Riff's Christian Journal

Why is it that whenever one points out the sin that another is doing that someone always brings up the thing about “judging others”.

Here’s an example.

Recently, I made a comment that pointing out to someone about a sin they are doing is a good thing, I used this verse to support it:

“Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” James 5: 19, 20

Right after that another responded with the comment of “who are you to judge another” and quoted from James 4: 12:

“There is one Lawgiver….. Who are you to judge another?”

Now I have to admit that this got me to thinking. How can these two verses be reconciled? Then it came to me and it was quite easy.

You see, all laws are based on a morality standard, but whose standards of morality do we use? Actually there are only two from which to choose; mans or Gods.

Mans standard of morality is always changing, and it does so based on what man is doing at the time. In other words, at one point something may be declared to be wrong only to be changed somewhere down the line and made to be good. There’s never a true standard of what’s right and wrong because someone will always state that for them it is not wrong. This basically is called “situation ethics”.

Situation ethics states that if it is wrong for you then it is wrong, but only for you. I may not think it is wrong and for me, since I enjoy it and want to do it, then it isn’t wrong for me to do so. In that case, then, it would be correct to say, “who are you to judge another?”

Or as Jesus said in Luke 6: 42:

“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”

In this case you have one person pointing out the wrong doing of another when they have something in their own life that is just as wrong as the wrong they are condemning.

However, it is just the same as “situation ethics” in which one is pointing out the wrong that someone else is doing when to them is isn’t wrong or the wrong they may be doing is OK to do by someone else.

Man just cannot come up with a “black & white” way of stating what is right and what is wrong. Maybe that is why in the Bible it is written:

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14: 12

Man will always choose a way that pleases him and not look to what God wants and this will always lead to death; spiritual and physical. For it is not always God’s way.

Now with God. His standard of morality is always “black & white”. There are no questions and God does not say, “OK it’s alright to do this now, but don’t do it again.” God is not wishy-washy and His ways do not change.

With that in mind, then, as a Christian, and only as a Christian, when one sees a brother or sister doing what God has called wrong – a sin – and lovingly brings that to their attention, they are doing good in helping that person get back onto the road to life.

This can also come into play when talking to a non-Christina about their eternal destiny and the salvation they can achieve from being forgiven for their sins, they must have pointed out to them the sin they are doing. For it is in seeing the Law of God that they will see their sinfulness and come to the realization that they are destined for Hell and they can do nothing about it.

Once they see this they will know that their only hope is in submitting to Jesus as Lord and believing that He has done for them what they cannot do for them self and that is being obedient to the Law of God. They will see that Jesus suffered the punishment they deserve and, because of that, they will be forgiven for the sins they have committed.

It is hypocritical for a non-Christian to point out the wrongs of another non-Christian because they are guilty of doing wrong themselves, even if it isn’t for the same wrong they are bringing to light.

Only a true Christian can bring to light the sins of another because it is not their standard of morality they are basing this on. They are basing it on the standard of morality set by God. God the Father speaks through His children and it is through them that He brings to light the sins of the world.

A Christian can say that “this is wrong”, and do so knowing that what they are saying are not their words. They are doing so because they can say, “In the Bible, it is written”. As Jesus says in Luke 10: 16:

“He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

When a non-Christian, and so-called Christians, reject what a true Christian says is written in the Bible, they are not rejecting them. In reality they are rejecting Jesus and, in doing so, they are rejecting God the Father.

It is not OK for non-Christians to judge another, as the Bible so correctly points out, but it is OK for a Christian to point out the sins of another. It is NOT really judging, as long as it is done with the notice that this is what God says, and as long as they say, “For in the Bible it is written”.