Who has the
authority to judge someone else? This is
a very important question. In the court
of law, there is the plantiff and the defendant. Each of them believes themself to be correct
and the other person to be at fault, but neither has the authority to actually
make a ruling. Nor do their lawyers,
when it comes down to it. It is the
judge alone who has the authority to make a ruling on the court case. But even then, the judge only has that
authority because it has been given to him by the government and by the law. It is the power of the government and the law
that pronounces judgment, wielded by the judge.
We need to look at
Christian judgment in the exact same way.
The question is not “Who should I judge” or “When should I judge,” but
rather “Do I even have the authority to judge in this matter?” Christians do not automatically have the
authority to judge because we’re such great and holy people. We can be just as broken and sinful and
limited as the world. Only God has the
authority to judge.
