Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matt. 7:1)
These words of Christ do not contain an absolute prohibition
from judging, but are intended to cure a disease, which appears to be
natural to us all.
We see how all flatter themselves, and every man passes a
severe censure on others. This vice is attended by some strange enjoyment: for
there is hardly any person who is not tickled with the desire of inquiring into
other people’s faults. All acknowledge, indeed, that it is an intolerable evil,
that those who overlook their own vices are so inveterate against their
brethren.
The Heathens, too, in ancient times, condemned it in many
proverbs. Yet it has existed in all ages, and exists, too, in the present day.
Nay, it is accompanied by another and a worse plague: for the greater part of
men think that, when they condemn others, they acquire a greater liberty of
sinning.
This depraved eagerness for biting, censuring, and
slandering, is restrained by Christ, when he says, Judge not. It
is not necessary that believers should become blind, and perceive nothing, but
only that they should refrain from an undue eagerness to judge: for
otherwise the proper bounds of rigor will be exceeded by every man who desires
to pass sentence on his brethren.
To judge, therefore, means here, to be influenced by
curiosity in inquiring into the actions of others. This disease, in the first
place, draws continually along with it the injustice of condemning any trivial
fault, as if it had been a very heinous crime; and next breaks out into the
insolent presumption of looking disdainfully at every action, and passing an
unfavourable judgment on it, even when it might be viewed in a good light. (Commentaries)
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