Commonly Misused Scriptures Pt 1

*This is the first in a four-part series on commonly misused scriptures.

“Judge not, that you be not judged.”  Matthew 7:1 NKJV 

One of the most commonly misused scriptures in the Bible is Matthew 7:1. Some like to stop at this verse of the passage without continuing on to understand or relay what the entire passage is saying. This is likely due to the fact that a life free of judgment is a very attractive prospect for many, especially in the culture of “tolerance” that we’re currently living in. Additionally, false doctrines spread the Tupac-ian message that “only God can judge me.”  But that’s just not true.

If you read Matthew 7:1-5, you will see that Jesus isn’t telling us not to judge one another. He’s telling us that we should not judge hypocritically. We cannot judge the behaviors of our brothers and sisters if we ourselves are guilty of the same sins. In verse 5, He instructs us to remove the plank from our own eye AND THEN remove the speck from our brother’s eye. Jesus does not absolve us of the responsibility of judging one another. He just wants us to do it right.

Jesus doesn’t contradict Himself. The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. Jesus says in John 7:24 that we are to judge righteously. Proverbs 31:9 admonishes us to judge righteously. Several other passages direct us to judge one another, but they tell us to do so in love and righteousness. And that’s exactly what Jesus is telling us in Matthew 7.