Jesus in Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37 commands his followers not to judge, and Paul echoes that in Romans 2:1 and 14:10 along with James 4:12. But Leviticus 19:15 commands righteous judgment of one's neighbor, John 7:24 has Jesus telling people to "judge righteous judgment," and Paul in 1 Corinthians 5-6 demands the Corinthians judge an immoral brother and even angels.
Proposed answers
People have answered this in several ways; GEBible presents them as equal peers.
Judge not.
Jesus commanded his disciples not to judge.
Judge not, that ye be not judged. Matthew 7:1
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Luke 6:37
And Paul seemed to agree with Jesus on that. (At least in Romans)
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest:
for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that
judgest doest the same things. Romans 2:1
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?
for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Romans 14:10
Or until Jesus comes. (In First Corinthians)
Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come. 1 Corinthians 4:5
As did the author of James.
Who art thou that judgest another? James 4:12
1Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.
5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
Leviticus says that righteous people should judge others.
In righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. Leviticus 19:15
In the gospel of John, Jesus said that we should "judge righteous judgment."
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
John 7:24
And Paul said that spiritual people should judge "all things" in this life and will
judge angels in the next.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man. 1 Corinthians 2:15
I ... have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed.
1 Corinthians 5:3
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do
not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God
judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked
person. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?
and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the
smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how
much more things that pertain to this life?. 1 Corinthians 6:2-3
15“ ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.
12For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within?13But those who are outside, God judges. “Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.”
2Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?3Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
What follows is one scholar’s way of reading this disagreement— a critical-historical view that often concludes the texts genuinely disagree. It draws on the peer-reviewed sources listed below and stands as one position among the answers above, presented for transparency, not as GEBible’s position.
How critical scholarship weighs this: Leans toward reconciliation
This summarizes where critical scholarship tends to land on this tension — a report on the field’s center of gravity, not GEBible’s own ruling.
The surface contradiction is stark: Jesus commands 'Judge not, that ye be not judged' (Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37), Paul echoes it (Romans 2:1; 14:10), and James asks 'Who art thou that judgest another?' (James 4:12); yet Leviticus 19:15 commands 'in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour,' John 7:24 has Jesus say 'judge righteous judgment,' and Paul demands that the Corinthians judge the immoral brother (1 Corinthians 5:3, 12-13), the world, and even angels (6:2-3). Much of this tension is lexical and resolves on examination, which is why the entry lands as only weak-to-moderate.
The core of the harmonization, advanced by D. A. Carson, R. T. France's NICNT *Matthew*, and Craig Blomberg, turns on the semantic range of Greek krinō, which spans 'to evaluate/discern,' 'to decide,' and 'to condemn' — much as English 'judge' does. The immediate Matthean context settles which sense is in view: the same Sermon that says 'judge not' in 7:1 commands believers in 7:6 not to give what is holy 'unto the dogs' nor cast pearls 'before swine,' and in 7:15 to 'beware of false prophets' — both of which require precisely the discerning evaluation 7:1 supposedly forbids. The resolution is that 7:1 targets censorious, self-exalting condemnation, not moral discernment. John 7:24 makes the distinction explicit in a single verse: 'Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment' — superficial condemnation is barred, righteous evaluation commanded. Davies and Allison's ICC *Matthew* defend this reading, as does Hans Dieter Betz's Hermeneia *Sermon on the Mount*. On the Pauline side, Anthony Thiselton's NIGTC *1 Corinthians* distinguishes the eschatological verdict on hidden motives that Paul defers in 1 Corinthians 4:5 ('judge nothing before the time') from the present-tense disciplinary action Paul mandates in 5:12 ('do not ye judge them that are within?'). These are different objects: ultimate verdicts on the heart belong to God; ordering the visible life of the community belongs to the church. The lexical and contextual work genuinely softens the contradiction.
Where the tension does not fully dissolve is at the level of moral consistency in application. Matthew 7:1-2 does not merely forbid hypocrisy; it grounds the prohibition in a reciprocal principle — 'with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again' — that reads as a general norm, not a narrow rule about the censorious. And Paul's handling of the Corinthian offender is hard to square with his counsel to the Romans. In 1 Corinthians 5:3-5 he has 'judged already, as though I were present,' the man who has his father's wife, and commands the assembly to 'deliver such an one unto Satan' — a verdict pronounced at a distance, on a single report, with severe consequence. That is not gentle discernment; it is sentence. The same Paul who tells the Romans 'why dost thou judge thy brother?' (14:10) judges a brother in Corinth from Ephesus. Dale Allison, in *The Sermon on the Mount*, observes the standing tension between Jesus' radical prohibition and the early communities' practical need for discipline, and grants that the churches were already negotiating it in real time. It is worth noting that Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 5 address different objects too — disputable matters of conscience (food, days) in Romans versus flagrant public immorality in Corinth — which softens but does not erase the inconsistency, since the underlying principle Jesus articulates is framed as general.
Where the critical reading lands: weak-to-moderate, and largely a translation-and-context issue. The semantic range of krinō and the immediate contexts resolve most of the surface collision, distinguishing forbidden condemnation from commanded discernment; a residual ethical inconsistency remains in how Paul himself applies the principle.
Sources for this reading
D. A. Carson, The Sermon on the Mount: An Evangelical Exposition of Matthew 5-7 (Baker, 1978) on Matthew 7:1-6Matthew 7:1-6
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT; Eerdmans, 2007) on Matthew 7:1Matthew 7:1
W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew (ICC; T&T Clark, 1988-1997) on Matthew 7:1Matthew 7:1
Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC; Eerdmans, 2000) on 1 Corinthians 4:5 and 5:3-131 Corinthians 4:5, 1 Corinthians 5:3-13
Dale C. Allison, The Sermon on the Mount: Inspiring the Moral Imagination (Crossroad, 1999) on Matthew 7:1-2Matthew 7:1-2
Hans Dieter Betz, The Sermon on the Mount (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1995) on Matthew 7:1Matthew 7:1
Examining the tension
What follows is one scholar’s way of reading this disagreement — a critical-historical view that often concludes the texts genuinely disagree. It draws on the peer-reviewed sources listed below and stands as one position among the answers above, presented for transparency, not as GEBible’s position.
How critical scholarship weighs this: Leans toward reconciliation
This summarizes where critical scholarship tends to land on this tension — a report on the field’s center of gravity, not GEBible’s own ruling.
The surface contradiction is stark: Jesus commands 'Judge not, that ye be not judged' (Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37), Paul echoes it (Romans 2:1; 14:10), and James asks 'Who art thou that judgest another?' (James 4:12); yet Leviticus 19:15 commands 'in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour,' John 7:24 has Jesus say 'judge righteous judgment,' and Paul demands that the Corinthians judge the immoral brother (1 Corinthians 5:3, 12-13), the world, and even angels (6:2-3). Much of this tension is lexical and resolves on examination, which is why the entry lands as only weak-to-moderate.
The core of the harmonization, advanced by D. A. Carson, R. T. France's NICNT *Matthew*, and Craig Blomberg, turns on the semantic range of Greek krinō, which spans 'to evaluate/discern,' 'to decide,' and 'to condemn' — much as English 'judge' does. The immediate Matthean context settles which sense is in view: the same Sermon that says 'judge not' in 7:1 commands believers in 7:6 not to give what is holy 'unto the dogs' nor cast pearls 'before swine,' and in 7:15 to 'beware of false prophets' — both of which require precisely the discerning evaluation 7:1 supposedly forbids. The resolution is that 7:1 targets censorious, self-exalting condemnation, not moral discernment. John 7:24 makes the distinction explicit in a single verse: 'Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment' — superficial condemnation is barred, righteous evaluation commanded. Davies and Allison's ICC *Matthew* defend this reading, as does Hans Dieter Betz's Hermeneia *Sermon on the Mount*. On the Pauline side, Anthony Thiselton's NIGTC *1 Corinthians* distinguishes the eschatological verdict on hidden motives that Paul defers in 1 Corinthians 4:5 ('judge nothing before the time') from the present-tense disciplinary action Paul mandates in 5:12 ('do not ye judge them that are within?'). These are different objects: ultimate verdicts on the heart belong to God; ordering the visible life of the community belongs to the church. The lexical and contextual work genuinely softens the contradiction.
Where the tension does not fully dissolve is at the level of moral consistency in application. Matthew 7:1-2 does not merely forbid hypocrisy; it grounds the prohibition in a reciprocal principle — 'with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again' — that reads as a general norm, not a narrow rule about the censorious. And Paul's handling of the Corinthian offender is hard to square with his counsel to the Romans. In 1 Corinthians 5:3-5 he has 'judged already, as though I were present,' the man who has his father's wife, and commands the assembly to 'deliver such an one unto Satan' — a verdict pronounced at a distance, on a single report, with severe consequence. That is not gentle discernment; it is sentence. The same Paul who tells the Romans 'why dost thou judge thy brother?' (14:10) judges a brother in Corinth from Ephesus. Dale Allison, in *The Sermon on the Mount*, observes the standing tension between Jesus' radical prohibition and the early communities' practical need for discipline, and grants that the churches were already negotiating it in real time. It is worth noting that Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 5 address different objects too — disputable matters of conscience (food, days) in Romans versus flagrant public immorality in Corinth — which softens but does not erase the inconsistency, since the underlying principle Jesus articulates is framed as general.
Where the critical reading lands: weak-to-moderate, and largely a translation-and-context issue. The semantic range of krinō and the immediate contexts resolve most of the surface collision, distinguishing forbidden condemnation from commanded discernment; a residual ethical inconsistency remains in how Paul himself applies the principle.
Sources for this reading