The New Way

 

I believe the only way they can both be true is if we have wrongly defined the words “Do not judge” as meaning we should not make critical thinking evaluations.

 

My husband loves to sing Barbershop music.   That's men who sing 4 part acapella (without instrumental accompaniment – just voices).    It's a very beautiful form of music and quite difficult to do correctly.     David sang with a large group, called the “Peninsulaires” chorus and with quartets called “Daves and Confused” and “In Flux” while we lived in California.   About every 6 months there would be a competition, when all the choruses and quartets in the area would come together and compete.   Now, it was nice to be ranked – especially if you were number 1 in the group.   But the real purpose of the competition was to get the judge's comments.   There would be a group of 6 or more judges who would listen to each group and evaluate their performance.   They would say things like: “You missed the notes on measure 42,” or “You went flat in this section.”  “You need to have more expression,” or “Don't move your hands so much.”      

 

I want us to take this word “evaluation” and look at it.   In the Barbershop Competitions, there are things we could say about the “evaluation”.  

 

#1       it was objective.  The judges were not being mean or harsh.  They were just evaluating the performance based on their belief of what was correct or best. 

#2       it was not demeaning.  The judges' goal was to get the chorus or quartets to do better – not to discourage their participation. 

#3       it was not condemning.   By this I mean that just because a group sounded bad on this particular day didn't mean that they would always be ranked 15 out of 15.   In fact, usually those groups that ranked low at one competition would noticeably raise their scores in the next competition.  Why?   Because they addressed their trouble spots. 

 

Okay – back to the study.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:1, “Don't judge!”   And in Matthew 7:6, “Judge!” 

 

I believe the key is found in the Greek translation.  I am not a Greek scholar, but when you look at the Greek words, they seem to be different.  Both krino and anakrino are translated into the English word “judge”.   But they seem to have different flavors.

 

The definition given for krino is to condemn, punish, avenge, conclude, damn, decree or sentence to.  Jesus says not to do that!

 

The definition given for anakrino is to scrutinize, to investigate, to interrogate, to determine, to discern, to judge, to search.  Jesus says to do that!

 

I believe Jesus is teaching that we shouldn't act like we are superior and can pass judgement on others.   But we should use our minds to determine what is right and good and what is wrong.   Don't turn off your brain!   Use your critical thinking to determine whether a person is walking with Jesus or not.  Use your critical thinking to determine who you want to emulate or follow.   Be wise and careful.  Learn what is right and what is wrong and be able to evaluate decisions and choices.

 

Read Romans 14:4   

 

Why should we not judge (krino)?