The Trouble With Being Judgmental

Forgive the allusion to Clint Eastwood’s character in the Dirty Harry movies, but a memorable quote from Magnum Force is where Eastwood’s character Harry Callahan says, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”  

While I couldn’t recommend the movie for family viewing, I can say that that particular line is essentially what James is saying when he warns us about being judgmental:

“There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” (James 4:12)

A man’s got to know his limitations.

We are incapable of placing ourselves in a high position of moral superiority over others because we’re not that smart, we’re not that good, and we’re not that fair—in a word, we’re not God!

When we have a judgmental spirit, we are acting like God.  We act as though we are the ones to lay down the law.  James corrects this thinking: “There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy.  Who are you to judge another?”

James is incredulous: “Who are you?!”  Who do you think you are, placing yourselves in a high position of moral superiority over others?  Do you think you’re sinless?  Do you think you’ve never done anything wrong?  Or said anything wrong?  Or made an unpopular decision?  Do you really think you’re that good?  Who are you to judge another?!

“There is one Lawgiver.”  That one Lawgiver and judge is God.  He is the only one “able to save and to destroy.”  Only God can both save and destroy in an ultimate sense; eternally save, eternally destroy.

God is the only one in a position of moral superiority.  That’s why God is the one who gives the law.  Only God has the right to give biblical laws because God alone is consistently good, right, fair, and knows everything.

Would any one of us dare to claim that we are always good, right, and fair?  Is there one of us who would dare claim that we know all things?  Of course not.  This is why there is no place to act morally superior to others.  It’s as though James were saying, “Frankly, you’re not that good a person!  You’re not that smart.  Know your limitations.  You don’t know everything about the person you are criticizing.  You don’t have all the facts.”

See, when you judge another person by being critical and demeaning, you are acting like you have all the information about that person’s situation.  You’re acting like you know and have all the facts.  

James warns against jumping to conclusions and judging before all the facts are in.  

A church member once gave me ways I could pray for her while she was away on a mission trip.  She had written down several statements she wished to keep.  Her plan was to review these statements each day, and she had asked me to pray that she would keep them.  One of the statements read: “I purpose to never assume I understand or know the motives of others.”

That’s a good statement.  James is warning here against doing that very thing.  By saying there is but one Lawgiver and by asking, “Who are you to judge another?” James is reminding us that we don’t have all the information about another person’s situation.  We don’t know that person’s motives.  We don’t know why they acted the way they did or why they said what they said.  We simply don’t know.  We’re not that smart.  We’re not omniscient.  In a word, we’re not God.

Solomon warns in Proverbs 18:17: “The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.”  That’s another way of saying there are times when we think we have all the information, only to discover later that there was much we did not know.

We don’t know everything.  What is more, we ourselves are so often guilty of the very actions we condemn in others.  Such knowledge should engender greater humility within us.

The great Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte was a bold yet humble minister known for his authentic, self-effacing manner.  G.F. Barbour tells of one memorable occasion during Whyte’s ministry:

When he was speaking in a slum where its inhabitants were known for their drinking, he astonished his hearers by informing them that he had found out the name of the wickedest man in Edinburgh, and he had come to tell them. Bending forward, he whispered: “His name is Alexander Whyte.”

**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 146-149, available in all formats here.