Submitting to Judgment – Foundations of a Worldview

Submitting to Judgment
Foundations of a Worldview

“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.” Deuteronomy 16:18

The appointment of judges is one of the communal disciplines required by God’s Law for a just and loving community.

The work of judges was only a more formal way of leading the people of Israel to be responsible for and accountable to one another for their covenant relationship with the Lord. God uses His people to teach, correct, and even chastise one another. We have the responsibility to do so, and the authority as well.

In essence, such judgments entail helping one another to stay on the path of righteousness. If a member of the covenant community discovered his neighbor to be in sin, it was his responsibility to go to him and correct him, teaching him again the ways of the Lord and His Law. This necessarily entailed passing judgment on one’s neighbor; however, as long as that judgment was correct, it was essential (cf. John 7:29).

People who had committed sins or were engaged in sinful practices and would not repent at the rebuke of their neighbor could be brought before the judges of the community. There a case would be heard and a variety of judgments could be inflicted, including, pecuniary remuneration, physical punishment, and banishment. The discipline required on the part of the people was to submit to the judgment of their rulers, and to return to the way of the Lord.

God uses us as members of His community to help all members of the community maintain a vital covenant relationship with Him. Even in the Church, in the exercise of church discipline, the first line of such discipline is between members themselves. It is only the loving thing to do to seek to correct someone who has strayed into the path of sin. The discipline process is such that offenders are given multiple opportunities to recognize their sin, repent, and submit to the judgment of the congregation. Refusal to practice the discipline of submitting could mean expulsion from the community.

We may not like being the recipient of someone’s rebuke. But if such a rebuke or correction is necessary, we should thank God for friends who love us so, and submit to the chastening and correction He provides us through them.

The book of Ecclesiastes is a crucial resource for understanding the Biblical worldview against the backdrop of our secular age. Follow T. M.’s studies in Ecclesiastes by downloading the free, weekly studies available in our Scriptorium Resources page at The Fellowship of Ailbe. Click here to see the weekly studies available thus far.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).