Seeing a verse in its context is essential...Matthew 7:1-6

 

"It's right up here."  One of my grandsons and I headed up a little side trail to get to the top of the falls.  We were getting a little closer to the source.  I feel this way when we study the context of a passage of scripture rather than just a verse that has been quoted over and over and tied to many different situations.  Our first verse of the passage this week is one of them, "Do not judge, so that you will not be judged." (Matthew 7:1, LSB)

On its own it sounds like we should never judge anyone else and that if we don't judge anyone else then no one will ever judge us.  Just typing that last sentence you see how unrealistic it is.  But in the context of the passage and more largely the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7), Jesus is emphasizing not if we judge but how we judge.  The passage shows us how to judge (how to remove the speck from your brother's eye) and the whole sermon is laying out how not to be like the Pharisees who were judging others wrongly.  We live in a world of good and evil, right and wrong and we need to discern and judge to remain on a godly path.

What is holy in this passage is the act of first removing the plank, beam, log (obvious sin) in your eye so that you can rightly remove the speck (sin) in your brother's eye.  Both actions are needed and both require judgment, the right kind.  Jesus says in John 7:24 (LSB),

"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Jesus gives a judgment on those who don't remove the plank first and calls them hypocrites and He also gives the judgment of dogs and swine who trample and tear to pieces our message (the pearl of great price) while we are operating with unrighteous judgment toward one another.  

So the verse so often quoted as a point the finger at you is actually a verse that Jesus uses to help His disciples to judge differently and really highlights the need to deal with sin.  The plank, beam, log is sin and the speck is sin.  First deal with your own known sin and then delicately address the sin in your brother's eye.  If you don't, you are unqualified to judge another in a godly manner.  It is not if you judge but how you judge.

Adam