And judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. Remit, and it shall be remitted to you.
The Lord has just told His disciples to be merciful, as their Father is merciful. Now He turns that mercy into three commands, and two questions follow: does "judge not" shut down all moral judgment, and what forgiveness does He promise in return?
Luke's version of this discourse does not close the section on love with a call to perfection, as Matthew's does. One commentator marks the difference and then shows what the shift produces in verse 37.
So the call in this Gospel is not the one in Matthew, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect," but "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." … Any believer can feel the force of a command like "Judge not, and you will not be judged." What is set before us here is the habit of fault-finding, the charging of people with bad motives, and the danger that it all comes back on us.
One writer, looking at the whole passage, sees these commands as the Father's own character, copied by children He has named as His own.
In verses 27-36 we see the character of God their Father, shown in the grace that came in Christ, and they were to copy it. Notice this: He makes the Father's name known, and He puts them in the place of children.
What the Lord bans is an inward habit, not honest judgment about right and wrong. It shows itself in three ways. We give other people needless attention. We assume bad motives. We stay harsh even where the fault is real.
There is a wrong spirit of judgment. Suppose I spend my time needlessly thinking about others and giving my opinion of them. Suppose that, in unclear cases, I put wrong motives on them, even in my own mind. Suppose I do not even hope that the real motive was a good one. Then I am in the spirit of judgment, and away from God. And if I am bound to judge that someone is at fault, but hardness towards the person takes hold of me, that is not the Spirit of God.
The same words suit anyone who wants no one looking at his conduct. One writer warns against that use and marks out two senses of judging.
Selfish people can easily abuse this principle. Suppose someone is living an evil life and uses this passage to deny that anyone has a right to judge his conduct. Clearly he has no conscience about it and no spiritual understanding. Self has blinded him, and he is only turning the Lord's words into an excuse for sin. … It is plain, therefore, that there is a sense in which I am to judge, and another in which I am not.
Even where a wrong is real, your aim decides how you speak of it. And how you treat others shapes how they treat you.
If we are to be merciful, we must drop the judging, critical attitude, even when others are wrong (v.37). We are not their masters. If we do speak of their wrongs, let it be from a real desire to see them restored and blessed, not to put them down. As a rule, if we hold back harsh criticism, we find others are less likely to criticize us. If we forgive others freely, they are more likely to forgive us. And we must remember that there are times when we need forgiveness too.
The third command turns from holding back to letting go. It runs straight on into the giving of verse 38.
On the other hand, the Lord says, "forgive, and you will be forgiven." (The older translation the writer used reads, "release, and it shall be released to you.") That is the spirit of grace when we are wronged. "Give, and it will be given to you." That is the spirit of large generosity. And who ever knew a giver who had nothing to give or to receive?
The forgiveness promised in return is not the settling of a sinner's eternal standing. Commenting on the matching promise in Matthew, one writer separates the two carefully.
The heavenly Father rules His children in holiness, and an unforgiving spirit brings His discipline. If someone wrongs us and we refuse to forgive, we will miss His forgiveness in the way He deals with us day by day. This is not about forgiveness for eternity. The Lord was speaking to disciples, and that great matter was already settled for them.
- Source. The measure is not fairness but the Father's own mercy. He first puts the disciple in the place of a child, then asks the child to act like Him.
- Restraint. The ban falls on a fault-finding spirit: needless opinions, bad motives read into people, harshness even where the fault is real.
- Discernment. The verse never cancels moral judgment; used to shield an evil course, it is turned into an excuse for sin. There is a judging we must do and a judging we must not.
- Release. Then comes action. To let a wrong go is the spirit of grace, and giving is that same spirit overflowing.
- Return. What comes back is the Father's forgiveness in His daily dealings with His children. The eternal question is already settled for them.
Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall be given into your bosom for with the same measure with which ye mete it shall be measured to you again.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.