James answers the question: Is it wrong to be critical or judgmental of other Christians if what you say is true? If so, what’s wrong with it?
“Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another” (James 4:11, 12)?
A man once wrote, I overheard my mother passing along to my father a newsy tidbit, concerning a neighbor. “You know you shouldn’t repeat stories about others,” I said with mock seriousness. “That makes you a gossip.” “I’m not a gossip!” she snapped back. “I’m a news analyst.” (James J. Saunders in Reader’s Digest)
Katalaleo = “Do not speak down on one another,” or “do not speak against one another.” James is forbidding any speech (whether it is true of false) which runs down another person. Many people think it is okay to tell negative information if it is TRUE. Passing on damaging truth seems like a moral duty.
To help believers control their tongues and avoid slander, James exposes four errors of talking about people.
1. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of others.
2. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of the law.
3. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of the law giver.
4. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of ourselves.
What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of others
James 4:11a “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother. . .”
The threefold repetition brethren. . . brother. . . brother reminds us of the family relationship we share with other Christians. Slander is the antithesis of what is expected and acceptable in a family whose members are to love, support, and protect each other. While Christians are to expect slander from outside the church, slander within the church is unacceptable. “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (Gal 5:15).
Closely associated with the sin of slander is that of being judgmental. Thus, after cautioning his readers not to speak against one another, James commandingly warns the one who is judging his brother to stop. Krinô (judges) does not refer to evaluation , but to condemnation.
The first step in avoiding the sin of slander is not keeping one’s lips sealed, but in keeping one’s thoughts about others right.
We will never become a church that effectively reaches out to those who are missing out if we shoot our wounded and major on the minuses. Instead of being fishers of men, as Christ has called us, we will be keepers of an ever-shrinking aquarium. Next fall when you see geese heading south for the winter, flying along in V formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a V formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. (Christians who share a common direction and a sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.)
Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. (If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed the same way we are going.) When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point. (It pays to take turns doing hard jobs—with people at church or with geese flying south.) The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. (What do we say when we honk from behind?) Finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by a shot and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly, or until he is dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their original group. (If people knew we would stand by them like that in church, they would push down these walls to get in.) You see, all we have to do in order to attract those who are missing back to church is to demonstrate to the world that we have as much sense as geese here at church. That seems little enough price to pay to win the lost and minister to one another. Even geese have sense enough to know it works every time. —James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 125-126.
Romans 14:10-13 is a parallel passage.
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Since Jesus is the Lord, Christians should not judge or . . . look down on (exoutheneis, “despise” or “reject with contempt”; cf. v.3) one another, their brothers, in such matters. One Christian is not above another as his judge; all are equally under Christ, the Judge.
How purposeless it is. “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother....?” What good does it do? How constructive is it?
1. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of others.
2. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of the law.
“. . . speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.” (4:11b)
We judge laws and determine whether they are necessary or not. When we criticize or judge believers we are judging God’s law as "crazy!"
SOME CRAZY LAWS, submitted by Eric C. Davis
In Temperance, MS, you can’t walk a dog without dressing it in diapers.
In St. Louis, a law on the books makes it illegal to park your car without turning off the engine. This was to avoid scaring horses.
In Kansas City, KS, saying the name “George Washington” without adding the phrase “blessed be his name,” can land you with a fine of up to fifty cents.
In California, selling a gold piece without tooth marks in it is considered forgery.
An old statute in Flint, MI, compels dentists to offer a “slug of whiskey with no additional charge to said patient.”
In Manchester, England, an ancient law declares that if a young man develops a lisp, he must be inspected by a bishop to ensure that he isn’t developing homosexual tendencies.
The city of San Francisco holds a copyright on the name “San Francisco.” It is illegal to manufacture any item with the name without first getting permission from the city. Since the Supreme Court upheld the copyright, San Francisco has had an annual $300 million surplus every year.
In Raleigh, North Carolina, before a man asks for a woman’s hand in marriage, he must be “inspected by all the barnyard animals on the young woman’s family’s property, to ensure a harmonious farm life.”
Slavery is still legal in Decatur, Alabama.
In Salzburg, Germany, any child born on August 18th must be tested for possible witchcraft. This is due to a local legend that an evil warlock was born on that day in 1638. —Eric C. Davis
But we demonstrate what we think of other laws by our actions. When we speed we are demonstrating what we think of the speed limit. When we criticize other believers we demonstrate what we think of God’s law.
Ziba and Mephibosheth
Why do we slander? Ziba was Sauls caretaker who had institutionalized Mephibosheth down in Lodebar. Then when David wanted someone to take care of him he asked Ziba to do it. In 2 Samuel 19:27 ff. And 2 Samuel 16: 1-4 the story is told of Ziba slandering Mephibosheth in order to keep what had belonged to Saul without the responsibility of taking care of Mehibosheth. We often slander and criticize in order to receive Gods blessings without fulfilling our responsibilities our brothers and sisters in Christ, to get out from under the demands of the law of love.
1. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of others.
2. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of the law.
3. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of the law giver.
“There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. . .” (4:12a).
By placing himself above the law, the one who is critical of his brother also attempts to place himself above the only true Lawgiver and Judge—God Himself. Such folly places the sinner on a par with Satan, who sought unsuccessfully to usurp God’s throne. His five “I wills” in Isaiah 14:13-14 expressed his desire for the place of supremacy: “. . . I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
The desire to usurp the place of God has been the essence of every sin ever committed. Sin seeks to dethrone God, to remove Him as supreme Lawgiver and Judge and rule in His place. Because it asserts that the sinner is above God’s law, as noted in the previous point, sin strikes a murderous blow at the very person of God Himself.
James points out the blasphemy and folly of the sinner’s seeking to usurp God’s place, noting that there is only one Lawgiver and Judge. The Greek test literally reads “one is the lawgiver and judge,” stressing that God alone is the sovereign ruler and judge of the universe. Nomotetçs (Lawgiver) appears only here in the New Testament. It refers to one who puts the law into place. Kritçs (Judge) refers to one who applies the law. God, and God alone, insists James, is both lawgiver and law-applier (cf. Isa. 33:22); He gave the law and will judge men by His law. Only He, because He knows the hearts and motives of men, can perfectly apply the law He has given.
God, James continues, is able both to save those who place their faith in Christ and to destroy unrepentant sinners; that is how He applies His law. The angel told Joseph that Jesus would “save His people from their sins”, while Jesus Himself described His mission as “to seek and to save that which was lost. Those who refuse to repent, however, God will destroy. Destroy is from apollume, and does not refer to annihilation, but to eternal destruction is hell.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Paul affirmed the certainty of this event by quoting Isaiah 48:18 and 45:23. At that event each believer will give account of himself to God. The judgment of believers climactically demonstrates God’s lordship.
Rom 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
Job’s friends: The three friends focus more on proving Job wrong than on giving Job help.
* Eliphaz said Job was suffering because of his sin (4:7, 8; 15:6).
* Bildad said Job was suffering because of his sin (8:20).
* Zophar said Job was suffering because of his sin (11:4-6; 20:4, 5).
* Elihu said essentially the same thing (chapter 34-36).
In view of the Judgment seat of Christ, our decision should be to avoid at all costs doing anything which would hinder a brother in the exercise of his faith.
The German philosopher Schopenhauer compared the human race to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter’s night. He said, “The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for warmth; but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with our sharp quills. And in the lonely night of earth’s winter eventually we begin to drift apart and wander out on our own and freeze to death in our loneliness.”
Christ has given us an alternative: to forgive each other for the pokes we receive. That allows us to stay together and stay warm.
—Wayne Brouwer, Holland, Michigan
he sin of speaking evil of our brother, James warns, is no trivial matter. It is brazen, reckless treason against the Sovereign lawgiver and judge of the universe. To control the sin of slandering others we must recognize the seriousness of sinning against the supreme lawgiver and judge.
1. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of others.
2. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of the law.
3. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of the law giver.
4. What we say about our brother demonstrates our thoughts of ourselves.
“. . . who art thou that judgest another?” (4:12b)
Those who are critical of others betray an exaggerated view of their own importance. In a stinging rebuke to them, James demands, who are you who judge your neighbor? In our contemporary speech James would be saying, “Who in the world do you think you are, sitting in condemnation on someone else?”
Judging or being critical of others is the antithesis of the humility James commanded his readers to manifest (4:10). Those who habitually engage in such behavior cast doubt on the genuineness of their faith.
A flea and an elephant walked side by side over a bridge. Said the flea to the elephant after they had crossed. “Boy, we sure did shake that bridge!” Are we fleas or elephants when it comes to our work in the congregation? — Baptist Standard
“If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting ‘Who made thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not receive?’ then I know nothing of Calvary.” —Amy Carmichael
A Bible story that illustrates this is the story of Haman and Mordecai. Haman wanted Mordecai dead because he would not bow to him. So he had a gallows built for Mordecai. The night before he was to ask the king if he could hang Mordecai the king could not sleep. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The king asked that his records be read to him and discovered that Mordecai had not been rewarded for saving his life.
The next morning as Haman came to ask to hang Mordecai. The king asked Haman first what he should do to honor someone. Of course Haman could not imagine the king honoring someone other than himself so he came up with an elaborate plan to honor himself but ended up leading a parade to honor his arch enemy Mordecai. Later Haman was hung on the gallows he built for Mordecai.
When we are critical and judgmental of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
* We demonstrate our lack of love for others.
* We demonstrates our opinion that God made a dumb law.
* We demonstrate our lack of confidence in the law giver and judge.
* And we demonstrate our inflated opinion of ourselves.
Occasionally an event happens that illustrates how the church ought to cooperate for Gods glory. In the Seoul Olympics, sailing competitions were under way at Pusan on September 24, 1988, with winds raging at 35 knots and playing havoc with the boats. Two sailors of the Singapore team, Joseph Chan and Shaw Her, were thrown overboard when their boat capsized.
Canada’s Lawrence Lemieux was sailing alone nearby in a separate event when he saw the sailors in distress. He rescued Chan, who was exhausted from struggling against the strong currents in his weighted sailing jacket. By the time Lemieux finished helping the Singapore team, he had fallen well behind in his race.
Judges awarded Lemieux second place—the position he was in when he went to the sailors’ aid—and the International Olympic Committee gave him a special award for his gallantry.
“It’s the first rule of sailing to help people in distress,” said Lemieux, downplaying the incident.
—Bud Greenspan in Parade
