by George Bosworth<\/p>\n
Some observations about judging, from I Corinthians 4:3-5:<\/p>\n
“I <\/em>(Paul) am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. So don’t judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and reveal the intention of the heart. And then praise will come to each one from God.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There is an appropriate type of judgment, but this verse makes the point that the reasons <\/b>we are not to judge:<\/p>\n
I Am Not Conscious of Anything Against Myself<\/h2>\n
We are not to judge because we are not conscious of all things the way God is. Paul uses himself as an example for this: He <\/b>is not aware of anything for which he might be condemned, but his own self-assessment is not the standard. We judge ourselves quite lightly, but that does not exonerate us. We judge others harshly, but that doesn’t condemn them. Our perception is not the standard.<\/p>\n
It is the Lord Who Judges<\/h2>\n
We are not to judge because God is the <\/b>judge. If my first point is that we do not have the discernment that God does, my point here is that we do not have the authority that God does.<\/p>\n
By God’s authority, we are created.<\/p>\n
\n
- Because we are created by His authority, we are held to the standard He <\/b>chooses.<\/li>\n
- Because we are held to the standard He <\/b>chooses, He <\/b>judges us against His <\/b>standard.<\/li>\n
- Because it is His <\/b>standard, He <\/b>enforces the consequences of obedience or disobedience. (It is by this same authority that He gives a measure of grace- an amazing <\/b>thought for another time.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Can you imagine how damaging it would be to have a person performing the role of a judge within our legal system — you know, courtroom and all — when he has not been granted any authority? Such a thought offends us, yet this is our own position when we judge without having the authority for the standard or the execution of consequences for disobedience to the standard. We <\/b>cannot reveal the intention of the heart. God can. Tremble at the difference.<\/p>\n
Each One’s Praise Will Come from God<\/h2>\n
Just like condemnation for disobedience comes from God because of His authority, Praise for obedience comes from God because of His authority. That isn’t to say we should not recognize good choices — something, like our “judgment”, that is simply supposed to acknowledge the realities of God’s standard — but our own praise of others doesn’t justify others any more than our own judgment condemns others.<\/p>\n
Appropriate discernment is an important topic for another time, but lessons here:<\/p>\n
\n
- God’s judgment is the only judgment that means anything, so don’t attempt to usurp His authority to become judge.<\/li>\n
- God’s praise is the only praise that means anything, so don’t seek meaningless praise from the corruptible world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Let’s not miss that God reveals the very intentions of our hearts. Tremble in the presence of such a judge, who yet extends mercy!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by George Bosworth Some observations about judging, from I Corinthians 4:3-5: “I (Paul) am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. So don’t judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[713],"class_list":["post-65464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-judging-others"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57535,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-always-wrong-to-judge\/","url_meta":{"origin":65464,"position":0},"title":"Is It Always Wrong to Judge?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob Myhan There are those who seem to think that it is always wrong to judge because Jesus said,\u00a0\"Judge not, that ye be not judged\"\u00a0(Matthew 7:1). We can know with certainty, however, that this was definitely not what Jesus meant. We know this because He also said,\u00a0\"Judge not according\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66913,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/judging-sin-and-saying-so\/","url_meta":{"origin":65464,"position":1},"title":"Judging Sin and Saying So","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Jesus commanded us to \"judge righteous judgment\" (John 7:24) and to not judge unfairly or hypocritically (Matthew 7:1-3), but to address our own sins \"first\" and then help others with their need to remove sin also. The church at Corinth was rebuked for failing to judge\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41510,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-judging-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":65464,"position":2},"title":"When is judging a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about when judging people becomes a sin. I was thinking about how my friends take the Lord's name in vain sometimes. And I was thinking to myself well if they don't confess then they might not end up where they expect (when they die). Then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31224,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-judge\/","url_meta":{"origin":65464,"position":3},"title":"Can We Judge?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant One of the most well-known and most abused passages in the entire Bible is Matthew 7:1: \"Do not judge so that you will not be judged.\" So many times, if any criticism is offered concerning any religious practice that does not measure up to what the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/referee-300x176.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61678,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lets-revisit-judge-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":65464,"position":4},"title":"Let’s Revisit “Judge Not”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Each time we speak or write on an issue of sin, we have told what God has said about that sin. When we do that, we are relaying God's judgment\u00a0(what He has said and the necessary implications of what He said). We are not making up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-both-god-and-jesus-judge-us-on-judgment-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":65464,"position":5},"title":"Will both God and Jesus judge us on judgment day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Will both God and Jesus judge us on judgment day? 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