There are three distinct kinds of judgment presented in scripture which it is important for the Christian to understand, namely, self-judgment, church-judgment, and divine-judgment.
1. Self-judgment. This is the solemn duty of every true Christian. It is impossible for anyone to get on who does not sedulously cultivate the habit of judging himself. We are brought into the light of the divine judgment, so that we may see things as God sees them, judge of them as He judges, and have His thoughts about all that is passing around us. In this light it is that we are called to judge ourselves. While we walked in nature’s darkness, we could neither form a correct judgment about ourselves nor aught else. But being brought into the light, as God is in the light — having His word and His Spirit, we have both the intelligence and the power to try the things that differ, and to judge the roots and principles of evil in our own hearts, so that they may not show themselves above the surface of practical life.
The ground on which we exercise this judgment, is that God will not impute anything to us, inasmuch as He has already imputed all our sin and guilt to Jesus, on the cross. It is as those who are reconciled to God, who stand in grace, and to whom there is, and can be, no condemnation, that we judge ourselves. If we look at the question of judgment from a legal stand-point, or through a legal medium, we shall be sure to get into a dark, low, servile condition of soul. It is as those who stand in unclouded grace, and breathe the very atmosphere of love, that we carry on the needed and salutary work of self-judgment. The most advanced believer has in him a mass of things demanding constant watchfulness. There are lusts, passions, and tempers to be bridled and subdued. “The members which are upon the earth” are to be mortified. A rigid censorship is to be continually exercised over nature in all its workings. And all this, be it carefully noted, and deeply pondered, is grounded upon the great fact that “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” If we lose sight of this, the needed work of self-judgment cannot possibly proceed. It is only as we see the judgment of the old nature and all its belongings, in the cross of Christ, that we can judge the roots of evil in our own hearts, day by day. It is as those who have gotten life and righteousness in a risen Savior, that we judge ourselves.
2. Where, then, does church-judgment come in? We believe that church-judgment becomes needful in all cases in the which self-judgment has been neglected. If we look, for a moment, at Matt. 18:15-17,15Moreover 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. 16But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. (Matthew 18:15‑17) we shall find a striking illustration of this point. If there is a spirit of self-judgment in the trespassing brother, there will be a readiness to listen to others and own himself wrong. But if there be not this spirit, there will be self-vindication, and then the assembly must be called into the scene, and the obstinate, unsubdued, self-justifying trespasser is treated as “a heathen man and a publican.”
Again, in 1 Cor. 5, If “that wicked person” had only judged the incipient workings, the earliest buddings of evil in his heart; if he had put the bridle upon his lust, if he had mortified his members, the assembly would not have been troubled; but, inasmuch as he suffered the evil in his nature to show itself in his conduct, the Church became involved, and was responsible before God to act in the matter. The assembly is not affected by the evil in my nature, so long as that evil is not suffered to act; or, in the event of its acting, if it be faithfully judged, confessed, and put away. It is when evil is suffered to act, where it is allowed to show itself, that the assembly is bound to deal with it, on God’s behalf, and for the maintenance of the claims of truth and holiness.
How careful, then, should we be to exercise self-judgment, so that church-judgment may not be called for! It is truly deplorable when we so carry ourselves in private life as to cut out work for our brethren. How much rather should we, so far as in us lies, seek to promote the spiritual health and happiness, the prosperity and progress of the assembly with which we may happen to be locally connected, as well as of the whole Church of God. “None of us liveth to himself.” And it is a most solemn and weighty consideration that I am, at this moment, either helping or hindering members of the body of Christ whose faces I may never have seen in the flesh. This, though a stumbling-block to human reason, is only a simple deduction from that great cardinal truth of the unity of the body of Christ upon earth. “There is one body, and one Spirit.” And again, “God hath tempered the body together......That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular.” 1 Cor. 12:24-2724For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: 25That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:24‑27).
We shall not pursue the subject of the unity of the body of Christ, to which we have merely referred in connection with our immediate theme, and for the purpose of urging upon the Christian reader the need of self-judgment. The unity of the body is either a mere human theory or a divine reality. We believe it to be the latter, and hence the walk of the individual affects the whole. We cannot possibly take independent ground, for if we are connected with the Head, we are connected with all the members, and this connection forms the basis of a responsibility which we cannot shake off. Reason may exclaim, “How can these things be?” &c. Faith replies, “God has said it,” and this suffices for all those who have set to their seal that God is true.
3. And, now, a word as to divine-judgment and the place which it occupies. We have seen that where self-judgment is not exercised, the assembly becomes involved. But, then, if the assembly fails to judge, what is to be done? God must come in. Solemn thought! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” Look at the case of Achan, in Josh. 7. Go and gaze upon that great heap of stones in the valley of Achor. What does it mean? What inscription does it bear? What lesson does it teach? It teaches, in the most solemn way, that “The Lord will judge his people,” if His people do not judge themselves. If Achan had judged the rising thought of covetousness in his heart, the congregation would not have been involved; and if there had been power in the congregation to detect and judge the evil, God would not have had to judge the congregation; but seeing that there was neither self-judgment, nor congregational-judgment, there was the urgent demand for divine-judgment. God can pardon, He can cancel; but He cannot sanction; and therefore if the ruins of Jericho bespoke the presence of God in victory, the heap of stones in the valley of Achor bespoke His presence in judgment.
So also, when we turn to the New Testament, we learn the same solemn lesson. Look at Ananias and Sapphira in the fifth chapter of Acts. Is not that a solemn act of judgment in the house of God? And, again, look at those sickly and sleeping ones referred to in the eleventh chapter of first Corinthians. Do not they furnish an illustration of that deeply solemn truth, that “Judgment must begin at the house of God?” Assuredly they do. “For this cause many are weak, and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” Let us note this. What a vast difference between God’s present judgment of His house, and His future judgment of the world! The Father judges His children, in holy, loving discipline, in order that they may not be condemned with the world. We can read “No condemnation” just as distinctly, amid the governmental dealings of 1 Cor. 11, as in the apostolic teachings of Rom. 8. We expect to find it in the latter; but to find it in the former, illustrates, in a most striking manner, the ground which believers occupy in a risen Christ. But, as for “the world,” “God will judge it in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31).