“Judging Our Brethren”

BIBLE READING:1 Corinthians 4

Paul is entangled in a situation concerning how he is handling his Apostleship.   The Corinthians had even started to judge him because of some of his actions, passing judgment where they were ignorant.  Who could judge an apostle on what he was doing?  It would be a difficult thing to find a job description of an apostle.  We can see what the apostles did in the Bible, but this doesn't mean that those things were the only things an apostle was to do.

These brethren wanted to judge Paul.  Passing judgment on someone based on our narrow perspective and prejudice is an exercise in futility with nothing of spiritual value to be gained. The prime motivator for judging others is to elevate or justify the self.  For some reason, there are people who place their value in the kingdom above others just to feel better about themselves.

Paul did not even pass judgment on himself! He did examine himself because he wrote to this same church, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves." (II Corinthians 13:5) Why did he say he did not judge himself? Because we all are saved by grace through faith. We certainly are not saved by our own favorable judgment of our conduct. Though he could find nothing wrong with his conduct in this situation, he still would not step into Christ's area of authority as Judge. Even his blamelessness did not justify him.

Many things we judge in others are trivial and extremely "picky." Many situations do not involve sin at all but simply a different ways of doing things. We tend to pounce on situations or characteristics that will hardly mean a thing a year from now—and will matter nothing in a thousand years.  It is easy to see whether the works of another are good or bad.  If the Bible disapproves of someone’s actions, maybe we should help them correct bad behavior and let God do the judging.