This
is part one of a three part series on judgment.
The Dichotomy of Judgment and Love.
A dichotomy is a
division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory parts. This
does not mean two things which are opposite. For instance the opposite of
religion in non-religion, but its dichotomy is secular. In the same way the
opposite of natural is unnatural, but it dichotomy is supernatural. We see in that it is natural for person to be born with two eyes, two legs etc. It is unnatural for a child to be born with only one arm, or one leg, or one eye. Thus it is Supernatural when the child born with only one of his legs grown the second after prayer and supplication. Understand this Juvenal explanation is only given to show the difference between the usage of opposite as opposed to the usage of dichotomy.
A dichotomy can also exist in the attributes of an person. Consider one of the most common dichotomies but seldom ever addressed is the dichotomy of judgment and love. For the Christian we see this in the statement “love the sinner but hate the sin” but this over used, seldom practice statement takes a very difficult gem of understanding and tries to packages it in a Cracker Jack box of application. Let’s investigate further.
A dichotomy can also exist in the attributes of an person. Consider one of the most common dichotomies but seldom ever addressed is the dichotomy of judgment and love. For the Christian we see this in the statement “love the sinner but hate the sin” but this over used, seldom practice statement takes a very difficult gem of understanding and tries to packages it in a Cracker Jack box of application. Let’s investigate further.
Judgment of Sin
The
unenlightened and enemies of God weld as their primary weapon, contextomy [1], twisting
scripture to justify their perversion, their sin, and unscrupulous
behavior. With the intent of supporting their
abominable actions, destroying your faith, and adding doubt in your
heart, they carefully pull scripture which could be seen as to defend their
position. All the while ignoring all others scripture which requires them to be
held accountable for their perversions.
Among
the most common ways the enemy uses contextomy to disarm us, is to say that we
should not judge them. “Jesus
said judge not lest you be judge” they would defend. However this form
of quote mining allows them to quote authority, shut your mouth by that
authority, yet not live their lives contradictory to the teaching of the authority for which they themselves quote.
Don’t be fooled their intent is to get you off their back, to mind your
own business, to shut you up. What they really mean is “Let me waddle in my sin
and perversions and mind your own business!” From a secular position they say “You do you,
and let me do me” mentality is right. However when we accost a person of their sin, perversion, or wrong doing we do this not from the point of minding their business, rather from the perspective of submitting ourselves to the authority for which they quoted their defense. The Great commission requires us to reach out to them. The very same Jesus whom they know nothing about has required this of us Matthew 28:19-20, The Apostle Paul teaches us the desperate need to convince others of the Gospel now and the horrific outcome for them if we do not. 2 Corinthians 5:11, And the prophet warns us if we do not. Ezekiel 33:5-7.
Throughout the beginning, God has set a man to warn the people of the rewards of their sin. Today He has set us who are His own, to warn the world of the impending danger to come. So the dichotomy is that we must intervene in their lives. deliberately introducing a change in thought feeling and behaviors in a way which will allows them to see their self-destructive behavior. This so that the judgement of the christian is not out of hate or malicious behavior, but out of love.
Throughout the beginning, God has set a man to warn the people of the rewards of their sin. Today He has set us who are His own, to warn the world of the impending danger to come. So the dichotomy is that we must intervene in their lives. deliberately introducing a change in thought feeling and behaviors in a way which will allows them to see their self-destructive behavior. This so that the judgement of the christian is not out of hate or malicious behavior, but out of love.
Love that Causes Judgment
Therefore, I (we) don’t witness to an unbeliever because “I’m doing me”. we witness because we are commanded to ( Mark 16:15-16, Matthew 28:16-20, Ezekiel 33:7 ) we tell those that have not come into the knowledge who Christ is because we fear for them, because the result of us not telling them is that they will die and suffer for eternity in hell, and their blood will be on our my hands. A true Christian does not witness because we dislikes what they do, or who they are. Sure we are told to hate sin, (Psalm 97:10, Proverbs 8:13,) but we are also called to love indiscriminately (John 13:34, 1 John 4:11, Luke 6:27-28, Romans 12:14) A true Christian witness Christ because we fear the wrath of God on those that do not know Christ; A true Christian witness Christ because we love them, and true love will not remain silent while someone unknowing walks off the precipice of self-destruction
The apostle Paul says “knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” ( 2 Corinthians 5:11-21,)
The real question every so-called Christian must ask himself is “If I witness to an unbeliever, will I be imposing my faith on him? If I speak on false teaching, will I be labeled a heretic, on tolerance will I be labeled intolerant; If I speak on sin will I be labeled Judgmental?” Is there any wonder that the Apostle Paul needed the prayers of the Ephesian church to strengthen him to preach (Ephesians 6:19) witnessing is hard work but only bring about rewards.
When the
Jesus say “judge not lest you be judge” (Matthew 7:1-3, He was not talking about giving
a righteous
judgment, but a hypocritical judgment This is why in the gospel of Matthews
and the gospel of Luke He (Jesus) gives a comparison to the hearer. (ie someone
with a great big board in his eye judging someone else with only a splinter in
his eye) It’s important to know that we cannot draw interpretations from a
single verse; we must understand the context in which the verse is written,
whom it is spoken to, and even historic idioms as they relate to that verse. Consider that in Matthew 7:1 “Jesus commands “Judge not” then in Matthew 18 he commands us
to judge! Jesus did not forget what he had said earlier, it was never His
intent that we do not judge, if that is what we get form Matthew 7:1-3, then we
need to test it against other scripture to see what is really being said.
But in the
gospel of John, Jesus sets the perimeters for judgment (John
7:24) and those requirements are “Righteous Judgment.” Don’t
ever let someone mislead you; the Bible is replete with examples of men and
women of God judging the action of others. John the Baptist rebukes King Herod (Luke 3:19) But since we are using the
quotes of Jesus as a defense for not judging let’s see what scripture actually
reveals.
1.
Jesus
corrected people publicly, and directly (Matthew 5:20, Matthew 23:14, Mark 7:6)
2.
Jesus
corrected the actions of people metaphorically by associating their actions with
the animals for which their behavior resembled. Many times he called the
Pharisee snakes (Matthew 3:7 ) the King a fox
(Luke 13:32) , false teacher wolves (Matthew 10:16) and unregenerate Gentiles
“dogs.(Matthew 7:6)
3.
Jesus
used comparison when correcting people; Jesus rebuked the lack of belief by the
covenant people (Jews) by singling out the faith of a gentile (Matthew 8:5-13)
4.
Jesus
corrected those with prideful and error motives (Matt.
8:18-22
If we
did any of these things then everyone even many of our family members would
hate us. The main point that has to be understood is that judgment for the
Christian originates out of love. Love for God, and love for the individual we
are addressing. When righteous judgment is applied, the love that we are required
to have for that individual does not dissipate. Just as important the love of
God does not make us tolerant to evil. This is the proper application of Righteous
Judgment, this is why Jesus was able to call the Pharisees snakes, and forgive
a woman caught in the very act of adultery.
Your brother in Christ
TC FireSpeaks
The intent is to prepare the Christian against encounters when he will be accosted with statements like “You can’t judge me,” or ”Jesus said Judge not lest you be judge” But more importantly the intent is to teach Christians how to witness to a person with love without compromising God’s word.
[1]Contextomy is the practice of misquoting someone/something by shortening the quotation, or by leaving out the surrounding
words or sentences that would place the quote in its proper context..
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