Who are sheep?

Have these words from Matthew 7:1-2 ever been used to silence you?  “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Well, you’re not alone.  These are verses that pose considerable difficulty and are most often misapplied.  In what sense then are we forbidden to judge?  Is it meant, that we are not to form an opinion about persons and things?  Are we never to draw a judgment about our neighbor — whether he is converted or not?  Is that what is forbidden?

Certainly not!  How can we love any as a Christian brother or sister, as Christ commands us to do, unless we ascertain that person to be one?   And as it concerns the world, we are to possess one feeling towards our fellow Christians, and another for the unbeliever.  If that is the case then we must form our opinion of people by separating mankind into two categories: those outside the Church, and those within it.

Jesus, just a few verses later, requires it.  He teaches us to act in a certain way towards dogs and pigs (as he metaphorically refers to the unbeliever).  But, in order to fulfill this, we must decide in our minds, who are sheep (i.e., believers) on the one hand, and who are dogs and pigs on the other.

A little further on, Jesus instructs His disciples to beware of false prophets, and to try them by their fruits (verses 15-20).  So, we are not only not forbidden to form our opinion of man’s spiritual state, but we are taught to do it.

But if we are not forbidden to form a true opinion about others, are we forbidden to give outward expression to it?  In some cases it is lawful (see for example, Acts 15:19, 24).   If we have found that a man is a ‘dog,’ or a false prophet, would we be doing harm in warning our brother against him?  The answer is clearly stated in Scripture since we find the Lord and His apostles speaking out with great clarity on the spiritual state of many.  For instance: “You hypocrite!” says Jesus, a  verse or two further on.  And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:1, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere infants in Christ.”  Again and again the apostle speaks in condemnation of the sins, both of believers and of unbelievers.