Textus Receptus Greek:
Joh 7:24 μη κρινετε κατ οψιν αλλα την δικαιαν κρισιν κρινατε
KJV version:
Joh 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Literal translation from the Greek:
John 7:24 Do not damn according to appearance but distinguish equally and justly.
Textus Receptus Greek:
Luk 6:37 μη κρινετε και ου μη κριθητε μη καταδικαζετε και ου μη καταδικασθητε απολυετε και απολυθησεσθε
KJV version:
Luk 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
Literal translation of the Greek:
Luke 6:37 Do not damn and you will not be damned, do not condemn and you will not be condemned, pardon(acquit, set free, dismiss) and you will be pardoned(acquitted, set free, dismissed)
You hear many people these days using the excuse for their sinful ways by saying do not judge so you won't be judged! Yes and so it is recorded in all the wrong translations of the Greek! I would rather stick to the Truth however as Yeshua is the Truth and He is the Word of God and that is why I know they are wrong translations! Not only is it not what the literal Greek says (although they have twisted the meaning over the centuries so that now even the modern Greek records the wrong translation) the Greek words are composed from the roots of several words and is in this way the easiest to find its original meaning. Here is such an example, καταδικάζω is made up of the words κατα which means as, according to and δίκη which means right, just and when you combine the two you come out with the word according to what is right and just the English word for that would be to condemn = according to justice being served.
However the word κρίνω is not such a word, it has but one real meaning and it has been long since lost in translation to the point even modern Greeks do not know the original meaning of the word as is the case with many ancient Greek & Hebrew words from the Bible. κρίνω means properly to distinguish, decide, separate, put asunder, pick out, select, choose, approve, esteem, prefer.
In the old meaning of judge that may have been right but the connotation of the word judge is today seen as condemn which is blatantly wrong! To judge is to gauge something, test it, try it, to see if it is fit for the purpose at hand! Condemning is to deem it unfit forever, failed forever, no good!
Yeshua wants us all to start with judging ourselves (Mat 7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?7:4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?7:5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.)
Most people will accept verse 3 but when it comes down to it they will NOT accept verses 4 and 5 repeatedly referring people to verse 3 to have an excuse to not be judged! As a true follower of Yeshua if you cannot be corrected in your walk with Him you will have NO part in Him! (2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ) Anyone who cannot accept this cannot be a follower of Yeshua! (Pro 15:10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.)
How do you think God will purify you and make you white if you will not accept His Way just because a brother or a sister brings you His Word of correction? Maybe He can still reach you by His Word? With God all things are possible! It does limit your position with Him though and you will also most likely not fit in with those who are this close to Yeshua that they can accept this with ease!
Don't misunderstand me! You had better be 100% right if you bring any kind of correction or reproof, it MUST be Biblical and I will always insist on people doing this to me as well! Don't come to me with your opinions as they will NOT interest me even one iota! Only God's Word is Truth and is therefore the ONLY source of Truth I will accept for reproof and correction! Yes we are to regard prophecies(extra biblical) and the like but we cannot accept these as Truth as we only have God's Word for that! Even the most righteous person in the world is less holy than the least in Heaven and because they are sinners just like us cannot be trusted for Truth! God's Word makes this very clear! (Jer 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. )
This is then also the reason why no one who follows Yeshua should ever trust any manor woman to teach God's Word to you! The most we can do is guide you to the source of Truth! I can talk until I'm blue in the face but I cannot teach you Truth! Truth is revealed, by the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit and no one else! (excuse the KJV: John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. )The Greek obviously says something different so I will translate this correctly as well, (John 16:13 But when He the Spirit of Truth comes, He will teach you the whole Truth, not as from Himself but He will speak what He hears and will declare to you what is to come.) Notice the again subtle difference in the KJV version! There it tells you all truth as if there is more than one kind! And it tells you that He will guide you when in actual fact it is only He who should be our teacher and no one else, definitely not mankind who as Jeremiah 17:5 and Romans 3:4 clearly teaches us! (1John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him. )
So wherever you will find people arguing with you about where it says in the Bible about teachers replace that word with guides as we cannot be taught truth by man, man is a liar and cannot be trusted to teach truth! As "teachers" we are only to guide to the source of the Truth which is the Word of God as taught by the Holy Spirit!
Yeah I can the age old arguments arising in people's minds, but the Bible teaches we have gifts of teaching etc! Once again let me refer you to the above scripture verses and remind you God does not contradict His own Word! If something does not sound right to you look it up in the original languages and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the Truth and only then will you truly understand it! Just so you are aware of the gifts of the Spirit that last one I mentioned was a trick that plays in many minds! Teaching is NOT one of the gifts of the Spirit! These are, (1Co 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 12:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. )
The above indicated mistake is often made because of this verse, (1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; ) Apt to teach in the Greek teach being διδακτικον which means to instruct which is once again a way of guiding into something and not teaching! I can lead you to water but I cannot turn you into a fish! Only God can do that! :) What I am really saying by that is that I cannot teach you to swim, I can show you where to swim but in reality I cannot teach you, you can copy me and make all the right moves for you to see but you have to learn yourself in the end and only God can give you the ability. All we can do is to guide people, cause them to learn what they need to but to teach, to instil knowledge is something only God can do for us. Truth is knowledge of Yeshua as He is the Truth. You cannot know Him by someone else telling you about Him, you must seek Him yourself to know Him.
The concept appears to be alien to a lot of people as they are used to religion not relationship! Talking to God via a priest will get you nothing just as being taught by man brings you nothing but their version of what they believe to be the truth! People teach opinions only God can place Truth inside you, Yeshua is the Truth and the Way and the Life!
As a conclusion to this digression from the subject at hand judge each other as Yeshua would judge you! First be 100% correct in the information you bring, in other words it MUST be biblically correct 100% and not even a whisper of own opinion! I welcome correction and reproof but I will always tell you that it must be from the ONLY source of Truth we have! Yeshua is the Word and He is the Truth.
Also as an added bonus I will tell you right here and now I do NOT want to ever hear the words "scriptures in context" as an excuse to deny other parts of God's Word! The ENTIRE WORD of GOD is context!! There are many false doctrines out there doing the rounds using that very excuse for much of their false doctrines!