"Judge
with Right Judgment"
The
Hebrew name Jehoshaphat
means "Jehovah has judged."
This is not you
or me judging but rather simply acknowledging that "This is what
God says." If God says in the Bible that something is wrong, and
a church or certain individual does something contrary to what the
Bible says, we are not judging them, but rather it is the Word of God
that judges. This is what it means when the Bible says, "Judge
with right judgment"
(John 7:24). Judging with right judgment means judging with God's
judgment, not with our own.
Anakrino - To Discern
The
Greek word for "judge" is krino.
If you put the prefix ana
in front of the word krino,
you get a variation on the idea of judging, which is "to
discern."
"But
he who is spiritual judges [anakrino] all things, yet he himself is
judged [anakrino] by no man."
(I Corinthians 2:15).
God,
in His Word, commands us to anakrino (discern). It is not a
privilege, a right, or simply something that is advisable; but it is
a commandment. We are commanded to anakrino, and if you do not
discern, it will cause you to lack wisdom. Those who practice wisdom
cannot be judged by anyone. Why? Because they anakrino (discern) in
accordance with I Corinthians 2:15.
Diakrino - To Decide
"I
say this to your shame. It is so, that there is not among you one
wise man who will be able to decide [diakrino] between his brethren?"
(I Corinthians 6:5).
Another
prefix which changes the meaning of krino is "dia."
Diakrino means to "render a decision" as to whether
something is right or wrong. Is someone's behavior morally right or
wrong? Is it scriptural or unscriptural? Is it of God, of the flesh,
or of the devil? The Holy Spirit speaking through Paul commanded us
to diakrino. We are not permitted or privileged to diakrino, but we
are commanded to diakrino. It is not that judging is acceptable.
Rather, to fail to judge is unacceptable.
Kritikos
- To Discern Between Soul and Spirit
"For
the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged
sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of
both joints and marrow, and able to judge [kritikos] the thoughts and
intentions of the heart"
(Hebrews 4:12).
Cells
called erythrocytes are stored in the red marrow of big bones, like
the femur and the tibia. On the outside there is the bone and on the
inside there is the marrow. But in between there is, figuratively
speaking, a gray area; a place where even with the aid of a
microscope, it is difficult to tell where exactly the bone ends and
where the marrow begins.
The Bible says that the relationship
between soul and spirit is like that. Take prophecy for example. Was
that from someone's imagination or was it God's Spirit speaking
through their spirit? It is very difficult to tell the difference.
Man is a three-dimensional being. You can separate a body from a
soul; but you cannot easily tell where the soul ends and the spirit
begins.
When people say, "The Lord showed me this"
and "God told me that," it is difficult to know if it is
someone's imagination or God's Spirit speaking to their spirit. The
mind is a good servant, but a dangerous master. There are people out
there who are prophesying with their own mind, so discern prophecies
carefully by drawing from the Word of God.
We are called to
kritikos (to discern between the soulish and the spiritual). The Word
of God enables us to separate the bone from the marrow, the spiritual
from the purely soulish.
Krisis - Heaven or Hell
"But
why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy
brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ"
(Romans 14:10).
There
is a kind of judging that we are not called to do. The Greek word is
krisis. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has
given all judgment [krisis] to the Son (John 5:22). The ultimate
determination of heaven and hell belongs solely to the Lord Jesus
Christ (The Word). We never krisis and are strictly forbidden to do
so.
Krites - The Judge of All
We must remember that
God is the ultimate Judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25; Isaiah
33:22; James 4:12), and Jesus, being the Son of God, functions as
Judge as well (John 8:16; James 5:9; I Peter 4:5).
"To
the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God the Judge [krites] of all, and to the spirits
of just men made perfect,"
(Hebrews 12:23).
In
addition, we as Christians are forbidden to judge others when human
judgment infringes on God's perogative as Judge.
"Who
art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he
standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to
make him stand"
(Romans 14:4).
"Therefore
judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest
the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of
God"
(I Corinthians 4:5).
"Speak
not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and
judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of
the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and
to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?"
(James 4:11-2).
Hupo-Krites - Pharisees
Christians
are forbidden to judge others when such judgment entails intolerance
of another's sin coupled with blindness of one's own sin (Matthew
7:1-6; Luke 6:37; John 8:7; Romans 2:1-4)
If we are going to
stand up and confront other people in the church about something
being wrong, we had better make sure we are not guilty of the same
thing.
Here the prefix hupo
is added to krites,
giving us the English word hypocrites.
This is what Jesus meant when He said:
"Judge
not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall
be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt
thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye;
and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast
out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to
cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is
holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest
they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."
(Matthew 7:1-6).
"Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for
wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that
judgest doest the same things"
(Romans 2:1).
Does
Jesus want us to close our eyes to evil and error? Absolutely not!
Those would all be misapplications of Jesus' teaching. In the first
place, He was not commanding blind acceptance but rather grace toward
others. Since all of us deal with flesh patterns from time to time,
we need to stop bothering with the failing of others and start
attending to serious issues of our own. We are sometimes appointed to
krites, but we should never, ever hupo-krites.
Christians in
Court?
Although God is the Judge of all, He has appointed
people under Him to judge. The Bible encourages Christians to judge
[krites] what is right for themselves and thus avoid pagan lawcourts.
"Yea,
and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? Luke 12:58
When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art
in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him;
lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. Luke 12:59 I tell
thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last
mite"
(Luke 12:57-59).
"Dare
any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the
unjust, and not before the saints? If then ye have judgments of
things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least
esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there
is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge
between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that
before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among
you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take
wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?"
(I Corinthians 6:1,4-7).
Scripture
is explicit: taking another Christian to court is an "utter
failure." What, then, should we as believers do when we have
disputes that normally call for litigation? Paul recommends that we
take the matter before wise believers who can make a judgment (I
Corinthians 5:3-5; I Corinthians 6:4-5). But suppose we can't arrange
that? Then Paul says it would be better to "accept wrong"
than to go before unbelievers for judgment. Why? Well, because the
court system doesn't base their decisions on what the Bible says but
rather opinion. Remember, the Bible tells us that "judgment
must begin at the house of God"
(I Peter 4:17).
Moreover
if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault
between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained
thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or
two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may
be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto
the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto
thee as a heathen man and a publican" (Matthew 18:15-17).
Judging
Fruit
The Bible tells us that we are called to judge reputed
prophets by their fruits:
"Ye
shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or
figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit;
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
(Matthew 7:16-20).
Remember,
Jesus said you would know people and be able to judge them by their
fruit; He never said you would know a "phenomenon" such as
a revival by its fruit.
Judging Prophecy
We are
commanded in the Bible to judge prophecy. Look what Paul wrote to the
church at Corinth:
"And
let two or three prophets speak, and let the others [diakrino] pass
judgment" (I Corinthians 14:29).
"But
the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I
have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of
other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine
heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow
not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not
spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not
be afraid of him"
(Deuteronomy 18:20-22).
Jesus
warned that there would be many false prophets in the last days.
Besides judging their fruit, how can we discern whether or not a
prophet is false? Well, according to the passage above, if a prophecy
does not come to pass, then the prophet is a false prophet. Although
false prophets are not stoned today, their "ministries"
definately should be.
I Corinthians 14:29 does not say that
we are entitled to diakrino prophets or prophecies, but rather we are
commanded to judge prophecies and prophets. Now, remember, we cannot
krino (judge) anyone. The thing that God has said will krino [judge].
We have to anakrino (discern); are things of God, man, or of the
devil? We must diakrino (render a decision) based on whether
something is morally right or wrong by biblical standards.
Jesus
said, "If
you love me, keep my commandments."
If you fail to diakrino, you are failing to keep His commandments. If
you fail to diakrino, you will allow these false prophets to keep on
giving people "words" from their own flesh or from Satan.
People like that should be brought to account and exposed.
Judging
Righteously
"Then
I charged your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between
your fellow countrymen, and judge righteously between a man and his
fellow countrymen, or the alien who is with him"
(Deuteronomy 1:16).
Beloved,
this was not advice but rather a command. We are to "Judge
with right judgment"
(John 7:24).
Conclusion
In today's society, nobody
seems to take responsibility for their own actions anymore. How can
we expect society to live up to God's standards, when the Church will
not even live up to God's standards?
The Church must set the
example. We must be salt and light to a society that has turned its
back on God. Unsaved people are watching the Church, when they see
the church as lukewarm, it gives them a license to sin. We as
individuals must take responsibility for our own lives and our own
choices. It is up to the Church to righteously judge according to the
Word to ensure that Jesus will have a pure Bride (a Church without
blemish or spot) when He returns.
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