Luke 6:37
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Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
See on Mat 7:1-2; but this is much fuller and more graphic.
Open source ↗All these sayings of Christ we had before in Matthew; some of them in ch. 7, others in other places. They were sayings that Christ often used; they needed only to be mentioned, it was easy to apply them. Grotius thinks that we need not be critical here in seeking for the coherence: they are golden sentences, like Solomon's proverbs or parables. Let us observe here, I. We ought to be very candid in our censures of others, because we need grains of allowance ourselves: "Therefore judge not others, because then you yourselves shall not be judged; therefore condemn not others, because then you yourselves shall not be condemned, Luk 6:37. Exercise towards others that charity which thinks no evil, which bears all things, believes and hopes all things; and then others will exercise that charity towards you. God will not judge and condemn you, men will not." They that are merciful to other people's names shall find others merciful to theirs. II. If we are of a giving and a forgiving spirit, we shall ourselves reap the benefit of it: Forgive and you shall be forgiven. If we forgive the injuries done to us by others, others will forgive our inadvertencies. If we forgive others' trespasses against us, God will forgive our trespasses against him. And he will be no less mindful of the liberal that devise liberal things (Luk 6:38): Give, and it shall be given to you. God, in his providence, will recompense it to you; it is lent to him, and he is not unrighteous to forget it (Heb 6:10), but he will pay it again. Men shall return it into your bosom; for God often makes use of men as instruments, not only of his avenging, but of his rewarding justice. If we in a right manner give to others when they need, God will incline the hearts of others to give to us when we need, and to give libe…
Open source ↗6:37-42 Do not judge others: Jesus condemned hypocritical judgment that denigrated another person. Those who condemn others will be judged by that same standard. God requires his people to love others by warning them of the dangers of sin (Gal 6:1; Heb 3:13). Exhortation is an act of love; judgment is an act of pride.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!
And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.”
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
They say, ‘Keep to yourself; do not come near me, for I am holier than you!’ Such people are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all day long.
But he refused. Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt.