BIBLE WATCH

Today we address one of the most quoted and most commonly misinterpreted passages in the Bible, a verse usually cited to mean that people shouldn’t judge one another but meaning something entirely different:  Matthew 7:1–2 “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged, since you will be judged in the same judgment that you make, and you will be measured by the same standard you apply.” Popular Interpretation   This is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, usually in a context something like this: “Yeah, he cheated on his wife, but who am I to judge? Hey, we’re all sinners, right? Like Jesus said, ‘Judge not, lest you be judged,'” or “Don’t judge me—if you were really a Christian you’d listen to Jesus when he said, ‘judge not.'” That is, the verse is often marshaled in order to defend against any declaration that a given person’s behavior is wrong (quite often marshaled by the person in question). Effectively, when quoted as such, the verse is understood as a prohibition...

Jesus said in Matthew 19:30, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first”. Thereafter He immediately gave a parable of the labourers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:1-15 and reiterated this statement in Matthew 20:16 at the end of the parable. Many Scholars have given several interpretations to the meaning of this statement. However, the most accurate interpretation should be from the parable as the parable was designed to explain it. The story is about some labourers who complain that others, who did not work as long as they, were paid an equal amount. In other words, they saw their own labour as worthy of compensation but considered their companions’ labour to be inferior and less worthy of reward. Jesus ends the parable with the statement, “The last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16).  The most direct interpretation, based on the content of the parable, is that all believers, no matter how long or how hard they work dur...