Many believers have tried to build an escape hatch from rebukes and correction from spiritual authority over them and their fellow Christians. This has been done with one simple phrase, “Do not judge me!” Even when the believer has been caught red handed they will still claim that they are being judged since the person who has caught them is also not perfect. Due to this misrepresentation of Jesus’ words we need understand what He meant when He said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). Here Jesus refers to rash, censorious, and unjust judgment. He refers to a habit of forming a judgment hastily, harshly, and without an allowance for every palliating circumstance, and a habit of “expressing” such an opinion harshly and unnecessarily when formed. Jesus here refers to private judgment than “judicial,” and perhaps primarily to the customs of the scribes and Pharisees. Here he does not refer to the judgment in the courts of law since believers are encouraged in the Bible to obey magistrates (Titus 3:1). Neither does he refer to the judgment of forming an opinion about someone’s deeds basing upon the Bible, since Jesus Himself judged the Pharisees and called them a brood of vipers (Mat 23:33) and dedicates the entire chapter 23 of Matthew to passing specific judgment on them concerning their wrong deeds. Jesus refers in another place to righteous judgment and this is acceptable, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT” (John 7:24). So what He condemns in Matthew 7:1 is unrighteous judgment that is not based on any facts and where no investigations have been carried out.
One of the characteristics of God’s Word is that it is profitable for reproof and correction (2Tim 3:16). You can not correct a person unless you have formulated an opinion in your mind concerning the actions of that person and how they are not conforming to the Bible. This is the righteous judgment we are encouraged to exercise. When we take the example of Apostle Paul and his reaction to the Christian at Corinth who was having sex with his step-mother, we see that he makes a specific judgment, “For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have JUDGED ALREADY, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed” (1 Corinthians 5:3). So we see that it is right to judge righteously. The man at Corinth did not rise up to say, “You are judging me!” Rather he submitted to the judgment and left the church for a season until he was called back.
Those who are within the church have the right to judge the behavior of their fellow Christians based upon God’s word. If this was not the case then we would just go on to tolerate all kinds of sin in the church under the pretext of not wanting to judge. Apostle Paul blasts the Corinthian church in this regard, “For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye JUDGE THEM THAT ARE WITHIN? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). This scripture teaches us that the judgment of the church is limited to those in its care and not to the unbelievers. God is the one who judges those outside the church or the unbelievers. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Apostle Paul addressed an issue where the Christians who had been wronged by their fellow church members were suing them in courts of law before heathen judges. The Apostle tells them to instead have their before other Christians who can be appointed by the church, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not BEFORE THE SAINTS?” (1 Corinthians 6:1). So this shows us that we ought to have separate courts of law as a church. This is similar to the idea of the Muslim Sharia courts where the Muslims are tried according to the Quran, though their judgments are faulty since the Quran is not God’s word but simply a counterfeit from demons.
Whenever judgment is made by one Christian upon another, they should do it in love and with a meek spirit that is quick to restore the fallen comrade to the true path, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). This shows us that we must judge and correct the brethren in love while considering the fact that we could also be tempted. The cardinal rule is to pass judgment the way you would want to be judged if you were in their shoes. The purpose of righteous Christian judgment should not be revenge or malice but the restoration of the offender to right fellowship with God.