14:10-12
As Paul has done often, he quotes from Scripture to back up his argument, this time from Isaiah 45:23. And here we get the proper application of “do not judge”. The wrong sort of judging, the sort that Jesus did speak about, is when we consider ourselves better than another person. The person mentioned here who is either looking down on the one who observes various rules, or the one who looks down on the other for not observing the rules, is considering themselves to be the better Christian. But all of us will one day stand before Jesus to be judged by Him, we will have to give an account of ourselves to God. We do well to remind ourselves of this periodically as it will help us to have a more sober view of ourselves, and to not be so quick to judge.
14:13
When we judge each other, in the sense used here by Paul, we are seeking to prove ourselves better than someone else, or just to do them down. In some sense we are seeking to justify ourselves. This is natural in the world for to get on in the world we need to prove ourselves better than other people, or at least not as bad. The gospel sets us free from all this, we are free to seek the best for other people. I am justified because of what Jesus has done, I am blessed because the Father loves me. The more someone else is blessed or built up the more I am blessed or built up. Furthermore, when we seek to judge others we put a stumbling block in their path. If we do that what do we think the Father will think?
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