"Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye. (Mt 7:1-5)
Jesus warns sternly against condemning others. Jesus is referring to the judgments and condemnations that occur within ordinary lives, as people set themselves up as moral guardians and critics of one another. He is referring to the self righteous people who see everyone else as wrong except themselves. We are sure that he had a particular target in mind. They were the scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus questions the sense of moralism that exists. A moralism that looks at everything/everybody with a sense of morals and judgements. Jesus warns against the attitude of judging others. This does not mean we should not have any standard for life.
Judging people or look down on others for moral failures is a temptation to play God. Only God can judge people. This idea can be clearly seen in the letter of Paul to the Romans (Ch 14). Anyone trying to judge others is playing God and playing God is ‘to act’. And this is hypocrisy.
