Tag: Judgment

Morning Musings: Psalm 103:8-12

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“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

For anyone who would argue that the God of the Old Testament is somehow different from the God of the New Testament by being much angrier and more focused on judgment, you have to explain away passages like this one.  And this is not the only time this characterization appears in the Old Testament.   Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Psalm 94:8-11

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If you noticed something different about that title, you are not mistaken.  In an effort to keep things fresh and to make sure you know what you’re getting into when you start reading, I’m going to introduce a new section of the blog.  I’ll call this new part, “Morning Musings” (with many thanks to Ron for the title).   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (Part 2)

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“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. . . .For what have I to do with judging outsiders?  Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?  God judges those outside.  ‘Purge the evil person from among you.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

So in the last note, we talked about the fact that there are times and situations when it is right and appropriate for the church to remove an incorrigibly errant member from its fellowship.  I said at the end that there is another part to Paul’s argument here.  Verse 11 (the focus of part one) is surrounded by verses dealing with this other part.  The ratio is 4:1.  Why so much more on this here than that there?  Because Paul likely understood that our temptation would be to get his intention in v. 11 backwards (boy was he right!) and he wanted to try and keep us from doing that.   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (Part 1)

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“But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler–not even to eat with such a one.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is tough stuff!  Let’s just lay bear what Paul is saying here: If someone insists on claiming the name of Christ, but is also incorrigibly committed to a lifestyle of sin, we are to kick them out of the church and not even be willing to fellowship with them.  Can you imagine anything that would so fly in the face of our culture or be so inviting of a lawsuit today?  Why would Paul call us to such a thing?   Read the rest…

You Can’t Judge Me!

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One of the charges often leveled against Christians today is that we are a judgmental lot.  And the truth is…we can be.  Folks will point to one of the many passages that call Christians not to judge others and accuse us of hypocrisy.  And the truth is…sometimes they’re right.

But, before we lean too hard into the charges and move to the place that some have gone of refusing to pronounce any behavior or attitude wrong, we need to clarify some things.  In the New Testament there are two different kinds of judgment.  One is not good and we are told over and over not to do it.  The other is actually one we are specifically called and even encouraged to make.  If we get these mistaken, we can wind up doing or allowing more harm than good.   Read the rest…