Matthew 7:1

"Matthew."

Key Reflection

In the first-century Jewish context, Jesus' instruction to "Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged" (Matthew 7:1) was a radical challenge to conventional wisdom and social norms. This command came during the Sermon on the Mount and followed teachings about prayer and fasting. For Jesus’ audience, who lived in a society where ethical judgment was common practice, this statement would have been profoundly subversive, urging them to adopt a stance of humility and compassion rather than harsh criticism.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

MATTHEW CHAPTER 7 Verse 1. Judge not, etc. This command refers to rash, censorious, and unjust judgment. See Ro 2:1. Lu 6:37 explains it in the sense of condemning. Christ does not condemn judging as a magistrate, for that, when according to justice, is lawful and necessary. Nor does he condemn our forming an opinion of the conduct of others, for it is impossible not to form an opinion of conduct that we know to be evil. But what he refers to is a habit of forming a judgment hastily, harshly, and without an allowance for every palliating circumstance, and of expressing such an opinion harshly and unnecessarily when formed.

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