The Truth About “Judge Not”

“Judge not.”

It’s one of the most quoted phrases from the Bible and one of the most misunderstood.

In this episode of Does The Bible Say That?, we talk about what Scripture actually says about judging others. Are Christians really supposed to never judge, or is there a deeper instruction we’re missing?

We unpack the difference between condemnation and righteous judgment, why self-examination matters first, and how accountability should come from a place of genuine love, not superiority.

This conversation is about learning how to speak truth in a way that helps others grow, rather than tearing them down.

Check us out!

Instagram: @SeriouslySis.Podcast

YouTube: @SeriouslySisPodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Anyway, seriously podcast, and we're back today with our series. I don't know why she's laughing like this. Our series on things the Bible does not say. We're actually going to talk about today. The you shouldn't judge other others.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

I feel like I have to address why I was laughing since you pointed it out. I'm laughing because you took so long to count in. And then before when you can she counts in three, two, one before we start. And um, when she got to one, she was like one, and then it was like five minutes before she said hello.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

In my defense, Julia said, Madison, when you do the countdown, can you not just jump right in and give myself some space when editing? So I took a pause.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

She took a pause, but I it's like only five seconds. I wanted her to, you know, introduce a topic in the same month. It's not true. It is true. They won't know because I'll edit it out, but we'll know. We'll know the truth. But the topic at hand. We're talking about for the bloopers.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

I'm gonna take the count in. I'm gonna put it up there so everyone knows. I'm not wrong here.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I mean, you do what you want to do. I'm just saying that it was 20 years before we started. Um, what are we talking about again? Reintroduce it because we rapid trailed.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

We are continuing our series on things the Bible does not say, and we're talking about not judging people.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Okay. Um, so this is one of those things where, like in one of our previous episodes, it's not so much that the Bible doesn't say it as much as it is that it's taken out of context.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

Misinterpreted.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Um, there was one uh God won't give you more than you can handle. That's nowhere in there. Like that's just not in there. This is in there, but if you take it without the context, take it without um pairing it with some of the other scriptures that talk about judgment, um, you end up having, I would say, an incomplete idea around what God was saying with that. So I feel like I'm gonna come in hot. You tell me why you feel like it's not in there.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Why I feel like we it's not telling us not to judge. I feel I can say that because scripturally you have multiple times where we are being told to judge. So, for example, I believe Jesus himself told us to be aware of false prophets. Now, in order for me to be aware of a false prophet, I would have to be judging the person that is prophesying to me. I would have to use that discernment and judgment on that person to beware of the false prophets. So I think that when people are saying, hey, you shouldn't judge people, there is a difference between righteous judgment and unrighteous judgment. Now, if I'm looking at Julia and I'm like, man, I'm not really not digging Julia's pants and I'm like making a judgment of you as a person based off of your clothes. That's not what it's saying. That's not what we're talking about when we're talking about judgment. What I'm talking about is we are meant to judge one another and um use discernment when we judge. Right. That's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yeah, and you're right. The all over the Bible we get countless examples of when we were actually commanded to judge.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Um, even Jesus, right? He talked about um the speck in the plank, and yes, I am taking your point. He talked about that, um, and it's not so much that he was saying don't judge, he was saying judge rightly. So so the scripture is, you know, how can you go to your brother and say, brother, let me remove the speck from your eye when you have a plank in yours? Right. First, remove the plank from your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's. So he didn't say, don't remove your brother's speck. He just said, you can't see clearly because you have way more going on.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Get that in check, and then you can go to your brother and you can talk to him about the thing that needs to be corrected. So Jesus lays the groundwork about what it is. It's a heart posture, it's an awareness of where you are so that you can judge rightly. Right. I think there's a difference between us judging according to what the scripture tells us to do, which is always in love. Let's be clear. If you, if if you're coming to someone because you see them doing something and you know it's detrimental to them and you bring it up, you're bringing it up because you love them versus me just bringing it up because I don't like what you're doing, I don't like the pants that you have on, you know, whatever it may be, your heart position in it is key and why you want to bring it up. And secondly, are you a hypocrite?

SPEAKER_03 5:05

I like that you said your heart position is important when you're doing this judgment, because if I am coming to you and you are maybe doing something wrong or that's unbiblical or something you shouldn't be doing, and my heart posture is not correct when I'm coming to you to bring that to you, that in itself can be me not judging you properly. It has to be done in love. You have to come, I have to come at you correct, if that makes sense. I have to come at you in a way that one, you can receive it, and I know I have a feeling, I'm not gonna say I know, I know you're gonna say if they can't receive it, that's on them, right? But I do have to come at you in a way that you can receive it, that you know I care. Because if Julia doesn't know I care, then Julia's not gonna receive anything I have to say because Julia's gonna be like Madison's just a jerk.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Or a hater.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

She is hating on me. Um so I like that you said that because that is important, and that's really what that scripture's coming to. Hey, remove the plank from your eye because what you the plank is large in your eye, you should be able to see it even greater than the speck that's in your eye. I should be able to see that and know I need to remove this, I need to fix this. So um, I like that you said that.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

As you were talking, I was thinking about that that scripture, and it just hit me that the way that Jesus positions that, and I really, really hope that I'm right about this before I say it, but the way that he positions it is to say, you will then see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. I just sitting here focused in on the word brother. Brother implies a relationship.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

It implies um a love that um hopefully if you have brothers, you love them. It implies that there's a love there. Um, and and I think that goes along with that heart posture thing of, you know, even if even if we don't, you know, you're not my ride or die deep, you know, me having a love for you to look at you as a brother or sister in Christ when I'm coming to you is very important. Right. Um, but it doesn't get you off the hook of doing it. Jesus doesn't say don't go tell them about the spake. He says just make sure, A, that you have the right heart posture and B, that you're not a hypocrite. I think that's something else that we miss in that because they had a plank to remove first.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

And I'm about to throw like a whole wrench in this and just go somewhere completely south. But when you said that, it made me think of what if they aren't your brother in Christ?

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Meaning like they're an unbeliever?

SPEAKER_03 7:43

What if they're an unbeliever and you're now going and throwing righteous judgment at them? So and you have the plank in your eye while you're throwing it.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Okay, well, if you have got a plank in your eye, it don't matter who you're talking about. Like it doesn't matter. If you are living in the same sin, or if you are living in sin willfully, knowingly, it doesn't matter whether you're talking to a believer or unbeliever. You're just still a hypocrite. Like you have no leg to stand on. Um, now, if you're not living in sin, I do think that the word teaches us to approach that differently. Because I think it was intentional that Jesus said, your brother. I think it's also intentional that Paul's directions for to us about how to handle conflict within the body is the body. It's very specific when it's talking about who we're talking to, because we're talking to people who should have a relationship with God, should have um the Holy Spirit, and should know biblically what the word says. And if that's the case, then they should, they're going to be able to receive you in a way that someone who doesn't believe any of this is going to receive you. There's a level of grace that grace not necessarily cosigning, but there's a level of grace that you have to offer the unbeliever because they're just they have a different worldview than you have. Um, but the believer is supposed to be in agreement with you, or y'all are supposed to be in agreement with the word.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

And so the way that you approach them is very different than the way that you would approach an unbeliever in my eyes.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

No, and I agree. And I think that um sometimes we I think the reason most the time that scripture I do feel gets thrown around, I don't think it's by the believer normally. I do feel like it's the unbeliever that's saying, doesn't the Bible say judge not lest ye be judged? I I feel like I hear that a lot, and I feel like it's a very well-known scripture by the unbeliever, by the people who don't read the Bible. They know that scripture very well. And I think that sometimes the way we're using righteous judgment in those those settings is causing them to think, well, you're not better than me. Like like we come off like we're better, I'm better than you. Just so you know. Um, that's how we come off, right? Is I'm better than you. So I think that when I'm thinking about judge, not lest she be judged, the scripture and how people read it, I think that's the reason that it comes across that people think, oh, I'm not supposed to judge anyone, is because we aren't practicing righteous judgment and we're not doing it in a place of love. It's oh, they're living in sin. You're gonna go to hell, you know, like those kind of things. And um, I I think in order for us to get to a place where that isn't the norm when people think of Christians, um, my people. That's what people usually tell me when they're talking about, you know, my people that I know that are non-believers, they're like, You're people, right? Um, we come off very judgmental because of our approach is not the appropriate loving approach. It is very judgmental.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Yes. And I think that we have to own that as Christians and and change that if we want to see anything change in that capacity. And I said that first so that I could say this next.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Um an unbeliever telling a believer what the Bible said is a red flag. You can't tell me, or you shouldn't be able to tell me better than I know if I'm reading my Bible what the word says. But it's an opportunity, and I think that the approach is exactly what you said. You respond in grace, but you tell them, well, actually, that was for a very specific group, meaning believers and how we handle it, but it was more about uh staying away from hypocrisy, and it was also making sure that we did it in love. It wasn't um an instruction never to hold each other accountable. So actually, what the word tells us to do is get ourselves together first, and then we will see clearly to call out the hypocrisy. So, what I'm not saying is that we don't tell unbelievers the truth when they hit us with that, because the truth is that they, whether they know it or not, are taking scripture out of context as as well. And it is our responsibility to give them that context. Right. Um, so yeah, no, we're not gonna do that. But I will say, to your earlier point, that it's just as many Christians who are saying, Don't judge me, as it is non-believers. And to them, I say, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

Everyone's getting the judgment over here.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Well, um, the thing is that we're supposed to hold each other accountable. We're supposed to help each other finish this race and do it.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

We should want that. Like, like um, I consider Julia my accountability partner, right? If I'm out of line and out of alignment with what the word says, I expect her to correct me. I expect you to correct me. So we should want that. We shouldn't get so offended because someone is trying to give us, put us in the right, right path, fix the direction because we're not perfect and we're always growing and we're always learning. I want to be better than what I was yesterday. I want to be better than what I was when I walked in this room, right? We should be wanting us to push each other even further in our faith and our walk. So, like, I don't know, there's such a level of offense everybody always has about everything. This isn't uh offensive, it's love.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

But again, we go back to the approach. I have a feeling that a lot of the approach is not loving when you're doing this justice.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

And see, the thing is, you're probably right. Um, a lot of people have quote unquote church hurt. Um, and I don't put that in quotations because I'm saying that's not a thing. I put it in quotations because sometimes it's an excuse.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Um, but there are people who really do have legitimate church hurts, and I acknowledge that. Um, but I think even more than that is because we give a soft, watered-down gospel. We don't preach a gospel of transformation, we preach a gospel that serves us in the West, anyway. By and large, we preach a gospel that serves us. And so Jesus came and died for me so that I could be free and that I could live how I want to live and all this prosperity things I'm going to have. Did Jesus come and die for you so that you could be free? Yes, but not free to sin. Paul says that in Romans. Should we say, because grace abounds, that we can sin all the more? By no means. No, no, by no means. You're supposed to be transformed, but you don't hear that message as often. Now, there are plenty of churches who are who are preaching the gospel, so I don't want to make it sound like that. But a lot of times people never hear a word of transformation. And so when you bring one to them, they you they think that you're picking on them. And it's like, no, this is God's word, not mine. I didn't write this book. These are not my words, they're his. But if you call yourself a son or daughter of his, his word says that the ones who love me will keep my commands.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

And if we're not doing that, it is our responsibility to hold one another accountable, and we have specific instruction on as to how to do that.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

So we're just to clarify, what we're saying is that the Bible does not say that we should not judge.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Okay. I want to make sure we're on the same page.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Correct. And and I I think um Mike made a point when we were talking about this before we started, that we have to really look at that word judge and understand what it means. So there's the judgment in accountability, like what we've been talking about, and then there is judgment in in the eyes of condemnation. I think when we think about judgment in a traditional worldly sense of I go to court, I'm in front of a judge, the judge pronounces a judgment. It is final, it's a decision. That's not what we're doing. I don't have a heaven or hell to put anybody in. But what I do have is instruction from the word. And so it is my responsibility to say, hey, Maddie, I see this thing happening. I don't know if you see it, because you might not be aware of the thing. But I see it and I feel like we need to pivot. That's not me saying, you are absolutely 100% going to hell.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

But that is me saying, if you don't get off of this trajectory, that's the direction you're going in. It's two different things. So I think we need to be specific about our wording when we talk about judgment. I'm not telling you that you're condemned to hell, but I'm telling you that your actions will separate you from God. And I don't want to see that happen.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

Yeah, I think that we as a body have to get comfortable having those conversations and having them in a way where it we're not so concerned that we're gonna hurt someone's feelings, like something, oh, you know, they're not gonna like me if I if I tell them that, so that we can get stronger as a body in order to help the people who are not a part of the body. It's so easy that sometimes I feel like the Christian communities over here and the rest of the communities over here. Um, but I've even seen that kind of judgment whenever I've been in churches, you know, like I went to Bible school, I felt judged the whole time I was there in my own element, right? Um, for things that like everyone in the church has we walk through things.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Sure, of course.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

But sometimes there is this idea that we're supposed to be perfect. And when we share something that makes it to where we're more human and less perfect, there is a level of judgment that I've seen throughout the church, the eyebrows raised, like, oh my gosh, like they just said what? Like, um, we have to get comfortable with us being human and speaking through the things we walk through and the things that we've to help to help the rest of the people at the church to say, Hey, I'm not better than you. I may not be where you are now, but I was at one point.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:17

Let's talk through it. Let's walk through this and let me let let me help you get through this. Like if we're not doing that, and okay to be vulnerable that we are not perfect, and we're just trying to act some way that we're not, um, we can't grow deeper as the church. So I think that when it comes to this righteous judgment, um, I think we all have some work to do. We could get a lot better at it. I do very well with the people I'm really close with on it, but I don't always do the best with the people that I'm maybe more of an acquaintance than a bestie. I don't have a problem telling Julia what I'm thinking. I don't have a problem telling Mike what I'm thinking. But there's this group over here that I may be thinking it and not saying nothing.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Right. I get you. But I I think what you're saying really gets to the heart of that scripture. Uh, judge not lest you be judged. It's the way that you judge, right? If if you're judging, knowing that you're doing the same thing or you're doing something similar, yeah, you might want need to be quiet. You might need to be quiet. And to your point, there is a level of humility on both sides that has to happen in order for us to do this right. For the person who's bringing the correction, there's got to be humility to know I'm not perfect. I've never been perfect. And um, something may happen tomorrow or something may happen today that I don't respond perfectly to. That keeps us in a great headspace so that when we go bring this to this person, we're not coming from a place of I've got this right, you know, let me tell you how you should do this.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

Be humble.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Right. But listen, I know what it's like to struggle. I know what it's like to get things off or to, you know, feel a way about something and then let that guide your decisions. I know what it's like, but let me tell you where you're heading. It's a very different conversation than you better stop doing that or you're going to hell. But it doesn't mean that the conversation doesn't happen. It's just the way that you do it is different. I'm just saying we have very specific instruction in Matthew 18. Um, we're told to bring something to a brother the one time. If if you do something to me or you do something I see this off, I go to you. You're my friend, I love you, I go to you. If you don't receive it, then I go and find someone else, communicate what's going on, and we go back to you. Because the goal is restoration, right? That's the goal.

unknown 20:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

If you don't receive it then, then we go find an elder. Then we come back to you. Because again, the goal is restoration, but we want to see you restored, that's the word, restored to something better. When you restore something, that means that you put it back together. We want to see you whole. But after that, if you don't hear it from me and you don't hear it from me and the second person, and you don't hear it from me and the uh second person and the elder, then we're instructed to let you do what you want to do, but have nothing to do with you.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

That's a hard word, but that's our instruction. So I don't see how you have this and arrive at never judge ever.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

See, and that can be a whole different podcast right there, because I think sometimes we do that too much, where we go to, go to, go to, go to, not receive, not receive, not receive, not receive, and we just do this until the end of the wor earth, and then we never cut the ties like we're supposed to. We just sit there in that loop cycle. Right. But that's not this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Well, it's about to be it's about to be a little bit of this podcast because there was a uh a preacher very not very long ago that came under fire for that very idea when he quoted the scripture. That said, uh, praise such a one into the hands of Satan. Who the the person who just is dead set on rebellion, dead set on doing things their way and out of order, praise such a one into the hands of Satan. Now that's a hard word. But but the reason is why. Because sometimes people only learn when they have to deal with the consequences of their actions.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Most of the time.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

Most of the time. And again, the goal for the Christian is always restoration, but the person has to want restoration too. I can't make you want restoration. Sometimes having to lie in the bed that you've made makes you be like, oh yeah, maybe I better not ever do that again. And then come back to Christ. So I agree with you. We sometimes go and go and go at nausea. And um the people never deal with the consequences of their actions, and therefore they never uh learn the lesson they need to learn so that they stop doing the thing that they're doing. So teaser for whatever podcast that ends up being.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

I'm just saying, you know, it's it's very easy to make a blanket statement about something and completely miss the heart. Because if you say that you should never judge ever, that means that you never are looking out for your brother or sister.

SPEAKER_03 23:25

Yeah, and I mean, in judgment, I mean, that can be big, that can be little. I might tell you, hey, don't ever wear that jacket again. I love you. Do you not like my clothes? Don't ever do that again. Um, I love you.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Yeah. Or it could be if you keep acting like this, you're gonna destroy your marriage and your family.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

Yeah. Dang, that's rough.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

You came from my clothes, I can't no, I'm kidding. Wow. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But seriously, it could be, you know, whatever level that it needs to be. But the point is, is that I mean, if you come from my clothes, I don't know that I'm gonna find the love in that unless I just look crazy. But if I come to you and be like, you're gonna destroy your marriage, it's because I want to see your marriage be strong.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

I mean, but it could it could even be something as simple as, you know, we're on the worship team, and there's been times where I maybe need to go to someone and be like, hey, I love your style, but what you're wearing, it's just not appropriate to wear up on this stage.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

Now, um, yeah, I and you can wear that off the stage, but you know, the goal on this stage is we're not to create a distraction. It's really not about us. We don't need to look fabulous and fly at all times, right? So um I I just can't let you be up here wearing that. I mean, it is and does that feel judgmental? I mean, it it probably does, but to the person I'm talking about, you're judging the way I dress, but it's all about the approach. Hey, I love you. You can't wear that. Yeah, I wouldn't wear that, you wouldn't wear that, you can't.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

It's not about, it's not only about them. The whole reason why you're having that conversation is exactly what you said. It might be a distraction for someone else. Right. We're thinking about how it is impacting the body. This is not a judgment on you and your stylistic choice.

SPEAKER_03 25:20

I love it. Can't wear it here.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

This is about how it impacts what we're here to do, which is worship the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

And other people's ability to be able to do that. You mean to tell me that my knees being out might be keeping somebody from worshiping? Yes? Okay, then I need to do something about that because it's not about me. But how do we ever um learn to bear with one another if we're not open to correction or a different perspective? Or, you know, you never do. So you really do yourself a disservice. You don't grow, you don't allow other people to grow. If you don't allow people to be able to speak into your life, and and this is my last thing, I'm not suggesting that you receive from everyone. That's not what I'm saying. You better be in your Bible, you better know what's in it.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

To to be able to test the spirits, like you said when we first started. You better know what's in your word. But if you got people who've been walking with the Lord and you know they know the word and you know they love you, maybe at least give them the benefit of the doubt that, hey, even if that what they say, I go and pray about it and I get the revelation that it's off, at least I know that that person loved me enough to come to me and say the thing.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

I want to preface how she said, and you know they love you, because there are people in your life who are, you see them in their Bible every day, they're walking with the Lord. But if they don't have care for you, they may speak things into your life that you don't need spoken into your life. And I've seen that side of it as well. But I I'm gonna end on this. Bible does not say not to judge. Righteously.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Yes. You're like a high five. It it does make it, it does say it, but it's not a blanket statement to never do it ever under any circumstances.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Righteously.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Do it righteously, do it with the right heart. Don't condemn. Don't condemn. We don't we don't get that level of authority.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

I would not want that.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

But you know, look at people's best interests. Like when you say it like that, it doesn't sound like it's just when you use the J word.