In fact, you cannot even properly understand this one verse unless you keep reading the rest of Jesus’ sermon in the same chapter. You cannot find all that the Bible has to say about the topic of “judgment” in this one verse. However, the Bible is not an encyclopedia. For this reason, it is the verse most often quoted by non-Christians who do not believe the rest of the Bible. Those who want to argue that it is true point to Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Read by itself that verse does seem to forbid people from making judgments about others. The first problem is that it’s simply not true. But there are two major problems with this common belief that “only God can judge me.” It has become a sort of magic phrase that can be used to stop anyone from critiquing you or anything about you. Either way, both songs helped to make the idea that “only God can judge me” so well known that it is now assumed to be true by millions. If you’re smart enough to read this you’re probably smart enough to know the answer. I won’t bother telling you which of the two songs was better.

The phrase was most famously driven into our collective consciousness by 2Pac and Master P, who both released songs by that name. One of the most widely held ideas in hip-hop is the idea that “only God can judge me.” If you, like me, have been heavily influenced by hip-hop culture you may be put off by that. With a title like Lies Hip-Hop Told Me you can already guess that this blog series will include a number of judgments.

2pac only god can judge me remix