This may be far beyond the little ones who came here and then went away piously quoting “judge not lest ye not be judged” on their blogs, but I thought I’d take a shot at this, anyway.
One of the best known and most misunderstood and misapplied Scriptures is “Judge not” (Matthew 7:1). Here’s the whole thing:
“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” (Matthew 7:1-5).
Read this again carefully. Take note that it’s addressed to a hypocrite!-not to those who sincerely want to discern whether a teacher or teaching is true or false to God’s Word. And instead of being a prohibition against honest judgment, it is a solemn warning against hypocritical judgment. In fact, the last statement of this Scripture commands sincere judgment-
“Then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
If we take a verse or a part of a verse out of its setting, we can make the Word of God appear to teach the very opposite of what it really does teach. And those who do this cannot escape the judgment of God for twisting His Word
“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16).
This is a warning to us never to take a text of Scripture out of its context. Peter reminds us that the Scriptures can be twisted. Just because someone quotes the Bible doesn’t mean that they teach Biblical truth. It’s possible that they twist the meaning of the Scriptures. That’s why we should be like the Bereans, who searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so (Acts 17:11).
People who piously quote, “Judge not,” out of context, in order to defend that which is false to God’s Word, don’t see their own inconsistency in judging those who obey God’s Word about judging that which is untrue to the Bible. It is really unfortunate that so much that is anti-Scriptural has undeservedly found shelter behind a misuse of that particular text. The reason the professed church of Christ is today honeycombed and paralyzed by satanic Modernism is because Christians have not obeyed the commands of God’s Word to judge and put away and separate from false teachers and false teaching when they first appeared in their midst. Physical health is maintained by separation from disease germs. Spiritual health is maintained by separation from germs of false doctrine. The greatest peril of our day is not too much judging, but too little judging of spiritual falsehood.
God wants His children to be like the noble Bereans who “searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so”(Acts 17:11).
Romans 2:1-3 is also addressed to the religious hypocrite who condemned himself because he was guilty of the same things for which he condemned others. James 4:11-12 refers to an evil spirit of backbiting and fault finding, not to judging whether teachers or teachings agree or disagree with God’s Word. The Bible never contradicts itself. To understand one portion of Scripture we must view it in the light of all Scripture. “No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private [isolated] interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). “Comparing spiritual things [words] with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13).
