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Tim Maas
To me, this statement can be viewed on two levels. From the standpoint of our interaction with other human beings, Jesus would be pointing out that if we adopt a harsh, critical, condescending, or judgmental manner toward others, then they will exhibit the same attitude toward us. (As Jesus said in the verses immediately following Matthew 7:1, "For with the judgment with which you judge, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.") From the standpoint of our relationship to God, we are all sinners who (in an unsaved state) justly deserve nothing but His punishment, and we have no right to regard ourselves as superior to others in God's eyes, since (as James said) the person who commits the slightest infraction of God's Law is guilty from God's perspective of having violated it all (James 2:10). We are always to be mindful of how much God has forgiven us, and of how merciful He has been to us, and then we are to show the same spirit toward others. If we do not, we risk God's judgment, as Jesus also illustrated in the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35), as well as in the Lord's Prayer, where we ask God to forgive us our sins in the same way that we forgive (or, by implication, fail to forgive) those who sin against us (Matthew 6:14-15).
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