Judge Not!

I am currently reading through D.A. Carson's Commentary on the Book of John. I am 300 pages in, and it has been an eminently enjoyable read thus far.

John 7:24 reads: Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Giving a helpful note on judgment and discernment of all sorts, he writes:

In an age when Matthew 7:1 ('Do not judge, or you too will be judged') has displaced John 3:16 as the only verse in the Bible the man in the street is likely to know, it is perhaps worth adding that Matthew 7:1 forbids judgmentalism, not moral discernment. By contrast, John 7:24 demands moral and theological discernment in the context of obedient faith (7:17), while excoriating self-righteous legalism and offering no sanction for censorious heresy-hunting (317).

What an apt warning for falling out on either side of the spectrum.