The Standard November 1, 2025
Which words of Jesus are perhaps the most widely taken out of context?“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” If we stop there, we miss his point. “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 or sister’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘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 his/her eye.” Matthew 7:1-6.
This is a warning about the standard to which we will be held when we judge the actions of fellow Christians. First, we must take the big plank out of our own eye before we can remove the tiny speck from the eye of another. We see her/his speck, and it dims in comparison to our plank. How can we take out a speck if we are blind to it? Of course, we must see it. Our focus and primary concern, however, should be the enormity of our own sin. Jesus is telling us how to judge, not forbidding it. He is condemning hypocritical judgment.
The Apostle Paul elaborates on this idea of judging. “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked person from among you.’” 1 Corinthians 5:9-13
Paul is addressing accountability within the church in order to promote its purity. As those who profess faith that Christ, through grace, has forgiven our sins, we should be growing more and more as disciples. We should expect this growth for ourselves, as well as for others.
The adage “love the sinner, hate the sin” can be unhelpful, not because the concept is flawed, but because it is often used too flippantly. Do we Christians say that yet truly hate our own sin? Or do we utter those words mostly pointing to the sins of others? “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17
If the body of Christ, the church, is to be healthy, we as its parts must help each other. May we learn how to properly teach and admonish. plus be taught and admonished in love!
celiastone 