Holy Boldness

take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

Context of Jesus’ warning

First, we need to understand what Jesus means by the word judg ment in this context. In Jesus’ day, there was a fiercely critical environ ment in Jerusalem partially derived from the fact that the nation of Israel had experienced such devastating punishments from the Lord that were administered by the surrounding nations as a result of their not obeying the law of God. Out of hundreds of years of humiliating circumstances, a strict standard of adherence to the law emerged that was promoted by a sect of religious leaders called the Scribes and the Pharisees. There was an intense fear that if the Jews did not conform to the standard of the law, the same pattern of judgment would continue. Therefore, a religious cli mate of strict observance to the law took shape in and around Jerusalem. But Jesus took issue with the prevailing spirit of judgmentalism which had come to dominate the religious culture of Israel. He challenged the judgmental atmosphere with these words. In this passage about the nature of judgment, Jesus draws atten tion to the spiritual dynamics that get triggered when someone enters into judgment against someone else. “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” is a fair warning that judgment is never a one-way process . Scrutiny of another brings an evaluation of oneself. It’s inevitable. Furthermore, the standard of righteousness a person sets for others will be measured back against them. Jesus did not prohibit judgment; He only warned against the consequences of premature judgment. Hyper legalistic cultures make the truth difficult to ascertain. People who rush to judgment are prone to false conclusions based on circumstantial evidence. They are quick to judge by outward appearances and first impressions. They are inclined to believe hearsay rather than investigate. Worst of all, they typically are completely unaware of their own blatant transgressions. The Spiritual Dynamics of Judgement

Steps to Righteous Judgment

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