The Teachings of Jesus
in The Sermon on the Mount
Judging “By Their Fruits…” Matthew
7:1-6, 15-23
Question: Isn’t it unbiblical to
judge others? In Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus taught, “Judge not, lest you be judged.”
Doesn’t this mean that Christians should never criticize anyone else’s
behavior, especially a Christian’s behavior?
Answer:
Matthew 7:1-5 The Danger
of Being Judgmental
Judging
another person calls for humility, grace and perspective. Rabbi Hillel said,
“Do not judge your neighbor, until you put yourself in his or her place” (m.
Avot [“Ethics of the Fathers”] 2:5). Perhaps building on his audience’s
knowledge of this rabbinic teaching, Jesus taught that there is much danger for
those possessing a judgmental attitude (7:1a), for they will be called into
account by the God whose place they have usurped (7:1b).
Wrongly
understood, however, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1, KJV) has
become the convenient mantra of a generation of Christians who have been
indoctrinated with the philosophy of moral relativism, which says that one has
no right to judge another person’s beliefs or actions. To those who embrace it,
this assertion makes sense for several reasons.
First, if
one begins with the axiom that there is no absolute standard for beliefs and
actions, then it is logically reasonable to conclude that there is no
basis for judging anyone’s beliefs or actions, whatever they may be.
Second, it
is emotionally comfortable to accept the notion that other people’s
beliefs and actions should not be judged, because that would mean that mine
should not be judged—by other people or by a loving, all-forgiving God. The
acceptance of this perspective perhaps is most noticeable in the church’s
growing tendency to accept all forms of sexual immorality, including
homosexuality. As an indication of Christian embrace of moral relativism,
George Barna’s research data consistently shows that the beliefs and behaviors
of Evangelical Christians in
Of course,
it soon becomes apparent that this interpretation of Matthew 7:1 is a result of
reading the Scriptures through the lens of postmodern culture, rather than
letting the Scriptures speak for itself. D.A. Carson notes that “this verse
[cannot] forbid all judging of any kind, for the moral distinctions drawn in
the Sermon on the Mount require that decisive judgments be made” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 1984, p. 183). In fact, just a few verses
later, Jesus instructed his followers, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not
throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them
under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces” (7:6). Here
Jesus commands us to judge which people metaphorically fall into categories
of “dogs” and “pigs.” To obey this command requires that Christians engage in
serious evaluation of people’s beliefs and behaviors that would identify them
as “dogs” and “pigs.”
In John
7:24 Jesus used twice the same Greek word for “judge” (krino) that is
found twice in Matthew 7:1 (NIV), saying, “Stop judging by mere appearances,
and make a right judgment (literally, “judge righteous judgment”). Was
Jesus contradicting his statement recorded in Matthew 7:1? No, he was telling
his followers that they were to judge on the basis of scriptural righteousness,
and not as the Jews were doing on the basis of self-righteousness in,
for example, condoning those who circumcised children on the Sabbath,
while condemning Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath (John 7:22-23).
Consistent
with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18:15-17, the Apostle Paul commanded that
Christians specifically judge others inside the Church, those who claimed to be
Christians but were not conducting their lives in accordance with righteousness:
“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral
people—not at all meaning the people of this world…but now I am writing you
that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually
immoral, or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler.
With such a man do not even eat” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11).
To obey
this command, Christians must be able to decide and evaluate (“judge”) those
so-called Christians who demonstrate the kinds of behaviors that Paul listed
here as illustrative of conduct inappropriate for followers of Christ. In fact,
Paul wrote in the next verses, “Are you not to judge (krino) those
inside [the Church]? God will judge those outside. ‘Expel
the wicked man from among you’” (5:12-13). In 1 Cor. 5:1-8 Paul had just
reprimanded the Corinthian Christians for their boasting of their tolerance
of a church member engaged in sexual immorality, and detailed the procedure
that was to be followed by the church to expel from their fellowship this
sexually immoral person.
1
Corinthians 6 continues Paul’s teaching on the responsibility of believers to
appoint judges to judge (krino) disputes in the church among Christian
brothers and sisters. In this context of discussing conduct judged by the
church, Paul concluded by asking, “Don’t you know that the wicked will not
inherit the
So, why
would any Bible-believing Christians, committed to the historic Christian
Faith, argue that Christians must, for example, embrace and dialogue with those
who (a) boast about their sexually immoral lifestyle and (b) demand that we
reject the Scriptures that explicitly condemn their belief and behavior? Surely
these are the types of people that the Apostle Paul commanded that we judge for
their beliefs and behaviors that prevent their participation in the
Every
Bible-believing Christian certainly has the right and the obligation to judge
people’s beliefs and behaviors on the basis of Scripture. However, judging (condemning) on the basis
of self-righteousness, with a judgmental attitude rather than a generous
spirit, is what Jesus warns against in Matthew 7:1, as verses 2-5 make clear.
According
to some rabbis, God has two “measures”—mercy and justice. In verse 2, Jesus
likely adapted that language for his proverbial saying, “For in the same way
you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be
measured to you.” So, will we judge with the measure of mercy? If not, we
cannot expect the measure of mercy to be used for ourselves.
Receiving
correction is hard. Rabbi Tarfon asked, “I wonder if there is anyone in this
generation who can accept correction? If someone says, ‘Take the splinter out
of your eye,’ the other responds by saying, ‘Take the log out of your own eye’”
(b. Arakhin [“Vows of Valuation”] 16b). But giving
correction comes much easier! So Jesus taught his followers to be cautious in
giving correction. The repeated references to “your brother” (“your brother’s
eye”) in verses 3-5 make it clear that it is a judgmental, censorious spirit within the community of believers that
Jesus wanted to restrain. It is hypocritical for a person with a “plank” or
“log” in his eye to offer to help remove the “speck of sawdust” in the
fellow-believer’s eye. But a brother with a gentle, generous, self-aware,
self-judging spirit has a responsibility to help his brother remove his speck
(Gal. 6:1; 1 Cor. 11:31).
Matthew 7:6 The Danger of
Being Undiscerning
Verse 6
brings balance. Jesus’ teaching here guards against Christians being
undiscerning and naïve “simpletons.” The “pigs” mentioned in the text were
unclean, wild and vicious animals; the “dogs” likewise wild and unclean. (See 2
Peter 2:22.) Looking for food, the pigs trample the pearls, not recognizing
their value. Similarly, the dogs, disgusted with being fed “what is sacred”
(the Gospel), turn on the giver.
Apparently
the “dogs” and the “pigs” refer to people “who have given clear evidence of
rejecting the Gospel with vicious scorn and hardened contempt” (Carson, p.
185). Jesus gave such lessons to his disciples in Matt. 10:14 and 15:14. How
did they put this teaching into practice? (See Acts 13:44-51; 18:5-6; 28:17-28;
Titus 3:10-11.)
Matthew 7:15-20 False Prophets
Jesus’ teaching is based on the assumptions that (a) not all prophets
are true, and (b) those that are not true try to conceal their falsity and
hostility by passing themselves off as believers (“wolves in sheep’s
clothing”). So it is important to be able to recognize them. They may give the
appearance of saying the right things, but what they really are eventually will
reveal itself in what they do—their fruit. It might be called the “test of
time.”
Jesus’ statement, “By their fruit you will recognize them” (vv. 16a and
20), brackets his teaching about how his followers can judge/discern the
genuineness of prophets: good trees naturally produce good fruit and bad trees
bad fruit (v. 17). In typically Semitic style, Jesus also asserted the
impossibility of the reverse (v. 18). He noted that every bad tree (false
prophet), identified by bearing bad fruit, will be punished (v. 19).
The Didache (or “The Teaching of the Twelve) gives instructions
to 2nd Century Christians on how to identify false prophets. It
rightly notes in 11:8, “But not everyone who speaks in a spirit is a prophet,
except he has the behavior of the Lord.” Character matters!
Matthew 7:21-23 False Followers
Some will say the right things (e.g. “Lord, Lord”) and even do some
good things (prophesy, exorcise demons, and perform miracles), but not be
genuinely in a real, loving, submissive relationship with Jesus (e.g. Judas
Iscariot). On the ultimate Day of Judgment, Jesus will identify these false
followers and refuse them entrance into his Kingdom. This is conveyed in two
ways in verse 23: First, in saying “I never knew you” or “I have nothing to do
with you,” Jesus employed the mild rabbinic formula for placing a ban on the
false followers; and second, Jesus quoted Psalm 6:8, where Yahweh says, “Away
from me, you evildoers.” What does this information contribute to our
understanding of the nature of Jesus (Christology)? What does this communicate
about our need to practice discernment?
David R. Bundrick, Ph.D.