5 Teachings From Jesus Everyone Gets Wrong

Matthew 7:1-5

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Matthew 7:1-5

People often take this verse to mean that Jesus says not to judge. This is usually in the context of someone committing some wrongdoing, and the person responding with “Who am I to judge?” We’re all sinners and God calls us to judge not, right? Not quite. Contrary to popular belief, Matthew 7:1-5 is not a prohibition against all judgment. These verses are a warning against hypocritical judgment, not judgment in itself. Jesus is saying we can’t judge others when we are guilty of the same sin. What people fail to realize is when they interoperate this verse in this way, they are declaring a judgment on the person who they are claiming is being judgmental. If you dive further into the passage, Matthew is not forbidding judgment but hypocrisy. This is why the context is so important. You have to read the surrounding text to understand the verse. What Jesus is doing in this full passage is passing judgment on those who improperly judge. We know from continuing to read the verses that we will all be judged by the same measure that we use. If we can’t apply this standard to our own lives, we can’t apply this standard to others.