“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7: 1-5, NKJV.
Dear God, here we are again, ready to feast on Your Word. Please feed us till our souls are satisfied, and we are ready and willing to bless one another, instead of judging one another. In the name of Your Son Jesus Christ we humbly pray. Amen.
As we continue with the topic of judgment, it is necessary that we consider some very important elements: the person who is doing the judging needs to have as accurate information as possible, of the individual, and the situation, being judged. I shudder to think of the many individuals who may have been judged wrongfully, and condemned to death without a cause! This is possible because they have been judged and condemned by human beings like themselves, who are limited in knowledge.
The knowledge that I am talking about is not book knowledge. It goes way beyond the information we receive sitting in classrooms or reading a book. Do not misunderstand me. I have received much valuable information sitting at the feet of godly, and scholarly, human beings. I would not exchange these experiences for anything in the world!. Yet, as informative as the knowledge we gain in classrooms and reading books is, it lacks an element that is inevitable in perfect judgment: infallibility. That is a characteristic that only God possesses!
Only God is incapable of erring. Only God cannot lie. Only God knows everything! Because of human error, because of human deceitfulness, because of human beings’ limited knowledge, our judgment is oftentimes faulty. Our senses cannot be trusted, our memory is inaccurate, our emotions are unstable. We are incapable of judging each other. In our sinfulness, we are not equipped to do so. Only as we are re-created in the image of God, will we be in a position to judge, even angels (1 Corinthians 6: 3).
Let us look for a few minutes at the incident of the woman who was taken in “the very act of adultery” and brought before Jesus. There are some discrepancies in the behavior of those who pre-judged her and took her to Jesus – for their own selfish purposes. What was the reason they brought her to Jesus? According to John 8: 6, it was so, “that they might have something of which to accuse Him.” In order to condemn Jesus, they were willing to use this woman. Whether or not, she was married, it is not clear. Even a virgin who was engaged to be married, and was caught lying with another man, was accused of adultery, and stoned to death, if, it could be proven that she had not resisted the man (Deuteronomy 22: 23, 24). If Jesus had approved of stoning her, they would have accused him of going against Roman law. Only the Romans were authorized to condemn someone to death. If he had simply set her free, they would have accused him of going against the law of Moses. Her accusers were so full of deception!
Where was the man who was with her “in the very act?” According to the law of Moses, they were both to be put to death (Leviticus 20: 10; Deuteronomy 22: 22)? They were so unfair! I wonder if the mob that followed these culprits knew what were their intentions. It is quite likely they did not. But who cared? It was only a woman. She was expendable in their sight. Praise God she was valuable in the sight of the Creator!
Thanks be to God, the only One who is capable of judging us, the only One who has all the facts, the only One, who is “without sin,” neither condoned her sin, nor condemned her! He judged her in righteousness; and her accusers as well (most likely by writing their sins in the dust). And then He announced to her that he had not condemned her. He had all the facts, and did not find her worthy of condemnation, by virtue of His forgiveness, her accepting it, by faith. He then admonished her to, “go and sin no more” (John 8: 11).
It is so easy, for us to, “look at the speck in [our] brother’s [and sister’s] eye, but . . . not consider the plank in [our] own eye.] Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?” May God help us to remember that there is a judgment going on, “and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
We will continue.