"Who Are We?"

“Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge…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. “Any one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things." Romans 2:2.

The Bible speaks loudly about the attitude of judging and speaking about the actions of others. The Greek term translated ‘slander’ in the NIV also means ‘criticize’ (HCSB) and ‘speak against’ (NASB). To judge anyone, no matter what has been done, is a matter of the heart and to speak it takes judgment to the next level of slander. The very moment we judge, we become guilty of breaking it ourselves. ‘For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.’ James 2:9.

Even Jesus was held up to this law with the expectation of living without judgment over others. ‘For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’ John 3:17. So who are we to sit on that throne and lift or lower the king’s scepter for acceptance or refusal? Christ is the only one who earned the seat to the right of God. The life of Christ was all about ‘doing the work of his Father,’ not playing jury, judge and executioner. He left that up to the Judge who knows all truth. ‘We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on truth.’ Romans 2:2. God is not only an eye witness to everything that is done but He is a heart witness and knows the motivation behind why it is done.

Bottom line is that when we criticize, speak against and/or judge others we place ourselves at the mercy of the court for we have become guilty of the very thing for which we judge. It seems that this is one of those impossible laws to keep and, at first glance, could discourage our walk with God. The opposite is true as the point is to increase our awareness of our own flaws and tendency to sin as we deal with the flaws of others. ‘The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment.’ 1 Co. 2:15 (NIV). This translates in the life of the believer that as long as we judge the things people are doing and not the people we will not be judged. We have all heard the statement ‘Hate the sin and not the sinner’ which is a present way of echoing the passage from 1 Corinthians.