This is the anti-Christian's (ACs for the rest of this devotion) favorite verse. Any expression of Christian faith that interferes with what they want to do is met with this rejoinder, meant to accuse us of not being familiar with the Book we claim to follow. As fate would have it, though, it turns out that people who don't believe the Bible is true are very poor theologians. To begin, let's take a look at the next 4 verses.
2For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4Or 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? 5You 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.
In verse 2, Jesus basically says that we will be judged based on the standards by which we judge others. (Of course, this doesn't mean that if we never hold others to a standard, we can just live however we want. See Romans 6:1-2 for Christians and Revelation 20:11-15 for the unsaved.) In verses 3-4, Jesus talks about how foolish it would be for a person to have a log (or “beam” or “plank” in other translations) in their eye, yet attempt to diagnose and remove a speck from another person's eye. (“Ah ha - I see where He's going!” think the ACs at this point…) He then continues “You hypocrite!” ("PREACH IT," yell the ACs, "You tell 'em!")
As an aside - doesn't that sound just a bit judgmental? We'll come back to that…
The following words of Christ are often split; people focus on one half or the other, just as they do with His words to the woman caught in adultery.
11...And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
In Matthew 7:5, the phrases are separated by a comma; in John 8:11, they're separated by a semicolon. In both cases, the ACs like the first part, but folks we'll call turbo-Christians (TCs hereafter) like to act like the second part is the important one. We'll explore that a bit more in the final analysis as well. For now, though, what does Jesus say for the hypocrite to do? “Take the log out of your own eye.” In other words, “Get yourself right.” But then, what does He say next - why are we to take the log out of our eyes? “...then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” Aren't we going to have to identify a speck, and call a speck a speck, before we're actually able to remove it from our brother's eye?
Jesus then continues…
6Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Again, here, must we not determine dogs from other animals if we are to avoid giving them “what is holy”? Are we not to distinguish pigs from among all other animals (or plants) if we are to avoid throwing our pearls before them?
Now that we've evaluated the context, let's make some application.
“Judge Not” has nothing to do with what people commonly call “judging”
Calling a sin a sin is not judging, according to this passage. To avoid sin, we must make determinations (AKA “judge”) regarding actions or behaviors as to whether they match up with the guidance contained in the Scriptures. We must be consistently vigilant. The world makes things seem fun, enjoyable, and pleasurable; while none of those attributes are necessarily against God, we must be discerning to make sure that we are not drawn into an alluring sin. The author of Hebrews, when describing Moses in Hebrews 11:24-25, calls it the “fleeting pleasures of sin” (or, as the King James Version translates it, the “pleasures of sin for a season”).
There are several definitions of the word “judge,” not just the one that means “determination.” The same Greek word (krino) translated here as “judge” is the same one translated “sue you” in Matthew 5:40. It is also translated “decided” in Titus 3:12 when Paul is telling Titus where he plans to spend the winter. So what exactly is Jesus trying to tell us to avoid? I believe Paul fleshes this out in the first part of Romans 14.
1As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
10Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” 12So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
13Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
The translation “pass judgment” carries what I believe Matthew 7:1 to be saying. If we pass judgment, we are handing out a sentence - guilty as charged, and condemned to die as an unbeliever. We see believers observing dietary restrictions, or failing to observe the ones we believe are right. Paul is quite clear that dietary restrictions are not a salvation issue, and really are not even a glorifying God issue; he makes allowances for people of different diets, different holiday calendars - but the key is verse 8. It must be done to the Lord. If we are failing to observe a dietary restriction because we like eating that food, that's not covered here; if we decide to eat the restricted food because we believe that will help us better serve the Lord, that is honoring to God. If we don't observe the world's “holidays” because we want them to make sure they know we're separate, that's not the point; if we abstain from these days to help solidify our relationship with Christ, now we're on the right track.
As this point, the astute AC is saying “Yeah, but this is talking about Christian interrelationship; that's fine for you to believe, but don't judge us!” This is still a misunderstanding of the Scripture. Encouraging people to repent, to turn from their sin and to Christ, is not the same as judgment; rather, it is an attempt from a fellow human to prevent them from encountering the ultimate judgment that is to come. We're not judging you (see the third application below, though), we don't want you to be judged! Calls for repentance are not what's prohibited here; otherwise, Jesus started His ministry by violating His own rule (Mark 1:14-15).
Hypocrisy is real, and looks really foolish
Jesus' picture of someone with a log sticking out of their eye trying to help someone get a speck out of their eye is so ridiculous, He thought it just might get His listeners' attention. We are very quick to spot flaws in other people while conveniently ignoring our own. This is one reason we are encouraged to spend time in fellowship with other Christians. We all have blind spots; if we could see them, they wouldn't be blind spots. Our friends, though, can usually see them with 20/20 clarity. By spending time a) in the Word, so we know what is right, and b) with fellow believers, who also know what is right, we can help one another as we endeavor to walk in a closer relationship with Christ.
The church is full of recovering hypocrites; it is important that we do our dead-level best to strive to live up to the beliefs we claim to have. We must do it; the world is watching, and they're not impressed.
The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
Christians should not be judgmental people
I mentioned that we'd come back to the “judgmental” “You hypocrites!” proclamation. There are two aspects to this we'll explore as we begin to wrap this up. The first is a non-spiritual observation. Saying something silly to loosen up the listeners, before you hit them with something difficult, did not originate with comedians of the past 40 years. Jesus knew His listeners would be chuckling as He described that silly scene, then He dropped the attention-getting line. He is a great example (the example) of how to be winsome while delivering words the hearer may not want to hear. The second is that Jesus nearly universally used this tone with people who should know better, but were using His name for their own personal gain. Whether it was the moneychangers He drove out of the temple (Matthew 21:14-15) increasing their wallets, or the Pharisees He termed a bunch of snakes (Matthew 12:33-34) who used the temple for their own popularity, He judged them, and did so pretty harshly.
At this point, the TCs are fired up. "Yeah - let's go braid some whips!" Simmer down… Yes, Jesus said that we could get the speck out of our brother's eye, and He told the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more.” But we have to take all of Scripture in context; a call to change does not exist without a call to repent, and without the power a relationship with Christ brings, behavioral change cannot happen. In our passage here, Jesus tells us to get the log out of our eye before going to work on the speck in the other guy's eye. In John 8:11, He precedes the admonition with “Neither to I condemn you.” The Greek word translated “condemn” is katakrino, a stronger form of the one translated “judge” in Matthew 7:1.
Jesus did not come to condemn the world; He came to save it. When we go out and rail against the prevailing sin of the day, and do so in a manner that makes it sound like they are beyond saving and have condemned themselves already, we are not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Calling people to repentance is fine; calling sin sin is fine; but we must be sure that we are leaving room for the Holy Spirit to convict them of that sin. If we shut people down, and tell them they've gone too far, they might just believe us; and that would be truly sad, because as Peter described the One we serve,
9The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
We should not be silent, and we should not compromise the truth. However, we should also remember, as Paul wrote in Romans 14, that we are here for God's glory. Let us be sure that He is glorified as we, in a winsome way, share His good news with the world in which we live.
16By faith in His name, His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Him has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.
This is Peter speaking to people who had assembled after he and John had healed a lame man (Acts 3:1-16). This type of healing, along with many other things described in the book of Acts, can be a bit contentious among Christians. Is God still in the healing business? Does He still use people like Peter and John to speak His healing? And what role do doctors play in healing - if I took a pill and got better, it must have been the doctor, right? The short answers to these questions are yes, no, and no. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's look at some miraculous healings at other places in the Bible.
In 1 Kings 17:8-24, we read about Elijah and the widow of Zerephath. This is during the time when Elijah had declared to Ahab and Jezebel (through direction from the Lord, of course) that it would not rain until he said it would. There was a famine, and Elijah was hungry. When he arrived at the widow's house, she was about to make the last of her food; once she and her son ate it, they would be completely out with no prospect of any more. Elijah asked her to make him some food first, and she did; from that point on, her flour and oil never ran out for the duration of the famine. However, the widow's son became sick and died. Elijah prayed over him, that the Lord would raise him.
22So the Lord listened to Elijah's voice, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived.
Elijah was succeeded by Elisha, and Elisha had some pretty radical healing experiences himself. In 2 Kings 4:8-17, he passed through a town called Shunem, and when he did, a woman prepared food for him every time he came by, and even set up a room in her house for him to stay. When questioned about why, she said that she recognized him as a man of God. Elisha asked what she would like in return for her hospitality, and she said she didn't need anything. When he pressed her, though, she said that she had always wanted a son, but had been unable to conceive. Elisha told her “At this time next year you will have a son in your arms.” (v. 16) She was incredulous, but a year later, she had a son.
Fast forward a few years (2 Kings 4:18-37), and the boy is growing. Suddenly, one day he complains of severe head pain, and quickly dies in her lap. She immediately calls for donkeys to travel to see Elisha. Elisha tries to send an assistant to hold his staff over the boy's head to bring him back to life, but the mother is insistent that Elisha come himself. Once they arrive at her house, the assistant goes in as Elisha directed, but nothing happened. What Elisha does next I'm pretty sure isn't in any medical textbooks, but it worked!
32When Elisha got to the house, he discovered the boy lying dead on his bed. 33So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. 34Then he went up and lay on the boy: he put mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand. While he bent down over him, the boy's flesh became warm. 35Elisha got up, went into the house, and paced back and forth. Then he went up and bent down over him again. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
(While these examples are of times that God chose to heal, He does not always make that choice. Both the Old and New Testaments have plenty of times where people died, and were not raised back to life; and, even these people did eventually die “for good.” Don't at all think that because someone prays, even someone who is “right with God” or “spiritual” or a “great prayer warrior,” that God is bound to heal. He alone knows the plans He has for each of us. The remainder of this will focus on times when God does heal, but I wanted to address this before we continue.)
Returning to my questions from the beginning… Is God still in the healing business? The answer to that is an emphatic yes! One of the names of God in the Bible is Jehovah-Rophe, meaning “The Lord Who Heals.” This was used in Exodus 15:22-26, where God provided purification for the undrinkable water at Marah so His people could drink. In Luke 5:30-31, Jesus even used the picture of a physician when explaining why He spent so much time with sinners rather than with those who already practiced religion; if He can fix our sin, can't He also fix our health? Also, over this past year, I have known people who have defeated cancer and overcome a drowning. God is definitely still in the healing business.
Does God still use people, like Peter and John, to walk up to someone and heal them just by speaking? This is where some of the contention comes in. I'm not interested in a deep theological debate, but I will say that I have not seen this in my lifetime. While God could still use men (or women) in this way, He has generally used different techniques for different times. In our day and time, could you imagine the international storm that would be created by someone who did this? It is highly unlikely that this attention would point people towards God, which is the goal of everything God does. Besides, I don't think He needs to, which brings me to the next question.
Don't doctors heal more people than God these days? No. God has revealed medicine and the human body to physicians; He has granted drug makers the knowledge that they have, and the doctors the knowledge as to when their application is appropriate. He created the earth and everything on the earth; even if a drug is synthesized, it's synthesized using material He created. This reminds me of a joke that I heard a while back - a group of scientists gets together and decides that they're now smarter than God. So, one of them goes up to God and says, “You know, with human cloning and all the things we can create, we don't really need You anymore.” God replies, “Then why don't we have a man-making contest - and let's do it old-school, like I did with Adam.” “No problem,” says the scientist, and he bends down and picks up a handful of dirt. “No, no, no,” said God, “get your own dirt!”
So, then, we see that all healing does come from God, whether He chooses to make cancer disappear, or whether He uses ibuprofen and a physical therapist, or whether He uses a replacement limb. Recognizing Him as the source for all healing, not just the miracles, enables us to more greatly see His hand at work in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.
This is an end-of-the-letter salutation from Paul to the church at Thessalonica. Paul began and ended most all of his letters by talking about the “grace and peace” of our Lord, and his hope that it would remain with those to whom he was writing. This theme of peace is one that is woven throughout the Bible. The word “peace” (or some form of it, like “peacemaker”, “peaceful”, etc.) is found in 266 verses in the HCSB. We're not going to look at the other 265 verses, but we'll look at a few of them.
Peace was used as a greeting to Gideon…
23But the Lord said to him, “Peace to you. Don't be afraid, for you will not die.”
In fact, Isaiah prophesied that one of the Messiah's names would deal with His peace-making qualities…
6For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
In these four verses, we see a common theme - the source of peace is God, through His Son Jesus. But how to we get this peace? Ask God for it! According to Peter, the disciple of Jesus who went on to lead the early church…
10For the one who wants to love life and to see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, 11and he must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it, 12because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their request. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
16However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame.
Let's look at that in its context, to figure out what “this” is…
13And who will harm you if you are passionate for what is good? 14But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed, 15but set apart the Messiah as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 16However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. 18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all….
Verse 13 starts out with a somewhat rhetorical question - who will harm you if you are passionate for what is good? This is an encouragement to his readers (that's us) that most people would not harm them just because they were doing right by the Lord and good towards others. But, in verse 14, he goes on to tell them that even if someone does make them suffer, they are blessed; this echoes the words of Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.
11“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. 12Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
In verse 15, Peter shifts toward evangelism, and tells us that we always need to be ready to defend the faith to those who may ask. If someone is doing good, and others are persecuting them, yet they continue to do good, still others will notice, and will wonder where they get the power to continue doing good. This is just what Paul told Timothy.
2Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
Now, having set all that up, we come to verse 16, where we learn how we are supposed to do this. The words Peter uses are “gentleness and respect.” Many people today find the Word of God offensive - even in America, there are a lot of people who have puffed themselves up, believing that they are above all this “religion” stuff. When we share Christ with others, they may be offended; but that does not absolve us of the responsibility to share Him with others. Here is how the author of Hebrews describes the Word of God…
12“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart.”
Some people will get offended at a two-edged sword diving their soul and spirit, and judging their hearts. Rev. Marc Myers, my pastor during high school, used to put it this way: “A Christian should not be deliberately offensive. If you share the Word of God, and the Word offends, so be it. But if you share the Word of God, and you offend, you would be better off not sharing it at all.” This is true - being offensive while sharing Christ actually does more harm than good. It takes the focus off Christ and puts it on the messenger, and it creates a bad reputations for Christians in general.
Think about the abortion clinic. A gentle and respectful way to fight against an abortion clinic is to stand out on the sidewalk and talk, one to one, to the women coming in. I know from experience that women seeking abortion, a lot of times, are using that as means to an end, not an end in itself. Sharing Christ with them can give them hope, and when God works in their spirit, the baby is not only kept, but welcomed and wanted.
Another way of dealing with an abortion clinic is bombing it, destroying it so that it is no longer a conducive place for abortion. However, not only is this offensive (disrespectful to the property of others, irresponsible towards life in that people may be in the building), it is also illegal. Verse 17 says that it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Eric Rudolph is suffering for doing evil, not good.
Peter wraps up chapter 3 by reminding us of Who else has suffered for doing good. Christ is our example, and just as the world was offended at His message when He delivered it, it still finds this message offensive today. In the verse above from Matthew, Jesus said that they also persecuted the prophets before Him. While we should strive not to offend, this should be encouraging to us; if they take offense at our message - well, that's nothing new, is it? May we have the courage to share Christ, and the humility to share it without our methods offending.
16He speaks about these things in all his letters, in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.
The “he” in the beginning of the verse is Paul, who wrote many of the letters that are now books in the New Testament. This is a good recommendation from a fellow minister, but it comes with a couple of warnings.
First, Peter warns the church that some of the things which Paul has written to them are difficult to understand. This is certainly true - even today, there is often spirited debate over the meaning of some of the things Paul wrote. Of course, rather than just listening to debate, and deciding which side is more convincing, it is important to search the Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal its interpretation. And, knowledge without application is useless - once you have determined what the Scripture says, that knowledge needs to be put into action.
The second warning Peter has for the church is that the “untaught and unstable” will try to twist what the Bible says. Man has been doing this since, quite literally, just after Creation. Let's look at the first recorded twisting of God's Word. God gave Adam and Eve specific instructions regarding the Garden of Eden.
16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
But when Eve is talking to the serpent a few verses later, she gets it… well, not quite right.
2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, 'You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.'”
Now, we don't know whether it was Eve who got it wrong here, or if it was Adam who amplified God's warning when he was telling Eve what God had said. But either way, what God said is not faithfully represented in Eve's answer to the serpent. And, just as the Bible begins with this story illustrating (among other things) twisting God's words, it ends with a warning as well.
18I testify to everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. 19And if anyone takes away from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, written in this book.
I don't know if you've read the book of Revelation all the way through or not; if you have, you know that you certainly don't want all the plagues of that book added to you!
Another application of these warnings applies to selecting a version of the Bible to use for study. Before making assumptions, research the translation philosophy, and whether the version is a literal translation or a paraphrase. Using more than one version can help you understand a tough passage.
The key in interpreting the Scripture is to be sure that you know what It says. Don't rely on what other people say about It - what does It say? I pray that we will all study the Scriptures, and allow God to reveal His interpretation of it to us.
(Note - we'll discuss more on Bible study when we get to 2 Timothy 3:16.)
Author
Daniel is a man who wants to be used of God however He sees fit.