With respect to the weighing and "judging" of people and situations, there are two polarities of error that I've had extensive experience with in my long, twisted faith journey.
In my early and mid-twenties, I spent seven years in a theologically liberal church. In this time I never once heard a gospel call to repent and be saved from the eternal destruction that my sin was storing up on my behalf. Such an environment was shaped by a near-total lack of biblical discernment regarding sin. To make a pronouncement against sin was viewed as being overly harsh, or "judgmental," and therefore, wrong and unChristian. I am ashamed to say that I uncritically accepted this attitude and triumphally voiced my total acceptance of everything and everyone. After all, Jesus tells us not to judge people, right? (1)
In my late twenties and early thirties, I spent seven years in a separatistic fundamentalist church. This ministry was nearly a mirror opposite of my previous church. I am blessed to say that it was in this ministry that I first heard the gospel message in its fullness and was saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. However, much of the grace of the gospel that was proclaimed to me appeared to functionally end at the time of salvation. This ministry, and others of its sectarian type, was heavily characterized by legalism, judgmentalism, and an overall lack of grace toward others. Not knowing any better (and a bit bitter at my former church for never having proclaimed the life-transforming gospel to me), I am ashamed to say that I bought into their program and became a scathingly arrogant legalist, looking down upon everyone else (both inside and outside the church) who did not buy into the fundamentalist mindset that I had been instructed was the core of the biblical Christian faith. After all, Jesus tells us to make correct judgments, right? (2)
In the strange, wide world of Christendom many, both saved and unsaved, have legitimate questions about judgment and its proper place within the Christian community. I believe that most of this confusion has been sown, on the one hand, by those who never appear to judge anyone or anything (i.e., theological liberals), and, on the other hand, by those who are always judging everyone and everything (i.e., legalists).
So, which path to choose? The path of the everything-goes libertine? Or the path of the self-righteous neo-Pharisee?
As it turns out, neither. There is a middle way between the Scylla of legalism and the Charybdis of liberalism.
There is a better, more biblical and balanced way.
The problem is that, for both the liberal and the legalist, this third way is harder. And I believe that is why it is neglected in favor of an easier, more consistent message. After all, isn't it far less challenging to merely preach judgmentalism 24/7, or libertinism 24/7? Won't the people in the pews end up confused if we preach seemingly conflicting messages about judging and not judging?
Incredibly, this is exactly the type of response that I received from pastors on both sides of this aisle after I left their respective churches. Both the liberal pastor and the legalist pastor told me, on separate occasions after my departures, that the people in the pews couldn't be trusted with this type of teaching, that it was too open-ended. To my amazement, both the liberal pastor and the legalist pastor had a terribly low view of their congregants, their intelligence, and their ability to live the Christian life without heavy doses of simplistic, formulaic preaching and teaching.
Both the liberal and the legalist pastors had constructed hard boundary markers on opposite ends of this spectrum (and, it turns out, many other ecclesiastical spectrums as well). The liberal would almost never judge, or commend judging, while the legalist would almost always bring down the gavel of judgment upon the head of someone or some group.
Although these types of truncated ministries appear to be mirror opposites, in the end, I believe that they are brought forth from the same type of mold.
There is a better, deeper, more nuanced, and biblical way.
Just as there is a time for weighing and discerning and judging, there is a time and place to refrain from these activities.
In the excerpt to follow, D.A. Carson does a wonderful job of describing these categories, and recommending a balanced resolution (3):
1Cor. 4:5 (ESV) Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. 6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
It is easy to bleed this passage [1 Cor. 4:5-7] for more than it actually says. No thoughtful reader can suppose that Paul is abolishing all functions of judgment in the church. After all, in the next chapter of this epistle, he severely reprimands the church for failing to take decisive disciplinary action in a case of immorality (1 Cor. 5).... In the last chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul clearly expects the believers in Corinth to exercise discipline over the false apostles before he arrives in town and feels constrained to take dramatic action himself.... Furthermore, surely no one can imagine that Paul here insists that Christians have no obligation whatsoever to "judge" themselves, to examine and test the reality and consistency of their allegiance to Christ. Although no Christian's opinion of himself or herself has ultimate importance, that does not stop Paul from saying, in the right circumstances, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves" (2 Cor. 13:5).If we roam more broadly through the Scriptures, it is easy enough to find passages that prohibit "judging" and then to discover still others that command it. For example, on the one hand we find Jesus saying, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matt. 7:1). On the other hand, he says, "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment" (John 7:24). This running tension is very strong throughout the New Testament. There is much that condemns what might be called "judgmentalism." At the same time, chapter after chapter exhorts believers to be discerning, to distinguish right from wrong, to pursue what is best, to exercise discipline in the church, and so forth - functions that demand the proper use of judgment. Getting the balance right has never been easy....In many circles today, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matt. 7:1) has become the best-known verse in the Bible, easily displacing John 3:16. What is regularly forgotten is that a few verses later Jesus tells his disciples, "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs" (Matt. 7:6) - which presupposes that somebody has to judge who the dogs and pigs are....We may gain some poise and balance if we remember the kinds of people the two sides address. Prohibitions directed against judging have in mind self-righteous people who want to protect their turf. These people are usually fairly legalistic, have all the right answers, desperately want to elevate their "in" group above all others, and are constantly in danger of usurping the place of God.By contrast, biblical injunctions to be discerning or to judge well in some circumstance or other are directed against those who are careless and undisciplined about holy things, especially about the words of God. Such people regularly fly with the crowd rather than thinking through what allegiance to God and his truth entails in some particular cultural context.It is utterly disastrous to appeal for judgment when forbearance is called for, or to prohibit all judgment when judgment is precisely what is needed. Both errors seriously damage the church and usually reflect a mind that is unwilling to think its way carefully through the balance and sanity of the Word of God.
Rom. 14:1 (NET) Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions. 2 One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for himself and none dies for himself. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 But you who eat vegetables only—why do you judge your brother or sister? And you who eat everything—why do you despise your brother or sister?For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.” 12 Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God. 13 Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister. 14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean.
Rom. 2:1 (ESV) Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?
James 4:11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save andto destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Matt. 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
1Cor. 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 ...Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
2Cor. 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 2 I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them.... 5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
1. Matt. 7:1.
2. John 7:24.
.jpg)
