Σὺ δὲ : thou, in contrast with the one Lord and Judge of all. In face of our common responsibility to Him, how dare we judge each other? τὸν ἀδελφόν σου : another reason for not judging: it is inconsistent with a recognition of the brotherhood of believers. ἢ καὶ σὺ τί ἐξουθενεῖς κ. τ. λ. Or thou, again, why despisest thou? etc. This is addressed to the strong and free thinking, as the first question is to the weak and scrupulous Christian. Censoriousness and contempt are never anything but sins, not to be practised but shunned, and that all the more when we remember that we shall all stand at one bar παραστησόμεθα τῷ βήματι τοῦ θεοῦ God is the universal Judge. In 2 Corinthians 5:10 we have τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ but here τοῦ θεοῦ is the correct reading We cannot suppose that by τοῦ θεοῦ here Paul means Christ in His Divine nature; the true way to mediate between the two expressions is seen in chap. Romans 2:16; Acts 17:31. When we all stand at that bar and it should be part of our spiritual environment always no one will look at his brother with either censoriousness or contempt.

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Old Testament