Judge not so that Ye be not Judged!  This notion is expressed by Jesus in two passages in the NT; Luke 6: 37 and Matt 7: 1-2

Luke 6: 37
37"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Matt 7: 1-2

1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

In what sense is the word judge used in these passages? Was this meant to prohibit exercising evaluative practices on the behaviour of others. Was this a prohibition on judicial practices?

it has nothing to do with the judges in the court of law but more so on me saying I am better than u or that i will make it to heaven and you won't.

tpaine:

In what sense is the word judge used in these passages? Was this meant to prohibit exercising evaluative practices on the behaviour of others. Was this a prohibition on judicial practices?

Was this meant to prohibit exercising evaluative practices on the behaviour of others? - No, we see plenty of examples in the new testament of the apostles constructively criticising each other.

Was this a prohibition on judicial practices? - No, the same Jesus Christ said . . . give unto Ceaser the things that are Ceasers. The bible also enjoins us to respect constituted government authority which includes the judiciary.
Paul and co were brought before magistrates, they dutifully complied.

4Him:

Was this meant to prohibit exercising evaluative practices on the behaviour of others? - No, we see plenty of examples in the new testament of the apostles constructively criticising each other.

Was this a prohibition on judicial practices? - No, the same Jesus Christ said . . . give unto Ceaser the things that are Ceasers. The bible also enjoins us to respect constituted government authority which includes the judiciary.
Paul and co were brought before magistrates, they dutifully complied.

So in what sense are these verses to be understood?

tpaine:

So in what sense are these verses to be understood?

Matthew 7:1 at first glance seems to mean that Jesus really was forbidding people from “judging” completely but upon taking a closer look, we find that this is not the case at all. This widespread misconception of the issue of judging and discernment in the Christendom today is as a result of the 2 most common known errors in bible interpretation (as well as every other written document ever produced), both of which we’ll look at briefly.

The first is the error of lifting a verse out of its original context, which ALWAYS results in arriving at a meaning other than what he writer or speaker really intended. Virtually every minister I know of is guilty of this. 

And how do you avoid committing this error? By reading and paying attention to the surrounding verses. Let’s do that now for Mathew 7:1

1 "Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Matthew 7:1-5 (RSV)

When you read the passage above, especially up to verse 5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye”, you will see what Jesus was talking about. To buttress this point I’ll quote two more verses here:

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

- John 7:24

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.

- Romans 2:1

And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "What is it, Teacher?"
"A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?"
Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."

- Luke 7:40-43

He was not forbidding us from judging, but from making hypocritical and self-righteous judgment. He was telling us how to judge rightly or righteously.

Hope that helps 

@ Petres_ 007, i love you so much for your submission. There is nothing to add or remove from your explanation. This is a unique tool the devil has been exploiting to discourage xtians from sharing their faith and the worst case scenerio is that he finds worthy accomplice in fellow xtians(in quote) to beat back the progress of evangelism.

only those who wish to remain blind will not discern this submission. most will simply add this line ."Touch not my anointed" anyways good submission one day, Christians will learn to interpret the Bible as simply as Jesus said it.