All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Correcting one another, is it scriptural? Are we called to Judge?
20 YEARS AGO THE MOST KNOWN VERSE BY THE WORLD WAS JOHN 3:16
John 3:16 (New International Version)
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,a]'>[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
However that has not been the case for a long time now. The text unbelievers and believers alike are extremely familiar with today is found in:
Matthew 7
Judging Others
1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 6"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
What do you think is the biblical stance, are we to judge or not?
Why do we have such a hard time correcting one another, doing the work of reconciliation?
What is Matthew 7 really teaching?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on
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Robert,
Excellent point. We must exercise mercy, grace, compassion, forgiveness and always be looking to restore the individual.
Jesus was exercising mercy, grace and compassion with the woman caught in adultery and teaching a valuable lesson. Jesus may have been moved to speak as he did by the haughty way the Pharisees had of judging people. In Matthew 5:20 through 7:6, Jesus warns his disciples against following the traditions and practices of the Pharisees, who judged others as if they themselves were beyond judgment. What's more, they judged people by the letter, not the spirit, of the law. Context is extremely important and key to clearly understand the teaching being presented. Jesus decided to show the crowd his authority to forgive sins and his compassion for the lost.
The scriptures you presented are beautiful, but show one side of how Jesus judges. Jesus judging a situation in a different manner:
Matthew 21:13
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God[f] and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’[g] but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”[h]
Jesus is our final Judge and has the capacity to forgive sins, we are not the final judge of situations and much less of people, nor do we have the capacity to forgive sins. We do not know the motives of the hearts of people, so we must be compassionate with each other.
Be blessed and a blessing
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Permalink Reply by RoyW on
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All,
It is kind of nice to know that we are all in the same boat. Those who feel they have overcome sin and are available as the superior person in the correction of others do come across as the Pharisees. Those who understand human nature and that all of us are subject to failure are better suited to teach and correct. They do not have the superior feeling but have the sense of not casting stones. We should all become subject one to another. The person who corrects must understand he is as guilty or more so as the one he is correcting. Our function is to restore one another to a complete understanding of who we are in Christ.
Roy
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Permalink Reply by Denise on
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Also, will it not seem as though you are judging one when you are pointing out their mistakes/sins and trying to teach correction, especially in a rebellious person?
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Hello Denise,
What I do when God is tugging at my heart to approach a brother about sin, wrong doctrine or character flaws is confirm that it truly is the Lord asking me to do so. I know is Him when the tugging won't go away. I have learned to listen to Him about this issue, because when I don't I get convicted by the Spirit for not obeying him and have to repent.
When, why and how to correct anyone are essentials to do it right.
The first thing I can tell you is that God has never tugged at my heart to correct someone if I am not walking in holiness myself. Not perfection, but I am not in any habitual sin. Only when my relationship is right with him does He use me in such capacity.
Once I examine my own walk and I have confirmed that it is God who wants me to approach the individual then I ask for the discernment and leading of the Spirit as to:
When to do it - This is very important, there is a time for everything and we must do it in the appropriate time. We have to be careful not to be inappropriate or to allow the God appointments to slip by.
Why do I want to approach this person - I examine myself to make sure my motives are Godly and not birth of the flesh.
How to correct them - This is usually determine by God working through me at the time of the encounter and by keeping in mind the maturity in Christ of the person. If I am going to approach a new convert rather than a mature one then I treat them accordingly.
The goal should always be to restore the person, to edify them and reconciliation.
Hope that helps.
Sister Cala posted this on the first page of this discussion:
If a brother or sister sins we are to confront them as instructed in Matthew 18:15-17
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’b 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
The way we judge is not to condemn, but rather, when someone professes to 'believe' in Jesus and they have gone off the straight path, we are to show them scripture to lovingly correct them and bring them back...We are to let God's Word speak, not our own. They need to be reminded of their profession of faith, and we need to allow for Holy Spirit conviction.
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Permalink Reply by forgiven on
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Hebrews 8:10-12 (King James Version)
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
This is quoted in Hebrews from Jeremiah. I think it is an important promise of the Kingdom. It just shows that we still have a lot of work to do.
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Maybe we all need to just shut up with all our telling people what the truth is and just start living it. That would certainly be a fullfillment of this prophecy. I think everybody 'knows' the truth anyway. We all just think we have to argue about it. But then...we have to have 'something' to talk about. I guess we could just Praise God and give Him Glory and encourage others to do the same. But then how would anybody learn the truth? Ha Ha. What 'other' truth is there?
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Jeremiah 31:33-35 (King James Version)
33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people
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Oh I talk to myself all the time. I get amazing answers too. Bless you sister
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Robert -
I understand what you are saying, but is half the message. You must balance your message.
You think a lot of things Robert. You also contradict yourself. You are saying to shut up and do the opposite. Here you are saying your piece of mind. You have actually used scripture to contradict scripture according to your interpretation.
All the apostles would be wrong then.
Paul Opposes Peter
Galatians 2
11When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
Titus 1
9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. 10For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 11They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
1 Timothy 1:20
of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
I can put an impressive list here of such verses -Instructions for us to follow! We need a balance message, not a one sided one.
Blessings.
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You are both right. I pray God continues to speak to us all and lead us into His Kingdom. If you hear His voice you certainly do not need my opinion. That is exactly my point.
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Hey Rob,
Your point is well taken and very valid. God speaks through His people as He speaks through you - that is exactly my point. I appreciate the exchages. We know that many claim to speak for God, but teach nonsense. There is a need for the people of God to be well equipped in all areas concerning Godliness.
I am actually learning from you and thank you for bearing with my comments. This is not about winning arguments my brother. Is about the commandments of our Lord. I really hope you do not think I am after offending you in any way
You bring up excellent points. I enjoy reading your inpute about the subjects.
Blessings beloved
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