Why I Don't Judge You

Although my natural self often desires to point out the flaws in others, I trust God is changing me. I do have a critical mind. I tend to think things through, sometimes over-think things. I will often come to different conclusions and will naturally believe I have found a better way.

But I choose not to Judge you.  Here are a few reasons why:

I would have to judge myself

I currently believe different things than I did say 10 or 20 years ago.  I do some things now that I didn't do before, and I did things before that I don't do today.   I don't really want to judge my former self for being wrong, and I hope my former self doesn't judge my current self - although he probably would.

I am not a very good judge

Although I think I'm pretty smart, I am smart enough to know I do not have it all figured out.  At times I think the more I learn about God, the less I know with 100% certainty. If I were to judge others, I am not sure if I would be correct 80% of the time, 50% of the time, or less.

Jesus seemed to judge those who judged others

The Pharisees and experts of religious law were the rule keepers and enforcers of that day.  They frequently judged others by the rules and standards they held to.  The harshest words Jesus spoke were against these men. There may be a lesson for us here.

The Bible says do not judge

Matt 7:1-5, Rom 14:1-8, Luke 6:37-38, 1 Cor 4:4-5

Blasphemy against Holy Spirit

The way I read Mark 3:22-30, Matt 12:25-30  and Luke 11:17, it can be risky if we mistakenly judge someone who God is working through.  Click here for more on these blasphemy verses.

Jesus will Judge

I trust Jesus will do a good enough job judging. (James 5:9, Acts 10:42, 2 Corinthians 5:10, John 5:22)

What Judging can I do?

1 Corinthians 5 gives some room for some judging of others. This was an unusual situation where a believer was doing something shameful in the eyes of both the gentile world and the community, and the community of believers seemed to be proud of it.   I'm not sure if this passage should be applied when we disagree over doctrines, and I'm not sure if it should be applied whenever someone does something wrong. There may be situations where believers are in close fellowship with someone they shouldn't be with, and this may apply. But I think we need to be careful not to take this approach of judging others whenever we disagree with someone's beliefs or practices (see reasons given above).

I believe there is also a sense where we are to judge things for ourselves.  I will naturally judge a practice to be harmful or beneficial, or a belief to be right or wrong.  I may even speak (or blog) about what I believe.  I may try to teach others with the hopes that they see things the way I see them.

Is there a fine line here? 

Is it possible to believe something, and speak what you believe without judging others?

I think the fine line is humility. Recognizing along the way that we are each given the freedom to think and live as individuals, all equal under a sovereign Lord and judge above.

Playdough Scripture 1 John 4

I haven't done one of these for awhile.  I hope you find this playdough version as offensive as I do.  It does sound wrong when put together this way.   Yes God is described as both loving and as the judge.  We are commanded to do one and commanded not to do the other. Unfortunately we sometimes get confused about which one we are supposed to do.

1 John 4 (Playdough Version)

7 Dear friends, let us love judge one another, because love judging is from God, and everyone who loves judges has been fathered by God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love judge does not know God, because God is love judgemental. 9 By this the love judgements of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him. 10 This is love judging: not that we have loved judged God, but that he loved judged us and sent his Son to be the mercy seat offering for our sins.

11 Dear friends, if God so loved judged us, then we also ought to love judge one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love judge one another, God resides in us, and his love judging is perfected in us.

...

16 And we have come to know and to believe the love judgemental nature that God has in us. God is love judgmental, and the one who resides in love judging others resides in God, and God resides in him. 17 By this love judging is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love judging, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love judging. 19 We love judge because he loved judged us first.

20 If anyone says “I love God” and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love judge his fellow Christian too.

Some Blog Stats - Did Jesus Pay Our Debt

I just noticed a blog post I wrote exactly 5 years ago today is the most viewed post of mine this month. For some reason 92 people have read that post this month, which is likely more views than when I wrote it 5 years ago.  It seems some people are asking similar questions that I had.  They are searching for:

• "Jesus paid our debt verse"
• "where in Bible does Jesus paid our sin debt"

During these searches they come to my post: Did Jesus pay our debt?

Back then I was searching the Bible for verses that said things like:

• "Jesus paid our debt"
• "Jesus paid a debt that he did not owe"
• "Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay!"
• "Jesus paid the penalty of man's sin"

Five years later, I still haven't found any verses that clearly say this, and I still have difficulty accepting these ideas as a major theme of Scripture.

If you know of a verse I've missed please let me know.

This search for answers that I started years ago has caused me some grief in my personal life.  But I believe the freedom and fresh perspective of God that has grown has been worth it. I don't know the people who are landing on this post this month. I don't know what their relationship with God is like. I wish them God's blessings as they search to understand what Scripture say about how God works.  I pray that grace would exist between believers who see things differently. Overall I pray their relationships with God and others grow, wherever they land on their understanding of this topic.

Related Posts:

• Did Jesus pay our debt?
• Importance of the cross - a look at many verses talking about meanings of the cross
• 10 Reasons Why I'm Not a Fan of Penal Substitutionary Atonement
• Gospel in the Gospels - Summary - 6 part series
• Gospel Definitions - some concerns with how we try to define the gospel

Jesus Saves From Religion

Has Jesus saved you from religion? This weekend as many consider the death and resurrection of Jesus you may hear the message that Jesus saves.   There are different verses that speak about Jesus saving us from sin, selfishness, and the powers of death, destruction, darkness, etc. However the message that Jesus can save you from religion doesn't get as much air time.

For this post to make sense you need to understand the definition of religion I am working with. For some people religion may simply mean caring for the needs of others as James puts it, or your personal connection with God. But religion often includes more than that.

When I use the word religion, I am talking about a commitment to systems of beliefs, rules, or rituals, and the institutions that maintain them.

If the idea that Jesus can save you from religion sounds shocking, take a minute to consider the life of Jesus. In the stories of the New Testament, if Jesus is the protagonist, who where the antagonists?  The main opponents Jesus faced during His life, and death were the religious leaders of the day.  The Jewish people were looking for a Messiah to save them from Roman political powers.  But that is not what Jesus primarily delivered. At the end of the day what powers were broken when Jesus died on the cross?  What was the significance of the temple curtain being torn in two?

Consider this quote in Bruxy Cavey's book "End of Religion":

"The Jesus described in the Bible never uses the word religion to refer to what he came to establish, nor does he invite people to join a particular institution or organization. When he speaks of "church", he is talking about people who gather in his name, not the structure they meet in or the organization they belong to (see Matthew 18:15-20). And when he talks about connecting with God, he consistently speaks not of religion but of "faith" (Luke 7:50; John 3:14-16). Jesus never commands his followers to embrace detailed creeds or codes of conduct, and he never instructs his followers to participate in exhaustive religious rituals. His life's work was about undoing the knots that bound people to ritual and empty tradition."

If you are still with me, here are some scripture passages to consider.

Galatians 2:15-21 (NET)   - The context for the "I have been crucified with Christ" seams to be that the old self that was mastered by the old religious law is now put to death.  If we continue to live under the control of religion, "Christ died for nothing!"

"We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, 16 yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages sin? Absolutely not! 18 But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God’s law. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!" 

Galatians 3:11-14 (NET) - Jesus freed us from the old religious laws

 "Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. 12 But the law is not based on faith, but the one who does the works of the law will live by them. 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.

Galatians 3:23 - 29 (NET)  - We used to be in bondage to religion.  Prisoners under the control of religion. Now we are 'in Christ Jesus' adopted as His sons. Our trust and submission is no longer directed towards religion, but towards the person of Jesus.

23 Now before faith came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female—for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 4:5 (NET)  "to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights."

Galatians 5:1 (NET) "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. "

Galatians 6:12-16 (NET) - The context of this passage is speaking about the old religious laws. When Paul says that the "world has been crucified to me" he is speaking about the hold that religion had on him is now dead.

12 Those who want to make a good showing in external matters are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised do not obey the law themselves, but they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your flesh. 14 But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation! 16 And all who will behave in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God.

1 Corinthians 15:50 - 57 - The power of sin is religious laws.

“Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Colossians 2:13-14 (NIV)  - canceled the written code with it's regulations

"He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. "

So what has Jesus saved us from?  I believe a case can be made that trusting in Jesus saves us from the control of religion.   Life under God's rule free's us from bondage to our own selfish ways, as well as the grip of religion and other powers of the world.

"You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men." 1 Corinthians 7:23 (NET)

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Related posts:

• Importance of The Cross
• Two Types of Legalism
• Following Jesus and Following Christianity
• End Of Religion

Some Bible Gateway Definitions

I came across some definitions from Bible Gateway that I appreciate (by Dictionary of Bible Themes Scripture index copyright Martin H. Manser, 2009)

2423 gospel, essence of

"The chief characteristic and fundamental doctrine of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Saviour."

2375 kingdom of God

"Or, less frequently, “kingdom of heaven”, the kingly rule of God in the lives of people and nations. It refers to the recognition of the authority of God, rather than a definite geographical area, and begins with the ministry of Jesus Christ."

2376 kingdom of God, coming of

"The kingdom of God comes into being wherever the kingly authority of God is acknowledged. Although God is always sovereign, Scripture looks to a future “realm” or “reign” of salvation. This has come in Christ and yet will come in its fulness only when Jesus Christ returns."

The above links have many subheadings with links to related verses.  For example... 

"The kingdom of God was central in the preaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles"

Mt 24:14; Lk 8:1; Ac 28:31 See also Mt 4:17,23; Mt 9:35; Mt 10:7 Jesus Christ’s instructions to the Twelve; Mk 1:13-14; Lk 4:43; Lk 9:2,11; Lk 10:9; Ac 1:3,6-8; Ac 8:12; Ac 19:8; Ac 20:25; Ac 28:23

"The kingdom of God has come in Christ: it is present"

Mt 11:12 Following the Jewish convention of avoiding the use of the divine name, Matthew usually speaks of “the kingdom of heaven”. See also Mt 3:1-2; Mt 4:17; Mt 13:31-32 pp Mk 4:30-32 pp Lk 13:18-19; Mt 13:33 pp Lk 13:20-21; Mt 16:28 pp Mk 9:1 pp Lk 9:27; Lk 11:20;Lk 16:16; Lk 17:20-21

"The kingdom of God will come in its fulness only when Jesus Christ returns: it is future"

Lk 22:18 pp Mt 26:29 pp Mk 14:25 See also Mt 6:10 pp Lk 11:2; Mt 25:31,34; Lk 22:16; 1Co 15:24; 2Ti 4:18; Rev 11:15; Rev 12:10

I just thought I'd share links to this resource.

Two Types of Legalism

From http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scales_of_Justice_(PSF).png

"Legalism, in Christian theology, is a usually pejorative term referring to an over-emphasis on discipline of conduct, or legal ideas, usually implying an allegation of misguided rigour, pride, superficiality, the neglect of mercy, and ignorance of the grace of God or emphasizing the letter of law at the expense of the spirit."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalism_(theology)

I think it is worth thinking through different types of legalism that exists in various degrees in different Christian circles.

Common Conditions 

For a legalistic system to exist there needs to be a leader, or group of leaders who define the rules or laws, and enforce compliance in some way.  When people break the rules or laws of the system, some form of shame, guilt, or exclusion from the group is applied.

Legalism of Actions

Many religious systems will have a written or unwritten list of actions you must do, and others you must avoid.  Some actions increase your inclusion with the group, other actions will bring on you some level of shame, guilt, and exclusion.

Examples of external action rules can be around

• what food, beverages, or other substances to consume
• what words should be spoken, and what words should not be spoken
• where to be on certain days and where not to be on other days
• where, how, and frequency of prayer
• what to read, and what not to read
• where to give and how much money to give
• sexuality
• what clothing to wear
• music
• entertainment

Legalism of Thought

Religious systems will also have a set way of thinking. The leaders of the system will promote certain schools of thought. There will be some common beliefs that hold the group together.  Questioning these beliefs publicly will bring some level of accusations, conflict, and exclusion.

I won't try to create a list of examples for this.  The list would be too long. Different religions and their leaders have compiled enormous  lists of things they believe. Beliefs around who God is, what He has done, what our response should be, authority of certain books, authority of certain people, and what the future will hold for different sets of people.  Included in this list would also be questioning any of the action rules listed above. Publicly re-thinking any of external rules in some cases may be considered worse than simply breaking the rules.

Degrees of Legalism

I think the degrees of legalism can be measured by the severity of response by those ruling the religious system.  Throughout history there have been different responses by those in power.

When we study church history we note when religious leaders have also held enough political power, many people who publicly broke the rules of acceptable thought were publicly executed.  In other cases breaking the rules resulted in public shunning. In other cases more grace and compassion may be applied when the rules of action or though are broken.

I find it interesting to note that some of the harshest religious suppressions in history were around legalism of though more than around legalism of actions.  I think religious leaders have killed more people for differences in beliefs than they have for differences in behaviors.

Some Scripture to Consider

In Jesus' day the Pharasees, Sadducees, and other teachers of the law played a role in the legalism that Jesus frequently opposed.  The religious leaders succeeded in having Jesus killed, thinking this would be the best way to preserve their legalistic system. However we believe Jesus came out victorious.

In Mark 7:1-16 we see that some of Jesus' disciples broke the rules regarding how to wash your hands before eating.  The Pharasees and teachers of the law question Jesus about this, and Jesus goes on a lengthy rant related to their legalism.

In Mark 2:23-27 we see Jesus' disciples  picking and eating some grain on the Sabbath. This story again highlights the difference between the way of legalism and the way of Jesus.

Romans 7:6  (NET)

"But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code."

Galatians 4:5 (NET)

to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights.

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 (NET)

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

2 Corinthians 3:6 (NET)

who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:17 (NET)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.

Luke 6:37-38 (NET)

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive.”

(Similar in Matthew 7:1-5)

1 Corinthians 4:4-5 (NET)

For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not acquitted because of this. The one who judges me is the Lord. So then, do not judge anything before the time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God.

I wanted to highlight that there are different types of legalism.  If we look at church history we see both types at play.  The degree of legalistic suppression can be viewed by the degree of authority a group of leaders has had over others, and the degree they feel responsible to be the judge and jury over those under them.

I am not suggesting that having rules is all bad. Jesus said he didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Having rules in society is good. It is also good to work towards correct thinking. There is just something we see in the example of the Pharisees we want to avoid.  I think it is clear we need to be careful when we assume the role of judge or jury.  I recognize this is as much of a challenge for myself as it is for others.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Related Posts:

• Judgemental Christians
• What Creed Must I believe - Part 6
• End Of Religion