“Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
Judge not, that you be not judged. The opening command of the Sermon's final chapter is its most frequently quoted and most frequently misunderstood verse. Judge not is not a prohibition on all discernment or evaluation — the chapter itself commands evaluation (verses 6, 15–20) and assumes the capacity to distinguish false prophets from true ones. The prohibition is on the judgmental posture that renders verdicts on others from a position of moral superiority while ignoring one's own failures. Luke 6:37 adds to this: do not condemn, do not judge, and you will not be condemned. The judgment that is prohibited is the harsh, condemning judgment that claims the right to determine another person's moral worth.
Church Fathers on Matthew 7:1
Since when these temporal things are provided beforehand against the future, it is uncertain with what purpose it is done, as it may be with a single or double mind, He opportunely subjoins, 'Judge not.'
Otherwise; He has drawn out thus far the consequences of his injunctions of almsgiving; He now takes up those respecting prayer. And this doctrine is in a sort of continuation of that of the prayer; as though it should run, 'Forgive us our debts,' and then should follow, 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'
But if He forbids us to judge, how then does Paul judge the Corinthian who had committed uncleanness? Or Peter convict Ananias and Sapphira of falsehood?
Read all 10 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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