Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.
James 4:11 NET
Sitting in judgment of other people, especially fellow believers, seems to come easily to most of us. I believe my interpretation of Scripture is correct, and my actions align with Scripture. So, when another believer acts or believes differently than I do, it is tempting to view them as wrong and, along with that, to be critical of them—to sit in judgment of them.
But there are several problems with doing this. James expresses one of them in this verse. When I sit in judgment of other believers, I am making myself out to be a judge, something I am thoroughly unqualified to do.
I might justify my judgment by claiming that I am only agreeing with what the Bible teaches. But even then, I am still judging, judging that what I believe the Scripture teaches is superior to what the other person believes it teaches.
I do not believe James is telling us that we can never “speak against” what another believer is doing or teaching. There are instances when their words and/or actions are clearly at odds with the Scripture and core tenets of our faith, and we should address these. However, we must be cautious not to let doctrinal differences that do not impact our salvation or our witness to the world around us divide us.
There is room to disagree about how God created the world, what the end times will look like, the eternal fate of unbelievers, election, and the day Jesus was crucified. Those, and many more, are topics we can profitably debate among ourselves. But let’s do so in love rather than in judgment. And do so with an open mind. Who knows. You might discover that those who disagree with you really have something worthwhile to learn from.
