Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[d] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
James 4:11-12
The last sentence makes this paragraph come to life for at first it might seem like James is headed in a different direction. He isn’t speaking so much of slander and arguing here, he is speaking about judging others. Interesting isn’t it, that this comes where it does as the end of the whole passage, a passage that began talking about how we fight with one another.
Yes, that’s right, we started with fighting and quarrels and finish with an admonition not to judge…
In our day, many people like to complain about being “judged.” “Don’t you judge me!” they yell, while judging the other person a bigot of some sort. Very frequently, this is teamed up with another word: “tolerant” or more to the point, “intolerant.” So we hear over and over that we must not judge therefore we must be tolerant of everything. Is James going politically correct on us?
Not a chance!
The contemporary politically correct view on ‘judging’ and ‘tolerance’ is entirely an earthly view, and what has James told us about such things just a few short verses back? James is not writing this letter to the non-Christian world, he has directed it to Christians who are supposed to know better. When he tells us not to judge others, he doesn’t imply that any one of us who is doing wrong can turn the tables to justify wrong doing. Instead, he is telling us that we need to respect God’s authority to judge.
For me to judge one of my brothers or sisters in Christ means that I have taken upon myself the authority to pass condemnation upon the other person, and that is a direct affront to God, who reserves all such decisions for Himself. Thus, when we heap condemnation on one another, we are the ones in the wrong.
Suppose I see a brother who is engaged in sin, do I help him by calling him names or saying bad things behind his back? How can that possibly restore him in his relationship with God or with others? If, on the hand, I have invested time and effort into having a relationship of mutual trust and respect between us, I may be able to help him see his error and gently guide him back to where he should be… and perhaps in the future he will help me out when I am adrift: This is love in action. If I don’t have that kind of relationship with him, I can probably find out who does… See the difference?
Take just a moment to consider the implications of this; go back and read the text from 4:1 and ask yourself why James put this last, where the “bottom line” is usually found. Who am I to judge my neighbor? All of those quarrels, being a friend of this world, not having prayer answered, grief and mourning… and they end up with who am I to judge others?
What is God telling you in these verses?
Life Project Blog 
Good thoughts about that passage.
Thanks Lee!
I remember a conversation with LM a while back. We have the DNA of judging. If we are not meant to use why were we given it? Same seems true here:
We have all the tools to see/hear/sense another’s need/strength/weakness so we dovetail ourselves to that. Just as Jesus did and God does with each of us if we allow. And yet we use these fine gifts to judge/hurt/blame – ourselves and others.
God doesn’t count like we count. That’s why it’s all counter intuitive.
Thank you Don. Really appreciate these “grounding” blogs.
“DNA” for judging… interesting metaphor. To the extent that there is such a thing, i wonder; does it come from God, or did we pick up a mutation when we partook of the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil”? Seems more like our lives “according to the flesh” than our lives b”by the Spirit” Judging others is the way of this world for sure, and this I suppose is one of those things that struggles within our minds that James was talking about a little ways back. Nope, God doesn’t count like we do! (I’m not sure if I’m making sense here!)
But you and I Paul, we will just keep fighting the good fight and see where God leads us!
Perfect sense! Thank you. And a interesting thought from Bette – “good judgement.” Which immediately makes me head go: and who judges whether a judgement is good or bad?
The “senses of discernment” seem to me to be the qualities resulting in either judgement or discernment. When it comes to God – we discern (and a lot of the time judge). When it comes to our brothers and sisters we seem simply judge or “judge that we are not judging” – and pat ourselves on the back for judging that we are not judging.
Like a dog is not just for Christmas, discernment is not just for God.
Discern 360. It’s the new “love God and your neighbour as yourself” Maybe.
(am I making any sense?) 🙂
If I discern that your motives are evil, then I shouldn’t judge you for it, but I should use good judgment and stay out of harm’s way. They are related, but quite different, and that’s how I judge the situation! 🙂
Who am I to judge? 🙂
Exactly
Reblogged this on A Christian Warrior and commented:
A wonderful blog.
So true as well.
Good article, Don, but there’s more to this subject… the Greek root word for judge in this passage is “krino,” simply meaning to form an opinion or come to a decision. “Doubt” can also come from that root word. It is also translated discern, as in having the senses exercised to discern good and evil (Heb. 5:14), and in discerning of spirits (gift of the Holy Spirit, I Cor. 12:10). Having good judgment is a good thing, when it’s based on a relationship with the indwelling Spirit of God. Jesus said not to judge by appearances, but to judge righteous judgments (Matt. 7:1 and John 7:24).
Very true Bette, we are to used good judgment always while not passing judgment on anyone
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I’ve seen people struggle with the idea of judgment. They did not know how to handle it. We can be so quick to stand in judgment of another. To me, it seems as though they have no underotanding concerning grace, mercy and compassion. While the brother/sister is down, it seems as though they stomp on them even more. Judging another? Who are we to judge unless we unveil ourselves to be judged.
Amen!
Hmm is God saying even when we see people doing these ‘worldly’ things, complaining and everything, even then we shouldn’t judge them but let God do the judging. And just continue loving?
Loving, encouraging, guiding, mentoring, teaching… not judging
I see, thank you! ^^
This is great, Don. I do struggle with finding the balance. Aren’t we told to go to our brothers and sisters in love when they are in sin? Yet we are not to sit in judgement. It can be a fine line sometimes, or maybe it only seems so because I agonize over my own motives when a friend is living in an obviously sinful manner.
I once tried to gently (very gently) guide a close friend to the Word regarding sexual sin she was blatantly living in. I was accused of being judgmental and a horrible friend. How do we react when a brother or sister proclaims the name of the Lord while living in blatant sin? Sigh.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this in light of 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. I honestly have struggled with this passage and my friend.
Rebeca, that is a really tough one! The answer to your question here could easily be a series of posts, and even then there would be comments suggesting that there’s a better way than my own… My short answer is to point out that when someone reacts that way, they are not telling you that you are judgmental, they are telling you that they know you’re right and that they are going to do it anyway. I’ve has some luck with an old politician’s trick which is, in the course of general conversation about nothing in particular, to work the conversation into a similar subject relating to another person, or a hypothetical person, and then gently to apply Scriptural application that the person agrees with, and let them come to realize that the application they just agreed with applies to their situation while I act as though I don’t even know about it. This is kind of related to the way Jesus taught with parables. Some of the time, the person “gets it” and other times, they become judgmental about the other person and act like they are clueless as to the implications for themselves. If they get hostile about the “other” person, that tells you that they got your drift. That doesn’t mean they will change anything, however. They might, they might not.
I hope that might give you an idea!
Thank you, Don, for your thoughtful response to my question. I had never thought to take a more oblique approach. I like it. It reminds me of the prophet Nathan confronting David about his sin with Bathsheba. Very effective.
I do know that my friend lashing out was in response to the conviction she was surely feeling from my pointed questions. As a Christ-follower, we cannot comfortably settle into our sin–I know this all too well. It’s difficult to not take her anger personally though when I honestly approached it in love and humility.
Again, thank you for taking the time to respond. I am enjoying the wisdom here on your blog very much. Blessings on your week!
Thank you. It isn’t always easy to follow Jesus, but it is always worth the effort.
Excellent post Don, and I like the strategy you explained to Rebeca! It is ever so difficult to point out to friends what they ‘should’ be doing, in fact impossible so I think praying the Lord to remove this mountain is the only solution! Glad I found your blog!
Thank you so much; I appreciate that!