James 4:12

“There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” ^ESV

James 4:12

 

Not judging your neighbor is a fairly significant teaching throughout the NT.  Most familiar is probably Matt 7:1.  The issue there is that we must not condemn our neighbor; a few verses later (Matt 7:15-20) Jesus commands us to ‘inspect fruit’.  So obviously, when we are ‘judging’ someone, we are doing something other than simply trying to determine if the person is who they say they are.

 

This is where James 4:12 comes in.  It seems that James is distinguishing ‘judging’ as the sole prerogative of the One ‘who is able to save and to destroy’.  Judging, condemning, determining the future of a person is the job of the One who can do it perfectly.  Because this is true, we must not ‘speak evil against one another’ (James 4:11).  Speaking evil or ‘evilly’ was evidently an important enough example to James of what ‘condemning’ was that he specifically spoke against it in the context of the judging we are to leave to God.

 

So, for you and I, we are to love our neighbor (Matt 22:37-40) so that they can see the love of the Father (Matt 5:16) who is near us and is willing to save rather than destroy (Acts 17:27).  This love is very often of the ‘tough’ kind because true love is not as interested in comfort as it is interested in the good (Eph 4:15).

 

Thank You Father for being a perfectly righteous Judge.

Thank You Son for being the judgment Bearer for me.

Thank You Spirit for being the Peace we need.

 

Who have you been judging?  How must you repent?

 

Repenting together with you,

Pastor Greg