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John 7:24 – Judge Righteous Judgment
John 7:24: “Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment” (CSB). Ironically, I wonder if people today are not judging righteously what Jesus meant here? I wonder if people – you and me – too often interpret actions of others outwardly; meaning we have a surface, outward, understanding of both their actions and scripture?
The context deals with a common situation experienced even today – how do we handle two passages that appear on the surface to contradict? “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won’t be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath?” (John 7:23 CSB).
These religious leaders got it right on the first seemingly contradictory situation! It was right to obey circumcising on the 8th day even if it looked like they were violating the command to rest on the 7th day. This is because the command concerning the covenant sign was not contextually involved and therefore did not violate the other command to rest. When someone takes a text out of context they are literally taking it out of God’s word. “Working” on the Sabbath is not always violating the command to rest.
Where these religious leaders got it wrong was condemning Jesus even though He is doing the same thing as them but in a different way, a way in which they were unaccustomed. Both they and Jesus performed a “work” on the Sabbath: “I performed one work, and you are all amazed,” (John 7:21 CSB). That work was healing a paralyzed man on the Sabbath (John 5:1-9). Jesus gave him rest from nature’s debilitating work.
So what does Jesus mean when He says, “Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment” (John 7:24)? Jesus means, go deeper than what you are used to, and differently than what has been approved traditionally. Understand scripture according to what God meant; not based upon what you’ve heard (Matthew 5:21), or used to. Understand how to make the right decision when two scriptures and situations seemingly contradict. Righteous judgment takes a discerning relook at what the Bible really says, even when it is different than what we’ve traditionally said. What scripture appears to say on the surface – outward appearance – is not always what it really means.
If you think this is controversial, you are correct. If Jesus’ actions based upon a deeper understanding of scripture were not controversial, then why would religiously leaders have judged Him unrighteously, resulting in others saying, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?” (John 7:25 CSB). Unrighteous judgment leads to unrighteous interpretations and outward reactions.
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