The central assumption of Christianity is that something is wrong with the world, and it needs to be put right. For Christians, the “something wrong” is human sin, a violation of the right order God created at the beginning. Putting things right we call “reconciliation,” and according to Paul it is a ministry belonging to all who follow Christ¹2 Corinthians 5:17-21. When Jesus came proclaiming that “the kingdom of God is at hand,” he was talking about a kingdom not of this world²John 18:36. where everyone was in right relationship with God, with one another, and with the natural world. He told people that kingdom was within their grasp. They had only to reach out and take hold of it, but taking hold required renouncing their own self-knowledge³Luke 9:23. The word translated “deny” is the same used of Peter’s denial of Christ when he said, “I don’t know the man.” and putting to death whatever within them resists the peace that God puts in their hearts⁴Colossians 3:15. Paul wrote repeatedly about putting off or putting to death the old self and putting on the new self that was created when by our faith in Christ we became new creations, born again and adopted into God’s family..

This reconciliation that God in his great mercy has, by extraordinary and unprecedented means, made available to everyone, is at the center of Christian morality. It demands that we treat others with love and acceptance regardless how sinful they are and regard ourselves as even more sinful⁵1 Timothy 1:15. By recommending his attitude as worthy of full acceptance, Paul indicated that it is an attitude that should be shared by all the church regardless how illogical it is for all to claim to be the worst.so that we do not become proud of our right-standing with God, which is a free gift and not due to any merit we have⁶Ephesians 2:8-9.. Reconciliation is the foundation of Christian morality, and any behavior that does not spring from and tend toward reconciliation is not in accordance with God’s redemptive plan. Putting things right is central to Christian morality.

It is in this context that I want to look at two instructions of Jesus that seem to contradict. Here they are, taken out of context so that the contradiction is most apparent:

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

Matthew 7:1 (NIV)

Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.

John 7:24 (NIV)

So, “Don’t judge,” but “judge correctly.”

The imperative not to judge others has become a contemporary mantra, and Jesus is often cited to lend authority to it. Yet Christians have become known for their judgmentalism⁷See a recent study entitled “Jesus in America” released by a partnership between the Episcopal Church and Ipsos.. The disconnect is especially apparent for evangelicals who overwhelmingly see themselves as representing Christ’s values while the non-religious world sees them as not representing them at all. The top five characteristics Christians see in themselves are giving, compassionate, loving, respectful, and friendly, but the top five the non-religious see are hypocritical, judgmental, self-righteous, arrogant, and unforgiving. “Judgmental” even makes the top ten list for Christians, the only negative characteristic to make the list, though it places at number ten. Non-christian religious people see it as the top characteristic of Christians. How can it be that Christians have so utterly failed at not judging?

If we look at the contexts for the two verses cited above, we get some clues that may help us understand what Jesus was teaching as well as understanding how it went so wrong. The verse from Matthew is taken from the Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus explains his vision of how citizens of God’s kingdom ought to behave, and in doing so, he reinterprets the Mosaic law as intended to change hearts not just behaviors. He says the prohibition against murder should actually be a prohibition against hatred, that the mandate not to commit adultery should be understood as prohibiting lust. Moses gave the Jews laws for their behavior. Jesus gave laws for our thoughts and attitudes. In doing so, he made judgment impossible, for who but God can discern anyone’s thoughts and attitudes?

Toward the close of his sermon, he tells his listeners not to judge so that they won’t be judged. The implication is clear. Judging others makes you subject to God’s judgment, and God will be fair. He will judge you by the same standard you use to judge others⁸Paul makes this very same argument in Romans 2:1-4, 17-24. Judgment belongs to God alone.. Then he gives a word picture. You see a speck in your brother’s eye, and say, “Let me get that speck out of your eye,” but you are unaware that you have a log in your own eye. How can you see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye? First remove the log from your own eye, then you can see clearly to help your brother.

The log is moral superiority, the attitude that I am better than you, that I am closer to God, more holy, more in touch with the divine—however you want to phrase it. This kind of judging is not mere discernment. It is snobbery, and everyone feels it whenever it is directed at them. If a man stumbles and falls, you can’t help him from your high horse. To help, you have to get under him and lift.

Jesus also makes clear that any correction given to another has to have a prior connection. He mentions a brother. Should Christians correct strangers? No. Why should we expect those we don’t know to accept correction from us? That would be to give what is sacred to dogs. That would be to throw pearls to pigs. They will trample them and then turn on you. No correction without connection.

The verse from John 7 comes from a very different situation. The other gospels focus on Jesus deeds and teaching in Galilee, but John focuses on Jerusalem and his deeds and teaching there. Jesus had healed a disabled man in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, itself a potential violation of the law, but in addition, he had told the man to pick up his mat and take it with him. This clearly violated the Sabbath law, which prohibited bearing loads on the Sabbath. He hadn’t gone far before he was stopped by the religious authorities who demanded to know why he was carrying his mat on the Sabbath. “The man who healed me told me to pick it up and take it,” the man replied. The religious authorities were unimpressed with the healing, even though the man had been ill for thirty-eight years. They wanted to find this Sabbath-breaker and make an example of him. When the authorities confronted Jesus, he was unrepentant. In fact, he antagonized them further by claiming that God was his Father and that he was merely doing and saying what God wanted him to ⁹See John 5..

Sometime later, Jesus returned to Jerusalem for a festival, and the city was full of gossip and rumors about him, including debate about whether the healing he had performed was permissible under the law. Jesus addresses their concern by comparing healing to circumcision. The law required a Jewish boy to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth regardless whether it was a Sabbath. Jesus argued that if a boy could be injured with circumcision on the Sabbath to avoid breaking the law, then surely a man’s whole body could be healed on the Sabbath. It is at this point that Jesus exhorts the crowd to stop judging by mere appearance and judge correctly.

In this context, Jesus is clearly talking about discerning what is good and right, not about deciding the relative worth of a fellow human being. Evaluation and discernment are always essential to the pursuit of what is good and true, and they are necessary for putting things right. After all, you can’t put things right without admitting that they are wrong. What we have to work on most, however is neither the world nor other people. It is ourselves, and even then we must not let our hearts condemn us¹⁰1 John 3:19-22.. We err when we extend judgment to people, deciding who is or is not right and wanting to put them right. Not even God does that until the very end.

Footnotes

• 1
  2 Corinthians 5:17-21
• 2
  John 18:36.
• 3
  Luke 9:23. The word translated “deny” is the same used of Peter’s denial of Christ when he said, “I don’t know the man.”
• 4
  Colossians 3:15. Paul wrote repeatedly about putting off or putting to death the old self and putting on the new self that was created when by our faith in Christ we became new creations, born again and adopted into God’s family.
• 5
  1 Timothy 1:15. By recommending his attitude as worthy of full acceptance, Paul indicated that it is an attitude that should be shared by all the church regardless how illogical it is for all to claim to be the worst.
• 6
  Ephesians 2:8-9.
• 7
  See a recent study entitled “Jesus in America” released by a partnership between the Episcopal Church and Ipsos.
• 8
  Paul makes this very same argument in Romans 2:1-4, 17-24. Judgment belongs to God alone.
• 9
  See John 5.
• 10
  1 John 3:19-22.