DO NOT judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves.
2 For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you deal out to others it will be dealt out again to you.
3 Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother's eye, but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, Let me get the tiny particle out of your eye, when there is a beam of timber in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first get the beam of timber out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the tiny particle out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5).
1 "Do not judge" does not forbid all judging af any kind, for the moral distinctions drawn in the Sermon on the Mount require that decisive judgments be made. Jesus himself goes on to speak of some people as dogs and pigs (v.6) and to warn against false prophets (vv.15-20). Jesus' demand here is for his disciples not to be judgmental and censorious (see Rom 14:10-13). Those who judge like this will in turn be judged, not by other people (which would be of little consequence), but by God. Anyone who engages in such judgments usurps the place of God.
2 Using what was probably a proverbial saying, Jesus asserts that the judgmental person, by not being forgiving and loving, testifies to his own arrogance and impenitence, by which such individuals shut themselves out from God's forgiveness.
3-5 The "speck of sawdust" could be any bit of foreign matter. The "plank" is obviously colorful hyperbole. Jesus does not say it is wrong to help a fellow Christian remove the speck of dust in his eye, but it is wrong for a person with a "plank" in his eye to offer help. That is sheer hypocrisy. But when a brother in a meek and self-judging spirit (cf. 1 Cor 11:31; Gal 6:1) removes the log in his own eye, he has the responsibility of helping his brother remove his speck (Matt 18:15-20).
[http://twitter.com/sowersoftheword].
JESUS IS LORD.
2 For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you deal out to others it will be dealt out again to you.
3 Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother's eye, but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, Let me get the tiny particle out of your eye, when there is a beam of timber in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first get the beam of timber out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the tiny particle out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5).
1 "Do not judge" does not forbid all judging af any kind, for the moral distinctions drawn in the Sermon on the Mount require that decisive judgments be made. Jesus himself goes on to speak of some people as dogs and pigs (v.6) and to warn against false prophets (vv.15-20). Jesus' demand here is for his disciples not to be judgmental and censorious (see Rom 14:10-13). Those who judge like this will in turn be judged, not by other people (which would be of little consequence), but by God. Anyone who engages in such judgments usurps the place of God.
2 Using what was probably a proverbial saying, Jesus asserts that the judgmental person, by not being forgiving and loving, testifies to his own arrogance and impenitence, by which such individuals shut themselves out from God's forgiveness.
3-5 The "speck of sawdust" could be any bit of foreign matter. The "plank" is obviously colorful hyperbole. Jesus does not say it is wrong to help a fellow Christian remove the speck of dust in his eye, but it is wrong for a person with a "plank" in his eye to offer help. That is sheer hypocrisy. But when a brother in a meek and self-judging spirit (cf. 1 Cor 11:31; Gal 6:1) removes the log in his own eye, he has the responsibility of helping his brother remove his speck (Matt 18:15-20).
[http://twitter.com/sowersoftheword].
JESUS IS LORD.
