Is It Right To Judge?

Is It Right to Judge?

How many times have you heard someone whine, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”? This verse of Scripture from Mattithyah [Matthew] 7:1 is often quoted out of context by people who are terrified at the idea of someone preaching against sin or pointing out any form of error in anyone, especially in themselves.

Can you imagine posing this question to Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown?

As for Mattithyah [Matthew] 7:1, the context (verses 1-5) allows judging after you have first judged YOURSELF. Yahshua did not make a blanket statement against judgment. He simply pointed out a RULE for judging.

Now, the word “judge” in its various forms (judgeth, judging, judgment, judges, and etc.) is found over 700 times in translations of Yahweh's word. One whole book of Scripture is titled “Judges” for it was written at a time when Yahweh raised up judges to lead His people.

As we are about to see, Yahweh EXPECTS His people to judge. In fact, you are sinning against Yahweh if you refuse to judge! (Read that again, please!)

Yahweh Expects Us to Judge

“The mouth of the righteous speak wisdom, and his tongue talks of judgment.” (Psalm 37:30) A righteous person will talk of judgment. He will not REFUSE to judge. He will talk judgment.

Seek what is right, and not what is evil, that you may live: and so Yahweh, the Almighty One of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken. Hate the evil, and love that which is right, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that Yahweh Almighty of hosts will be favorable unto the remnant of Yahseph (Amosyah 5:14-15). How can you hate the evil and love that which is right if you refuse to judge? You can't. You are SINNING when you refuse to judge.

Our generation is well described in Isayah 59:8: “The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein shall not know peace.” People have refused to judge, so there is no peace.

Shaul said in 1 Corinthians 1:10 to “. . . be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Why would Shaul make such a statement if judging is wrong? In 1 Corinthians 2:15 Shaul says, “But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” Judging is not a sin; judging is a characteristic of being a spiritual person! Satan has been lying to us, hoping that we will NOT judge, because he knows that the right kind of judgment PLEASES Yahweh and betters our lives and our service to Him.

Someone says, “But should we judge PEOPLE?” Yes, we certainly should. Shaul actually REBUKES the Corinthians for NOT judging: “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you not that we shall judge malakim [angels]? How much more things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the congregation. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?” (1 Corinthians 6:1-5) If judging is wrong, then Shaul needs to confess and repent for misleading these people! He clearly told them to JUDGE PEOPLE.

If judging people is wrong, how can we obey

Romans 16:17-18? 2 Corinthians 6:17? 2 Timothy 3:5-6? 1 Yahchanan [John] 4:1? Friend, if judging is wrong, then Yahweh has contradicted Himself and His words cannot be trusted!

Notice Malakyah 3:18: “Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves Yahweh and him that serves him not.” WOW! Does that sound like it is wrong to judge?

What about Revelation 2:2? ” I know your works, and your labour, and your patience, and how you can not bear them which are evil: and you have tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and have found them liars:” Why would Yahweh be pleased with these people if judging was wrong? Is it not impossible to find someone a “liar” without judging them?

If Scripture is clear about anything, it is clear about the importance of judging on a regular basis in order to properly serve and honor Yahweh. To ignore this fact is to ignore all of the Scripture just presented and also the rest of Scripture. Yahweh expects us to judge.

Yahweh's Rules for Judging

Now I do not wish to imply that we should spend all of our time judging. Sometimes people judge when they have no business doing so. In Yahchanan [John] 7:24 Yahshua tells us to judge RIGHTEOUS judgment. This can only be done by following the rules that Yahweh has established in His word. Here follow seven righteous rules from Scripture:

Judge In Accordance With Scripture

Isayah 8:20 says, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Our standard is Yahweh's word, not our feelings, our traditions, or our opinions. Right and wrong should always be determined by Yahweh's word.

Commune (“Pray”) for Righteous Judgement Ability

When Solomon received his kingdom he asked Yahweh to “Give therefore your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between that which is right and that which is evil: for who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (1 Kings 3:9). Yahqob [James] 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of Yahweh, that gives to all men liberally, and without reproach; and it shall be given him.” We should commune (“pray”) for righteous judgment ability.

Don't Respect Persons

Proverb 24:3 says, “These things also belong to the wise. It is not right to have respect of persons in judgment.” Treat all parties fairly without favoring anyone, such as family members or friends. A truly fair judge is blind and deaf to any outer influence (Isayah. 42:1, 19-21).

Judge in Truth

Do not judge another when you do not have all the relevant facts. Yeremyah 5:1 says, “Run you to and fro through the streets of Yerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.” A true judge is one who seeks the truth. If you must judge, be sure and get all the facts. A Japanese proverb says to “search seven times before you judge.”

Judge Mercifully

Remember the words of Yahshua in

Mattithyah [Matthew] 7:2: “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you use, it shall be measured to you again.” You'll reap what you sow (Galatians 6:7-8). If you are swift and harsh in judging others, then Yahweh will see to it that you receive the same from others. Has Yahweh not been very merciful to you, even though you deserved it not? Likewise, you should exercise mercy toward others.

Don't Forget to Judge Yourself

I Corinthians 11:30-31: “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” If you are a true believer, then you belong to Yahweh. You are Yahweh's child. If you refuse to judge and improve yourself as a child of Yahweh, then Yahweh will take it upon Himself to judge you. Many of the troubles that we face in life are nothing more than Yahweh's way of judging us since we often neglect to judge ourselves.

Wouldn't it be amazing if every believer actually took time to judge themselves before judging anyone else? In Mattithyah [Matthew] 7:4-5, Yahshua says, ” Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull out the mote out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own eye; and then shall you see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother's eye.” A righteous judge will not fail to judge himself.

Can we call someone a fool or not?

Matthew 5:22 and Matthew 23:17; Psalm 14:1

Do not call someone a fool ? (Mattithyah [Matthew] 5:22) – “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the Gehenna of fire.”

Calling someone a fool: (Psalm 14:1) – “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no Almighty One [Yahweh].!” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does righteousness.” (Mattithyah [Matthew] 23:17) – “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?”

When Yahshua said in Mattithyah [Matthew] 5:22 that you should not call anyone a fool, contextually he was speaking of those who were unrighteously angry. That is why Yahshua mentions anger in this verse. There is a righteous anger which is not sinful (Eph. 4:26 – “Be angry and do not sin . . .” ), as well as unrighteous anger that is sinful (Yahqob [James] 1:20 – “for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of Yahweh”). When Yahweh is angry with someone, He is always righteous in His anger. Yahshua can righteously be angry with people and pronounce upon them the foolishness of their deeds–which He did (Mattithyah [Matthew] 23:17). Also, undoubtedly, Yahshua knew Psalm 14:1 which says, “The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no Almighty One [Yahweh]' . . .” Yahshua didn't forget the well known verse, and Yahweh is not wrong for calling someone a fool, especially when it is true.

As a result, we see that the condemnation by Yahshua in regards to calling someone a fool is in the context of doing it out of unrighteous anger, which does not fit the later citations of Yahshua labeling the hypocritical Pharisees as fools.