Judgment as Vindication

"Do not judge! Don't be judgmental!"

Sometimes, when we speak to people in church about sin, we are often met with the retort, "Do not judge!"

 

But why are so many people who profess to be God-fearing Christians so afraid of judgment?

 

The Gospel message is unabashedly pointed in its presentation of the reality of sin and its consequences, but at the same time is unabashedly clear about the reality of justification in Christ Jesus. This is beautifully summed up in Romans 3:23-24:

[For] all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

 

In his First Epistle to the notorious Corinthian church, Paul did not hesitate to warn them about sin, even as he affirmed their sanctification and justification in Christ:

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

 

For those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. Paul writes in Romans 8:1-2:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

If we are in Christ Jesus, there is no reason to be afraid of judgment.

 

Rather, God's judgment would be a form of vindication for those in Christ Jesus.

 

To be "justified" is to be declared righteous, like in a court of law. Someone who is truly innocent has has no reason to fear the judgment of a righteous and holy God.

Like in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, when Jesus returns at the Second Coming, the wicked are cast into eternal punishment, while the righteous are brought into eternal life (Matthew 25:31-46).

 

For the righteous, judgment is not to be feared as condemnation or punishment. Instead, it vindicates them. The Book of Revelation records the cries of the saints in heaven to God:

"How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" (Revelation 6:10)

The question, then, is this: Are you in Christ Jesus, or not? If you are, you would welcome judgment because you have nothing to fear. If not, it would be "a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31).