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Mat_7:1. Without any intermediate connection, the discourse passes on to a new subject. Comp. Mat_5:17, Mat_6:1.
μὴ κρίνετε ] κρίνειν means nothing more than to judge, and the context alone will decide when it is used in the sense of a condemnatory judgment, as in Rom_2:1; Rom_14:4; Gal_5:10; Heb_10:30 (frequently in John). In this respect it resembles the Heb. ùÑÈôÇè . But in this instance it is proved by Mat_7:2 and Mat_7:3-5 that κρίνειν is not to be explained as synonymous with κατακρίνειν (in answer to Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, Kuinoel, and Olshausen). Nor is this required, but, on the contrary, plainly forbidden, by Luk_6:37, for there the difference between κρίνειν and καταδικάζειν is of the nature of a climax, the latter being the result of the former. Accordingly, the correct interpretation is this: Do not sit in judgment upon others; do not set yourselves up as judges of their faults (Mat_7:3), meaning thereby an officious and self-righteous behaviour (the opposite of that prescribed in Gal_6:1-5), that ye may not become obnoxious to judgment, i.e. that ye may not be subjected to the divine, the Messianic, judgment; that instead of obtaining mercy and the forgiveness of your sins in that judgment, you may not draw down upon yourselves that judicial sentence (which, according to Mat_5:7, Mat_6:15, is averted by cherishing a forgiving spirit). To refer κριθῆτε to our being judged by others (Erasmus, Calvin, Kuinoel, Fritzsche), and not, with Chrysostom, to the future judgment, is wrong; because Mat_7:2, if referred to the Nemesis of the existing order of things, would not be altogether true; and further, because, throughout His address, Jesus treats the idea of retribution from the Messianic point of view (Mat_5:1-12; Mat_5:19-20; Mat_5:22; Mat_5:25; Mat_5:29 f., Mat_6:1; Mat_6:4; Mat_6:6; Mat_6:14 f., 18, 20, 33, Mat_7:13; Mat_7:19; Mat_7:21; Mat_7:23-24 ff.). Of course it is unnecessary to say that, in forbidding judging, Christ is not speaking “de ministeriis vel officiis divinitus ordinatis, sed de judiciis, quae fiunt extra seu praeter vocationes et gubernationes divinas,” Melanchthon. Nor does He forbid the moral judging of others in general, which is inseparable from truth and love, and is at the same time a necessary element in the duty of brotherly νουθετεῖν . “Canis pro cane et porcus pro porco est habendus,” Bengel.