RASH JUDGMENT CONDEMNED

Matthew 7:1-5 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Judgment can have many meanings. Judgments can come from one presiding in a court of law. Civil law passes judgment against law-breakers and evildoers and is sanctioned by God (See Rom. 13:1-7). Judgment against the disobedient - against those that walk disorderly, can come from the elders of the church of Christ (See 2 Thess. 3:6-15), and judgmentis their authority that members of Christ'schurch are to submit (Heb. 13:17). Certainly these types of judgment are not the subjects being taught by Jesus in the lesson text. He even expects every Christian to make private judgments. Consider His teaching in the following verses 15-20. Here Christians are to judge the character of others in order to avoid being led astray by wrongdoers and false prophets, by observing their fruits. Their works and their conduct of life are to be compared to what God demands of His children. Private judgment of others is to be exercised only when measured against God's holy word. These judgments are sanctioned by God. As free moral agents, mankind has the ability to form opinions of all matters they face on a daily basis. All men and women have the power of comparing alternatives and making judgments as towhat is both right and best.

What Jesus condemns in this portion of His "Sermon on the Mount" is rash judgments - judgments that are made without careful examination of the charges and evidence, as well as uncharitable judgments that are made with a fault-finding attitude or spirit. These are types of judgments Jesus condemns and gives us this warning - judge not, that ye be not judged. At the core of rash judgment can be found the worldly disposition of most human beings that attempt to elevate themselves by demeaning the character of others. This was certainly true of the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, that always held themselves as "holier than thou." Verse 2 assures us that God's judgment of us will certainly take into consideration how we judge others. Unkind, harsh, and rash judgments of others will not go unnoticed by God. He that showed no judgmental mercy shall be judged without mercy (James 2:13). The same measuring rule - the same scale or balances we use to judge others, will be used by God as the measure to mete out our judgment.

Jesus assures us that those that judge rashly are not fit to judge others. Within this group we find those that seek to find all faults of others but ignore and even deny their own shortcomings. Jesus uses figures of speech to demonstrate the absurd nature of hypocritical faultfinding. The word translated "mote" means a small splinter or bit of dust that may irritate one's eye, while the word translated "beam" is a much larger eye irritant. The NKJV uses the more descriptive words of "speck" and "plank" instead of "mote" and "beam." Continuing this analogy, Jesus illustrates the impossibility of the person that is blinded by a large eye irritant rendering aid to one having only a small speck in their eye. For this to be possible, Jesus says, Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

This analogy assures such human nature: it is much easier to see the sins of others than to see our own. People, in general, tend to justify their own worldly ways, and yet quickly condemn the same, or similar worldly acts of others. To these, Jesus sternly reprimands with this accusation, Thou hypocrite! Sound judgment must begin with self-examination. First consider thyself, and then in the spirit of meekness restore one that is overtaken in a fault (Gal. 6:1). Paul captured the true meaning of Jesus' teaching when he wrote, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them, which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God (Rom. 2:1-3)? Indeed, rash judgment of others is condemned by God through Jesus.