10/4/2023
Elijah McSwain, Sr.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 — (NKJV) For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.
Among religious circles and nonreligious circles, the term judging is a hot topic as well as a sensitive topic. Many people become defensive, controversial, and confrontational when the concept of judging is mentioned in connection with involving other people. Feelings are heightened and emotions flare when the topic is up for discussion or debate. Many that oppose the idea of passing judgment on others concluded that only God can judge me.
As a result, certain phrases have been derived from such a thought pattern to suppress others from passing any type of judgment. Such slogans to prevent any type of judgment include:
“Before you judge me, make sure that you are perfect.” Anonymous
“When you judge others, you do not define them but you define yourself.” Wayne Dyer
“Be curious, not judgmental.” Walt Whitman
“Easy to judge the mistakes of others but difficult to recognize our own mistakes.” Anonymous
“We are very good lawyers for our own mistakes but very good judges for the mistakes of others.” Anonymous 1
Many people are quick to make various statements as such without understanding the difference between what the Bible defines as hypocritical judgment versus righteous judgment. In order to differentiate between the two, we need to define these two types of judgment.
What Is Hypocritical Judgment and What Is Righteous Judgment?
In the New Testament, the Greek word often used for judge is krino. It is the same word that is translated when certain passages contain language that references to hypocritical judgment and righteous judgment (cf. Matthew 7:1-5, Luke 6:37, John 7:24, & 1 Corinthians 5:3, 12-13). When observing these verses, a person must make sure that they are reading each passages as well as other passages about judgment in its proper context so that they can distinguish between righteous judgment and unrighteous judgment. This will help people avoid making statements about judging that are often in error.
Hypocritical judgment is a form of judgment based on exposing the sins of others while failing to admit any faults of one’s own. It is predicated on passing judgment by singling out the shortcomings of others and having an attitude of condemnation toward those individuals. In the Bible, the activity of engaging in hypocritical judgment is spoken of in a negative way. The Bible gives several warnings about judging others harshly when the one who is passing judgment on others has sin in their own lives as well.
The following Scriptures speak negatively about judging others from a hypocritical perspective.
Matthew 7:1-5 NKJV — “Judge not, that you be not judged. “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? “Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Luke 6:37 NKJV — “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Romans 2:1 ESV — Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
John 8:7 NKJV — So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
In the passages above, what Jesus is condemning here involves any form of hypocritical judgment where the focal point is on the imperfections of others while taking the position of excusing one’s own misconduct.
However, it is important to note that the prohibition against hypocritical judgment does not negate or nullify that righteous judgment exists and is approved by God.
In the latter part of Matthew Ch. 7 particularly in verses 15 and 16, Jesus makes mention of righteous judgment and spiritual discernment through our ability to inspect fruit. The declaration that Jesus makes in these verses address the notion to “beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits." This applies to people in the mainstream society within church culture and the local church. This passage helps believers to use righteous judgment to spiritually discern between people who have a pretense as well as ulterior motives as it relates to the prosperity gospel and any other false gospel that is not of Christ. We have to exercise spiritual discernment and righteous judgment to decipher between what is false and that which is true in the form of the person and the message that they convey.
As the context reveals in Matthew 7:1-5, this does not prohibit all types of judging. There is a righteous kind of judgment that we are supposed to exercise with careful discernment. Censorious, hypocritical, self-righteous, or other kinds of unfair judgments are forbidden; but in order to fulfill the commandments that follow, it is necessary to discern dogs and swine (cf. Matthew 7:6) from one’s own brethren. 2
David Jeremiah would add “those who judge others should not be surprised when they are judged in return. The command to judge not does not relieve Christians of their responsibility to be discerning but instead warns harboring a contemptuous, condemning attitude.” 3
Righteous judgment involves spiritual discernment that is rooted in the will of God, the righteousness of God, and the standard of God to make informed decisions and come to sensible conclusions through displaying sound judgment based on the Word of God.
Hadassah Treu made the assessment that “the way to a correct judgment and action is to recognize and seek God as the supreme authority for everything and as a source of knowledge for wisdom. To accept His judgment as true and correct and to act in agreement with it. That is why the righteous and correct judgment is an expression of humility and dependence on God, of faith in action.” 4 Passages like John 7:24 and 1 Peter 4:17 as we will discuss more in detail in the following sections denote our Christian duty to display spiritual discernment through righteous judgment. Therefore, when people speak in terms of judgment, it must be understood that there are different types of judgment, righteous judgment and hypocritical judgment.
God Approves Righteous Judgment
The context of 1 Corinthians Ch. 5 deals with sexual immorality that is taking place within the Corinthian church. The act involves a young man and his stepmother being involved in an improper relationship outside the established order and pattern of God. The reference in verse one stating that it was his father’s wife signifies that it was not the biological mother of the young man involved but another woman to whom the father was now married unto. The participation of those involved in the matter are engaged in activity that is outside the will of God. The established pattern and order of God for intimacy in marriage involves such acts to be between a natural born man as a husband and a natural born woman as a wife (cf. Genesis 2:24).
According to verse three, Paul is not in the presence of the Corinthian believers, but he has already provided his determined pronouncement pertaining to the situation based on his letter. He wrote that he was absent in body but present in spirit. Even though he is separated from them, he has already judged as if he was in the presence of the ones who had committed the unholy act. Paul proceeds to say that a little leaven leavens the whole lump therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. He declares that the Corinthian believers are not to keep company with the sexually immoral who are professing believers. The inference is derived from his reference of not speaking of those who are in the world who do not know Christ but speaking of those who are considered a brother. Brother here refers to those who are in Christ.
In verses 12 and 13, Paul writes “for what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
The written composition of Paul declares that God approves of righteous judgment. After all, all of Scripture is the revealed mind of God.
The Bible reveals that the written Word is the mind of God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV — "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."
2 Peter 1:20-21 NKJV — "knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
As a result, Paul spoke under the authority of God’s approval in addressing this matter of infidelity. God has given the local church the authority through church government to address matters within the church that are sinful.
God grants jurisdiction to the local church on how to handle matters of infidelity, fornication, pedophilia, corruption, misappropriation of power, misuse of finances, division within the church, rebelliousness against authority, misuse of church property, disorder, and many other issues that should not be named among the body of Christ.
God has given the church the right to use spiritual discernment to confront and discipline those who are willfully sinning within the church. The local church is an autonomous body that is independent of any external authority, force, administration, control, or rule. The authority of the church is Christ as He is the head of the church and has given the church the right of self-government and freedom to govern the local church in alignment with His Word.
In John 7:24 further evidence is given that God approves of righteous judgment in Jesus’ declaration to "not judge according to appearance but to judge with righteous judgment." Obviously, Jesus made a distinction between unfair judgment and the kind of judgment that He deems appropriate.
Judgment that is harsh, adverse, critical, and negative is not condoned by Christ. Judgment that is free from partiality, prejudice, bias, dishonesty, pretense, hypocrisy, and antagonism is acceptable as it is interwoven into the God-given pattern of exercising sound and godly judgment.
Righteous judgment is necessary and suitable because it is rooted in God’s judgment, it is a mandate given from God through Jesus and it is part of the process that the church must utilize when needed to analyze ungodly situations that arise.
Judgment Begins At The House Of God
Paul declares that righteous judgment should be geared toward insiders meaning believers as opposed to those who are outsiders meaning nonbelievers. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 states "for what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.” God judges those who are outside, those who are labeled as unbelievers. Those who live apart from God stand under condemnation. They will face the Righteous Judge since they are outside of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the church.
The Great White Throne Judgment is where those who stand condemned will face and receive judgment for their sins for all eternity by God. Revelation 20:11-15 reveals this by its written composition of stating "then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." 2 Peter 2:9 reiterates this truth by insinuating that "the Lord knows how to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment."
God will execute divine judgment on those who are outside the community of faith. However, during the millennial kingdom believers will assist Christ to judge the world only during that timeframe (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:2).
“Paul never intended himself or the church to be judges of unbelievers outside the church, but to judge those inside (cf. 1 Pet. 4:17). Those on the outside are for God to judge and for believers to evangelize.” 2
In contrast, Paul dealt with the fact that believers are to judge those within the confines of the church. Judgment here solely deals with matters of injustice, misconduct, chaos, disorder, sexual impurities, fraudulent ploys and other unchristian activities that take place in the life of the church. While exercising judgment, believers are to handle such matters in a loving fashion when engaging in church discipline even if dismissal is necessary.
Paul emphasized that believers who willfully sin, habitually engaging in sinful activities, those that fail to repent of their error, and show lack of remorse should be put out of the church (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:13). Believers are to purge or put away the evil person via the process of excommunication. The fellowship of the unrepentant believer has been distorted because the sinning believer is being governed by sin and lead astray.
Adam Clarke wrote "if evil be tolerated in religious societies, the work of God cannot prosper there. Discipline must be exercised in the Christian Church; without this it will soon differ but little from the wilderness of this world." 5
Grant Richison adds to this train of thought, "it is the responsibility of the local church to make judgments about the moral behavior of believers. When they conclude that a believer is intransigent about sin, they are to expel that believer from fellowship in the local church. “Put away” is a command, so there is no option for this action. There are times when we must undergo surgery to cut out the cancer. There are times when drastic measures must be taken to avoid further damage.” 6 1 Peter 4:17 is reminiscent of this truth by addressing that "the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?"
"Judgment will begin with the family of God. This judgment is a judgment in time, not eternity. No Christian will ever face the Great White Throne judgment (Jn 5:24; Ro 8:1). However, a Christian will face discipline for stepping out of fellowship with God. This discipline takes place in time. We will not meet this discipline in eternity. “Time” means appointed time or the opportune point of time when God judges the Christian, especially when given divine discipline. If a believer does not confess his sins, then he faces the chastening hand of God. Our Lord does not want his children to bring reproach to the Bible. He expects us to be an example to those without Christ and an asset to the cause of the gospel.” 6
Every believer is held accountable to live by the standard of God and when believers fail to live up to that standard then there are consequences that are associated with vile living and activity. God desires that every born-again person lives in alignment with His precepts and statues as given in His Word. To live and operate in any other manner outside of God requires discipline from God directly or indirectly through the church when an offense occurs within its premise.
“A church that does not discipline its sinning members (including the most prominent members) loses its credibility, because it does not take seriously its own doctrines and standards.” 7
When the church applies righteous judgment as prescribed by God then the church is operating in the will of God to address and resolve sinful matters that unfold within the confines of the church.
References
https://www.awakenthegreatnesswithin.com/35-inspirational-quotes-on-judging/
The MacArthur Study Bible
The David Jeremiah Study Bible
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on 1 Corinthians 5:12". "The Adam Clarke Commentary"
Grant Richison. Verse By Verse Commentary
Quote from John MacArthur