At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua makes some very strong statements regarding judging:
“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. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Mt 7:1–5)
That’s pretty clear: don’t judge. Case closed. Except … what is Paul saying about judging?
Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! (1 Co 6:2–3)
Wait a minute! Jesus tells us not to judge. But then Paul tells us that we have to be ready to judge inside the church, because one day we will judge the world and even angels! Should we believe Jesus or Paul? Both!
What is Paul saying?
First of all, what is Paul speaking about? The issue he was addressing was lawsuits between believers. He is making the case that inside the church, there should be New Testament courts to settle matters between believers so that they are not settled in secular courts. To be clear, he is not speaking of criminal behavior. Romans 13 clearly shows that God has given that authority to the state, not the church.
He is speaking of civil suits. I can think right now of ministries that are suing people or threatening to sue people in the public courts rather than calling for a biblical court. Just a few years ago, one minister sued another minister for millions of dollars in the secular courts! That is a problem. According to Scripture, that matter should’ve been handled by a council of New Testament elders (1 Cor 6). And that is what Paul is addressing here. In other words, we are responsible as New Testament elders to judge.
What is Jesus saying?
Jesus never says don’t judge. What he says is that when you do judge, understand that you will also be judged—therefore, be careful how you judge. He wants us to make godly judgments. His rebuke is to those who make hypocritical judgments, such as when you judge someone for gossiping and then tell everybody what a gossip they are—which makes you a gossip too. I can’t tell you how many times I have judged somebody in my mind, only to find myself doing the exact same thing within minutes! Ouch. That is what Jesus is talking about.
And to be clear, the passage encourages us to judge righteously. He says, first, get the plank out of your own eye and then you’ll be able to see clearly to get the speck out of your brother’s eye. He is saying:
1. It is unrighteous to bring a judgment against your brother when you have worse sin in your own life (a plank instead of a speck).
2. If you try to deal with your brother’s sin before dealing with your own, you cannot judge righteously. Jesus pointed out that if you have a plank in your eye, you obviously will not be able to see clearly enough to help your brother. Deal with your own sin, and then you will be able to see clearly how to help your brother.
We need judges like never before
One of the things that we are seeing today is issues of abuse in the church being hashed out on social media. That is clearly not ideal. The problem is that we do not have New Testament courts. There is so little teaching on how to righteously deal with these issues that victims feel they have no other recourse than to speak to a journalist or post something online.
The answer is not to rebuke the abused because they’re not following proper procedures. The answer is to get our act together as leadership, so they will know what those proper procedures are and that it is safe to follow them. They need to know that they are going to be heard and not gaslighted or shamed. They need to know that we will judge impartially and not tip the scales toward the famous leader.
Let me just ask you a question: Does your local fellowship have clear guidelines on how to report sexual abuse in the church? My guess is that the answer is no. This is something that in Israel our congregations within Tikkun have spent the last year trying to fix.
We need to heed Paul’s words so that when two or three accusations come to the elders (1 Tim 5:19), we are prepared to deal with those accusations righteously. Then, people will not feel the need to hash things out online or with journalists. But we cannot do it as hypocrites while we are hiding our own sins. One of the things that I pray regularly is that God would help me to see the plank in my own eye and deal with it daily so I can be of service to my brother, who may have a speck in his eye. It has helped me, because like most humans, I have a tendency to judge unrighteously. May the Lord give us grace and wisdom, and good godly government in these days.
Well stated.