Judge Not
Condemning others blinds us to our own faults and usurps God's role as judge.
Jesus commands, 'Do not judge, or you too will be judged.' This does not forbid moral discernment but condemns hypocritical condemnation—seeing the speck in another's eye while ignoring the log in our own. We lack the knowledge of hearts that God alone possesses. Judging others often reveals more about our own sins than theirs. This teaching calls for humility, self-examination, and compassion rather than harsh criticism. The passage ends “then you will see clearly to remove the speck” (Matthew 7:5) — correction is postponed until self-examination, not cancelled.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged.
C.S. Lewis observed that 'when we judge, we see others as moral objects to be evaluated rather than persons to be loved.'
Gospel of Matthew
Written about in
- What Christianity says about humility
The instruction is against condemning, not against noticing. The picture is of a speck in someone else's eye, seen clearly by a person with a log in their own.
- What Christianity says about forgiveness
This is the limit on the previous point: Jesus is not banning moral judgment. The passage ends with "then you will see clearly to remove the speck" — correction is postponed until self-examination, not cancelled. Forgiving someone does not require pretending they did nothing.