Self-examination serves as a tool for man to use to find out who and what he is. Though some preachers suggest that believers should never question their own salvation experience, the scripture encourages self-examination. If there are doubts, believers should certainly ask questions concerning the basis for their salvation. Was it based upon one’s feelings or solely upon the scriptures? They should ask what they did in order to be saved. Did they join a church, do some penitent work, or did they call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith as dictated by the scriptures? They should ask about the effects of their salvation. Have they seen a change of heart, or are they the same that they were before trusting Christ as Saviour?
Many people who fail to understand the Bible’s contents foolishly judge the Bible as a closed book except to those academically superior. The problem does not rest with God’s words but with man’s spiritual inabilities. This should be expected as the Bible says, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Even the saved at times may have difficulty understanding certain Bible passages, but God has given His Spirit to those who are saved to teach them and guide them in their understanding of His words. This truth is confirmed in John 14:26 when the Bible says, “the Comforter . . . shall teach you all things.”
The prevailing philosophy today seems to be that each person should be allowed to do what is right in his own eyes. With this philosophy, anything goes! Unfortunately, even Christians have bought into this wicked mindset as they raise their children and allow them to decide what to believe to be true. This contradicts the very foundation of biblical faith that teaches believers to pass on the truths that they have received. The Lord called Moses to the mount to receive commandments with the end purpose that he would teach the people what he had received. This theme was quite common in the history of the nation of Israel (Deuteronomy 4:9-10). God gave His truth to His people with instructions to give those truths to others. The New Testament follows this same pattern. “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).
The Lord detests murmuring. He hates it so much that He sent fire among the Israelites because of their murmurings (Numbers 11:1). In the New Testament, He warned believers to avoid falling prey to the same sin as the Israelites (1 Corinthians 10:1-14). Additionally, New Testament believers are admonished to do all things without murmurings (Philippians 2:14-16). People murmur as they focus on events within their lives rather than upon the Lord and His word. Yet, the Christian’s life events are ultimately brought to pass, either directly or indirectly, by a loving and caring God. The Lord abhors murmuring because it directly insults His working and provision in our lives.
God made you! He either made you a male or a female (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:4). As such, He expects each of us to act, look, and live like what He made us in every way. Ever more frequently, the world and the Devil have blurred the lines of distinction between male and female. One of the most grievous outcomes of the blurring of distinctions between male and female has resulted in the public’s acceptance of the sin which led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God condemned it then and condemns it no less today. The Lord wants men and women to be distinct and look differently in every possible way. As such, He created the genders with obvious physical differences. He even admonished each gender to bear clear and distinct differences in length of hair (1 Corinthians 11:14-15) and commanded them to maintain obvious distinctions in apparel (Deuteronomy 22:5). In other words, focus upon looking like what God created you to be.
God designed and willed for the Christian home and the local body of believers to function as two of the closest experiences to heaven on this side of eternity. As believers, we ought to love one another (John 13:34-35) and serve one another by that love (Galatians 5:13). Rather than backbiting and devouring each other (Galatians 5:15), believers ought to give themselves to ministering to each other. In Paul’s epistle to the Corinthian believers, God led Paul to mention a family addicted to the ministry. At some point, this family decided to sacrifice their own gain for the sake of ministering to others. Because of this commitment, the Bible says that Stephanas refreshed the spirit of other believers.
People, especially the young or those new in the Lord, have many misconceptions. Leadership serves as a prime example because of a failure to grasp how it truly works. Many people dream of a future time when they will no longer have to submit to any authority. However, everyone has a leader to which he must submit and follow. God designed the home to have a specified order of authority: the children submit to the parents (Ephesians 6:1); the wife submits to her husband (Colossians 3:18); and the husband submits to the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:3). In the country, the citizens are to submit to the government (1 Peter 2:13-14) as the government submits to the Lord (1 Peter 3:22). Everyone is under some authority. Saved people are commanded to follow their Lord (John 8:42); whereas lost people follow their father, the Devil (John 8:44). Everyone answers to someone whether or not they acknowledge that submission.
The scriptural form of church judgment was fashioned according to the practice that will take place in the future. However, the role of judgment in the early church seems to be much more involved than generally practiced in churches today. The spiritual believers took their disputes with other believers to be judged by the church. Those believers who failed to follow this guideline were considered to be the carnal believers at Corinth. They were unwisely taking their disputes before unsaved judges. Paul rebuked these believers and explained in context their future role of judgment: believers would take part in judging the world (1 Corinthians 6:2). Additionally, believers will have a lofty responsibility of judging angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).
Far too many Christians fear being judged by others more than they fear being judged by Almighty God. Christians should have a healthy respect and fear concerning the coming judgment seat of Christ. Yet, very few actually understand the biblical admonition concerning how to reduce this judgment. In today’s passage, we learn that “if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” Christians should devote their time and strength to comparing themselves against the precepts of God’s word to help correct their shortcomings. In doing so, the time of judgment at Christ’s judgment seat would lose much of its dread. In like manner, Christians should learn to become their own honest critic making it harder for others to find legitimate fault with us. The importance of this self-evaluation of judging ourselves would equate in a better testimony to the world.
The last few studies have sought to dispel the notion that the Bible condemns judging. Today’s verse is no exception. Notice that the verse begins with a coordinating conjunction. The word but indicates that our verse serves a continuation of the thought that preceded it. The previous verse refers to the natural man which is someone who does not know the Lord as Saviour. Because he is not saved, he cannot discern the things of God. Today’s passage states that the “spiritual [man] judgeth all things.” A spiritual man is not only a saved man but one who enjoys the peace of God and daily fellowship with God. The other scriptural designation for man (in addition to the natural man [unsaved], and spiritual man [saved and in good fellowship]) is the carnal man [saved, but not in good fellowship]. Since the carnal man lacks the proper fellowship with the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:1), he may discern but fails in the proper execution of that discernment. Those claiming that believers should not judge are simply foolish. In fact, a spiritual man will judge all things but do so only based upon righteous judgment (John 7:24).
