11. Why is it completely out of place for Christians to be judging their brothers?

¹¹ Paul is saying these things not merely to repeat the hope that the Christian should already possess. He is using this argument as proof that there is no place for the Christian to judge his brother, because that brother belongs totally to God. He makes the point of his argument in the next few verses, saying:

“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you also look down on your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written: ‘“As I live,” says Jehovah, “to me every knee will bend down, and every tongue will make open acknowledgment to God.”’ So, then, each one of us will render an account for himself to God. Therefore let us not be judging one another any longer.”​—Rom. 14:10-13.

12, 13. How do both the apostle Paul and Jesus Christ point out the thing each needs to do, rather than to be a judge?

¹² In the congregation at Rome some had been judging the actions and motives of others who had different opinions and different conscientious scruples. This was wrong and dangerous to all involved. It was displeasing to the great Judge, before whom none had a preferred standing. Paul shows a far better way. To those who were prone to judge, he now says: “Rather make this your decision [or, “judge”], not to put before a brother a stumbling block or a cause for tripping.”​—Rom. 14:13. (See The Kingdom Interlinear Translation.)

¹³ They could turn their propensity for judging others to a good advantage by judging themselves instead and by determining to supervise their own conduct more closely. Jesus had warned: “Stop judging that you may not be judged; for with what judgment you are judging, you will be judged. . . . How can you say to your brother, ‘Allow me to extract the straw from your eye’; when, look! a rafter is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First extract the rafter from your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to extract the straw from your brother’s eye.”​—Matt. 7:1-5; compare 1 Corinthians 11:31; 2 Corinthians 13:5.

14. What does it mean to cause a brother to ‘stumble’? Give an example.

¹⁴ To cause another to stumble would be to incite him to sin, for sin is represented in the Bible as a fall. (1 Cor. 10:12; 1 Tim. 6:9; compare Matthew 5:27-30.) A Christian could make a brother stumble in this way: He might do something that he has the Christian freedom to do, without first ascertaining whether this might hurt the conscience of the brother. For example, this brother may have qualms of conscience with regard to alcoholic beverages. Yet the Christian may drink before the brother, or offer him a drink. The brother may think, ‘Well, he is a mature Christian, so maybe I can follow his pattern.’ So he is emboldened, and goes ahead. But at the same time his conscience is telling him that it is not right. It is condemning him. He is not acting out of faith, or as unto God. Therefore, he has been made to stumble. His conscience is wounded and he is dejected because he feels that he has sinned. It may be hard for him to recover.​—1 Cor. 8:12, 13; Rom. 14:23.