“Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in a culture that hates judgment. Well, at least we profess and make a mean case of such a thing. But the truth is that we love judgment. We simply don’t like people judging us or people we count as our people. We’re very content to cast judgment on those who don’t meet with our standards whatever they are. This state of affairs makes the oft-lobbed criticism that Christians are too judgmental of a lot most ironic. Yet accusing followers of Jesus of being judgmental isn’t something the culture has the corner market on. Paul does it right here. Let’s talk about why and what he means.

I grew up through the days when one of the most daunting criticisms thrown at the feet of church people was that we needed to stop being so judgmental. The reason this was such a daunting critique was that as kids, we could think of times when the church really had been pretty judgmental. The most famous stories about the church from its history were always about times when it was intensely judgmental of people who disagreed with its position on this or that, challenged its authority, or otherwise didn’t fit the mold to which the church insisted everyone must conform. Among these stories, Galileo, the Spanish Inquisition, and the various witch trials were always the most salacious and sensational of the bunch.

The church needed to give up making moral judgments of anyone and just live and let live. We needed to accept that some people were just different from us, and that is okay. We need to loosen up and not worry so much about what people are doing in the privacy of their own homes…of their own bedrooms. These exhortations were often paired with heartbreaking stories of people who were judged, found wanting, and treated accordingly. There were people rejected by their communities and their families. Small towns were especially egregious when it came to this kind of thing. The only way to find safety was to leave your small town behind and head for the affirming anonymity of the big city.

But then something happened. This formerly cultural minority found themselves sitting in the seat of cultural power. All of the books and newspaper or magazine articles and blogs posts and movies and television shows and so on and so forth had finally done the trick. The country was on the whole sold on the importance of tolerating alternative viewpoints. Tolerance became the norm, and anyone who wasn’t sufficiently tolerant was now seen and often treated as the enemy.

But rather than sitting back and enjoying the spoils of victory, the cultural block that had been fighting for so long to achieve what they had won didn’t stop. They kept fighting. Tolerance wasn’t enough. The goalposts were shifted. Acceptance and even outright celebration became the new demand. Now, those who were not deemed sufficiently tolerant were judged harshly by the culturally ascendant new puritans. The religion was different, but expression matched at least the caricatured stories from the past in many ways. A lack of tolerance was met with quick judgment and a sometimes vicious intolerance.

This new dominant group grabbed the reins of power and hung on tightly as they steered the ship forward toward a yawning whirlpool that threatened to consume everything and everyone. It is only in the last few months that the tide has begun shifting back in the other direction as the culture has finally grown exhausted at the unceasing judgment of these new puritans. We will yet see just how far the shift back takes us and what it looks like when the new amplitude is reached.

Okay, but what does any of this have to do with what Paul says here in the opening verse of Romans 2? Well, those original warriors for a less judgmental culture had a point. Unmoored from the kind of philosophical foundation that could keep them from wildly overreaching, they eventually did just that, but their insistence that judging others – by which I mean making moral assessments of another person’s character, finding them wanting, and punishing them in some way for their failure to meet with the expected standards – is a bad thing actually rings resonantly with what Paul says here.

Now, in order to understand this, we need to keep in mind what we saw yesterday. Paul offered up a heaping dose of condemnation on those who “did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God,” and who “God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.” As we said then, it’s a pretty uncomfortable bit. In response to this, it is fairly easy to imagine some of the Jewish background believers in Paul’s audience – the believers who had grown up with the law and righteousness and knew that all of those things on Paul’s list were wrong and wouldn’t have thought about practicing…unlike all of these Gentile background believers around them who were probably steeped in such unsavory conduct before being dragged over the line of righteousness by God’s grace in Christ Jesus – starting to think rather highly of themselves. It’s easy to imagine them starting to look down on their Gentile background brothers and sisters, judging them fairly harshly. And for that matter, look at all of these foolish pagans around them who are in the grip of such unrighteousness and ungodliness. Paul was right to condemn all of them! They are without excuse.

But then, right when we might be expecting more judgment from Paul on the evil unbelievers around us, he suddenly flips the tables and condemns…them…for being so judgmental. It’s like Paul crosses the picket line and stands with the picketers screaming, “Who are you to judge me?!?” and says, “That’s right! Who are you to judge them?”

“Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse.” So, before it was people who had committed themselves to a path of unrighteousness who were without excuse. Now it’s the people who would judge those evil people who are without excuse in their actions. “For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.” It’s almost like he’s saying that everybody is guilty. And because everybody is guilty, nobody can serve as the judge of another person. Stay tuned on that point.

If you are a follower of Jesus and have ever considered casting moral disapproval on another person, but especially someone who isn’t following Jesus, you’d be wise to think again according to Paul. You’re not standing on very solid ground. If you have ever been guilty of any of the same things for which you would think to condemn them, or if you have ever been guilty of any other act of unrighteousness, then you are condemning yourself by your very condemnation. So just don’t do it.

Now, let’s split some hairs here for just a second because there are some important distinctions to make. Casting moral judgment on someone else and gently, lovingly calling a fellow follower of Jesus to live up to the standards of Christ’s righteousness when you’re aware they’re not doing that and they’re aware you’re aware of it, are not the same thing. Loving accountability is not what Paul has in mind here. Paul elsewhere is explicit that within the church, we are expected to hold each other accountable for the righteousness of Christ which is a form of judgment. But the judgment is rooted in the clearly revealed and displayed righteousness of Christ in the Scriptures and not merely our opinions about how others should behave. But when it comes to the behavior of people outside the church, while we can gently observe that behavior that is out of sync with the righteousness of Christ won’t have good consequences for those who pursue it, casting any kind of judgment or insisting that they measure up to standards for which they’ve never signed up is out of bounds. Way out of bounds. That’s God’s job, not ours.

Ultimately, what we think about how someone should behave doesn’t matter. God’s thoughts on the subject are the only ones that matter. He will hold people to that standard. That’s not something with which we need to concern ourselves. He will hold the standard fairly and consistently. He’ll hold it with the proper balance of justice and mercy; conviction and compassion. When we try to sit on His throne, we always make a mess of things. So, let’s just commit to not doing that. Let us love like Jesus and leave the rest to Him.