Om te sê iets is verkeerd, is nie dieselfde as om iemand te veroordeel nie
Kort antwoord: “Wie is jy om te sê iemand is verkeerd?” sê self vir jou dat jy verkeerd is. Die regte onderskeid is nie tussen oordeel en geen oordeel nie, maar tussen om oor ’n saak te oordeel en om ’n mens te veroordeel.
In die groepklets deel iemand ’n skermskoot van ’n meisie se private boodskappe, en almal lag. Jy tik: “Dis nie reg nie.” Die antwoord kom vinnig: “Wie is jy om te oordeel? Jesus het self gesê moenie oordeel nie.”
Skielik is jy die een wat verkeerd is. En die Bybelvers is boonop teen jou.
Wat waar is
Begin by wat waar is. Christene kan neerkyk op mense. Ons het al soos regters gepraat oor sondes wat nie ons s’n is nie, en ons eie s’n vergeet. Wie so behandel is, het reg om die vraag te vra. En Jesus het dit werklik gesê: moenie oordeel nie, sodat daar nie oor julle geoordeel word nie (Matteus 7:1).
Lees verder as vers 1
Maar lees die volgende paar verse. Jesus praat van iemand wat die splinter in sy broer se oog raaksien en die balk in sy eie oog miskyk. Wat moet so iemand doen? Eers die balk uit sy eie oog haal, sê Jesus, en dan sal hy goed genoeg sien om die splinter uit sy broer se oog te haal (Matteus 7:5).
Jesus sê nie: los die splinter nie. Hy sê: begin by jouself, en help dan. En tien verse verder vra Hy sy dissipels om valse profete aan hulle vrugte te herken (Matteus 7:15–16). Dit kan jy nie doen sonder om te onderskei tussen goed en sleg nie.
“Moenie oordeel nie” verbied dus nie om te sê iets is verkeerd nie. Dit verbied die skynheilige regter, die een wat homself bo die ander plaas.
Die knoop
Kyk ook na die vraag self. “Wie is jy om te oordeel?” Dit beteken: jy was verkeerd om dit te sê. Dit is ’n oordeel. Niemand kan sonder oordele lewe nie. Die vraag is net hoe ons dit doen.
En hier is die onderskeid wat saak maak. Om te sê ’n daad is verkeerd, is een ding. Om ’n mens te veroordeel, om te besluit wat hy werd is en waar hy eindig, is iets anders. Daardie laaste oordeel behoort net aan God. Jakobus sê daar is net een Wetgewer en Regter (Jakobus 4:12).
Die draai
So wat antwoord jy op “wie is jy?” Eerlik: niemand besonders nie. Iemand met ’n balk in sy eie oog.
Maar dit is juis hoekom ’n Christen kan praat. Nie van bo af nie, maar van langsaan. Die waarheid is nie ons eiendom om mee te slaan nie; dit behoort aan God. Daarom moet ons dit in liefde sê (Efesiërs 4:15), as mense wat self genade nodig het.
Volgende keer
As iemand vra wie jy is om te oordeel, kan jy sê: “Jy is reg, ek is nie beter as hy nie. Maar wat met haar gebeur het, is steeds nie reg nie.”
Vra maar vir die meisie in die skermskoot of sy wou hê niemand moet iets sê nie.
Gaan dieper
Saying something is wrong is not the same as condemning someone
Short answer: “Who are you to say someone is wrong?” is itself telling you that you are wrong. The real distinction is not between judging and not judging, but between judging a matter and condemning a person.
In the group chat someone shares a screenshot of a girl’s private messages, and everyone laughs. You type: “That’s not right.” The answer comes fast: “Who are you to judge? Jesus himself said don’t judge.”
Suddenly you are the one in the wrong. And the Bible verse is against you as well.
What is true
Start with what is true. Christians can look down on people. We have talked like judges about sins that are not ours, and forgotten our own. Whoever has been treated like that has every right to ask the question. And Jesus really did say it: do not judge, so that you will not be judged (Matthew 7:1).
Read past verse 1
But read the next few verses. Jesus speaks of someone who notices the speck in his brother’s eye and misses the log in his own. What should such a person do? First take the log out of his own eye, Jesus says, and then he will see clearly enough to take the speck out of his brother’s eye (Matthew 7:5).
Jesus does not say: leave the speck. He says: start with yourself, and then help. And ten verses on he asks his disciples to recognise false prophets by their fruit (Matthew 7:15–16). You cannot do that without telling good from bad.
So “do not judge” does not forbid saying something is wrong. It forbids the hypocritical judge, the one who sets himself above the other.
The knot
Look at the question itself, too. “Who are you to judge?” It means: you were wrong to say that. That is a judgement. Nobody can live without judgements. The question is only how we make them.
And here is the distinction that matters. To say an act is wrong is one thing. To condemn a person, to decide what he is worth and where he ends up, is something else. That last judgement belongs to God alone. James says there is only one Lawgiver and Judge (James 4:12).
The turn
So what do you answer to “who are you?” Honestly: nobody special. Someone with a log in his own eye.
But that is exactly why a Christian can speak. Not from above, but from alongside. The truth is not our property to hit people with; it belongs to God. That is why we must speak it in love (Ephesians 4:15), as people who need grace ourselves.
Next time
When someone asks who you are to judge, you can say: “You’re right, I’m no better than he is. But what happened to her still isn’t right.”
Ask the girl in the screenshot whether she wanted nobody to say anything.