Monday Musings // Only God Can Judge Me! Kinda, Sorta, Not Really

Concerning brothers and sisters in Christ, the topic of ‘judging’ has seemed to surface here and there in my life lately. With that said, let me be the first to say that I am definitely not without blame on the subject. I think every person on the planet is guilty of judging someone or something at some point in his or her life. My goal is also not to sit here on a platform of pontification and merely point more fingers. Instead, I want to look at what God’s word has to say about the matter at hand. This will be what determines the difference between judging and holding people accountable.

First, let’s explore the difference between judging someone out of malice and holding a person accountable. Far too often, people think that being a Christian means that you have no right in telling them how they should live their life or to judge them. Yes, the Bible does say “do not judge” (Luke 6:37) and “do not condemn” (Luke 6:37), however, God also tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” We can’t just pick one verse out and completely ignore the other. There must be a reason for it. This is where accountability or biblical judging comes into the picture.

So what’s the difference between the two? How can holding someone accountable or biblical judging be used for the betterment of God’s kingdom? In a technical sense, the definition of ‘judging’ means ‘to condemn’ and accountability means ‘to correct’. This means that it’s completely biblical, appropriate, and possible to hold others accountable without even judging them! Holding others accountable doesn’t mean being overly critical or demeaning, it simply means to provide guidance and instruction with the intention of correcting behavior. We are to be leaders for Christ by holding our brothers and sisters accountable for their behavior in a loving way (1 Corinthians 16:14) “do everything in love.”

Now that we are clear on the differences between the two, the question is, who falls under the category of people we should hold accountable? 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 says, “¹² What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” Therefore, we are only to hold accountable those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. The bible is also clear in telling us how we should handle going to another person to hold them accountable. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-17) In this passage, Matthew goes above and beyond what we would even normally think of doing in this kind of situation. The word of God is radical and it requires radical obedience!

We live in a very open-minded society. Just about anything outside of the “live as you please” lifestyle is viewed as closed minded and judgmental. But as Christians, we have God’s word to live by, to sanctify us and mold ourselves with. Hebrews 3:13, “You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.” We must help each other through life in order to steer clear of the stumbling blocks that cause us to sin. However, we all still sin and fall short of the glory of God on a daily basis. In those situations, we look at Galatians 6:1-2 for clarity, ”Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

How do you view another when you see them sinning? Are you willing to help restore them, or have you already condemned them in your mind? Have you labeled them helpless because they have failed so much in the past? We are not their final judge. Although, despite what society tells us, we shouldn’t overlook their sin either. Sweeping it under the rug is not loving them because then they will never get the victory. We are slaves to whomever we obey, whether our sinful flesh or God (Romans 6:16). We need to pray for them, and encourage them every opportunity we have, so that they may understand that we already have the victory through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57, Romans 8:37). We have been given a gift so precious that it is unfathomable. Grace. All of our shortcomings and failures were nailed to the cross when Jesus took the penalty of our sin, the penalty that we deserve! But the beauty of grace is that Jesus said, “It is finished.” Now we can know life everlasting. Thank you for reading this and I hope that this clears the air on the difference between judging and holding others accountable.