Spiritual judgement

This is Newton’s third law of motion…

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

You could apply that to a lot of the Bible…

“For most scriptures, there is an equal and opposite scripture.”

There are truths that are constant like the Earth but there are others that are changing like the wind. For example “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” and "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" are constants that have no opposing scriptures. Let’s name them ‘concrete truths’ and ‘current (as in air current and ‘present’) truths’. Current truths only work in a specific situation and time so can easily be opposed.

Below are examples of opposing scriptures. They’re usually black and white or absolute statements. Like a spectrum, they can be chosen at different intensities depending the person, place, time etc.

Galatians 6:2 Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:5 Let every man bear their own burden

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

Luke 9:60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 8:24-26 Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves; but Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” “You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.

Matthew 26:40 Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter.

Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with everyone

Isaiah 9:6 And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Matthew 10:34-37 [Jesus said] Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

1 Samuel 30:21-24 When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him from the Brook of Besor, they came out to meet him and the troops with him. As David approached the men, he greeted them, but all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered, except for each man’s wife and children. They may take them and go.” But David said, “My brothers, you must not do this with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders who came against us. Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike.”

2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”

Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the LORD.

1 Corinthians 7:32-34 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided.

Psalm 37:25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

or their children begging bread.

Job 1:20-21 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

For current truths, this verse can be applied…

Job 11:6 And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that [they are] double to that which is!

Proverbs 8:22 “The LORD possessed me [Wisdom] at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old…”

The secrets of wisdom. The ability to discern. That’s the primary role of wisdom; to judge. God who is love brought forth wisdom before He made anything.

1 Kings 3:28 When all Israel heard of the judgment the king [Solomon] had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

Balance is wisdom. That’s why we have the scales of justice icon (seen in the image below) used for the judiciary arm of government.

“Since the first modern-day legal system began in Rome, the scales of justice have been used to symbolize the balance between truth and fairness sought after in the justice system.” (https://www.mylawquestions.com/what-are-the-scales-of-justice.htm)

That balance scale shifts as new situations are added. It’s not stagnant as it moves from situation to situation. Wisdom is fluid. Wisdom is like a serpent in its fluid motion.

Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

This is why we don’t only have the law and police men that enforce the law but also judges because not everything is a simple black and white. The current truths in the law are black and white, but it takes a righteous judge to see the spectrum i.e. the situation, the individuals, the time and season.

The cost of a righteous judge is so high that Paul says this…

1 Corinthians 6:5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?

Proverbs 18:17 In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.

The word “Elohim” which is the first name used for God in the Bible can mean judge.

It seems that God’s ultimate plan according to the verse below is to make us righteous judges like He is…

Psalm 82:1-2,6 God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?... I have said, ‘You are gods [Elohim]; you are all sons of the Most High.’

Luke 12:32 Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

But we’re told not to judge, aren’t we?

Matthew 7:1-2 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

I believe that we’re called to judge but only to the extent that we've gained the mind of Christ through communion with Him and obedience to His word.

John 7:21-24 Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

The Jews were angry with Jesus. They judged Him to be wrong according to the law that God gave.

Leviticus 23:3 There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the LORD.

According to that verse, they were right. Healing is work and no one is allowed to work on the Sabbath.

However, there’s a difference between knowing the law and knowing the law-maker. This is why David a man after God’s own heart said…

Psalm 51:16-17 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.

The law said a sacrifice like a lamb or bull was needed for the atonement of sins, but David said that God did not delight in them. He said that God looks to the state of a person’s heart. A person could be very prideful while offering those sacrificial lambs.

Here we have both Jesus and David judging totally against the grain. Is it possible that the “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?” question we just read in Psalm 82 is referring to the Jews in both Jesus and David's times? They were following the law by stoning the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) weren't they?

If we were living in Jesus’ time, wouldn’t we judge by our reasoning and say He was wrong?

There is something in us that's more than human reasoning and intelligence. There's a voice. Quiet voice. Ever so still. Heard with non-physical senses.

1 Corinthians 2:13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

If the primary role of wisdom is to judge, then that verse means ‘Jesus grew in the ability to judge between right and wrong’.

Hebrews 5:13-14 For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.

2 Corinthians 3:6 who also has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

1 Corinthians 2:14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

Many people in Jesus’ day would probably say “The Jews are so spiritual. Wow. Look at all their rituals.” But sadly, it was not the case. So what does it mean to be spiritual? This is what Paul says…

1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the one who loves God is known by God.

I don’t know what it means to be spiritual. It’s a really vague word to me. 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 that we just read seems to indicate that when we can accept people with varying current truths from ours but with the same concrete truths, then we're spiritual. Not attaching our egos to current truths (that form groups that wanted to appoint Paul, Apollos or Peter as their current truth leaders) but to concrete truths. A house is built on the rock, pillars are just the support. Discernment of what is a current truth and what is a concrete truth also depends upon the individual.

I used to be a protestant firebrand serving fiery truths to Catholics (I still am sometimes, it's fun and gets the blood pumping) but now i'm learning from one of the staunchest Catholics in the game, Maria Valtorta, that believes in purgatory and the immaculate conception. I really think those are false but the gold i've found in her is not worth fighting over what I perceive to be wood, hay and stubble. What's the gold? Pure devotion to the Saviour. Focusing on miniscule matters is what Jesus called straining at gnats and swallowing camels. Dodging rubber bullets but running towards an atomic bomb. Knowing every mystery but failing to love.

1 Corinthians 13:8-11 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.

What I know for sure is that Jesus, David and Paul loved God and their neighbour. Vertical and horizontal love. That’s what I’ll try to do. Perhaps then I’ll be able to judge as He did. Wisdom is Love’s first offspring.

"What you hate for yourself, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole law; the rest is commentary." – Rabbi Hillel