Twisted Scripture - Week 5

Matthew 7:1

Today’s Passage is most definitely an interesting one. Every single one of us has heard someone use this verse, and ironically enough, in most cases, it is unbelievers who use it to justify their behavior. At least in my own experience, most people who use this verse have never read beyond verse 1 and do not properly understand the context of the passage and the idea of “judgment” throughout all of scripture. This verse is oftentimes paired with the old saying “only God can judge me”. So what exactly is Jesus saying here? Is He saying that we are never to judge someone or examine their lifestyle? Is Jesus calling for a blanket acceptance of all lifestyles? Let’s dive in

I. What is the Context of This Passage?

Matthew 5-7 is what is known as the Sermon on the Mount and it was the greatest sermon ever preached.

Jesus dealt with the Laws of the Kingdom in this Sermon. This sermon did 2 things for its hearers

It showed how the Law of the Land will be during the Millennial Reign of Christ

It showed how we cannot live up to God’s standard of living and why we are in need of a Savior. Jesus had called for a righteousness that exceeded the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20)

Jesus in Chapters 5-6 had primarily dealt with themes connected to the interior spiritual life

Things such as: attitudes in giving, prayer, fasting, materialism, and anxiety

But now in Chapter 7, He shifts gears to how we think of and treat others. (How our thinking shapes how we deal with people)

Jesus knew that in some people’s minds (especially the religious elite), the way to make one’s self more righteous is to be more judgmental of others. Jesus was rebuking that way of thinking.

So what was Jesus trying to say to His hearers? To fully understand that, we must look at Verses 1-6 together.

II. What is this Passage Really Saying?

“Judge not, that ye be not judged” With this command Jesus warned against passing judgment upon others, because when we do so, we will be judged in a similar manner.

Most people who have non understanding of the Bible seem to think that this means Jesus was instructing everyone to be accepting of any lifestyle or teaching. But when we examine His other sayings, we know this cannot be true

John 4:16-18 - Jesus was not giving His acceptance of this woman’s lifestyle. He was calling her sin out.

John 16:6,12 - Jesus was also clearly not accepting of all teachings. He warns His disciples to beware of the teachings of the Pharisees

As a matter of fact, just a few verses later in Matthew 7:15-20 Jesus says that we can examine ourselves and others by their fruit. So obviously some sort of assessment is necessary for that.

We as Christians are called to unconditional love, but NOT unconditional acceptance

So what is He saying then? Jesus isnt prohibiting the act of examining the lives of others, but rather doing it in the spirit that it is often done. The attitude/spirit of hypocrisy (Ex: Matthew 26:6-13). Jesus requires our judgment of others be completely fair, and that we only judge others by a standard we would also like to be judged by

We break this command when we:

Think the worst of others

Only speak to others of their faults

judge an entire life only by its worst moments

judge the hidden motives of others

judge others without considering ourselves in their same circumstances

judge others without being mindful that we ourselves will be judged

“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” This is the principle upon which Jesus built the command of verse 1. God will measure unto us according to the same standard that we use for others.

This is a powerful motivator for us to be generous with love, forgiveness, and goodness to others. If we want more of those things from God, then we must give more of those things to others.

Verses 3-5 is Jesus’ giving an exaggerated example to further illustrate the point. Jesus uses the illustration of a mote (speck) and a beam (plank) humorously to show how we are often far more tolerant of our own sin than we are of the sins of others.

It is meant to be a funny picture. A man with a whole 2x4 stuck in his eye trying to help someone get a little speck of sawdust out of someone else’s eye.

A real life example of this was the events of John 8:7. The crowd wanted to stone the woman for her adultery, but yet never considered the sinfulness of their own ways.

The person with the “plank” in their eye may not even be aware of it. He is blind to his own obvious fault. It is the attempt to correct someone else when we ourselves have the same or greater fault. This is why Jesus says “hypocrite” in Verse 5.

Another example is 2 Samuel 12 when David reacted to Nathan’s story about a man who unjustly stole and killed another man’s lamb. David quickly condemned the man to death, but was blind to his own sin, which was greater.

“then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (v.5) Jesus didnt say that there was anything wrong with helping your brother remove the mote out of his eye, but not before dealing with the beam in your own eye first.

Verse 6 - if there is time

III. How Can We Apply This Passage

Make sure you’re not being hypocritical when you examine the life of someone else. It is so easy to turn a blind eye to the same problem in your own heart when condemning someone else for the problem in theirs.

Don’t hold someone to a standard that you wouldnt hold yourself to OR wouldnt want God to hold you to.