Judgment and Condemnation

There is no condemnation now for those of us who are in Christ. We have had all of our failures, stupidities, and rebellion judged and paid for by Jesus on the cross. We are free to live under the influence of the Spirit of Life in Jesus. (Romans 8)

We are now responsible for administering the same freedom to those we encounter. Jesus instructed His disciples in Matthew 5:1-4 to exercise judgement in a way that discerned the weaknesses and failures in those they met, and to judge themselves so that they could find clarity and insight that would help them bring others to the freedom they would experience as they allowed the Holy Spirit to open their eyes and improve their sight.

Judgment is the process of discovering that something is wrong. Condemnation is the declaration that because something is wrong, someone should pay for it. Jesus already paid for it. All of it. Mine against you, yours against me, ours against others, murders, robberies, rapes, lies; all of it. It is now all against Him. And He paid for it.

Now, we no longer have any responsibility to shake our heads in condemnation when we see others’ failures. We instead have responsibility to intercede that they find the same freedom and blessing that we have. If we are employed by a government to enforce laws, we have a second responsibility – perhaps to pronounce or enforce condemnation in the courts of men, but we still have the higher ordination to call them to repentance and freedom in the court where the Eternal Payment has already been made.

After He says above, You did not want or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law), He then says, See, I have come to do Your will. He takes away the first to establish the second. By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. He is now waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after He says:
This is the covenant I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws on their hearts
and write them on their minds,
He adds:
I will never again remember
their sins and their lawless acts.                                                                       (Hebrews 10:8-17 from Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®)