It Takes One To Know One
Scripture:
“Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.
You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.”
—Romans 2:1–4 (MSG)
Paul has just finished painting a devastating portrait of human sinfulness in Romans 1. The list is ugly and specific — idolatry, greed, envy, murder, deceit, arrogance. And if you have ever read that chapter in a room full of religious people, you can almost feel the collective nodding. Yes, those people. Those sinners out there. Paul knows exactly what he is doing. He has drawn us in, gotten us comfortable on the high ground, and then in the very next breath he pulls the rug out. The moment you point your finger at someone else, he says, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one.
The mechanism Paul is describing is as old as human nature. We use the failures of others as a smokescreen for our own. Judgmental criticism of the people around us keeps the spotlight pointed away from the things we do not want to examine in ourselves. It feels righteous. It can even feel spiritual. But God is not fooled by it. He sees through every defense, every rationalization, every carefully constructed facade of goodness. And what He sees in the heart of the religious critic is often the same darkness he is so busy condemning in others.
“Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble saint is most jealous of himself. He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart.”¹
— Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the Revival
Edwards understood the dynamic Paul is describing. The spiritually proud person scans the room for evidence of failure in others. The humble person scans his own heart. And Paul’s point is that God’s kindness is designed to move us in exactly that direction. Not toward shame or despair, but toward honest self-examination and genuine repentance.
He takes us firmly by the hand, Peterson’s translation says, and leads us into radical life-change. That kindness is not soft. It does not look the other way. It is the most loving thing God can do for a heart that has mistaken its own pride for righteousness.
So the question this passage puts to each of us is not about those people out there. It is about this person in here. Where is pride hiding in your heart today? Where are you quick to notice the failures of others while giving yourself a pass on your own? The invitation of Romans 2 is not condemnation. It is transformation. God’s kindness is calling all of us, not just the reckless and rebellious, but the religious and self-assured, into something far better than we are right now.
Reflection:
- In what ways do you find yourself judging others while excusing your own behavior?
- How have you experienced God’s kindness leading you to real transformation rather than just guilt or fear?
- What would it look like for you to humbly respond to God’s hand of correction today?
Prayer:
Ask God to reveal any pride or judgment hiding in your heart. Thank Him for a kindness that does not condemn but transforms. Surrender to the radical life-change He wants to do in you today.
Footnote:
¹ Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the Revival, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. I (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1974), 399–400.