Is It Judging Someone to Tell Them They’ll Go to Hell If They Don’t Repent?

Answer:

Many people today mistake loving warning for judgment. But there is a key theological difference between the two.

🔹1. What is Biblical Judgment?

In Scripture, to judge someone in a condemning sense means to declare their final state or punishment without grace, often with an attitude of superiority. Jesus warned against this in:

Matthew 7:1–2
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged…”

Here, Jesus was condemning hypocritical judgment—where someone passes sentence on others while ignoring their own sin (see Matthew 7:3–5). Judgment in this sense comes from pride, not love. It assumes a person is beyond hope, and offers no redemption.

But Scripture distinguishes this from righteous discernment and correction, which is commanded.

🔹2. What is a Loving Warning?

Telling someone the truth about sin and its consequences is not judgment—it is love. It’s the same as a parent warning their child:
“If you keep going down this road, you’ll get hurt.” That’s not condemnation—it’s protection.

Likewise, warning someone that unrepentant sin leads to eternal separation from God (hell) is not judging—it’s giving them a chance to repent and be saved.

Ezekiel 33:8–9
“When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked… you have delivered your soul.”

God commands us to warn others out of responsibility and love—not self-righteousness.

🔹3. Believers Are Called to Warn, Not Condemn

The Bible instructs believers to teach, correct, and rebuke using God’s Word—not to act as judges, but as watchmen and messengers of truth.

2 Timothy 4:2–4
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching… for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…”

Also:

Colossians 3:16
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another…”

Correcting someone from the Scriptures—whether it’s about fornication, drunkenness, greed, or idolatry—is not judging. It is warning them of what the Bible clearly states will happen to those who continue in sin without repentance.

🔹4. The Consequence of Sin

God’s Word outlines that unrepentant sin separates us from God and leads to eternal punishment:

Galatians 5:19–21
“Now the works of the flesh are evident… of which I tell you beforehand… that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Also:

Revelation 21:8
“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral… and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

This is not spoken to judge and condemn, but to warn and save.

🔹5. God’s Heart: Warning is Love, Not Hatred

When someone hears, “If you don’t repent, you’ll perish,” it is not an attack—it is an invitation to escape judgment through the grace of Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise… but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Jesus came not to condemn, but to save (John 3:17). That salvation begins with repentance—turning from sin and trusting in Christ. So, telling someone to repent is pointing them to life, not judgment.

🔹6. A Final Encouragement

If someone warns you about your sin using the Bible, don’t see it as an attack or judgment. See it as God reaching out to you before it’s too late.

And if you’re a believer, don’t be afraid to speak the truth in love. Warning someone of hell is not judgment—it’s compassion. You’re not the judge—God is—but He has called you to be a witness of His truth.