Judge Not

Final judge on souls is not your job - pull your own plank before nitpicking someone speck.

Key Concept

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.Matthew 7:1-5 NASB1995

• Do not play final judge on souls - pull your plank before you nitpick someone's speck.
• Level 1: Fix your own big faults before you pick on someone else's small ones - you are not the final judge of their soul.
• Level 2: You are not the final judge of anyone's soul - deal with your own fault before you pick at theirs, like clearing your windshield before criticizing another driver.
• Level 3: Final judgment belongs to God - when you play judge, you skip your own plank and misread their speck, so hypocrisy blocks clear sight.
• Level 4: Deal with your plank first; leave final soul-judgment to God instead of nitpicking their speck.
• Level 5: Heart Righteousness keeps the standard inward; By Their Fruits reads evidence without replacing God's seat.

  You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.Matthew 7:16-20 NASB1995

• Still judge fruit - outcomes over time tell you what's underneath the hype.
• Jesus forbids harsh, hypocritical condemnation - the kind that ignores my own guilt while magnifying yours.
• He does not forbid all moral discernment: the same sermon names fruit too.
• Garden parallel: the Issues page lists broken wikilinks to fix - diagnose the graph, do not condemn the author.
• Mercy and Free Grace remind me I stood on mercy first.
• I do not play final judge on souls - I pull my own plank before nitpicking someone's speck.

Examples

• I spotted my teammate's travel in five seconds and missed my own lazy dribble - judge not starts with the log in my eye.
• I spotted a coworker's missed step in five seconds and missed my own plank for a month - Jesus was not saying ignore sin; He was saying remove your plank first.

Note Relationships