Romans 3:23- For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
James 1:5 – If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Romans 12:17-21 – Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Throughout our lives, we sometimes forget that we are not perfect – or should I say, we all have faults, even if they might be different from the faults of others around us. They are still faults. The passage in Romans 3:23 reminds us of this, it tells us that we have all sinned and all come short of the glory of God.
No matter what, if we keep this in mind, it will help us to build humbleness and humility in our lives. When we remember this it will remind you and me that we have faults in our life that have also made us fall short of the glory of God. Faults that have put us in the wrong with God and yet, He loved you and me and through His Son we have forgiveness and salvation. We must remember this.
Furthermore, let us remember that if we lack wisdom we can ask it of God, who gives liberally, and it will be given to us if we come in humility and humbleness to His will.
Two Timothy 3:16 tells us that all scripture is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and for instruction in righteousness. At times it is difficult to see your own faults and sins, but this only comes from pride, stubbornness, selfishness, or just simply not knowing or being blinded to it. Either way, whatever the reason might be, we need to be taught and be corrected, or even rebuked if it’s necessary, so that we may go towards righteousness.
The Word of God in Hebrews 12:6-11 says that the Lord will chasten/discipline the ones He loves. Discipline isn’t ever easy and at times it is very difficult. Being chastened can be a simple correction or teaching and other times it can be a personal rebuke for what is wrong in your life.
A rebuke does not mean that one doing the rebuking doesn’t love you, but it is in fact the opposite: one that truly loves and cares for you will try every way possible to help you see and understand what is wrong in your life. A true servant of God will also do his duty to instruct you in righteousness, through the Word of God, to help you grow.
Now there are some that rebuke or try to correct out of hate, rebellion, jealousy, pride, or out of arrogance. Even so, we should not return evil for evil; instead, we do what Romans 12:17-21 states: to overcome evil with good. If someone hungers or thirsts, give him food or drink; if he is rude, pay it back with kindness, if he is arrogant, pay it back with humility, if he is hateful, pay it with love. By doing so you will put “coals of fire” over his head. Let us remember we are of Christ and not of the evil one.
I would next like to go into the book of Matthew, chapter 7, to go through a passage that at times is taken out of context.
Matthew 7:1-5 – Judge (Krino – In Greek = final say on one’s life) not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.1 Corinthians 2:15 – But he that is spiritual judgeth (Anakrino – In Greek = Discerning right from wrong, examining and questioning) all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
We hear this passage a lot , but usually only the first two verses out of the five. When a brother or sister in Christ (or even a non believer) tells you an action or the way you present is not according to God’s Word, we usually hear one of the following from the Christian:
“You can’t judge me because the bible tells you Judge not (Krino).”
“do you think you are better? You have faults or sins too!”
“That’s not your place to say.”
“God can only judge, you can’t”
When we look at the full context of the first part of the passage, it states that, “judge not, if you do judge, you will be judged with the same measure.” What was the reason why? We must go a bit into the Greek language to understand better the word used for judge.
Here the word is Krino (Matthew 7) this words means passing a final judgement on one’s life for what he or she is doing, an authority that we do not have and is left to God. The statement of “judge not” is for the ones that judge and assume theirs is the final say for your life. So if a fellow brother or sister in Christ judges (krino) you, then they will also be judged with that measure towards them by God Himself. On top of this, the fellow people who were judging here were also hypocrites. These people love to point out other’s mistakes, but leave theirs’s hidden or unexposed to make themselves seem holy while others are always sinners and unclean.
Whenever we come to a brother or sister, to confront something they are doing, we must come to judge in (anakrino – 1 Corinthians 2:15) what was done as wrong otherwise we would not approach them to let them know something is wrong. The passage in 1 Corinthians 2:15 uses the word anakrino – a judgment of discerning what is wrong from right which all spiritual men or women will do that follow Christ. But whatever we question as wrong must always come from the Word of God, for what matters is God’s Word, which is truth and righteousness and not our own theories, thoughts, or ideas.
By doing this we then judge (anakrino); this type of judgement is allowed authority from God’s for us to judge one and another, to discern right from wrong which will allow us to keep better accountability of one another to make sure we do not turn from the right path back to our old ways.
Matthew continues to say, “you notice the mote in your brother’s eye [which is a small piece of substance] but you don’t see the beam in yours?” He first says to remove your beam, that is the first step you must do, take care of your beam; then you can see clearly to help your brother remove his mote/spec. This speaks also to the ones who are hypocrites or may be blinded to the truth – remove yours and then you can help your brother’s wrong (anakrino).
I would like to clarify: if we are brothers and sisters in Christ it means we live in light and we recognize the darkness, we will see faults and sins in others. This is why attending church is not recommended but mandatory for children of God. It is a place of fellowship with your family to grow, as well as a place that will keep us accountable for the promises we make to God and to ourselves. It is where we meet our brothers and sisters for them to keep us accountable of sins and faults that we as Christians must remove from our life.
This isn’t easy all the time. It takes action on your part as well as sacrifice. We need humility as well as knowing that we are capable of faults in our life.
John 8:7 – So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Ephesians 4:2 – With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Matthew 18:15 – Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Galatians 6:1- Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
We see in John 8 a place where a woman was caught in adultery and they brought her to Jesus to see what they must do. The law commanded that she be stoned. Yet Jesus responded and said that who was without sin among the group of people to let them first cast the stone. And as we see none cast the first stone.
Why? Because all have sinned.
This is an important lesson for us to take. We are not to cast stones, we are not the final judge, that is God. What we must do is written in Ephesians 4:2: with lowliness and meekness and longsuffering we should forbear one and another in love.
You may ask, “how do we do this?”
Matthew 18 tells us that if we see a brother/sister trespass against God, you go and tell the fault to him or her alone, this is to make no scene or have others know what is happening; it is your place to help others in love not create embarrassment. And it says that if that person hears you, then you have gained your brother.
The reason we do this is because in Galetians it says if a man is overtaken in a fault you, or whomever is spiritual, should help restore the one, in meekness, considering yourself lest thou be tempted. When it says “consider yourself” it means to not consider yourself above the same fall, or same fault or sin, in your life otherwise you may also be tempted without realizing it.
What we do is in meekness to help each other grow in Christ and become better servants to our Lord and better servants with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
James 1:5 – If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
In conclusion, we must remember the life of a Child of God is a continuous growth as a servant, in His Word, in Holiness, and in Spirit. If we truly have made Jesus Christ our Lord not only will we ask of Him wisdom, the one that has all wisdom but we will also do everything in our power to make sure we live in His truth and light so that every moment of our life brings Him glory and brings our life closer to Him in holiness.
This means that we should take everything our brothers and sisters say to us into consideration and study the Word of God to see if whatever has been revealed, whatever fault or sin was put into light, to see if it’s true. If it is, we must then take action to make sure we transform our life closer to Christ. This is what it means to be a new creation and ambassador of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Whatever we do, say, act, dress, think should be how Jesus Christ would be – this is to be a true ambassador.
I pray that this has touched you and you have learned something today to apply into your life.
God Bless!