Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Diakrino
(From Forerunner Commentary)
|
Matthew 7:1
Some cite Matthew 7:1 as proof that we should do no judging whatsoever: "Judge not, that you be not judged." Here, the Greek word for "judge" is krino, meaning to condemn, avenge, sentence, or levy a punishment. Christ plainly says that if we condemn others, we will be condemned ourselves. Dangerous territory indeed! Though it is certainly hazardous to evaluate the problems or sins of others, the context answers the question of whether we are to do so. We are to judge and in every aspect of life, as other scriptures show. Christ continues His thought, in context, by showing that we are to evaluate the deeds of others, but to be very careful with our judgments. We should consider our weaknesses and sins very carefully, to the point of overcoming them, before we make harsh judgments on others. How can we condemn someone else when we may have even bigger problems? He instructs us to remove the hypocrisy and then we can help our brother with his difficulties. Focusing on the Greek to show that "condemning" defines judgment better than "justice" really makes no difference. The sense of the context is proper evaluation of our own and others' conduct so that proper justice is done. If we wish to use a harsher definition, such as condemnation or damnation, then Christ is saying He will also evaluate us in that light. Major or minor infraction, light or harsh judgment, the outcome is the same: "As you do unto others, so shall it be done unto you!" Christ's initial statement about judgment cannot be ripped out of context to stand on its own. We must understand it considering His whole explanation, which includes recognition of others' sins and their disposition, but only after overcoming our own faults. Otherwise, Matthew 7:1 directly contradicts John 7:24 where He uses the same Greek words: "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge [krino] with righteous judgment." Here He says we are to judge, but He mitigates it with instruction on how to judge, just as in Matthew 7. Certainly, we are to analyze—judge—what is right or wrong, based on the mind of God as expressed in His Word. How we apply that judgment to others is critical, for Christ will take the same attitude with us that we take with others. Like it or not, life forces us to make judgments or decisions about people every day. These may deal with mundane physical things or with friendships or marriages that affect a lifetime. Many have gone through life wishing they had been equipped early in life to render and exercise sounder judgments, for the process of making good calls can be very confusing. It is so easy to dwell on the wrong factors or see only what is on the surface.
Staff
The Weightier Matters (Part 2): Judgment
|
|
1 Corinthians 11:27-29
The apostle Paul tells the Corinthians that when it came time to take the Passover, they were in danger of eating and drinking judgment to themselves. Why? It was not that they were somehow failing to appreciate Jesus Christ's physical body, but because they were not being partial to His spiritual Body as a whole. To make this practical, consider a principle of valuation. In the world, an object's value is primarily determined by what someone is willing to pay. An artist may claim his painting is worth a million dollars, but the actual monetary value comes when someone buys it. Thus, for fine art, furniture, and other expensive collectibles, records show how much it sold for as a means to gauge the value. Consider the value that we have as individuals, based on what the Father and the Son together were willing to pay for us. Reflect on the incomparable worth of the blood of the perfect and sinless Son of God. Ponder the Creator's supreme act of condescension in donning the form of a flesh-and-blood human and then giving that life as payment. Rather than allowing us to receive the wages of our sin, He paid that debt with a currency impossible for a human to assess, which gives us some idea of our value to God. Next, we should apply this incomparable value to someone else in the Body with whom we feel a close connection—perhaps a spouse or a good friend. God paid the same price for him or her because that individual incurred the same debt. Consider the value the Father and the Son now place on him or her based on what They were willing to pay. Finally, we must take this exercise one step further. Perhaps there is some part of the Body—maybe someone in our own congregation—whom we know we should love but do not like very much. Consider the value we place on him or her, then consider the price the Father and Son have already paid for that person. How does our valuation compare with God's? Or is it more comfortable to regard some as outside the Body than to be partial to them (as 'discern'—diakrino—indicates)? By not discerning the Body of Christ correctly, that is, by esteeming some members and despising others, the Corinthians were, in effect, signifying that Christ's blood—the life of the very Creator!—was worth more when it came to some parts of the Body than to others. Thus, Paul warns in I Corinthians 11:27-29, if they were not properly discerning the whole Body in their conduct throughout the year, they stood in grave danger because they would be unable to value and appreciate Christ's sacrifice in their fellowship with Him through the Passover. In not recognizing the God-given and inestimable worth of all the others in Christ, they were diminishing Christ! Just a few chapters before, Paul had written, "But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ" (I Corinthians 8:12; emphasis ours). The result of taking the Passover unworthily is that we come under judgment. As Paul points out, the sickness and premature death that God judged "many" with (I Corinthians 11:30) resulted from their making an improper distinction about—and being partial to—the Body of believers. (Note that in Greek, "judgment" here does not indicate condemnation.) That judgment includes the removal of protection, even as God did not protect the Israelites in Egypt from the death angel if they were not under the blood of the Passover lamb. Paul does not imply that every illness or death has its source in an improper discernment of the Body. In John 9:3, Jesus reveals that the man's blindness resulted not from his or his parents' sin but to display the works of God in him. Sometimes, the "sins of society" lead more directly to disease rather than our own sins. Even so, numerous examples exist of God striking His servants (or their family members) with sickness or even death for certain sins. Even Paul (as Saul) was "judged" with blindness for a time for His persecution of the Body! Thus, if we are not adequately judging ourselves (I Corinthians 11:31) about the value we place on all parts of His spiritual Body, and God deems it is time for Him to judge us instead (verses 29, 31), then partaking of Christ's sacrifice will not provide healing but the reverse. If we are in opposition to Christ through despising parts of His Body, His sacrifice will not be a blessing for us but more like a curse. His stripes will not heal us but rather indict us. Still, if God has to judge us for not discerning the Body, it is for our benefit, keeping us from actual condemnation: "But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world" (I Corinthians 11:32). It is impossible to appreciate and value the shed blood of the Savior at Passover while devaluing parts of His spiritual Body throughout the rest of the year. When observing the Passover, we must remember that just as we are in fellowship with Jesus Christ through symbolically eating and drinking of His sacrifice, we are also in fellowship with His spiritual Body. We need to keep in mind the value that He has placed on each of us through His redemption and the obligation we now have to value all the members of His Body.
David C. Grabbe
What Does 'Discerning the Lord's Body' Mean? (Part Three)
|
|
1 Corinthians 11:29
Many Bibles' marginal references for this verse, as well as some interlinear Bibles, indicate that the translators have added the word "Lord's" to the text, assuming that Paul refers to Christ's human body. However, in the Greek text, the end of the verse simply reads "not discerning the body." The words "the body" can refer to several things that are not mutually exclusive. Paul could weave multiple threads through his writings, and at times, overlap them in profound ways. First, the chapter shows that some members in Corinth were confused about whether the congregational meals were the Lord's Supper. By trying to observe the Lord's Supper or Passover on just any occasion, the significance of the bread and the wine becomes muddled through familiarity and sheer repetition. Hence, if any bread throughout the year symbolized Jesus Christ's crucified body, church members would take the Passover in an unworthy manner because they would not see His sacrifice as distinct and set apart. For the symbol to continue to be meaningful, people must distinguish between the unleavened bread eaten on Passover and common, daily bread. Second, we can understand the phrase "not discerning the body" as a reference to the tortured, physical body of Jesus Christ. Thus, we participate in the Passover in an unworthy manner if we do not seriously and consciously acknowledge our sins, which made Christ's excruciating sacrifice necessary. He suffered crucifixion because of what we have done, and without consciousness of our sin and the wages—punishment—we have earned, His sacrifice loses its significance in our minds. Third, "the body" can refer to the spiritual Body of believers, the church. I Corinthians 10:16-17 teaches that what we partake of is what we become a part of. When we partake of the bread that symbolizes His body, we become a part of the spiritual Body of believers who are also "in Christ" and have the Father and the Son dwelling in them. I Corinthians 10 contains the first mention of this spiritual Body, and the rest of the chapter and chapter 11 are all about things related to interactions within the Body. Then chapter 12 gives the most lengthy and specific explanation of the Body analogy in the Bible. After that, chapters 13 and 14 continue expounding on the theme of relationships and interactions within the Body, even though the Body is not directly mentioned. So, when Paul talks about "the body" without defining exactly what he means, we must remember that it appears in the middle of a lengthy discourse on the spiritual Body. In light of this, what does it mean to "discern" the body? The English word discern means "to separate or distinguish by the eye or by the understanding" or "to see the difference between two or more things." It can mean "to judge" or even "to be partial to." The Greek word in I Corinthians 11:29, diakrino, means essentially the same thing: "to make a separation or a distinction" or "to evaluate between two or more things, and become partial to one." It can mean "to differentiate" and "decide." What I Corinthians 11:29 means, then, is that if we do not discern or make a correct distinction regarding the spiritual Body, we will partake of the Passover in an unworthy manner. The way that we "discern the Body" is to distinguish it in our minds from what is not part of the Body—the rest of humanity. It means to show partiality to the Body as a whole, rather than making distinctions within the Body. The Corinthians were making distinctions about people within the Body, and thus they highly esteemed some individuals among them and despised others. Thus, Paul warns them that, when it came time to observe the Passover, they were in danger of eating and drinking judgment to themselves because they were not being partial to Christ's spiritual Body as a whole. Put another way, they were not treating all church members—all the brethren for whom Christ died—with the highest respect.
David C. Grabbe
What Does 'Discerning the Lord's Body' Mean? (Part Two)
|
|
1 Corinthians 12:7-11
Reading through this list, we may think, “I don't have any of these!” Quite frankly, we may have seen few of these actually exercised over our years attending the church. We may have never even seen a miracle or a healing with our own eyes or heard anyone get prophecy right, at least not yet. How about the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge? We may have witnessed a little more of those than we realize, not being “tuned in” enough to recognize it! What about the gift of discernment, or as it reads in the passage, “discerning of spirits”? The New Testament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips paraphrases Paul's expression as “the ability to discriminate in spiritual matters.” This latter phrasing seems to be a more precise expression of what Paul means—not just the ability to detect evil spirits but to distinguish between the spiritually positive and negative. Dictionaries like Wikipedia define discernment as the ability to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well. In the case of judgment, discernment can be psychological, moral, or aesthetic in nature. . . . Christian spiritual discernment can be separated from other types of discernment because every decision is to be made in accordance with God's will. The fundamental definition for Christian discernment is a decision making process in which an individual makes a discovery that can lead to future action. This description of discernment emphasizes making correct decisions that proceed to wise actions. Of the verb form (diakrino, Strong's #1252) of the word Paul uses in I Corinthians 12:10, Strong's Concordance comments, “to separate thoroughly, i.e. (literally and reflexively) to withdraw from, or (by implication) oppose; figuratively, to discriminate (by implication, decide), . . . contend, . . ., discern, doubt, judge, be partial, stagger, waver.” Discerning is a matter of separating, discriminating, evaluating, and judging, and once done, a person either approves or opposes the subject of his discernment. In our society, words like “discriminate” and “judge” are considered almost taboo, but the truth is that we must make judgments all the time. What would be the point of discernment if it does not lead to a judgment? In Solomon's prayer before God in I Kings 3:9, he asks for discernment between good and evil so he could judge God's people. God, pleased with both the humility and good sense of his prayer, rewarded Solomon immensely.
Ronny H. Graham
The Gift of Discernment and Godly Love
|
Start Your Day with Scripture
Begin each morning with God's Word — the Berean delivers a daily verse and insightful commentary to spark reflection and growth.
Join 140,000+ fellow believers on this journey.
|
|
