- Tu vero quid judicas fratrem tuum? aut
etiam tu, quid contemnis fratrem tuum? Onmes
enim sistemur ad tribunal Christi: - But why dost thou judge thy brother?^422
or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for
we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ. - Scripture est enim, Vivo ego, dick
Dominus, mihi flectetur omne genu, et omnis
lingua confitebitur Deo. - For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall confess to God. - Unusquisque igitur de se rationem redder
Deo. - So then every one of us shall give account
of himself to God. - Quare ne amplius judicemus alius alium:
sed hoc judicate potius, ne lapsus occasio detur
fratri aut offendiculum. - Let us not therefore judge one another
any more: but judge this rather, that no man put
a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his
brother’s way.
10.But thou, why dost thou, etc. As he had made the life and death of us all subject to Christ,
he now proceeds to mention the authority to judge, which the Father has conferred on him, together
with the dominion over heaven and earth. He hence concludes, that it is an unreasonable boldness
in any one to assume the power to judge his brother, since by taking such a liberty he robs Christ
the Lord of the power which he alone has received from the Father.
But first, by the term brother, he checks this lust for judging; for since the Lord has established
among us the right of a fraternal alliance, an equality ought to be preserved; every one then who
assumes the character of a judge acts unreasonably. Secondly, he calls us before the only true judge,
from whom no one can take away his power, and whose tribunal none can escape. As then it would
be absurd among men for a criminal, who ought to occupy a humble place in the court, to ascend
the tribunal of the judge; so it is absurd for a Christian to take to himself the liberty of judging the
conscience of his brother. A similar argument is mentioned by James, when he says, that “he who
judges his brother, judges the law,” and that “he who judges the law, is not an observer of the law
but a president;” and, on the other hand, he says, that “there is but one lawgiver, who can save and
destroy.” (James 4:12.) He has ascribed tribunal to Christ, which means his power to judge, as the
voice of the archangel, by which we shall be summoned, is called, in another place, a trumpet; for
it will pierce, as it were with its sound, into the minds and ears of all.^423
11.As I live, etc. He seems to me to have quoted this testimony of the Prophet, not so much to
prove what he had said of the judgment-seat of Christ, which was not doubted among Christians,
as to show that judgment ought to be looked for by all with the greatest humility and lowliness of
mind; and this is what the words import. He had first then testified by his own words, that the power
to judge all men is vested in Christ alone; he now demonstrates by the words of the Prophet, that
all flesh ought to be humbled while expecting that judgment; and this is expressed by the bending
of the knee. But though in this passage of the Prophet the Lord in general foreshows that his glory
(^422) It appears from the order of the words , and , that the address was made to two parties. “But thou, the weak,
why condemnest thou thy brother? and thou also, the strong, why dost thou despise thy brother?” — Ed.
(^423) The words “We shall all stand,” etc., may be rendered, “We must all stand,” etc. It is indeed the future tense, but this is
according to what is often the case in Hebrew, for in that language the future has frequently this meaning. Romans 13:12 may
be rendered in the same manner, “So then every one of us must give account of himself to God.” — Ed.