Thou Shalt Judge

In numerous passages the Bible encourages believers to judge, to test, to discern, to evaluate, to discriminate, and to differentiate, but do we listen?

Original article "Thou Shalt Judge"
by Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

This is only a short summary of the original article which can be found here (link).

You are commanded to judge

In his original article Bill Muehlenberg begins with saying that; "[n]o, I didn’t get it wrong: I did not mistakenly leave a word out of my title. While I certainly have Matt 7:1 in mind, my thesis here is that believers are commanded to judge. When Jesus told us not to judge in the Matthew passage, he is clearly referring to hypocritical judgment. The immediate context (Matt 7:1-5), and the whole context of Scripture makes this quite clear.

In the Bible there are numerous passages encouraging believers to judge, to test, to discern, to evaluate, to discriminate, and to differentiate. Unfortunately we live in a world which shies away from all of those activities, and is trying to convince us that we must never judge anyone or anything."

At the end of the article Mr Muehlenberg concludes, saying: "The point is, believers are called to judge. We are called to judge the teachings we hear. We are called to judge ourselves and our conduct. And we are called to judge the conduct of others.

So the next time you hear someone recklessly throwing around Matt 7:1, remind him that he must proclaim the “full counsel of God” as Paul said in Apg 20:27. Ripping one passage out of context is not helpful. Yes we are to avoid censorious judgmentalism. But we are also called to test, approve, discern, evaluate, discriminate, and judge. To do anything less is to renounce our Christian calling ."

The full article can be found here (link).

Bill Muehlenberg

CultureWatch