Luke 6:37 - Judging

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Exposition

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned – This is one of the most mis-interpreted verses in the bible. Across the society, those who do wrong are no longer corrected because many verses such as this one will be quoted back. Being religious, we do not want to go against what the Bible teaches.

For a proper understanding and interpretation of this verse, please read Matthew 7:1-4, Romans 2:1-3, Romans 14:10. You’d see that Jesus was speaking to hypocrites who have a log in their eye which has not been removed yet they are bothering about another person that has a tiny speck. It’s about expecting those who expect perfection yet they are far from being perfect. This is the judgement that must not happen.

Judge not, and ye shall not judged does not mean you should close your eyes to sin. How then should we deal with one who is sinning without violating the words of Jesus Christ? James 5:19-20 says My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. 2 Timothy 2:25 says we should correct with gentleness believing the corrected one will be led to repentance by God.

We see that the one who does wrong should be shown the error of his ways and saved from death and it should be done with gentleness and not with spite.

Can we judge or not? You, the judge provides the answer. Do you judge and do the same thing like in Jews in Romans 2. Do you have a log in your eyes yet chase a speck in another’s? God wants us to be the one who is restoring and not condemning. We will not condemn when we know that we are where we are, by the grace of God.

forgive, and ye shall be forgiven – If we forgive the injuries done to us by others, others will forgive our injuries to them too. If we forgive others, remember that God will forgive us our sins against Him.

Prayer

Thank you Father for you are good to me all the time. Thank you for allowing me to live in your grace. Help me extend that grace to other people too. Help me live according to your word. Help me to be my brother’s keeper. Help me to accept correction from others no matter who they are. Help me to remove the log in my own eyes before seeing the speck in the eyes of others. Give me the boldness to do right by correcting with love and not spite or hatred.  Help me Father not to live in arrogance and wanting to be Lord over anybody.

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