Judging Others

“Judge not that you be not judged.  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  Why do you see 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,’ when there is the log 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.  Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” –Matthew 7:1-6 (ESV).

In this lesson from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus moves from personal temptations to interpersonal temptations.  Here he warns against judging inappropriately.  Jesus’ teaching on judgment shows that we must be very discriminating, because with whatever measure we use to judge others, we will be judged by that particular standard.  Yet judging is necessary.  In the Christian life, we cannot blindly accept all that has the aura of spirituality.  A good deal of discernment is necessary when we judge what is right and what is wrong.  When I study carefully Jesus’ teachings I find how cleverly and with wisdom He used appropriate literary devices to teach truth.  In this passage He uses the figure of speech called hyperbole, or intentional overstatement.  He may also have drawn on his experience as a carpenter when He talked about our judging the speck (particle of wood dust) and wanting to remove it from our brother’s eye, while at the same time we are blinded by the ceiling beam (log) that is in our own eye.  How often do we observe and criticize (judge) the small faults of others, while at the same time our faults are as weighty as a log!  In fact, we may be blinded by our own faults and therefore cannot see those of others in proper perspective.  It has been said that we often see and judge in others those faults of which we ourselves are most guilty.

Jesus carries the hyperbole further by saying we should not give dogs what is holy or throw pearls before swine.  In Jesus day, there were no leash laws in effect for dogs, and they roamed the streets, roads and countryside, hungry, mangy and predatory.  These dogs were a pest and despised by most of the citizens.  Likewise, Jews held hogs as “unclean.”  They would not eat pork, and they also despised hogs.  To misjudge would be like casting pearls—precious gems—before the scavenging dogs and hogs that roamed about the countryside.  Therefore, Jesus was teaching discrimination in our judgments.  We would not stand down on a street corner and preach the unsearchable riches of the kingdom of God.  It would be disregarded by the populace and be made of no value—just as the hogs would not recognize the value of precious pearls cast before them to root about and cover with mud.  We are to pray and wait until people show a desire to hear the truths of God.  And then we are to bear witness to the truth to the best of our ability.  Here Jesus was giving a helpful lesson to would-be witnesses of His truths and missionaries who carry the message to those who have not heard.  While people are as dogs and swine—rapacious and uncaring—what is offered to them of the truths of God will only fall on deaf ears.  I had not thought of judging others in exactly this light until I studied several commentaries on this passage.  Among them were those by the Rev. J. R. Dummelow (Commentary, 1958, pp. 649-50) and W. R. Wiersbe (Commentary, New Testament, 2007, p. 25).  Wiersbe states:  “Christians must exercise discernment, for not everyone is a sheep.  Some people are dogs or hogs, and some are sheep in wolves’ clothing!  We are the Lord’s sheep, but that does not mean we should let people pull the wool over our eyes.   The reason for judgment, then, is not that we might condemn others, but that we might be able to minister to them…It is a wise Christian who first assesses the condition of a person’s heart before sharing the precious pearls of the gospel.”  And so we see a wise assessment of judgment, from Jesus and from Christian scholars.  Let us beware and practice sound Christ-centered judgment.