Christian just doesn't do those things on the Sabbath." Jesus explained to them that it was better to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil. Jesus went on to say:

"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:" Luke 6: 37

Jesus was telling his disciples to not go off half-cocked and question or make some wild decision on the motives of someone before they knew the whole story and to stop condemning other people.

It is not within our power to determine a person's destiny and we should never just assume that power.

If a church body could not properly govern or "judge" the best practices for the church it would not survive. The Bible obviously teaches us that we should not spread gossip about someone or speak ill against them just because we don't understand their actions or motives, but we must certainly be the "judge" of what's right and what's wrong in our daily lives and with whom we do or do not associate.

We must teach our children that living a moral and faith-based life is nothing to be ashamed of and we, as parents, must be the "judge" as to whether or not they are listening.

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