The dangers of criticism...

Criticism

 

Matthew 7:1-5 ESV / 4,137 helpful votes

 

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

James 4:11-12 ESV / 3,867 helpful votes

 

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Ephesians 4:29 ESV / 3,736 helpful votes

 

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

James 1:19-20 ESV / 3,623 helpful votes

 

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Galatians 6:1 ESV / 3,292 helpful votes

 

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 3,192 helpful votes

 

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Romans 14:4 ESV / 3,092 helpful votes

 

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Proverbs 15:31 ESV / 2,808 helpful votes

 

The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.

Proverbs 27:6 ESV / 2,737 helpful votes

 

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Hebrews 10:24 ESV / 2,558 helpful votes

 

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

Proverbs 15:1 ESV / 2,521 helpful votes

 

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

2 Timothy 2:24-25 ESV / 2,477 helpful votes

 

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

Proverbs 27:17 ESV / 2,432 helpful votes

 

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 9:8 ESV / 2,330 helpful votes

 

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

Galatians 5:15 ESV / 2,222 helpful votes

 

But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Proverbs 29:11 ESV / 2,213 helpful votes

 

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Proverbs 8:13 ESV / 2,117 helpful votes

 

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 27:5-6 ESV / 2,107 helpful votes

 

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Proverbs 13:18 ESV / 2,093 helpful votes

 

Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV / 2,091 helpful votes

 

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Romans 12:19 ESV / 2,059 helpful votes

 

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Acts 7:51 ESV / 1,983 helpful votes

 

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

Matthew 7:2 ESV / 1,966 helpful votes

 

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

2 Peter 1:21 ESV / 1,962 helpful votes

 

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV / 1,899 helpful votes

 

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 ESV / 1,898 helpful votes

 

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:2-3 ESV / 1,850 helpful votes

 

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.

Job 38:2-3 ESV / 1,833 helpful votes

 

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 1,814 helpful votes

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Romans 14:10 ESV / 1,811 helpful votes

 

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;

Colossians 3:12-14 ESV / 1,792 helpful votes

 

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 1,771 helpful votes

 

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Luke 1:37 ESV / 1,767 helpful votes

 

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Revelation 3:15-16 ESV / 1,748 helpful votes

 

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

James 2:13 ESV / 1,726 helpful votes

 

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

1 Peter 4:8 ESV / 1,713 helpful votes

 

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Mark 16:1-20 ESV / 1,662 helpful votes

 

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ...

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 1,645 helpful votes

 

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

John 8:7 ESV / 1,643 helpful votes

 

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Romans 2:1 ESV / 1,622 helpful votes

 

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

Proverbs 15:32 ESV / 1,591 helpful votes

 

Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 1,584 helpful votes

 

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

Proverbs 15:1-2 ESV / 1,579 helpful votes

 

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

Romans 14:13 ESV / 1,572 helpful votes

 

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 1,553 helpful votes

 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

Luke 6:37-38 ESV / 1,553 helpful votes

 

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Proverbs 12:18 ESV / 1,540 helpful votes

 

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Matthew 18:15 ESV / 1,523 helpful votes

 

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

Matthew 7:1 ESV / 1,522 helpful votes

 

“Judge not, that you be not judged.

Matthew 7:13-14 ESV / 1,520 helpful votes

 

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV / 1,511 helpful votes

 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Proverbs 9:8-9 ESV / 1,510 helpful votes

 

Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

Ephesians 4:15 ESV / 1,494 helpful votes

 

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

1 Corinthians 16:14 ESV / 1,468 helpful votes

 

Let all that you do be done in love.

2 Kings 2:23-24 ESV / 1,468 helpful votes

 

He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

Amos 3:3 ESV / 1,455 helpful votes

 

“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?

Proverbs 13:20 ESV / 1,438 helpful votes

 

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 1,435 helpful votes

 

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Romans 8:1 ESV / 1,429 helpful votes

 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 10:10 ESV / 1,417 helpful votes

 

For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

James 5:16 ESV / 1,403 helpful votes

 

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Romans 2:1-4 ESV / 1,399 helpful votes

 

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

1 Peter 2:23 ESV / 1,384 helpful votes

 

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

3 John 1:9-10 ESV / 1,319 helpful votes

 

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

Proverbs 27:9 ESV / 1,291 helpful votes

 

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.

Proverbs 22:24-25 ESV / 1,290 helpful votes

 

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV / 1,239 helpful votes

 

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Proverbs 11:2 ESV / 1,200 helpful votes

 

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:28 ESV / 1,135 helpful votes

 

A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

Matthew 23:24 ESV / 1,048 helpful votes

 

You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Proverbs 12:15 ESV / 1,045 helpful votes

 

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.