Hello my friends!

Can you believe it is November? It feels like it arrived here so quickly. I hope it has begun well for all of you.

I was preparing to preach a sermon from the end of Matthew 7 recently. As I usually do, I was looking over a few key Greek words from the passage. When I was looking at the Greek word we usually translate as "judge" in Matthew 7:1, I discovered something about that famous line from Jesus that I hadn't quite seen before!

But before we dive into that, here are a few resources that I found helpful this week:

RESOURCES TO CONSIDER

-One of my favorite history podcasts called "Throughline" recently released an episode called "The Supreme Court's Shadow Docket." The description says it all. "Roe. Brown. Obergefell. Dobbs. These Supreme Court decisions are the ones that make headlines, and eventually history books. But today, the vast majority of the Court's work actually happens out of the public eye, on what's become known as the shadow docket. The story of that transformation spans more than a century, and doesn't fall neatly along partisan lines. Today on the show: how the so-called court of last resort has gained more and more power over American policy, and why the debates we don't see are often more important than the ones we do."

-My friend Andrew Whitehead is a leading scholar on Christian nationalism in America and speaks widely on its effects within Christian communities. His new book was just recently published called, "American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church." It is altogether heartfelt, personal, and thoughtfully written. I highly encourage you to check it out if you haven't already.

-Another one of my friends has a book that I have only recently discovered myself. It is Zack Hunt's "Unraptured: How End Times Theology Gets It Wrong." A book group within my church actually began to read this book and it came highly recommended to me, so I began to read it myself. It is not only thoughtful, timely, and so insightfully written by Zack, but the late great Rachel Held Evens wrote the forward to this book. If you are looking for a book that helps readers reorient their understanding of the gospel and the end times around loving and caring for the least of these, this book is for you.

Okay, onto today's content.

What did Jesus mean by "do not judge"?

*A note of caution: I briefly mention a recent news story involving suicide below. If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or find more helpful resources at the International Association of Suicide prevention.*

If you haven't read Matthew 7:1-2 recently, the whole verse goes like this in the NIV, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

I don't know about you, but I have always had a really complicated relationship with Jesus saying "do not judge." For me, it feels both impossible to do and honestly out of touch with our actual daily lives.

By that, I don't mean that in the sense that it is impossible to not be judgmental towards others or that asking us to not be judgmental is somehow out of touch.

What I do mean is that every single day we find ourselves making decisions based on how we judge circumstances, certain situations, and people. These judgments and discernments actually help us to make safe and wise decisions in our day to do life. Despite all our disclaimers of "it isn't for me to judge" or "you do you," we know we would be in big trouble if we didn't make decisions and priorities based on discernments and judgments about life every day.

So does Jesus really mean for us to never make any kind of judgments towards others at any time? If not, what does he mean by this phrase? Especially given that he said we will be "judged" in the same way we judge.

Well, here is what I found interesting!

Matthew 7 is of course the final part of Christ's sermon on the mount, which begins in Matthew 5. Interestingly, all throughout his sermon, he is teaching his disciples how to judge their own lives and make decisions according to God's purposes for them. Things like choosing to be a peacemaker and not living by an "eye for an eye" ethic. This concept alone requires a lot of discernment throughout ones life.

Then, on top of this, in the next chapter, Matthew 6, Jesus makes direct judgments towards synagogue practices (Matthew 6:2-5), Gentile prayer (Matthew 6:7), and lives preoccupied with material wealth (Matthew 6:25-34).

So, with this lead up to Matthew 7:1-2, when Jesus says "do not judge," if we just take it for face value in the English, it can feel like it not only contradicts what Jesus is teaching his disciples to do, but it also contradicts how Jesus is practicing what he preaches himself.

This is why the Greek is so helpful to us here.

The Greek word translated as "judge" in English here is "krinó". A quick study will show you that it is a very common word in the New Testament, but it can have various different meanings based on the form used and the given context.

For example, this same word is translated as "to sue" in Matthew 5:40, towards the beginning of Jesus' sermon on the mount.

In Matthew 7:1 however, the verb form of this word is used. This form is often used to express those who judge severely and unfairly, finding fault with anything and everything in others, especially without cause. It is also used in to describe eschatological judgment, like condemning someone to hell. This word is used in this "final judgment" way in Revelation 20:11-15.​

So, a better translation of krinó in Matthew 7:1 would actually be "condemn." Given its present tense usage, a more fitting read of this verse would be something like "do not go on condemning others to hell."

As you can see, this has dramatically different connotations than making judgments and discernments about situations and people in our daily lives.

Rather, as Warren Carter, Professor of New Testament from Phillips Theological Seminary writes about translating the word krinó as condemn, "This translation addresses various situations involving other people: conflict, fear of outsiders, intolerance of difference, prejudice, disdain, anger, etc. In such situations, people can write others off as beyond redemption, outside God’s grace, and consign them to hell. The command forbids the arrogance of denying mercy, even dignity, to another. Followers of Jesus have no right to declare someone is beyond God’s mercy."

Let's read that last part again. "The command forbids the arrogance of denying mercy, even dignity, to another. Followers of Jesus have no right to declare someone is beyond God’s mercy." That is such a powerful statement for our time.

Perhaps some better translations of Matthew 7:1 might be then: "do not go on writing others off as beyond redemption." Or "do not go on arrogantly denying mercy and dignity others."

Perhaps this is why Eugene Peterson, the author of the Message Bible, translated this Matthew 7:1-5 this way, “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."

For me, understanding this context paints such a deeper and more convicting picture of what Jesus was getting at. To condemn others in this way is to see ourselves as God. That is blasphemy. Condemning others is blasphemy.

I just can't help but think of how this applies to our world today.

As a pastor, I have heard far too many stories about how people have left or even been pushed out of their churches and even their families by this kind of condemnation. How they were "written off as beyond redemption" because they were single, or LGBTQ, or had an abortion, or simply voted democrat. Someone just told me a few days ago about how they were forcibly removed from their ministry position for simply trying to talk to their church's teens about the reality of racism after the murder of George Floyd.

Tragically, just this last week, an Alabama Mayor and Pastor took his own life after the severe bullying and condemnation he received after a Conservative media site outed him as transgender against his will. He was outed on Wednesday and he died two days later.

Loss of community, family, friends, and even life itself can be the devastating cause of us Christians choosing condemnation towards others rather than grace. This needs to be allowed to break our hearts.

How are these things not seen as direct violations of this command from Jesus?

I used to think that I saw this kind of condemnation from Christians because of my context and perhaps it wasn't as bad in other places. I have only pastored and ministered in Idaho and Kansas City, MO. Two very conservative and traditional contexts prone to a more harsh religiosity. Yet, this theory went out the window the more I wrote publicly online. I am still shocked by the amount of hateful, vitriolic words that are sent my way weekly by those claiming to follow Jesus simply because I come from a different point of view. Social media and the ability to write messages and emails while hiding behind a screen seems to bring out the worst of this kind of condemnation. Needless to say, I have been told more times than I can remember by other Christians that I will be spending eternity in hell.

It breaks my heart that the most hurtful and hateful messages I get are not from atheists or people from other religions. They come from fellow Christians.

An unfortunate trend that seems to be occupying many circles within American Christianity today is to define "loving others" by embodying this kind of condemnation towards them. Where they must "call out sin" of anyone they see as a sinner, otherwise they risk "condoning sin" as a Christian. Within this mentality, showing compassion towards someone who is "in sin" is seen as "compromising the truth." Phrases like "love without truth just isn't love" is said in order to justify the most hostile and demonizing condemnation of people and groups already written off as "sinners" by this legalistic approach.

In our world of combative politics and religion, one is hard pressed to distinguish the difference at all between how many Christians with this legalistic mentality seem to define love and the condemnation Jesus is speaking against here. Where "sinners" must be condemned to know they are beyond God's mercy before they are able to rightly receive compassion and mercy from God and especially from us Christians. It just shouldn't be this way. Isn't grace unmerited favor? Are we not saved by grace, not by legalism? Should we not then embody love, which is the polar opposite of condemning? Isn't the good news of the gospel that we are no longer condemned by sin and death but set free by Jesus?

"Followers of Jesus have no right to declare someone is beyond God’s mercy."

I just can't help but imagine how different our public dialogue would be, let alone how much it would change our social and political engagement if we Christians collectively took this command from Jesus as seriously as I believe he meant it to be taken. If we committed every word, every thought, and every action to "not condemning others," it would have a radical impact on everything, from personal relationships to how laws are made.

Imagine the impact of replacing the most vindictive and condemning mentalities in our country with a refusal to "go on condemning others as beyond redemption." We would have a revival of humility and compassion within Christianity and then beyond.

The most difficult part of this teaching is of course that it starts with me. It starts with each of us in our own hearts. Who are the ones we are most tempted to "write off as beyond redemption?" That is where we need to shift our mindset. Not just because we shouldn't take the arrogant position of condemning people, but also because the mentality behind condemning others perpetually will eventually devour us completely. Not only will it cause us to grow self-righteous, bitter, and cynical, but it will wear on our mental health and our relationships and ultimately prevent us from ever pursuing the ways of peace, healing, compassion, and justice Jesus calls us to embody.

Put simply, constantly condemning others to hell will not only create hell on earth for others, but it will leave us in a constant state of hell ourselves.

Or as Jesus put it, “Do not condemn, or you too will be condemned. For in the same way you condemn others, you will be condemned, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Now I'd like to hear from you.

What have been some of the ways you've thought about Christ's phrase, "do not judge?" Were they helpful or hurtful? Were they similar to what I have described here or different? Send me a message if you'd like to share!

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As always, thank you all for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every week.

I truly appreciate you all,

Ben

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