Judging People
QUESTION
The bible says, "Therefore, if ANYONE be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (II Corinthians 5:17) This verse says ANYONE not someone be in Christ, will be changed. If someone professes to have faith in Christ yet live in sin willfully (does not repent of sin) then isn't it true that that person is not saved? God disciplines those whom he loves. If one can live in a carnal lifestyle without any conviction, wouldn't it mean God DOES not love them? Then wouldn't it also mean we can judge people, whether he is saved or not?
ANSWER
Thanks for taking a moment to inquire. A line-by-line response follows:
The bible says, "Therefore, if ANYONE be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" This verse says ANYONE, not someone, that be in Christ, will be changed.
All of God’s regenerate sheep have been changed. The problem arises when we decide that we are the arbiters of whether or not that change has occurred in some individual based on mere external observation. It is God alone that looks upon the heart (I Samuel 16:7) and it is the Lord that knoweth them that are his (II Timothy 2:19).
If someone professes to have faith in Christ yet willfully lives in sin (does not repent of sin) then isn't it true that that person is not saved?
No. It is not true that a person who lives like this is not eternally saved. The bible is FULL of examples of men who were regenerate and yet were living in unrepentant sin: David, Lot, Solomon, Samson, etc. I realize that this biblical observation is not very popular among those who want to insist that regeneration inoculates men against living in sin, but the fact remains that regeneration simply does NOT do this. The bible abundantly attests that regenerate men are capable of practicing willful, unrepentant, and grievous sin. That is precisely why the bible repeatedly exhorts REGENERATE men to obedience and the mortification of sin, because we are so EASILY BESET by it (Hebrews 12:1). Regenerate men are not immune to being ensnared by sin, which is the primary weakness exploited by the roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8).
When the bible says that sin will not have dominion over you (Romans 6:14) it does NOT intend that you cannot be overcome by or ensnared in sin. Clearly the bible is full of accounts of regenerate men who became ensnared in sin. Rather, it intends that regenerate men possess the ever-present enabling of the Holy Spirit whereby we can overcome the temptation of sin and practice righteousness (I Corinthians 10:13). Sin does not have dominion over us because we CAN choose to flee from it. An unregenerate man cannot. However, this enablement does NOT ensure that the regenerate always avail themselves of God’s promised provision. It is for this cause that we are exhorted to obedience and to be what we are “in Christ” rather pursing the things of the flesh.
God disciplines those whom he loves.
That is certainly true. “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:4-6) What’s more we can save ourselves from the temporal chastisement of God by abiding in obedience to Him (Isaiah 1:19-20).
If one can live in a carnal lifestyle without any conviction, wouldn't it mean God DOES not love them?
Regenerate men can harden their hearts and turn a blind eye to conviction while practicing sin. I see it in the bible (II Samuel 11:25) alongside repeated admonitions to God’s people to “harden not your hearts” (Psalm 95:8, Hebrews 3:8,15, 4:7). That said, I do believe the regenerate experience conviction in some measure when they practice sin. They may choose to ignore that spiritual inclination as David did for quite some time until he was outed by the prophet Nathan (II Samuel 12:7). Those who persist in rebellion against the urging of the spirit to repent will face increasingly dire consequences under the chastening rod of God. Consider how long David’s sin went on – months. Had he immediately repented of his adultery he would have avoided a HOST of increasingly heinous sins that he piled up in an effort to cover his tracks. Regenerate David hardened his heart in the matter and as a result he heaped greater and greater sin and consequences upon himself. Now, one who was aware of what David was doing over those months, the adultery, the lies, the murder, the callousness with respect to his own guilt – might conclude, “David is living a carnal lifestyle without any conviction. Clearly God does not love him.” That is an evidently false conclusion and a cautionary word about judging things according to appearance (John 7:24).
The bottom line is that the willful practice of sin is not definitive proof that a man is unregenerate. That observation is not a license for the regenerate to commit sin. For those who think it is, they should look at the dreadful consequences that were visited upon David’s life as punishment for his actions – he had his own children rising up to kill him! These biblical observations should eliminate any inclination we have to declare “non-elect” or “unregenerate” based on external observations. It is God alone that looketh upon the heart, not us; and regenerate men can act in ways that resemble the unregenerate.
Then wouldn't it also mean we can judge people, whether he is saved or not?
No. It would not mean that. The external evidences we observe can be very misleading. We do not know what’s going in someone’s conscience nor do we look upon the heart. Regenerate people sin. The bible testifies that they even commit willful, heinous sin and that they may harden their hearts to persist in that practice unto the ruination of their temporal existence (Genesis 19:30, II Peter 2:7). Those matters should be sufficient to keep us from making definitive proclamations regarding someone else’s state of grace. Frankly, I find it very objectionable when Christians presume that they have this degree of spiritual insight regarding the hearts of men.
All that said, I do believe that we as Christians CAN and MUST judge people’s actions, if not their state of grace. If a professing Christian is living in open, rebellious sin (a man is cheating on his wife, or living in drunkenness) then it is totally appropriate to exercise judgment with respect to that behavior. Those behaviors are indisputably wrong. They are sin. It is right to call it sin. It is right to confront a brother who is practicing such sins. That is not being judgmental, that is practicing sound, Christian discernment. However, we should stop short of using the valid observation that “What you’re doing is sin” to conclude that, “therefore you are unregenerate.” That is a completely unsustainable, judgmental, and presumptuous conclusion given the testimony of the bible. The Lord knoweth them that are his.
- Elder Daniel Samons