Verses 36-37 “36Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
37Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:”
37Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:”
When Jesus said, “Judge not,” He, of course, did not mean that Christians are not to make any decisions about what is right or wrong in the behavior of others. We must make those decisions every day, and we must make them on the basis of what God’s Word says. In reality, it is the Word of God doing the judging. As it says in John 12:47-48, “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” Paul upbraided the Christians at Corinth for not judging certain practices. He wrote, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?” (I Cor 6:2-3). Jesus also told Christians to judge what they see in others when He said, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).
So what did Jesus mean when He said, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged?” We believe He meant that we are not to judge too harshly, but with mercy (see the context). We are not to judge the validity of a person’s salvation experience. We are not to judge a person’s motives (something we could not possibly know). We are not to judge things that only God can judge. And we are not to judge others unless we are willing to be judged ourselves. If we judge, we must judge righteously, with all the facts, with understanding, and with a desire to help and not hurt others. If all Christians judged only in the way that Jesus wants us to, there would be far less judging going on in this world.