I do not believe true self-judgment ever stops at the act which necessitates it. About the act, it may be, there can be but one judgment; namely, that it was utterly wrong, unjustifiable, and inexcusable. But how came the act to be committed? It was not committed while the soul was walking in the presence of God, but when not so walking. The act itself, therefore, is but the index of a previous departure. The moment the soul is out of God's presence the door is open for the action of that flesh which is within—Satan works, the flesh acts, and practice dishonoring to God is the result.
Self-judgment, therefore, when true, pauses not at the act, though taking full cognizance of it, nor at the opening of the door which led to the act, though marking that likewise most fully. It goes back to the point of departure from the presence of God which led to the opening of the door for flesh's action, however far back that may be; and it is not thorough until that point has been reached and confessed before God.
As the word itself implies, it is self (not "act") judgment. Then the question arises, Who is the "self" upon whom this judgment is exercised? It is sometimes thought it is on the old man, the old nature that is in the believer; but I do not think so. I doubt its being correct to speak of self judgment (in the sense in which we now speak of it) as being the judgment of the old Adam nature that is in me; that, if I am a believer, and have known redemption, I have already accepted God's judgment about, both as to its character and deserts, recognizing by faith its judicial end in God's judgment of it on the cross, where sin in the flesh was condemned. This judgment is, or ought to be, a forever settled matter.
Before that full redemption was known by the soul, the old Adam nature did for that soul constitute "myself" according to the judgment of conscience; but for the believer who knows and enjoys redemption, it no longer does so. I doubt, therefore, the correctness of the statement that self -judgment by the believer is his judgment of the old Adam nature that is in him. A believer, in the sense in which I now use the term, is one who has a new nature as being born of God, has Christ as his life, is a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and has the Spirit of God dwelling in him. He has, no doubt, still the old nature within; but, as I have written, his settled judgment of that is that it is utterly bad, so much so that God has already dealt judicially with it on the cross.
In this new relationship in which he has been set, in this new nature and life he has been given, the believer is responsible to manifest the characteristics of the nature he has from God, and the relationship in which he is set with God. If I, as a believer, have failed to do this, and have manifested the old nature, the flesh, who has failed? Not the old nature, for it never was responsible for this (I mean this manifestation' of new nature, divine life); and upon whom is self-judgment to be exercised? Not on the old Adam, for its action has been quite consistent with its own character. Who then has failed? Who is to exercise self-judgment? and upon whom is he to exercise it?
"I," the responsible believer, have failed; "I," the responsible believer, have to exercise self judgment; and upon "myself," the responsible believer, have I to exercise it.
In a word, I do not judge the bad nature and character which I have manifested, putting the blame on it (that nature and character I have through grace a fixed judgment about); but I judge "myself," a believer who has not only failed to manifest the character I ought, but has manifested a very different one.
Such I believe to be self-judgment, such the person who exercises it, and such the person or individual on whom it is exercised. It is not an old Adam nature we have to judge when it has acted, it is ourselves, believers, we have to judge for having opened the door to that old nature so that it could act.
There is, I believe, great comfort, and not only comfort, but positive power for exercising self judgment thoroughly when this is seen; for in thus judging oneself one does it with the consciousness that one is passing judgment on an individual (a believer) on whom God has no judgment to pass, save in a governmental sense, and then only with a view to produce that judgment of self which may have been neglected.