This is part three of Read It Again, a series on verses we get wrong and the reading habits that would have caught the mistake. Today, the verse that gets quoted by people who quote nothing else.

A man who has never opened a Bible can still quote Matthew 7:1. He may not know where it is found or who said it, but he knows the words, and he knows when to use them. They come out at the end of an argument, across a back fence, or under a post online, any time somebody suggests that something is wrong. Judge not.

Believers use it the same way. A friend raises a concern, and the conversation ends with those two words.

Jesus did say them. But He was in the middle of a sermon, and He kept talking.

The Verse That Ends the Conversation

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Matthew 7:1-2 NKJV

Taken alone, the first sentence sounds like a ban on ever calling anything wrong. If that is the meaning, then no parent can correct a child, no church can refuse a false teacher, and no friend can say a hard word to a friend who is wrecking his life.

It would also put Jesus at odds with Himself before the chapter is over.

Keep Reading

Follow the sermon for a few more sentences. Jesus describes a man with a plank in his own eye fussing over a speck in his brother’s. Then He gives the instruction.

“Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Matthew 7:5 NKJV

Look at how that sentence ends. The speck still comes out. Jesus tells the man to start with himself, so that he can see well enough to help.

The next verse tells the disciples not to give what is holy to dogs or throw pearls to swine. Nobody can obey that without deciding who is acting like a dog. In verse 15 He says to beware of false prophets, and in verse 16 He says, “You will know them by their fruits.” That is an evaluation, and Jesus commands it.

He said it even more plainly in Jerusalem. “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24 NKJV).

So the sermon forbids one kind of judging and requires another. What it forbids is the judgment of a hypocrite, a man who condemns in others what he excuses in himself and uses a harsher measure for his neighbor than he would ever want used on him. What it requires is careful, humble discernment about teachers, about holy things, and about a brother’s sin.

In Matthew 7:5 the speck still comes out. Jesus tells the man to start with his own eye so that he can see well enough to help his brother.

The Habit

Let the speaker finish.

Matthew 5 through 7 is one sermon. It was preached in one sitting on a hillside, and the people who heard verse 1 of chapter 7 heard verse 5 a few breaths later. They never had the chance to stop at “judge not.” A sentence pulled from a speech can be made to say nearly anything, and the fix is to stay in your seat until the speaker is done.

This habit pays off all over Scripture. The book of Ecclesiastes says again and again that everything is vanity. Stop there and you have a philosophy of despair. Let the Preacher finish, and his last word is “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV). Paul writes, “All things are lawful for me,” and then finishes the sentence, “but all things are not helpful” (1 Corinthians 6:12 NKJV).

When a line from a speech is handed to you alone, ask where the speech started and where it ended. Then read all of it.

The Words Under the Verse

Word	Original	Strong’s	Meaning
krino	κρίνω	G2919	To judge, to separate, to decide. The word covers a courtroom verdict and an everyday evaluation, so context has to say which is meant
hypokrites	ὑποκριτής	G5273	Hypocrite. The Greek word for a stage actor, a man playing a part
diablepo	διαβλέπω	G1227	To see clearly. What the man can do once the plank is out, Matthew 7:5
karpos	καρπός	G2590	Fruit. The evidence by which false prophets are known, Matthew 7:16

For the One With the Plank

Two kinds of people misuse this verse, and most of us have been both.

One uses it as a shield. Nobody may speak to him about his life. If that is you, hear verse 5 again. Jesus expects your brother to come for the speck, and He expects you to let him.

The other has no use for the verse at all, because he enjoys the speck business too much. He can spot a fault at fifty yards. Jesus has a name for him, and it is the word for an actor. Paul gives the cure in one sentence. “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1 NKJV).

Considering yourself. A man who has spent an hour with his own plank, on his knees, will be gentle with a speck. He has just felt how much it hurts to have something pulled out of his eye.

Discussion Questions

1. Read Matthew 7 from start to finish. List every place Jesus requires His hearers to make a judgment about someone or something.
2. What is the difference between the judging Jesus forbids in verses 1-2 and the judging He commands in John 7:24?
3. When has someone removed a speck from your eye well? What did that person do that made it possible to hear?
4. Read 1 Corinthians 5:9-13. Whom does Paul say the church is to judge, and whom does he leave to God?
5. Which misuse of this verse are you more prone to, the shield or the speck hunt?

Going Deeper

Read the whole Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 through 7, in one sitting. It takes about fifteen minutes aloud. Mark every command that requires discernment. Then read James 4:11-12 and Romans 14:1-13 and ask what kind of judging each passage has in view. The Feed Yourself post Verses Are Not Fortune Cookies covers the habit of reading a book whole before studying any verse in it.