“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments” 1 Corinthians 2:14-15.

It is surprising the fear that exists among Christians to judge. Although, on the other hand, this is not surprising, given our propensity to equate “judgment” with “condemnation.”

However, the Berean disciples are described as “nobler” (Acts 17:11) because they heard Paul’s message “and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true”.

They did not limit themselves to accepting, without further ado, the affirmations of Paul and Silas, but wanted to establish the possible veracity of what they said using the Word of God as a reference.

In other words, the Berean Jews were making a judgment about what they were hearing and not about the people.

They did not decide on the basis of the opinions of others about Paul, whether he was an apostle, as some said, or an apostate, as others said.

What they were interested in deciding was whether he was telling the truth or not.

Judging is nothing more than issuing a verdict or well-founded opinion after carefully analyzing a fact, teaching or assertion in order to declare it correct or incorrect.

In fact, the etymology of the word “verdict” is none other than “to say with truth”.

But judging involves effort, it involves listening attentively and impartially, it involves striving to know and understand the Word of God, to have it as a guide, and it involves taking the risk of discovering that we were wrong in our previous approaches.

Therefore, a spiritual person can, and must, judge all things, to approve the good and unmask the bad.

And knowing that if he judges with truth and sincerity he will not be condemned in what he approves.

Cover image by Joel & Jasmin Førestbird  on Unsplash