America’s favorite Bible verse seems to be Matthew 7:1, where our Lord says, “Judge not that you be not judged.” Yet Jesus also said in John 7:24, “Judge with a righteous judgment.”
Are Christians called to judge? It may surprise many to learn the answer to that popular question.
The context of John 7 is that Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath (John 5:1–7), and the religious leaders judged Jesus to be demon-possessed. Jesus pointed out their error in judging Him in John 7:21–23.
The religious leaders understood that infant boys were to be circumcised on the eighth day, even when that day fell on the Sabbath. Yet they misjudged Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, though both circumcision and healing were expressions of God’s redemptive work — the very reality the Sabbath signifies.
Jesus did not rebuke them for judging; He rebuked them for judging by the wrong standard. The right standard is God’s righteous law, not human preferences. His command was unmistakably twofold: Stop judging unrighteously, and begin judging righteously — the way God Himself judges.
~ What about “Judge Not”?
Admittedly, the verse that most readily comes to mind when the subject of judging others arises is not John 7:24, but in the aforementioned Matthew 7:1: “Judge not.” Likely, this is because these words are frequently used to silence Christians when they seek faithfully to confront or expose sin. Invoking “judge not” often functions as a form of moral shaming, pressuring them into silence and discouraging any negative evaluation of another person’s words or actions. As a result, many Christians feel uncertain about how to respond when this passage is quoted with the purpose of shaming them into silence. Unfortunately, some believers welcome this shaming because it excuses their reluctance to confront evil, allowing their silence to masquerade as humility.
Obviously, Jesus’ command to “judge not” cannot mean that believers are to abandon their critical faculties when engaging with others. He is not calling His followers to ignore wrongdoing, to refrain from all criticism, or to refuse to distinguish between truth and error, right and wrong, good and evil.
Created in the image of God, endowed with discernment, instructed by His moral law, and commanded to speak the truth in love, Christians are called to bear witness to the truth — serving as light in a morally dark world. If Jesus were forbidding all judgment, Christians could not legitimately assert that the holocaust, racial prejudice, mass murder, abortion, etc., are moral evils.
~ Required to Make Judgments
Furthermore, Jesus’ teaching immediately after saying “Judge not” requires that His followers make judgments: He told them not to give what is holy to dogs or cast pearls before pigs (7:6), and later to beware of false prophets (7:15). These directives demand thoughtful judgment — first, to recognize who fits these descriptions and then to respond appropriately. According to Jesus, making judgments is not only permitted but unavoidable. (See also 1 Cor. 5:9, 2 Cor. 11:14, Phil. 3:2, and 1 John 4:1 for a few of the many passages that require Christians to judge.)
Jesus did mean something when He said, “Judge not.” Verses 3–5 make clear that He is not condemning all judgment, but judgment exercised in the wrong way. By reminding His followers that they themselves will be judged (v. 2), Jesus calls for humility and restraint when making necessary evaluations.
His disciples are still to be discerning, but they are not to judge in the sense of passing a final sentence — something that belongs to God alone — or of adopting a harsh, fault-finding posture. A censorious spirit that delights in exposing others’ failures and shows little generosity or mercy has no place in the hearts of those who follow Christ, as Matthew 7:1 demonstrates.
There is no contradiction in Matthew 7:1 and John 7:24. In Matthew 7, Jesus cautions believers against judging hypocritically and harshly; in John 7, He teaches them how to judge rightly.
— Walter Johnson is a retired< dean of the College of Christian Studies at North Greenville University, where he taught and served for 32 years.