What Did Jesus Mean When He Said, "judge Not, That You Be Not Judged"?
1) Direct Answer
Jesus forbade a harsh, condemning, hypocritical spirit that sets oneself up as the final judge. He called us to judge ourselves first, then help our brother in meekness by the Word. He did not forbid righteous judgment; He forbade self-righteous condemnation.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Matthew 7:1-5: “Judge not… for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.” Then He says, “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.” Now notice, He didn’t say leave the mote there; He said get yourself right first, then you can see clearly to help.
- Luke 6:37-38: “Judge not… condemn not… forgive… for with the same measure… it shall be measured to you again.” The issue is the measure and the spirit.
- John 7:24: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” You see, Jesus Himself commands judgment—righteous judgment—according to truth, not appearances.
- Matthew 7:15-20: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Recognizing fruit requires discernment.
- 1 Corinthians 5:1-13: Open sin in the church must be judged inside, not ignored. “Do not ye judge them that are within?” The Word is the standard, and the goal is purity and restoration.
- Galatians 6:1: “If a man be overtaken in a fault… restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself.” That’s judgment with mercy and humility.
- Romans 14:4,13: Don’t set yourself as judge over doubtful matters; don’t put stumbling blocks. God is the Master of His servant.
- James 4:11-12: There is one Lawgiver and Judge. We don’t usurp God’s throne.
- 1 Corinthians 11:31: “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” Self-judgment comes first.
- Matthew 18:15-17: Private correction, then witnesses, then the church. That is righteous, ordered judgment for the purpose of winning a brother.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- If “judge not” meant never make any judgment, you could not obey “by their fruits ye shall know them,” nor protect the flock, nor correct error. So Jesus is not banning discernment; He is banning hypocrisy and condemnation.
- The standard we use will be used on us. If we deal in mercy and truth, we will meet mercy and truth. If we deal in hard, fleshly criticism, we invite the same on ourselves.
- We never pronounce the final sentence on a soul—that belongs to God. But we do discern doctrine, conduct, and fruit by the Scripture for restoration and protection.
- Start at the mirror. Clean the beam out first. Then, with meekness, help remove the mote. The Word is the measure; love is the motive; restoration is the aim.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Judge yourself by the Word, walk in mercy and truth, and when judgment is required, let it be righteous—Scripture-based, Spirit-led, humble, and aimed at redemption, not destruction.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
A Greater than Solomon is here
61-0515 §7
Now, there's gifts of prophesy in the church, but there's a lot of difference between gifts of prophecy and a prophet, see. A gift of prophecy has to stand before three judges and be judged before it could even be given to the church, whether it's right. It could be on this woman tonight, and never come again the rest of her life. Might be on this woman the next night, and that man the next night. See, it's local gifts in the body. But prophecy is a office---a prophet---that's from birth, see. Comes from birth. Jer...
God is identified by His characteristics
64-0311 §6
Now remember, if I should ask tonight, "Is there a Catholic here?" "Yes," they'd say. And perhaps... "Well, what will God judge the world by?" They'd say, "The Catholic church." Then I'd say back, "What Catholic church?" They disagree. There's plenty of disagreements. One's a Roman, and the other one's a Greek, and the Orthodox, so forth. We have plenty. If I'd say... The Methodist would raise up, say, "He'll judge it by the Methodist church." Well, if that's so, then the Baptist has not a chance. And if they judge...
We would see Jesus
62-0627 §29
So then, I thought, "Well, what did He first put judgment on people by? Why did He give them...?" That was in ... you'll have to go back to Genesis. Genesis is the seed chapter, which means "beginning." And the first thing that God put before man was obey his Word. And just one little slip---not a whole great big chapter, but just misconstruing the Word, just twisting it a little bit (Satan did) by reasoning, and it caused the whole... Every heartache that ever was, every sickness, every death, every little sick ba...
Be not afraid, it is I
61-0414 §37
Walked up then, and they got into the presence of the Lord Jesus, and Jesus looked around and seen him. He said, "Behold an Israelite in whom there's no guile." Now you say because he was dressed... No, all Easterners dress the same. They have beards, turbans, dark-complected. Said, "Behold an Israelite in whom there's no guile." He said, "Rabbi [rabbi means teacher], when did You ever see me? I'm a total stranger to you. When did You ever see me?" He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree [f...
Israel and the Church: Israel at Kadesh-Barnea
53-0328 §81
Oh, let me get that little thing there before we get into tomorrow night's service. The Brass Serpent. As the smitten Rock last night, as we ended up on the smitten Rock; the Brass Serpent was Jesus Christ. You say, "A Serpent?" "Yes." The serpent represented "sin already judged." God judged the serpent in the Garden of Eden, in the 3rd chapter of Genesis, and the 14th verse. God already passed judgment upon the serpent. Oh, he was beautiful, and walked upright; he was the most subtle of all the beasts of the field...