Are Christians hypocritical when they judge people?

Jesus condemned hypocritical and inaccurate judgments, but we know he could not have condemned judgment itself, because he taught the crowds the right way to judge! “Do not judge by appearances but judge with right judgment” (John 7:24).

We don’t know the content of someone’s soul, so we can’t ever say with certainty if he is in a state of grace or not. That’s why St. Paul tells us not to “pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart” (1 Cor. 4:5). We can, however, judge human actions and determine if they are good or evil.”

If we couldn’t do that, then we could never say any act is right or wrong—including the act of judging other people’s actions!

So, we should judge whether people’s actions are right or wrong but not in order to make ourselves feel morally superior to them. That is the attitude Jesus condemned when he said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” If we judge other people’s sins, then we must take care, because that same judgment will come upon us (and possibly in a harsher way) if we commit those same sins (Matt. 7:2).