Just got home from a great night with the Northeast GCM. We had a lively discussion around the topic, “Isn’t the Church responsible for so much injustice?” and “Why are Christians such hypocrites?” Folks shared personal examples of being burned by the Church. Some described walking away from Jesus and Christianity because of painful judgments coming from those who called themselves Christians. This sparked a tangential conversation on whether it was ever right for Christians to judge another person.

Is there any place for human judgment within Christianity?

Initially, we answered no. Jesus taught us not to judge (Matt. 7:1-2). God alone is humanity’s Judge and we are to leave judgments to Him. Sadly, there was no shortage of examples of how frequently Christians transgress this principle.

Yet once the ball got rolling, it picked up enough speed and steam to almost roll us past the bounds of Scripture. We came close to swinging the pendulum too far. When you’ve seen the carnage caused by judgmental Christians, it’s not hard to see why you might propose that Christians should never judge another person.

Except then you come to places like 1 Corinthians 5 where a member of the church is in grievous, flagrant, ongoing, unrepentant sin. And guess what Christians were told to do with him? Judge him!

1 Corinthians 5: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord…12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Apparently a man in the church was having sexual relations with his stepmom. Worse, the text suggests that it was not a one time mistake followed by mournful contrition, but ongoing (a man has his father’s wife; as opposed to had).Worse still, Christians in the church seem to be tolerating a sin that even unbelievers in the world would have a hard time stomaching. And so the Apostle Paul does what seems unthinkable to us: he pronounces judgment on the man. And then he encourages the church to follow suit. He even goes so far as to state that while the church has no business judging those on the outside (unbelieving non-Christians), it was a given that the she would judge those on the inside (unrepentant Christians).

The passage pulled us away from the edge and showed us that there may be some instances where Christians might judge one another. And even then, Jesus teaches us to take care of the 2×4 sticking out of our own eye before removing sawdust from our brother’s eye (Matt. 7:3-5). Moreover, He prescribes deliberate measured steps in order to prevent hasty judgments and to provide ample opportunity for the sinning Christian to repent (Matt. 18:15-20). Nevertheless, in humility and love, leaning on the help of the Holy Spirit, Christians may at times pass judgment on a fellow believer for the purpose of correction and eventual restoration (2 Cor. 2:6-8). A family where children are never corrected is headed for ruin. Likewise, God will lovingly correct His straying children and will sometimes do so through other members of the family.

Perhaps what was most surprising and encouraging was that after we described this kind of judgment, someone reversed their earlier position and remarked, “Well, I would like that kind of judgment. I could see how that could be a good thing.”

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