Christians are told to judge righteous judgment. The problem spoken about is the judgmental personality. It’s very easy for Christians to be judgmental in a world gone wrong. That’s why there’s the command to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were known for their being separate but they were also hypocrites. Christians are told to live upright lives but they aren’t immune from the leaven of the Pharisees either. James 4:11-12 gives the command of not speaking evil against one another. The Greek word is kataleo, which means to slander. Slander is to give false accusations. In a world gone wrong, it’s also very easy to slander someone while seeking for justice.
The NIV MacArthur Study Bible gives this insight into James 4:11-12:
4:11 do not slander. This means to defame or to speak against someone. James does not forbid confronting those in sin, which is elsewhere commanded in Scripture (Mt 18:15-17; Ac. 20:31; 1 Co. 4:14, Col. 1:28; Titus 1:14; 2:15; 3:10). Rather, he condemns careless, derogatory, critical, slanderous accusations against others (cf. Ex. 23:1; Ps. 50:20; 101:5; 140:11; Pr. 10:18; 11:9; 16:28; 17:9; 26:20; Ro. 1:29; 2 Co. 12:20; Eph. 4:31; 1 Ti 3:11; 2 Ti 3:3; Titus 2:3, 3:2). speaks against a brother… speaks againt the law. Those who speak evil of other believers set themselves up and judges and condemn them (cf. 2:4). They thereby defame and disregard God’s law which expressly forbids such slanderous condemnation. judge by the law. By refusing to submit to the law, slanderers place themselves above it as it judges.
4:12 one Lawgiver. God, who gave the law (cf. Isa. 33:22). He alone has the authority to save those who repent from its penalty, and destroy those who refuse to repent.
The Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible gives this insight:
Verse 11
Speak not evil one of another, brethren,…. The apostle here returns to his former subject, concerning the vices of the tongue, he had been upon in the preceding chapter, James 3:6, and here mentions one, which professors of religion were too much guilty of, and that is, speaking evil one of another; which is done either by raising false reports, and bringing false charges; or by aggravating failings and infirmities; or by lessening and depreciating characters, and endeavouring to bring others into discredit and disesteem among men: this is a very great evil, and what the men of the world do, and from them it is expected; but for the saints to speak evil one of another, to sit and speak against a brother, and slander an own mother’s son, is barbarous and unnatural.
He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law; he that is a talebearer and backbites his brother, his fellow member, and detracts from his good name and character, and takes upon him to judge his heart, and his state, as well as, to condemn his actions, he speaks evil of the law; and judges and condemns that, as if that forbid a thing that was lawful, even tale bearing and detraction, Leviticus 19:16, or by speaking evil of him for a good thing he does, he blames and condemns the law, as though it commanded a thing that was evil; and by passing sentence upon his brother, he takes upon him the province of the law, which is to accuse, charge, convince, pronounce guilty, and condemn:
but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law; as is a duty, and would best become:
but a judge; and so such a person not only infringes the right of the law, but assumes the place of the Judge and lawgiver himself; whereas, as follows,
Verse 12
There is one lawgiver,…. The Alexandrian copy, and others, and the Syriac, Ethiopic, and Vulgate Latin versions, add, “and judge”. Who is the one only Lord God, Isaiah 33:22. This is a character that may be applied to God the Father, who gave the law to the people of Israel, both the judicial and ceremonial law, and also the moral law; from his right hand went a fiery law, and to him belongs the giving of it; and also to the Son of God, the Lord Jesus who is King of saints, and lawgiver in his house; who has given out commandments to be observed, and laws of discipline for the right ordering of his house, and kingdom, to be regarded; and particularly the new commandment of love, which is eminently called the law of Christ; and which is most apparently broke, by detraction and speaking evil one of another: now there may be inferior and subordinate lawgivers, as Judah is said to be God’s lawgiver, and Moses is said to command the Jews a law; yet there is but one supreme, universal, and perfect lawgiver, who is God; and though there may be many lawgivers in things political, whose legislative power is to be obeyed, both for the Lord’s sake, and for conscience sake; yet in things religious, and relating to conscience, God is the only lawgiver, who is to be hearkened unto:
who is able to save, and to destroy; this is true of God the Father, who is able to save, and does save by his Son Jesus Christ, and even persons that have broken the law he has given, and are liable to the curse and condemnation of it; and he is able to save them according to that law, in perfect consistence with it, and with his justice and holiness, since Christ, by whom he saves, was made under it, and has fulfilled it; and that Christ is mighty to save, able to save to the uttermost, is certain from the Scripture, and all experience; and God, the lawgiver, is able to destroy both body and soul in hell, for the transgressions of his law; and even Christ the Lamb is also the lion of the tribe of Judah, who will break his enemies in pieces, as a potter’s vessel, and punish the contemners of his Gospel with everlasting destruction, from his presence and glory: in a word, God, the lawgiver, is sovereign, and can destroy, or save, whom he pleases; he is able to save the brother that is spoken against, and to destroy him that speaks against him:
who art thou that judgest another? another man’s servant, as in
Romans 14:4 or “thy neighbour”, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions read; or “the neighbour”, as the Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin version; that is, any brother, friend, or neighbour, in the manner as before observed in the preceding verse.
John Calvin also offers this insight in the Geneva Study Bible:
He that reprehends most sharply another double mischief of pride. The one is, in that the proud and arrogant will have other men to live according to their will and pleasure. Therefore they do most arrogantly condemn whatever does not please them: which cannot be done without great injury to our only lawmaker. For through this his laws are found fault with, as not carefully enough written, and men challenge that to themselves, which properly belongs to God alone, in that they lay a law upon men’s consciences.
With that in mind, I really found myself guilty of that sin when I spent a lot of time reading toxic materials. These materials are like Chick Publications and Jesus-is-Savior, two of my favorite examples. I could remember slandering another believer and wrongly labeling him an apostate, even if the reality was, that he was only backslid for a moment. It had something to do with my unable to get over a childish quarrel that happened when I and that person were teenagers. It’s also me believing that he was allegedly gossiping against me. The reality was that I was lied to and I just believed it as a gullible fool. I even wrongfully said he was already attending the Ang Dating Daan movement when he wasn’t. I’d assume I refused to take up that grudge to God to be dealt with and tried dealing with it myself.
This reminds me that I’m called to judge righteous judgment. There’s really no righteous judgment in being judgmental.
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