The Most Misquoted and Misused Bible Verse Of All Time

+JMJ+

May the word of the Lord be in our minds, on our lips and in our hearts. 

Come Holy Spirit.....

How often have you heard somebody blurt out the words, "Judge not lest ye be judged?" And that's all they quote, of course. And it is almost always after someone has corrected them for sinning. "Judge not lest ye be judged" is easily the most misquoted and misused bible verse of all time. And I don't think think God is very happy with that, as it is clouding what it actually is He is asking us to do as a Christian community.

Here is the verse in it's entirety:

Matthew 7 (NIV version)

Judging Others

 ¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

   ³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 

The entire teaching takes up 5 verses, but probably 99% of people stop quoting at verse 1. It's like their "get out of jail free" card when they are caught sinning by another person. 

But look at the teaching in it's full context, which is the way Jesus spoke it. Noticed how it changes at verse 3? Verse 5 gives us the true meaning of this teaching. Jesus is teaching against hypocrisy, not judgment! This is why he says, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Jesus did not say, "do not attempt to remove the speck from your brother's eye." He is saying, take care of our sin first, so that we may more clearly see to help our brother. For example, how can I help my friend or family member stop lying so much, if I am committing adultery, myself? My sin is clouding my judgment, and is making me a hypocrite, as I am committing a form of lying, as well as the sin, itself. 

If anything, Scripture teaching us that rebuking sinners is expected of us, by God: 

1 Timothy 5: 20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

Titus 1: 13This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith

Titus 2: 15These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

2 Timothy 4: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

I deliberately included the rest of the teaching of 2 Timothy 4 as it is a great teaching, full of wisdom that applies today as well as it did 2,000 years ago. 

So, what does it mean to "rebuke?" 

From Dictionary.com

  

re·buke

–verb (used with object)

1.

to express sharp, stern disapproval of; reprove; reprimand.

–noun

2.

sharp, stern disapproval; reproof; reprimand.

So, we have at least 4 bible verses telling us to rebuke those who sin, and when you see the entire context of the famous "Judge not lest ye be judged" verse, it is clear what God's instructions for us really are. I will repeat one important portion of 2 Timothy 4, however: "correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction."

God does want us to see the best in everybody else, I feel, and to give people the benefit of the doubt. After all, we do not know their whole story, and we are certainly not sinless, ourselves. We have planks in our own eyes, as Jesus called it, that must be dealt with and removed first. So none of us can take a holier-than-thou attitude towards anyone else. We are all wretched sinners. But, we are very much are called to correct one another and to encourage against sinning with "great patience and understanding." And it makes perfect sense for God to expect us to do this for each other. Why? Because we do it out of love. We are supposed to love one another, that is one of the Greatest Commandments (see my earlier blog entry on those.) Sin is harmful to us, and to our relationship with the Lord. Therefore, if we truly love someone, should be not try to protect them from that which harms them? If someone is smoking, do we not try to encourage them to quit for their own good? And why do we care? Because we love them. Yet, smoking only harms their body. Sin harms their souls, which are eternal, not temporary, like their body. How much more important is it for us to encourage someone to not sin, then? But, if we were smokers, or even heavy drinkers or drug users, and then told someone not to smoke for their own good, we would then be hypocrites.

The Bible clearly shows, in verse after verse after verse, that we are to correct one another as an act of love. We are all brothers and sisters in this world, as well as in Christ. To not want to try to encourage someone to avoid sin would show a lack of love for that person and their spiritual well-being.

Some might (and will) say, "but aren't we all forgiven anyways? What does it matter? Christ forgave us, right?" 

That subject will likely be another blog entry in the future, but in short, just because Christ will forgive us when we repent and ask for forgiveness, does not mean we are free to sin as we please with no attempts to avoid it. What if we died before we "got around" to asking for that forgiveness for our most recent sins? And, back to the topic at hand, what if our brothers and sisters in Christ are not even aware they are sinning? Or are so used to it they don't even notice that they are sinning?  Much like a child who unknowingly is about to touch a hot stove, or walk out into a busy highway, we must stop them and correct them for their own good. After all, we are "our brother's keeper." 

Godspeed, everyone.