Judging - Mirror or Light?

It has been something of a mystery for years why Paul asserts in Romans 2 that when we judge others we are guilty of the same things. I have heard many explanations and expositions and declarations about this but they always left me dissatisfied. Maybe my mind works too simple, but I have felt there must be some way of understanding this better.

Lately an analogy has come to me that seems to fit. I like analogies as people probably notice who have listened to me lately. While analogies usually fall short of complete explanation and may fall apart if taken to an extreme, they can also be very useful in translating concepts that are better understood by the heart into language which is primarily the function of the mind.

The passage I have been meditating on is Romans 2:1-4. It must always be remembered clearly that the chapter breaks were not part of the original text and many times disrupt our ability to get into what the original author was trying to convey. This is indeed the case here as well. These comments by Paul are in the context of Romans 1 and all the things presented there about the two “sides” of God being revealed: righteousness and wrath.

I like the way this reads from the Bible in Basic English. It goes like this –

“So you have no reason, whoever you are, for judging: for in judging another you are judging yourself, for you do the same things. And we are conscious that God is a true judge against those who do such things. But you who are judging another for doing what you do yourself, are you hoping that God's decision will not take effect against you? Or is it nothing to you that God had pity on you, waiting and putting up with you for so long, not seeing that in his pity God's desire is to give you a change of heart?” (Romans 2:1-4 BBE)

The New American Standard Bible that I study from reads as follows –

“Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:1-4 NAS95)

What I am starting to see emerging as I have contemplated this longer and dialogged with God about it is that obviously there is a major difference between humans judging each other and God judging humans. It seems quite plain from the passage, though very baffling to most of us when applied to ourselves, that when we judge others for the “bad” things they do we are guilty of the same things ourselves. That is the part that I have struggled with for most of my life. It just seemed very illogical to claim that every time I judge someone for something I see in them that I am the same as they are.

I have over the years noticed more and more that the things I notice in others, the weaknesses and failings that seem to stand out for me, invariable show up sooner or later in my own life, albeit often in a different form or style. This has caused me to restrain myself more and more in my penchant for condemning others though it is still a great temptation. Many have settled on this principle as the full explanation for this passage. People in AA have a saying that goes, “if you spot it, you got it”. This is a very true fact of reality in how human beings are wired; we see most easily in others the weaknesses that plague our own lives.

But if that principle is equally applied to verse two then we introduce another major problem not so easy to explain. How can God “judge” people without having the same discrepancy that is seen when we judge them? I cannot except the arbitrary “religious” solution of simply saying God cannot sin or some other such declarations that shut down any exploration of this concept. I believe that there is a truth here that can be clearly understood and that will help us grow both in our understanding of our own nature and in the beauty of God's perfect character.

First of all I realized there might be a difference between the “judging” that we do and the “judging” that God does. Generally when we judge someone for their faults and sins we do it while infected with a spirit of condemnation. We are in fact projecting onto them the secret or not so secret feelings of guilt and pain we are feeling and want to draw attention away from ourselves onto others in a subconscious attempt to relieve our own uneasiness. This in fact is the process that I just discussed. But when God “judges” we must be extremely careful not to project onto Him the same motives and context that we are so familiar with inside ourselves. He has stated very emphatically, “'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.'” (Isaiah 55:8-9) That is one reason I like the way the BBE renders this as a “decision” by God rather than a “judgment”. It conveys the idea that what He is doing is not the same as what we do that carries with it a spirit of condemnation.

Our paradigm of projecting onto God our own perspective has been much of the cause of most of our crazy ideas about God, about His character and motives. Many popular and deeply entrenched beliefs and doctrines could be traced back to contamination from this source. Because we view God through human passions and paradigms we tend to mold Him into our image instead of accepting the truth about Himself that He wants to reveal to us through His word and His Spirit. This passage is a good illustration of God's efforts to reveal the real truth about Himself if we will take the time to meditate and receive higher truth as we lay aside our preconceived beliefs and listen to a new and thrilling revelation of the heart of the Almighty.

The analogy that I see here that helps me understand this more clearly is that of a mirror. There are several places in the Bible that use this concept directly and indirectly. I have been learning that we are all like mirrors; we reflect to others whatever it is that we focus on, whatever we fill our minds and hearts with, whatever direction we aim our mirror. If we focus on the faults of others we find ourselves becoming those faults. That's one reason I am becoming more and more reticent to listen to the media and the news as much as I used to because I see that it produces within my heart emotions and reactions that are most unhealthy and even destructive.

But God is not a mirror, although when we create a heart-belief about God in our own image we come to believe that He in fact does mirror our own emotions and characteristics. But, in fact, God is in reality not a mirror but the ultimate source of all light. A mirror cannot even be useful if there is not an external source of light which it can reflect. That is an amazing thought in itself that usually escapes us. But that is why when God “judges”, it is so different than when we judge. When God judges it is simply a “revealing” of what is, not an arbitrary decision or accusation. When God comes near, His very presence reveals what is true just as a light exposes more and more detail of anything we look at as a bright light comes closer and closer to it.

When Paul asks the question in verse 3 about religious people thinking they can escape the judgment of God while judging others, it is like he is asking how a mirror can escape being discovered itself in the presence of light. And to carry it logically farther, if a mirror is directed toward the sins of someone else when the light is turned on, what will be seen in the mirror is those very sins – not a very good position to find ourselves in the the day of revealing (judgment).

But the really exciting discovery in this passage is the revelation of what God's light looks like. It is found in verse 4 and should be the focus of our mirrors if we want to come into harmony with God so we will be ready when He appears in glory. The solution for us and for those we tend to judge is the same – repentance motivated by the “riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience”. For contrary to popular religious thinking, it is not fear and intimidation and terror that leads us to repentance; it is the kindness and love and tenderness of God that draws us into His embrace of forgiveness and empowering presence.

And if we continue to disbelieve this truth about God? Then the unavoidable consequences will be the effects of resistance being stored up within our hearts against His kindness and love called the “wrath” of God as stated in verse 5. It is not wrath as we normally think of wrath from a human perspective except that it will seem like it is because we have locked our minds into believing that God is just like us and will stubbornly insist that He is the one who is hurting us. We will resent Him and accuse Him and join with the enemy of God, the greatest liar in the universe, in charging God with atrocities that, in fact dwell in the heart of Satan and all his demonic kingdom.

The alternative to this is to live in the truth about God and grow in knowledge of His true character. This is the experience described in verse 7, “those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.” (Romans 2:7)

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