You’ve undoubtedly heard it said before (and may have even said it) about how Christians are so judgmental. What hypocrites, right?
Well, Christians are actually instructed to be judgmental, but only of other believers – NOT of unbelievers. 1 Corinthians 5:11-13:
“But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the evil person from among yourselves.”
Believers are the ones to judge other believers.
God is the One to judge non-believers.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 says:
“…that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”
Jesus clarifies how we are to judge in John 7:24 – “Do not judge by the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
The fear of the Lord is not some scary term meaning that God is always watching and waiting for you to mess up, so that He can punish you. It is quite the opposite: He loves you so much that He doesn’t want evil to negatively impact your life. He wants to protect you and He has put believers in place to protect other believers.
Proverbs 8-9: Speaks about wisdom and that it was the first of God’s works, from eternity and before the world even began. (Proverbs 8:22-23) Whoever finds wisdom, finds life and receives favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 8:35) Those who seek wisdom, find wisdom along with riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. (Proverbs 8:17-18)
We are then told that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10) and to fear the Lord is to hate evil. (Proverbs 8:13)
Therefore, when you hate evil, you become wise. (Which is the exact opposite of how the Serpent instructed Eve that she could become wise in the Garden of Eden, when he encouraged her to disobey God.) It is wise for believers to judge other believers, based upon the hatred of evil, so that they don’t damage themselves or others.