Learning How to Judge Correctly, Part I

You have heard that is was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.  And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council.  But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:21-22, NKJV)

The Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew Chapters 5 through 7.  It is called the “Sermon on the Mount” because Jesus literally went up on the side of a mountain, sat down and taught the people who gathered to see him.  Throughout the three chapters, as you can image, he taught on a wide range of subject matters.  However, in our particular passage, he taught on murder.

In the Old Testament, if someone killed another person without cause, the punishment was death.  Jesus takes this further by saying – not only should a person who physically murders without cause be in danger of death, but also a person who spiritually murders with words should also be in danger of death.

Now “killing” words are the same as “judging” words, and it is commonly believed that we should not speak in judgment of other Christians, but our text reveals two types of judgments, one that is acceptable, another that is not.  Today’s post will deal with the not acceptable one, which is to call someone a fool.  Next week’s post will deal with the acceptable one, which is to call someone Raca.

To call someone a fool is to say they do not believe in God (Psalm 14:1; 53:1).  It is to pronounce final judgment on someone.  It is to say to another that they are not saved but lost forever.  I have actually done this, and I venture to say that many other Christians have done this as well.  This is how that looks: Someone tells me that another Christian has done this or said that and my response is “Then they’re not really a Christian” or “Then they’re not really saved”.  How dare me and you!  We have just called our fellow believer a fool.  This is what Jesus warns us about in Matthew 7:1.  Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. (NLT)   In other words, if we send someone to damnation, pack a bag because we are going with them.  The implication is that there is no redemption for them, and no forgiveness in us.  We could look at David’s sin with Bathsheba and conclude that he was not a man of God, but we would be completely wrong.  He was a man of God.  Even when Paul dealt with the worst of us, he never denounced their Christianity.  He simply called them, and in essence us, Carnal Christians, but Christians still yet.

Today if you, like me, have pronounced final judgment on a fellow brother or sister let us first ask God to forgive us.  Then let us change the way we think towards each other, understanding that our goal is never to condemn but to forgive and restore one another.