What is the difference?
With judging you are condescending and acting like you have it all together while pointing the finger at someone else. That is wrong of course. Jesus said "Take the log out of your own eye before you try to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Often times people do this because they actually want to forget about their own sin, so they focus on your sin instead of their own. That is what the Bible is talking about when it says "judge not lest you be judged. For you do the very things that you judge others for...." If we are being a hypocrite in our judging, and doing what we are telling others not to do, that is what the Bible says we are to never do. That kind of judging is never ok.
But sometimes we do need to remind each other of what the Bible says, when the Bible is clear that something is wrong, because we tend to forget, or we never heard it in the first place.
Here is one of my favorite verses, what Paul said to Timothy before he died, "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction."
So sometimes Christians are supposed to correct and rebuke others. This could be applied just to pastors, but since pastors now aren't directly involved with their members for the most part, which is sad, we kind of have to pastor each other. And in order to correct and rebuke another one would have to judge.
And lastly this passage is the clearest example of when "judging" is ok in the church:
1 Cor. 5:1-12
"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.
2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?
3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.....
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
So Paul is saying we are not supposed to judge those who aren't saved, because as the Bible says, they are slaves to sin and in a sense cannot help it. But for those who are saved, we are supposed to call them out on things.
God calls us to be accountable to what we know, or to what we should know. For those who consider themselves saved, God expects us to act like we are. Paul says many times, "Walk in a manner worthy of your calling." None of us are perfect, but we can try to do the best that we can do. We can try our best to follow what the Bible says we are to not do, and what we are to do. Amen.
May God bless you all!
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