Friday Night Message – To Judge or Not to Judge

Mar. 3, 2023

Good evening brethren, 

I find language to be interesting.  It is not always neat and precise, like mathematics.  It is often more of an art than a science.  Take a word, and look it up in the dictionary.  Oftentimes the entry for the word can have multiple meanings …sometimes just a nuance or slight difference, while at other times significantly different meanings for the same word.  

In order to draw an analogy, think for a moment about the phenomenon of electro-magnetic radiation.  It is a type of energy that takes on many different forms: radio waves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, gamma rays, cosmic rays.  It’s all the same kind of energy, just varying in the wavelength: longer waves yield lower energy, shorter waves yield higher energy.  

And even visible light can be separated into a whole spectrum of colors by a prism, each color differing in wavelength.    Red–orange–yellow-green-blue-purple  

The word “judgment” is kind of like light.  Although it is a single word, it can have many shades or colors of meanings, each important and significant in its own right.  

According to Webster’s dictionary entry for the word JUDGMENT – the word is derived from two Old English words, law and to declare.

Here are some of definitions for judgment, from the dictionary: discernment, understanding, good sense, an ability to come to an opinion, the power of comparing or deciding …criticism, censure, sentencing, condemnation.  That’s quite a spectrum of meanings for a single word. 

In this new series of Friday Night Messages beginning today, let’s look more closely at this word “judgment”, to see if we can come to more clearly understand what it means for us as Christians. Is judgment something that we are to have and to grow in, or is it something that we are to avoid altogether and eliminate from our lives?  Or could it be both, depending upon the multiple meanings and nuances of this word “judgment”.

This series of messages is named “To Judge, Or Not To Judge?”

Let me start by saying that this is not a simple subject.  You can’t just go to the Hebrew and Greek and come up with any pat answers.  Just as with the English language, Hebrew and Greek use words that are translated into English variously as “to judge”, “judging”, “judgment”, and the like ….and these words can have a wide range of meaning.

So you can’t depend solely upon concordances and lexicons or the etymology of words to come to any reliable conclusions.  As always, you need to look at the context, and you need to refer to other Biblical passages and principles in order to come up with sound results.

For the purpose of this series, I would like to give two very broad categories or types of judgment – condemnation, and discernment: 

• Under the general heading of condemnation go such meanings as harsh criticism, sentencing, passing judgment, censure, and the like.  

Matt. 7:1-2 – 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.

• Under the general heading of discernment go such things as distinguishing right from wrong, having understanding or good sense, the ability to compare and decide.

Heb. 5:14 - …solid food belongs to those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Beginning next Friday Night, we will delve into this subject with considerable detail.

Have a rejuvenating Sabbath,

Fred