Well, then, at least...can we not judge something as being in life or in death? In one of the Corinthian letters didn't Paul say a spiritual man judges all things and yet he is not subject to any judgment? Connie

Hi Connie, Dead or alive, this is the simplicity of true judgment. We know what comes out of the one. And we know that all legal attempts to extract life out of that which is dead is useless. Consider where Paul also wrote to the Corinthians:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

The unbelieving simply can't see it, for it is veiled. End discussion. This simple judgment is riddled all through his letter to the Corinthians. The one mind cannot understand the other. When we see things (including offenders against us) for what they are we also recognize the futility of trying to hold on to the old fleshly wisdom that would make us look better than they. Are we going to be unfairly treated and falsely accused? According to the flesh there is no other recourse but to do so, and if we were to know how often that happened against us we would probably be undone.

When we who have been given the mind of Christ take heed to the lie that keeps insisting that there is justification to be found within the realm of fleshly, appearance-based logic it begins to appear reasonable to us. Next thing you know we're caught in a vicious cycle of comparison. It really gets ugly after that, despite any attempt to put a better face on it.

The new cannot be subject to the judgment of the old. Who we REALLY are is not subject to any judgment of the appearance-based world, not even when we are the one saying it. Jim