Online Reporter
“Jesus himself says not to judge.”
Thus many a conversation about Christian ethics has come to a swift end. I often hear this verse quoted to me in conversations about the Bible’s sexual ethic, especially when these conversations occur in progressive, secular spaces. But it doesn’t take much imagination to guess how it might be deployed elsewhere. When used to shut down conversations, the implicit meaning is something like this: Jesus says it’s wrong to tell me I’m wrong.
Why does it work? For starters, Jesus really did make such a statement: “Judge not, that you not be judged” (Matt. 7:1). Not only did he say it, but it’s recorded in his most famous teaching, the Sermon on the Mount. This is why so many people know it (or some version of it). “Judge not” feels like it’s in the same league as the Golden Rule. So if a non-Christian or a Christian of a different opinion wants to suggest that her stance shouldn’t be opposed, the statement’s pedigree is top-tier.
In the second place, “judge” does carry a meaning of moral discrimination. So it’s not outlandish to think the sentence might be a prohibition on making moral judgments. It’s at least plausible enough that when presented in the heat of a conversation, those who take Jesus and the Bible seriously pause.
On the one hand, the source and the interpretation seem to suggest that whatever moral issue we’re talking about, the only safe landing spot is “agree to disagree.” On the other hand, when we’re in these situations, we retain a nagging feeling that this can’t be what Jesus means. How can we find our way out of the dilemma? By remembering how words work, how context works, and how love works.
How Words Work
Every word has various meanings, and you can only tell which one is most likely from how it’s being used in a sentence (and that sentence in a paragraph). So we’re not at all surprised that “judge” has multiple meanings.
One verbal use of “judge” is closely tied to what a judge in a Western courtroom does: render a verdict of innocent or guilty to formally decide a case and bring an open public matter to a close.
Another verbal use is discrimination or considered decision-making. We judge between lighter issues, such as what book to read next or what to wear to an event. But we also make weightier judgments—about whether to marry, what to name our child, how to fulfil an obligation to a parent.
A third use sits somewhat between the first two. It’s to consider what is good, right, or preferable, and not just to keep it to oneself but to state it publicly, especially with the hope of influencing others.
As with the second use, this can be for trivial questions, like whether to get pineapple on the group pizza order, or for extremely serious matters, such as a public official speaking on whether a country should go to war.
Helpfully here, the Greek verb krinō has functionally the same meanings as the English “judge.” When Jesus uses the word in his sermon, he can mean various things based on the normal uses of “judge.”
How Context Works
When we consider context, we’re thinking about the various elements necessary to understand meaning. Just as you can’t understand most Gen-Z slang without being heavily online, so you need a variety of contexts to understand Jesus’s sermon. Let’s consider two: literary and social.
Literary context is an extension of what we were thinking about above with words. Just as a word can only be understood in its phrase or sentence, so a phrase or sentence must be situated within its broader literary unit.
Social context refers to the relationships and history that surround any given written communication. This might include information about the original authors and readers, and it might include later audiences who had access to the documents. T
Both literary and social context play key roles in understanding what Jesus means when he says, “Judge not, that you not be judged.” Starting with literary context, we can see that Jesus’s prohibition against judging can’t be about prohibiting the act of discernment, either privately or publicly. The broad context, after all, is the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus speaks clearly and repeatedly about sin, righteousness, and the dangers of hell.
In the same paragraph as the line about judging, Jesus tells his listners to remove the speck from their brother’s eye. That is, he’s telling people to get into each other’s business. Discernment is required, especially for the necessary first step of removing the log from one’s own eye.
What about social context? More could be said than fits in one short article, but it helps to know that the speaker and the audience are Jewish. That means they share many things, including a religious outlook that requires taking sin, as defined by their covenant God, seriously. Additionally, the sermon frequently mentions hypocrisy related to religious practice, because in that social setting, you earn status for observance. –tgc.org
