In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul judges as wrongheaded the Corinthian church’s toleration of a professing Christian who was engaged in incest. He rebukes them for tolerating this man’s sin and tells them they should judge the man, rather than arrogantly boasting of their tolerance (see vv. 2 and 6.

“I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.” (1 Cor. 5:9-13)

Here we notice several things: 1) Paul commands Christians not to associate with immoral people who call themselves Christians – including, but not limited to people who are covetous, idolaters and swindlers. This is something Christians could never obey unless they “judged” a person to be immoral. 2) Paul clarifies that he does not mean to disassociate with immoral people of the world. That is impossible. They are everywhere. You would have to live on the moon to disassociate with immoral people of the world. 3) Paul tells the Corinthian Christians that they don’t have to worry about judging outsiders, that is, people outside the church, for God judges them. Instead, Christians are to judge those inside the church by removing the wicked man from amongst them. 4) It is apparent that Paul is using the word judge in a different manner than Jesus was. Paul uses the word judge to convey punitive action. A judge is entrusted with examining evidence and passing sentence on one who is accused of breaking a law. The judge must first judge the facts of the case and evaluate the person who is accused. He must form a judgment about the person’s guilt or innocence. If he judges the person to be innocent, he passes a judgment of “not guilty.” If he judges the person to be guilty, he passes a judgment of “guilty” and attaches a punishment to that judgment.

When Paul says that Christians are not to judge outsiders, he does not mean they are to walk around with a blank mind forming no opinions about the sinful behavior they see. Rather, he means they are not to punish outsiders by disassociation (church discipline). It is only insiders, people who are part of the church and who profess to be brothers, that are to be “judged” in this way.

The same Jesus who said, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” also said this: "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (Matt. 18:15-17).

Did Jesus here contradict himself? No, but he did contradict the erroneous interpretation of his words in Matthew 7:1 – namely, the interpretation that finds in his words a universal prohibition on all kinds of judgment. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus did not prohibit all forms of judgment – unless one is content to accuse Jesus of contradicting Himself.

In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus commands Christians to go to another brother who is sinning and show him his fault. This is a command, not a suggestion. Christians could never do this if the “judging” faculty in their brain was permanently shut off. A Christian has to judge what is right and what is wrong. He must judge whether another brother (or sister) is in the wrong. And then he is to go to that brother and show him his fault. If the brother listens, great! A brother has been won over. If he doesn’t listen, the Christian is to take one or two others, so that every fact may be established. Those that are brought along this time must also be able to judge what is right and what is wrong and whether the offending brother has in fact done wrong. If the brother listens this time, great! A brother has been won. If he does not listen, the issue is to be brought before the church. The church must then form a judgment about the rightness or wrongness of a brother’s behavior. They must then call the brother to repent, another form of judgment. If he listens, great! A brother has been won. If he does not listen, then they are to disassociate from him and shun him. This is what it means for a Jew to treat someone as a Gentile or tax collector. Jews did not associate with Gentiles or tax collectors.

In any case, it is obvious that this sort of judging is required by Jesus and the other apostles, whereas the judging that hypocrites do (condemning others for the sins they themselves commit) is prohibited.

Let’s think of this another way. Think of how many times in our lives we are required to make judgments about the character of other people. When you want to ask someone to babysit your children, do you make a judgment about the prospective babysitter? Do you judge whether the person is trustworthy, responsible and safe? If so, you have passed judgment. And does Christ expect you to do any less? Are you guilty of violating Matthew 7:1 – Judge not, lest you be judged – when you make this judgment? Of course not. What would Christ expect you to do -- put a help wanted ad in the paper for babysitters and take the first one who called in? I doubt it.

What about employers? When they hire employees, are they allowed to make a character judgments? What about marriage? When you pursue a spouse, should you make a character judgment of your prospective spouse? What about church membership? When someone makes an application for church membership, should the elders simply accept the application without asking any questions and without forming any judgment as to whether the person is a genuine Christian or not?