(James 4:11-12)…..Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
In the world we live in there is a strong tendency to condemn, criticize, backbite, gossip, or speak evil of someone else. It is the result of what we read in (v.1-2) that wars and fights come from our desire for pleasure. In doing so we take the chance of setting ourselves up in becoming a judge of someone else’s actions. Slander of others has become so easy in our society and so easy for the church. Think for a moment, of how we have fallen into slandering (judging) people when they don’t agree with us, think like us, or do what we do. But who are we to be a judge of anybody?
Christian believers are not to judge (criticize) or speak evil of one another. This is not referring to judging in reference to clear issues of sin, Scripture tells us that the church has a responsibility to judge and discipline in such areas (Matthew 18:15-20) (Titus 1:10-14) (Titus 2:11-15) (Titus 3:9-11). James does not mean that you are never to hold any opinions about people or that you should refuse to discern between truth and error. Sometimes we have little or no understanding of people’s motives or circumstances, if we’re not careful, we can be a judge over someone’s character in things that are not sin issues.
So what type of judging is James referring to? Speaking evil means to criticize, judge, backbite, gossip, condemn, grumble against another person. It means to talk about and to tear down another person, to share things about another person that cut and hurt him/her that lower his image and reputation in the eyes of others. It also carries the thought of talking about a person behind his back, when he/she is not present
How many problems are created in the Church by judging others in areas of opinion or preference and not based on the Word of God? Maybe out of anger, jealousy, frustration, to boost our self-image, to make our life feel valuable, to justify our lifestyle ye to validate a decision for revenge just being caught up in the moment. How often is the harmony of a fellowship disturbed and even destroyed by slanderous accusations and gossip? We are brothers/sisters in the family of God together, and The word tells us how we are to be as disciples of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:25-32) (1 Peter 1:22-2:3).