I.C.M. - SW MN WordAlone

So Who’s Being Judgmental?

Norman Olsen

If you state that homo-erotic behavior is sinful behavior; that is, contrary to God's immutable and loving purpose for us, you risk being labeled by some as "judgmental" and cautioned that Jesus said, “Do not judge…” Ironically, those who tell you this are doing the very thing that they are condemning you for doing; namely, they are judging you as being “judgmental”!

But is it true? Are you really being “judgmental”? Is this what Jesus said?

Scripture uses two words both of which are translated from the original Greek into English as “to judge.” Hence, the confusion. The one word, krino (κρίνω), simply means to make a decision, to decide, to appraise, to judge between right/wrong, good/bad, true/false, kind/unkind, legal/illegal, etc. The other word, katakrino (κατακρινω) almost always means to condemn. Sometimes both words are used in one sentence showing the clear distinction between them as in Matthew 12:41.

When hearing “You should not judge…” we mistakenly think "judge" means "condemn" as in katakrino (κατακρινω). We know we are not to condemn others for we also are sinful and judgment is solely God's prerogative. And so we are silenced.

But when Jesus said, “Do not judge,” the Greek word used, in Matthew 7:1ff, is krino (κρίνω). And obviously He didn't mean we must refrain from making judgments, decisions, and appraisals. That would not only be impossible, but wrong. In politics, education, morality, etc., making judgments is what it's all about. Or again, are we to refrain from “judging” in the face of flagrant wrong, injustice, cruelty, lies, immorality, and sin? Jesus never intended his words to forbid true judgment. In fact He taught that it is our duty as disciples to discern, to decide, to appraise what is hypocrisy, godless, loveless, and faithless, etc.

In this particular, oft misquoted, verse from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about a censorious spirit that accuses and condemns others, while being blind to one's own faults (wanting to take the speck out of another's eye while having a log in one's own). This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “Judge not!”

By all means make your case, discern the issue; but not in a way that is only accusatory and condemnatory of other's sins and blind to your own.

To say that homo-erotic acts are sinful because that’s what Scripture teaches is the right kind of "judging", deciding, discerning, and appraising. But telling a brother or sister in the Lord that he or she is “being judgmental” is the wrong kind of “judging” because it is accusatory and condemnatory. Now isn't that ironical?

Pastor Norman Olsen is a retired pastor who served 35 years at various parish settings in the SW MN Synod, including 14 months as a part-time minister on the synod staff.