Judging
Carlos M.Aguilar

Often today, it is simply not safe to have an opinion. In an age of lawsuits, and damages assessed by relying on human opinion and judgment, doctors, mechanics, and engineers find it safer to rely on their instruments to give the judgment. They only pass judgment on what these accurate instruments say. This is one of the reasons why medical costs have soared. Many of us have experienced going to the doctor or hospital where many tests are run. All of which cost money. These tests for better or worse enable the doctor to make a better judgment on what is wrong with you. Years ago they would have to pass judgment on you, only to find out they were wrong. This is the terrible side to human opinion and judgment. This danger is set forth clearly in the proverb:

 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov 14:12).

 How many times have we read in the paper of people who while in their hobby or occupation thought they were doing something right, but the end result was their death or the death of others. It happens to pilots and air traffic controllers, to mechanics and engineers, to police and fire fighters. Sad to say it also happens to Christians. Jesus wants this danger minimized. He warns us clearly and forcefully to be careful about our own opinion and judgment. We read in 

Matt 7:2, “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” 

I am sure many of you have wrestled with this Scripture over the years seeking for its exact meaning. There are so many times when Christians have to make decisions; decisions about convictions, doctrines, morals, teachings, when to discipline others, when to call something a false doctrine, and when to proclaim something immoral or sinful. We are charged with going into the entire world to preach the gospel to the whole creation. 

“And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).

 We are charged with demanding that others keep Jesus’ commands, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" Amen (Matt 28:18-20)

, and to rebuke them and withdraw from them if they refuse (Matt 18:15-18). Yet we are not to judge! It is absolutely forbidden for us to judge, and these passages do not nullify this command. The answer to all this is simple, clear and powerful. John writes, 

“And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:47-48).

We only have to follow Jesus’ example! He never judged for He did not come to judge! He came to save! In all his preaching and teaching in the gospels, He never violated the command not to judge. Jesus worked while on the earth the same way that doctors and others do today. He did not judge alone. He used the Father as His absolute standard of judgment. In John 8:15-16 we read, 

“You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.”

 Also John 5:30 says, 

“I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

 This is exactly what He now wants us to do with the Word that He has spoken: John 12:48. We never have to judge just like he never did! All we have to do is apply the Word to the lives of others. If we do this without adding our own opinion or emotions to it, then we have fulfilled His command not to judge. If we go beyond this then we become something we do not ever want to be: 

“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? (James 4:11-12).

When God’s people start forming opinions based upon their own assessment and judgment, they are actually placing themselves above the law. They have stopped being like the Lord and begun violating the command not to judge. Since there is only one Lawgiver and Judge (Jesus Christ), every time we judge another we set ourselves over Him. God only wants us applying the Words of Jesus Christ to the doctrinal beliefs and moral standards of others. He does not want us passing our own conclusions. We simply are incapable of doing it. In 1Cor 4:3-5, Paul told the Corinthians that he had no concern for their judgment over him, nor did he have much concern for his own judgment of Himself. He wasn’t going to be the standard! No one can judge before the time! We do not have the measuring instrument necessary to do it! Only God can see into the hearts where the secret things dwell. The Word of God can do this for us for our own hearts, but that is all: Heb 4:12. It is beyond man’s ability to do this.

CHURCH HISTORY: A BIBLICAL VIEW
Part II - No. 7 Compiled and written by Gary Eubanks

Many later doctrinal controversies within the church pertained to the question of Christ's nature. Some of the later books in the New Testament indicate that even before the end of the First Century false concepts concerning the nature of Christ were beginning to arise. John's epistles seem to have been especially written to combat growing misconceptions in this area (I Jn. 1:1-3; 2:18,22; 4:2,3).

The second great doctrinal crisis that the church faced was Gnosticism. The origin and nature of Gnosticism are shrouded in mystery. Perhaps one could most accurately describe it as a religious philosophy. Gnosticism was in the world before the church began, but how or where it began is unknown. One thing that makes Gnosticism so difficult to understand is that it is a combination of features from many different systems of thought. Babylonian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek and Jewish elements can be observed in Gnosticism. It came in a variety of different forms and evolved through the years. Thus, the Gnosticism that the church faced in the Second Century may have been quite different from what it faced in the Third Century. However, Gnosticism arose in the East and presented a real challenge to the church in the Second and Third Centuries. Gnosticism attained the height of its influence in the years 135-160 A.D.

The name, "Gnosticism," comes from the Greek term "gnosis," meaning "knowledge." However, the knowledge which Gnosticism advocated was not a knowledge that could be obtained through study or observation. Rather, it was a mystical, supernatural wisdom. According to Gnosticism, God is at the head of the spiritual world of light called the "pleroma." Certain fragments of this world, or seeds of light, fell into the visible world of darkness and evil and were imprisoned. These captive "sparks" of light reside in men and need to be recovered or reintegrated with the realm of light. The means of recovery was the "knowledge" which Christ came to reveal. However, not everyone was capable of receiving this "knowledge" by which one was freed from bondage to the visible world and brought into communion with true spiritual realities.

Thus, Gnostics believed that the visible, physical world was inherently and altogether evil. Only "spirit" was good. Of course, this presented the Gnostics with a problem of how the world was originated. If God is "spirit" and therefore wholly good, how could He have created something evil like the physical world. Gnostics solved this problem by simply denying that the high God, whom Christ revealed, was the One who made the physical world. Gnostics conceived of many ranks of "aeons," or angels, bridging the gap between God and the physical world. The highest of aeons was nearly entirely free of matter while the rank next to man and his physical world was almost wholly material. Between God and the physical world were many ranks of aeons of various degrees of spirituality or corporeality. One of these aeons was known as the "Demiurge," an imperfect and inferior being, who created the world. Gnostics also identified the Demiurge with the God of the Jews and the God of the Old Testament. The God of the New Testament is the high God revealed by Christ.

The Gnostic view of the physical world also led to misconceptions concerning the nature of Christ. Since anything physical is evil, Gnostics concluded that Christ could not have really come in the flesh. This problem was resolved by resorting to Docetism (from the Greek term, "dokeo," meaning "seem"), the idea that Christ had not really come in the flesh but only "seemed" to be fleshly. Christ was really a phantom, or a ghost-like apparition, according to Gnosticism (Lk. 24:36-43). This explains the emphasis placed upon Jesus' incarnation in John's writings (Jn.; I Jn. 1:1-3; 4:2,3; II Jn. 7). Some Gnostics believed that Christ came and dwelt in the man, Jesus, when He was baptized and left Him shortly before His crucifixion (I Jn. 2:18,22).

The views of Gnostics also affected their ethics — oddly, in two extremely different ways. Since the flesh was evil, it should be abused. Gnostics sought to abuse the flesh by asceticism — by extreme self-denial of physical comforts, or even necessities, to the body (I Tim. 4:1-5; Col. 2:20-23). Other Gnostics felt that since the body and soul were two entirely separate entities, then each should be allowed t6 take their different pathways, for nothing done by one would affect the other. Of course, this led to gross indulgences of the flesh - something which was vigorously attacked by the New Testament writers (II Tim. 3:1-7; II Pet. 2:1,2,12-19; I Jn. 3:4-10; Jude 4,8,16; Rev. 2:14,15,20-24).

Marcion came from Asia Minor to Rome in 139 where he fell under Gnostic influences and was finally excommunicated in 144. Marcion's Gnosticism was heavily anti-Judaistic in flavor. The God of the Old Testament was weak and harsh. Christ revealed the good God of mercy. Paul was supposedly the only apostle who faithfully understood the gospel. All the others fell into Judaism. The Old Testament, and its God, are therefore to be entirely rejected. The ascetic life is the proper one to follow. Marcion gathered his followers into a separate sect and compiled a canon of sacred books for their use. They included ten epistles of Paul and the Gospel of Luke and had been expurgated of all passages which indicated that the God of the Old Testament was the Father of Christ. Marcion's followers survived into the Fifth Century.

Montanism was not actually a form of Gnosticism, but it did have some things in common with it. Not long after the time of Marcion, one by the name of Montanus from Asia Minor began a reform movement in the church. The expectation of a speedy return of Christ had gradually dimmed and worldliness was very much on the increase in the church. Consequently, Montanus arose in 156 and proclaimed that he was an instrument of the Holy Spirit, laying claim to the promise of Christ that He was to send the Holy Spirit upon His disciples (Jn. 15:26). With prophetic vigor Montanus rose up and proclaimed the approaching end of the world, the dawning of the age of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly Jerusalem was about to be set up in Phrygia, and that asceticism ought to be practiced in preparation for this time. The bishops of Asia Minor convened some synods and condemned Montanism, but it attracted those who observed too much worldliness in the church, and the movement continued for years after Montanus. 

Is There Really a Hell?
Gerald Elliott

    We don't like to admit it but what the persons around us think and say has a big influence in our own thinking. I have heard persons complain when preaching is hard and sin is condemned. These will say, "Teach the way Jesus did. Teach about love and concern for others." Jesus did teach about love and His instructions will lead us to show our concern for those in physical and spiritual need. Just as importantly, Jesus talked about hell. In fact, Jesus talked about hell more than all other teachers. He promised heaven to those who followed Him, but He also warned of hell to those who rejected him.

    American society doesn't want a set standard that will judge morality and lifestyle. The people around us want to establish their own standard and live by their own rules with no fear of judgment from anyone, including Jesus. We are accustomed to hearing the words of Jesus used out of context and misquoted, "Judge not." We must understand that Jesus spoke of judgement more than anyone else and told us of rewards in heaven, but Jesus also taught of the reality of hell. Hell is not only real, but awaits those who are outside of Jesus and disobedient to His word. Listen to the words of Jesus.

    In the parable of the talents, Jesus pronounced the slave who hid his talent guilty and deserving of hell. 'And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing & teeth." (Matthew 25:30). In that same chapter Jesus gives us a glimpse of judgment. Those who have not served Jesus by doing His will were separated to the left. "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:41)

    The existence of hell is just as much a reality in the preaching of Jesus as the existence of heaven. The reward of heaven for God's faithful is no more certain than the punishment of everlasting fire in hell for those who refuse to follow Jesus. Surveys tell us that more than half the population in the United States doesn't believe in the existence of hell. Some persons say that a loving God would not send His creation there. Just remember, we cannot build a box and put God in it. We must accept Him as He has revealed Himself. 