1 Judge not, that you may not be judged. 2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with whatever measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why do you look on the splinter that is in your brother's eye, but do not consider the beam that is in your own eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull the splinter out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First cast the beam out of your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to cast the splinter out of your brother's eye. 6 Do not give that which is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and tear you. (MKJV)
Matthew 7:1 is, possibly, the most misused scripture in all sixty-six books of the Bible and sadly, this is not a case limited to new converts that can be stamped out with a little teaching. I have run, face first, into this scripture ever since my first year of salvation, back in 1990. I have grown past my second decade as a Christian and as a Christian Teacher and I'm closing in on my seventh decade and Grumpy old man status. I have had this scripture used to shut my mouth by both lost and by men claiming the name of Christ.
I am forever reminded, as I study of what is perhaps the most important rule of Hermeneutics, “No scripture can ever be understood without the light of all other scripture shinning on it.” I am sometimes considered ignorant because I teach the heart felt understanding that the Bible is of one context from. “In the beginning...” all the way through the very last “Amen” of The Revelation, the twenty-second chapter. It is from this position that I seek to understand the scriptures.
There is a large and for me, hard to ignore clue to what Jesus is teaching us in the first verse here and it is found in the context of the entire first paragraph of this seventh chapter of Matthew. In verse two is a very strong hint, Jesus explains to the crowd here that we “are,” indeed to judge but to do so in the same manor that we wish measured out to us at the Judgment seat of the Christ. When we read the book of Proverbs we learn that wisdom is found there and a good example is Pro. 3:21-26. And then there is the American proverb, “If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.” And then my words, “If you fail to judge the end of the road, you will wreck.”
The long and the short of the matter is this, without judgment, you life is and wilkl be a wreck looking t happen.”
Matthew 7:1 is, possibly, the most misused scripture in all sixty-six books of the Bible and sadly, this is not a case limited to new converts that can be stamped out with a little teaching. I have run, face first, into this scripture ever since my first year of salvation, back in 1990. I have grown past my second decade as a Christian and as a Christian Teacher and I'm closing in on my seventh decade and Grumpy old man status. I have had this scripture used to shut my mouth by both lost and by men claiming the name of Christ.
I am forever reminded, as I study of what is perhaps the most important rule of Hermeneutics, “No scripture can ever be understood without the light of all other scripture shinning on it.” I am sometimes considered ignorant because I teach the heart felt understanding that the Bible is of one context from. “In the beginning...” all the way through the very last “Amen” of The Revelation, the twenty-second chapter. It is from this position that I seek to understand the scriptures.
There is a large and for me, hard to ignore clue to what Jesus is teaching us in the first verse here and it is found in the context of the entire first paragraph of this seventh chapter of Matthew. In verse two is a very strong hint, Jesus explains to the crowd here that we “are,” indeed to judge but to do so in the same manor that we wish measured out to us at the Judgment seat of the Christ. When we read the book of Proverbs we learn that wisdom is found there and a good example is Pro. 3:21-26. And then there is the American proverb, “If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.” And then my words, “If you fail to judge the end of the road, you will wreck.”
The long and the short of the matter is this, without judgment, you life is and wilkl be a wreck looking t happen.”
