I have written previously about the parable of the log in a person’s eye who sees a speck of saw dust in another person’s eye. (See 8 Important Points about Judging and Judgment) Jesus says that we need to be careful about focusing on the specks in others’ eyes because of the logs in our own eyes. (Matthew 7:1-5)
Jesus is expressly talking about judging others, but the implications are much larger than that. They are about loving others, especially our brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is also about our posture to the world (those who do not know God in Christ, who gave Himself up for us).
We might be tempted to read what Jesus said and walk away thinking that we should not judge other people. That isn’t quite what Jesus says. Jesus says be careful in the way you judge others because the way you judge others is the way you will be judged. (Matt. 7:1-12)
We can’t get away from making judgments, which is nothing more, really, than the conclusions we reach based on what we know. We make judgments about innumerable things every day.
This is also not about Judgment (capital J). Only God has the authority to judge people, and God alone is a true Judge who can weigh all the facts accurately and completely. God alone knows our thoughts and our hearts. We can only judge by appearances, and we judge only from ground level.
When we see a speck in our brother’s eye, the parable should cause us to consider the logs in our own eyes, first. It’s a matter of perspective. What seems like a speck in someone else’s eye appears like a log when that speck is in my eye. Even so, humans have an unusual capacity to get used to those “logs” and forget they even exist.
One point of this parable is that we need to be dealing with our own sin as a matter of first priority. If sin is discovered in our brother, that discovery should cause us to consider first our own sin. I believe this is a fair reading of what Jesus is saying.
Jesus also does not tell us to leave our brother alone with a speck in his eye. Rather, he tells us to be considerate as we determine what to do about. We need to start by considering our own sin sinned (missing the mark) in our own lives. Then we need to approach our brother in the right attitude of heart, with empathy, realizing that we are not any better then our brother who’s speck we have observed.
Today, I have read what Paul says in Galatians 6:1-2 in my daily reading, and the parable about the log and the speck comes rushing back to me. I realize that Paul’s admonition in Galatians 6:1-2 harmonizes with what Jesus was taught his disciples in this parable:
“Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too. Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:1-2 NET (Emphasis added)
I previously observed that we must be in relationship with others to do what Jesus has said (judge rightly). We should not be approaching anyone about a speck in their eye if we do not do it from the perspective of loving relationship (as brothers and sisters). We have to do this in the right relationship, or we will not do it right.
In Galatians 6:1-2, Paul addresses his statements specifically to “brothers and sisters”. Paul affirms Jesus in putting his instruction in the context of intimate relationship to do as Paul says in the spirit in which he urges us to do it.
I am also struck by the phrase, “if a person is discovered in some sin”. This passive phrasing suggests that we should not be hunting around, searching for sin. It suggests that sin is discovered, though we aren’t actively searching for it.
Indeed, if we have intimate relationships with fellow believers, the discovery of sin in each other is inevitable. All people are sinners. Anyone who claims not to sin is a liar! (1 John 4:19) We shouldn’t be surprised, then, to see sin bubble to surface of the lives of people we know in the church.
In 1 Corinthians 5:12, Paul says that we should practice this “judgment” in the church. In that particular case, the sin Paul was addressing was egregious (someone sleeping with his father’s wife). Most of the time the sin we will deal with is more garden variety sin.
Notably, Paul says in this same verse that we have no business judging people outside the church! They have a Judge (God). I would add that nonbelievers have not signed up (yet) for the kingdom of God, so what is the point of judging them?
I would go further by noting that Jesus will ultimately judge everyone, but he is not currently judging the world. Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to save it! He came to seek and save the lost. This should be our posture to the world also!
As long as it is called today, there is time for people to get right with God. Judgment is coming, but salvation is now! But I digress.
Perhaps the primary point about the parable of the log and the speck is that we should not be so concerned about the sin of others that we ignore our own sin. Rather we should be dealing with our own sin, first and foremost. Only then, are we in a good position to be able to help our brothers and sisters with their own sin.
This suggests that we should not be active in judging our brothers and sisters to discover their sin. Rather, we are active with our own sin, asking God to search us out, wrestling with it, resisting it, repenting of it and learning to deal with it as God works within each of us to will and to act according to His good purpose.
Frankly, that is a full time job all by itself.
From that posture as a fellow sinner wrestling with my own sin, I can be of help to my brother when I stumble upon his sin, or when he confesses his sin to me. As James said, “[C]onfess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.” (James 5:16)
I recently heard Rebecca McLaughlin say that we do not become less aware of our own sin as we grow into maturity in Christ. Exactly the opposite: we become ever more aware of the depth and breadth of our sin. We see things as we mature we never saw before. As we become more holy, we see more clearly how thoroughly sinful we are.
This is the process of sanctification. We cannot grow in maturity and holiness if our focus is on the sin of other people. We have a hard enough time recognizing and dealing with our own sin!
At the same time, if we live in close relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are going to see the failings of our brothers and sisters. Their sin will become evident to us even if we are not looking for it. When it does, we need to “judge rightly”.
As I think through these things, it occurs to me that judging rightly might not mean what I first supposed – an accurate assessment. Judging rightly might have more to do with me and my posture toward my brother and his sin.
Am I aware first of my own sin? Am I dealing with it? Am I in right relationship with God? Am in a loving relationship with my brother? Does he trust me? Is he looking for my help? Can I help him in love, and not despise, or condemn, or think myself better than him?
This is the attitude and approach that Jesus teaches and Paul affirms in Galatians 6:1-2. When we discover sin in our brother, restoration becomes the goal. We want to restore a brother to right relationship with God and in right relationship to himself and to others. That means realizing forgiveness, because God is faithful and just to forgive us if we confess our sins. It means helping our brother forgive himself, and it means standing with our brother as he repents and makes things right.
Paul’s says we should do these things in a spirit of gentleness, being ever aware of our own failings, lest we be tempted. If we let our guard down, because we are focused so much on our brothers and sisters, we are very likely to fall ourselves and fail to deal with our own sin as we should.
Paul concludes that we should bear each other’s burdens. We do not sit in judgment of each other. We are in the same position in relation to each other, so I can help my brother with his sin as he helps me with mine.
One problem with words is that they can have different nuanced meanings. Judgment can mean sitting aloof and apart and coming to some ultimate conclusion. Nothing in the way Jesus or Paul talks about a proper way of judging each other has anything to do with being aloof or apart.
We also cannot see our brother’s hearts. Only God can. We can only judge by appearances, so we need to be careful how we judge, realizing our own failings.
The judgment Jesus and Paul urge us to exercise grows out of relationship that includes care and concern and love for each other. It must be exercised in light of the unmerited grace God shows us.
Anything else is usurping God’s authority and standing as a Judge, rather than as a fellow follower of Christ, a sinner saved by grace, an imperfect, earthen vessel, an imperishable seed currently shrouded in a perishable seed (a body) that must die. We are all sinners waiting for resurrection and the revelation of the children of God. Meanwhile, we can help each other along the in the journey if we judge rightly.
Navigating by Faith 