April 19, 2010
Measuring Up
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matt 7:1-2 NIV) I’ve always thought this verse applied only to our judging and measuring others. Now I’m not so sure. At one time or another we’ve all encountered believers who seem to preach at others by using themselves as an example. Isn’t it possible that their inflated opinion then becomes the measuring stick? Certainly when our actions do not agree with our words we’re a candidate for being measured by our own self-imposed standard. Who hasn’t heard those in the world say, “And she calls herself a Christian…”?
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Gail;
-----I think you have put your finger upon the real point. We often hear that we are not to judge at all. But the Bible is perplexing on the issue of judging. Paul wrote at Rom 14:4, and12-13a, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls...So each of us shall give account of himself to God. Then let us no more pass judgment on one another...” Yet at I Cor 5:12-13 he wrote, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders. Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Drive out the wicked person from among you.’” The word he used in this passage for “judge” is the same used at Romans 14. Paul seems to be saying in one place, “Do not judge,” and in another, “You must judge.” Allowing the Word to speak for itself, we are not told to avoid any judgment at all of those in the church.
-----Jesus also assured us we can know a tree by its fruits. And Proverbs warns many times against taking up the company of bad folks. Paul’s topic at I Cor 5:12 is the young man living with his Dad’s wife. The Scripture is rather clear about such behavior. Paul’s topic at Rom 14 concerns matters not so clear in the Word. The one addresses the situation in which the fruit is identifiably not from the good tree; the other regards those situations in which the fruit is only arguably not from the good tree. It is a must the church be kept clean of the former, and a must the church forbears the latter.
-----But regarding the former, you have aptly pointed out that it is the Word of God alone measuring the good from the bad and to what degree the questionable must rise until it becomes bad. Yes, Paul acknowledges a certain responsibility for judgment in the church, and so does John at I John 5:16-17. But the standard for any judgment necessary must be the Word, and that rightly handled. And the impetus for judgment must be love entirely - a sole ambition for the revival and revitalization of the one being judged. For this is how we want to be judged. We want our judge holding an eye on mercy from a gracious heart, for we know we can not meet the measure of the Word accept in our plea for mercy and our faith in Christ.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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