October 2026: Judge Your Judgment

Published on 10/01/2026 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

What is one thing we must strive for?

Righteousness. Yahweh wants His people to be righteous, which is one of His own core traits. Righteousness is a requirement for His coming Kingdom. Anyone who wants to enter His Kingdom must be righteous. In view of its importance, Jesus taught his disciples what it means to be righteous.

The Bible speaks of two types of righteousness: a judicial standing (being right with God) and a moral quality that entails thinking, saying and doing what is right in God's sight. Though both forms of righteousness are prerequisites for Kingdom residency, it is the latter that Jesus focused on in his sermon on the mount and so it is what we'll focus on in this study.

Righteousness is foremost a heart or inner condition. Righteousness starts from within and then expresses itself outwardly through our words and deeds. A righteous inner condition involves the right attitude toward God and humanity and the proper motive for doing something right.

The religious hypocrites whom Jesus condemned did not have a righteous heart condition. They incorrectly viewed righteousness as merely an external expression. So long as they were doing all the right stuff, they were righteous, or so they assumed. They were showy, sounding off trumpets when they were giving alms to the poor. They stood in synagogues to pray long, beautiful prayers. They fasted often and made sure that people knew it by putting on a long face to show how "sacrificial" they were. They did all this in order to impress man. They wanted man's approval and compliments. That's what they indeed got, and no more. Their "righteousness" would not get God's approval, much less get them into His Kingdom. A showy righteousness is no righteousness.

True righteousness starts from the inside: a pure heart with an undivided devotion to Yahweh. The person with a pure heart loves God and seeks after His holiness and desires to please Him with their life. They focus on Him by doing good deeds that glorify Him rather than drawing attention to themselves. They do not announce their good deeds when doing them. They fast and no one can tell. They pray from their heart. They don't say many words just to manipulate God. Everything they do stems from the right motive: to glorify God rather than themselves. This is what genuine righteousness looks like. This is the righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. This is the righteousness that God loves.

In Matthew 7, Jesus continued the theme of true righteousness and what it involves. In Matthew 6, he described what attitude we should have toward God as righteous people. In the final part of his sermon, he focused on righteous interaction with our fellow humanity. He ended his sermon by laying down two roads from which all of us must individually choose for ourselves. As we study his words, carefully consider which road you'll take.

Thou Shall Indeed Judge

"Don't condemn, and you won't be condemned. " (Luke 6:37, WEB)

Jesus admonished his disciples, "Don't judge, so that you won't be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2)

This verse is one of the most misunderstood and misused verses in the Bible. Many people use this verse to censure others for judging them for wrongdoing. Is this verse telling us not to judge under any circumstances? No. In the Bible, "to judge" means:

a) To discern
b) To decide
c) To condemn
d) To avenge

Jesus here was telling us:

a) Not to condemn others. Since we are all sinners, absolutely no one has the right to condemn others. Regardless of what others have done, we can never condemn them or say, "They're going to hell." That kind of judgment lies in the hands of Yahweh God. Yahweh alone has the authority to condemn. If we condemn others, we ourselves will be condemned by God. The same kind of condemnation we dole out to others will be given to us in the same measure.

b) Not to avenge ourselves, for vengeance belongs to God alone as well

c) Not to judge others unfairly. We should not judge someone's actions when we do not have all the facts or evidence to support our judgment. We should not hastily draw conclusions when we don't know the motive of others. Someone's actions may look wrong but aren't really evil when they have no wicked intentions.

If we are unreasonably judgmental and behave unfairly toward others, then we ourselves will receive a harsh judgment from God. How we treat others will come back on our own heads to the same extent. If we "set free" others by delivering just judgment and showing mercy, we'll be shown mercy. But if we condemn, we'll be condemned, as Jesus said:

"Don't judge, and you won't be judged. Don't condemn, and you won't be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you." (Luke 6:37-38)

On the other hand, we are exhorted to exercise good judgments by discerning between right and wrong based on biblical precepts and principles and thorough investigations. The apostle Paul reprimanded the early Christians for letting the unrighteous judge their own matters for them. He reminded them that all of God's people will judge the world and even angels, so surely they could--and we can--judge matters between one another! (1 Corinthians 6:2-3)

Thus, if we see someone do wrong, we must judge their action and speak up. If we don't, we'd be guilty of silently approving their wrongdoing, as God said, "You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him." (Leviticus 19:17) Our judgment must always be fair, administered to everyone equally, regardless of their social status, race, age, background, and the like. And we must never, ever accept any bribe, for "a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous." (Deuteronomy 16:19)

Note what Yahweh God instructed His people regarding judging folks justly:

"Keep far from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked." (Exodus 23:7)

God does not justify the wicked, and neither should we, if we want to be the children of God. If someone is truly guilty of a crime, they should be punished appropriately. No attorney should defend a truly guilty criminal.

"You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits." (Exodus 23:6)

If the poor are in trouble, justice should be served to them. People should not ignore them or give them an unfair trial just because they are poor.

"neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause." (Exodus 23:3)

Conversely, we must not acquit a poor person of a crime out of sympathy when they are truly guilty or when they are lodging a false claim. In short, our judgment should be based on a person's motive and action, not on their financial status.

"You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice." (Exodus 23:2)

We are not to go with the crowd to support lies. If only one person out of one hundred people speaks the truth, we should side with that one person.

Hence, Jesus wasn't telling us to avoid making moral decisions or discerning between right and wrong or rebuking someone for sinning--far from it. We are to deliver justice on Earth, while leaving final judgment such as condemnation in the hands of the ultimate Judge, Yahweh God Almighty.

Cleansing Your Own Eye

Though we are to discern between right and wrong and rebuke or correct someone of their sin, we must do one thing before we judge others: we must first judge ourselves.

Consider carefully what Jesus said: "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don't consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5)

Is it fitting for us to rebuke someone for the speck in their eye (a small sin) when we have a beam in our own eye (a comparatively larger sin)? It's hypocritical of us to rebuke others for their sins when we haven't dealt with our own sins, especially when our sins are worse than other people's sins. If we want to set good examples for others to follow, then we must first remove the "beam" from our eye before we could remove the speck from our friend's eye. The large sin in our life is akin to a foreign object in our eye that hinders us from seeing clearly. Our sins blind our spiritual eyes. So in order to judge effectively of the sins in other people's lives, it's always wise to fix up our own sin problem. This not only removes the "hypocrite" label from us but also allows us to see clearly to make righteous judgments.

A person who is spiritually blind cannot lead spiritually blind people. If such a teacher guides a blind person, both of them would fall deeper into spiritual blindness, as Jesus explained in a parable: "Can the blind guide the blind? Won't they both fall into a pit?" (Luke 6:39) Only a spiritually sighted teacher can guide a spiritually blind disciple out of darkness into God's light. Once fully trained, that student will be like their teacher: spiritually sighted, as Jesus said, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher." (Luke 6:40)

Furthermore, Jesus said, "For there is no good tree that brings forth rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that brings forth good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people don't gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:43-45)

It is essential that a teacher be spiritually sighted and biblically sound, living with as few sins as possible. Because only a righteous teacher can produce righteous teaching. The words we speak come forth from our hearts. Our words are therefore dependent on our heart condition. If we are righteous, we'll give righteous and biblically sound guidance. But if we are wicked, then we'd only give evil advice that conflicts with God's teaching.

Avoid Pearls for Pigs

Jesus warned his disciples, "Don't give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7:6)

Dogs and pigs are ritually unclean animals. They are often used in the Bible in a derogatory sense to represent ungodly people or their behavior where they are instinctively drawn to wickedness. For instance:

"As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly." (Proverbs 26:11)

"Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout, is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion." (Proverbs 11:22)

"For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, 'The dog turns to his own vomit again,' and 'the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.'” (2 Peter 2:21-22)

In this biblical context, the "dogs" and "pigs" which Jesus spoke about are ungodly people who repeatedly reject God. We must not give "holy things" or "pearls" to them. The holy things and pearls refer to sacred treasures. Specifically, they likely refer to the Word of God, which is to be desired more than fine gold and is sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:10).

Does this mean that we shouldn't preach God's Word to the ungodly? Yes, but only to the worst of them. Jesus warned us about giving the "pearls" to dogs and pigs because if we do, these dogs and pigs may turn around and do us harm. While we are to risk our lives for God's truths, it's sometimes needless to do so for irredeemable people, for those whom God has determined to condemn because He knows that no amount of preaching will ever help them repent. It's not worth losing our lives over them. Moreover, they themselves are unworthy of the riches of God. Jesus did not preach to the wicked Herod (Luke 23:8-9), and Jesus directed his disciples to reject those who willfully reject the Gospel (Matthew 10:13-15).

Knocking for What We Seek

Jesus promised his disciples, "Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you." (Matthew 7:7)

If we desire to know or have something, then we must ask, knock, and seek because "everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened." (Matthew 7:8) Think about it: If we don't ask a question, how would we know the answer? If we don't knock someone's door, how could we get the door to be opened to us? If we do not seek after hidden treasures, how would we ever find them? The principle of Matthew 7:8 does not apply just to natural things but foremost to spiritual things, and it's backed up with the divine promise of Matthew 7:8: we will definitely receive what we ask, knock, and seek after.

In the original Greek text, the verbs are in their present active imperative form. So Jesus' words literally mean keep knocking, keep asking and keep seeking. It is not a one-time or brief knocking, asking or seeking but a persistent search. So if your prayers have not been answered yet or you are still struggling with certain sins, do not give up! Continually seek the divine answer or empowerment you need, with bold persistence!

If we desire divine wisdom, we should continually ask Yahweh for it. If we want the truth, we must continually seek it in God's Word. We must keep "knocking," putting effort in what we seek after, in order to get what we desire. We must be diligent in seeking spiritual treasures, and we will be rewarded for our diligence.

Jesus wasn't making an empty promise that God won't fulfill. As the best and most loving Parent, Yahweh enjoys giving good things to His children. Jesus pointed out, "Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:9-11)

If even wicked parents give good gifts to their children, then how much more will our heavenly Father give good things to His children who sincerely desire them! But to receive His blessings, we should ask for them. Of course, God often showers upon us blessings that we never asked for because they're too wonderful for us to have even imagined them in the first place. But if we desire something that He hasn't yet given us, we shouldn't hesitate to ask. If it's according to His will--if God knows that it's truly good--then He will bless us and answer our knocking. It's up to Him whether to answer our prayers. Not everything we ask for is good for us or others, as we lack the wisdom to know every time. Only Yahweh knows what is good, so He will decide accordingly.

The Golden Rule

Adding to what he just said about receiving from God what we ask for, Jesus said, "Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12)

If God gives the good things that we ask of Him, then we ought to show the same kind of love to others by giving them the good things they ask of us. In short, we are to do for others what we'd like to be done for ourselves. This is "loving our neighbors as ourselves." This is one fundamental principle upon which the Torah and Nevi'im (Prophets) are established. All of God's precepts and principles regarding interpersonal relationships are based on this principle.

This golden rule--to love others as ourselves--is part of the bedrock of righteousness. Yet, Jesus actually elevated this golden rule, and we'll study that loftier golden rule in a future lesson. But this golden rule as presented by Christ here is the minimal standard for righteous living.

How do you live before your Father in heaven? If you find yourself stumbling more often than you'd like, do not be discouraged. Continually seek Lord Jesus in faith, ask God for His Spirit in abundance to help you resist sin, and knock on the treasure trove of the Holy Scriptures, and you'll receive the power to live righteously!


~*~ Q&A with Dr. Shirley ~*~

Question: Paul said that he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. What does this mean?

Answer: The complete verse is, "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." (Romans 13:8, WEB)

We are to give everyone what we owe. We are not to owe or be indebted to anyone of anything except love. We are always in a love debt because there is no such thing as too much love and there is always someone who needs our love. So we should keep paying off our love debt. The more we owe, the more we must give.

Love is our number one aim in life, first for God and then for others. Love is what we should strive to show everyone, for everyone is in need of love and deserves it as the precious creation of God who bears His image, even though our image is corrupted. When we show love to all, then we would have fulfilled the requirement of the Torah.

Paul explained, "For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not give false testimony,' 'You shall not covet,' and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love doesn't harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law." (Romans 13:9-10)

The entire Torah is founded on love: love for Yahweh and love for His creation, our fellow humanity and the animal world. This is exactly what Jesus pinpointed, as he said, "The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)

Jesus here quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5, where Moses exhorted Israel to love Yahweh with their whole selves and might, and Leviticus 19:18, where Yahweh admonished Israel to love their neighbors as themselves. All other commandments in the Torah are established on these love commandments. For instance, the Decalogue (the ten commandments) that prohibits adultery, murder, theft, bearing false witness and covetousness is founded on the principle of loving others as ourselves. When we love our neighbors, we would do none of such things that could cause harm. Love injures no one, so to show love is the fulfillment of the whole Torah. If someone doesn't know any of God's written laws in the Bible and yet lives a life of love that puts other people first, then they would have fulfilled the spirit of the Torah.

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

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