1 Corinthians 4:3-5

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not 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. Then every man will receive his commendation from God. RSV

The opinions of others mean very little. People only see our outward actions, not our inward motivations. “Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b RSV).

Paul tells us that neither the opinions of others nor our own valuation of ourselves is actually valid. So while our actions are judged by the world (Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:12 RSV), they—our actions—are not how we determine our own value or even necessarily our own standing with God.

It’s an interesting dichotomy. We cannot judge what we do as good in the sight of God, and yet we are to continually judge what we do, whether or not it is sin or obedience:

But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:31-32 RSV
The world judges us, but we aren’t to necessarily respond to that judgement. The world’s opinion doesn’t save us.

We are to judge ourselves, but we aren’t to cling to that judgement as our hope. Our own opinion doesn’t save us.

I think that Paul has hit upon a very important idea here. And that is the idea of being solid in who we are based on either our own or someone else’s opinion about us. I think about my husband. He admires me greatly as a Christian and yet I know that my own heart is unbelievably wicked; I am capable of the most dire sins even if they are hidden within my own heart and thoughts. And yet neither his loving opinion nor my own will save me. I am only saved through the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10 RSV

I do believe, however, that we can use the estimations (opinions) of others around us as a second conscience. If others see us as admirable, we need to check our pride, our own complacency. If others see us as sinful, we need to check our behavior, our lifestyle.

Paul says: “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.” Even if he isn’t aware of sin in his own life, that doesn’t acquit him. David spoke of “hidden faults” (Psalm 19:12). There are even the sins we commit of which, at this point in our spiritual maturity, we have no awareness because we still too childish to recognize them. So not believing or thinking we are in sin doesn’t acquit us. We are still desperately in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Lastly, Paul’s comments here seem to be, not so much about evaluating whether or not something we do or choose is sin, but more about commending ourselves for a job well done: “who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God.”

A friend of mine once commented that God wasn’t nearly as concerned about what we did as who we are. Now, while I think we can’t apply that statement broadly, I do believe there is a very important kernel of truth in it. In any given situation, I believe that God is most concerned about how we respond (which is a measure of our heart attitudes) and not so much concerned about how we affect the outcome of that situation. In other words, God isn’t nearly as concerned with our success (particularly as how the world judges success) as He is about how we treated those we passed along the way.

I think about Philippians 2:3: Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. If we truly count others better than ourselves, then we will promote them, rather than ourselves. We will allow them the advantage, rather than ourselves. We will allow them to succeed, rather than ourselves. But if we do all this with a selfish heart, we still don’t meet God’s goal. The point of anything we do should be to love others as God loves us. When He loves, He does so without reservation. When He forgives, He restores. When He provides, He does so lavishly. He is our model. And rather than commending ourselves for doing the same, we should understand that everything we have, everything we do, everything we are comes completely and absolutely from Him.