Father Maas’ Commentary on Matthew 7:1-5

 Mt 7:1. Judge not.]3. Relation to our neighbor in the kingdom. Here we have, first, a warning against rash judgments [Mt 7:1–5]; secondly, a recommendation of prudence [Mt 7:6]; thirdly, an instruction as to how we may obtain the necessary help [Mt 7:7–11]; finally, we are advised to do to our neighbor as God does to us [Mt 7:12]. Commentators differ greatly concerning the connection of this section with the preceding. Some are inclined to regard the whole sermon as a mere collection of moral principles, something like Ecclus. and Prov. [Lapide]; others find in the passage a warning not to judge rashly those that seem to care for the morrow [Augustine]; others again are of opinion that we have here a commentary on our Lord’s doctrine concerning prayer, just as in the preceding section we had a development of the instruction on the duty of alms-giving [Opus Imperfectum]; a fourth opinion regards the passage as parallel to Mt. 6:1–18, so that our Lord warns in the one against Pharisaic actions, in the other against Pharisaic judgments [Schegg]; in the fifth place, the section is explained as following the order of petitions in the Our Father, in which the forgiveness of sins is prayed for after the petition for our daily bread [Coleridge]; a sixth opinion sees in the present passage a warning against entanglement in human affairs, just as the preceding section was a warning against solicitude for earthly goods [Schanz, cf. Salmeron]; finally, the passage may form a link in the chain of warnings against the most common vices and passions, among which our Lord considered first vainglory, then avarice, and now he passes on to rash judgments [Knabenbauer]. Whatever connection be preferred, we grant that it is not very close and clear. Besides, some of the clauses and expressions of the present passage occur in other gospels in a quite different context, and consequently with a different meaning. The illustration of the sameness of measure, e.g., occurs Lk. 6:38 in an exhortation to liberality.

α. Rash judgments. Though Lk. 6:37 distinguishes between judging and condemning, the present context shows that our Lord prohibits condemnatory judgments. While we thus limit the prohibition to unfavorable judgments, we are not justified in restricting it to judgments expressed in language, or to judgments concerning evident cases. The language of the gospel is so general that it extends the prohibition to judgments in thought, and to judgments concerning all kinds of actions, good, bad, or indifferent. Naturally, must those that are themselves guilty of sin abstain in a special manner from condemning others. It follows from this prohibition that we must not judge unjustly, nor pry into the actions and motives of others, nor look at the unfavorable side of our neighbors’ conduct, nor, in general, judge others against the standard of Christian charity. Since Jesus himself condemned the Pharisees, since Peter judged Ananias, and Paul the incestuous Corinthian, it is not only lawful but even incumbent on us to judge others under certain circumstances: the public good, e.g., or the duties of our office may require the condemnation of certain actions. Our Lord urges his prohibition by a motive of fear: God will judge ns as we judge our neighbor. It is time that Jansenius Lam. believe that Jesus threatens ns with the severity of the human [judgment if we judge severely, but Chrysostom cf. Maldonado] compares this passage rightly with the fifth petition of the Our Father. Though there cannot be an absolute equality between the severity of our judgment and that of the divine judgment, our Lord’s words indicate that our severity will draw upon us God’s severity, and that his judgment of us will be in a certain way proportionate to our judgment of our neighbor. The illustration of the mote and the beam is especially directed against that human weakness which renders us blind to our own faults, and makes us lynx-eyed with regard to the shortcomings of others. Since we are bidden to correct first all our own faults [not merely those of the same kind as we observe in our neighbors; cf. Augustine] before judging or correcting our neighbor, the office of fraternal correction falls to the lot of the blameless and the charitable.