Judgment, Not Condemnation
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
- 1 Peter 4:17
Sometimes I think Christians believe they are never to make any evaluations of others, that they are to just be loving toward everyone. While it is true that we should be loving, that also means speaking the truth. In fact, the Bible tells us to speak the truth in love (see Ephesians 4:15). So if I am having lunch with a friend who has spinach in his teeth, then as a friend, I will tell him that. A friend tells a friend the truth, even if it is uncomfortable or awkward.
Then there are bigger matters, like sin. Maybe you see some compromise, some weakness in your friend's life. So you say, "I love you, and because of that, I feel that I need to warn you." Your friend might get upset, because people don't like to be criticized. And the kneejerk response we often hear is, "Don't judge me! Who are you to judge me? Doesn't the Bible say, 'Judge not, that you be not judged'?"
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Yet the Bible tells us that judgment begins with the house of God (see 1 Peter 4:17). It even tells us, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" (1 Corinthians 6:2). When we make an evaluation of a person's life, we are, in effect, judging them-and there is nothing wrong with that. What we are to avoid, however, is condemnation. When Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged" (Matthew 7:1), a better translation would be, "Condemn not, that you be not condemned."
Yes, we should make judgments. Yes, we should make evaluations. But we are not in the position to condemn. We are not the judge, jury, and executioner.
