If God’s truth changes how we see ourselves, shouldn’t it also change how we see others?

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
John 8:32 (NKJV)

The Freedom I Wasn’t Expecting

I went looking for freedom from pain.

Someone had deeply hurt me, and I was crying out to God. I wanted relief from what I was carrying. I wanted to understand what had happened, what I believed about it, and what was actually true.

In the first study, The Truth That Sets Us Free, I shared how I sat alone and wrote out everything I was feeling. Those pages helped me express the hurt, but they couldn’t establish what was true or give me the freedom I wanted.

God’s Word offered something more dependable than my own interpretation of events. Scripture says that human beings are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and that anyone in Christ is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). My identity and worth weren’t determined by what had happened to me or by what others thought of me.

But what did God’s Word say about the people who had hurt me?

If my experiences and other people’s judgments couldn’t define the whole truth about me, could my experience of someone else tell the whole truth about them?

That was a question I wanted to spend time with in Scripture. And the more there was to explore, the more curious I became. What about the judgments we make about whole groups? People who disagree with us? People whose lives look different from ours? What about misunderstandings—or the possibility that the person who feels wronged might need correction? And at the furthest, most painful end of those questions, what about undeniable evil?

These weren’t all descriptions of what had happened to me or beliefs I had personally held. The hurt was where the search began. Curiosity about God’s Word carried it beyond that starting point.

What does His truth reveal about others across all those situations? And how does that connect to the freedom Jesus promises?

1. People Are More Than What I Think I Know About Them

When someone hurts us, their words and choices can take up so much space in how we see them. Sometimes the harm is clear. Sometimes our understanding is incomplete. Do we know their motives? Have we heard the whole story? And even when we know what happened, does that tell us everything about who they are?

Genesis gives this exploration a starting point that reaches beyond any particular relationship:

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)

That includes people who have hurt me, people whose actions I may have misunderstood, people who have done terrible things, and people who do not know Christ. Being made in God’s image does not make wrongdoing acceptable. But neither my judgment nor another person’s sin erases their worth as a human being. And I cannot tell simply by looking at someone how God is already at work in their life.

Romans 5:8 tells us that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. The cross does not minimize sin; it shows both its seriousness and the mercy of God.

I am grateful that God does not define me solely by my past. What does that same mercy mean for how I should see someone else?

2. When We Turn Experiences into Judgments

The question reaches beyond individual relationships. What does Scripture say about the way we see whole groups of people?

Maybe someone in authority mistreated us, and we began to distrust everyone in authority. Maybe we experienced prejudice, and now we find ourselves making assumptions about people of another race. Maybe the words or actions of a political leader shaped how we see everyone who supports that party. Or maybe we were hurt in a church, and now we question the sincerity of everyone who calls themselves a Christian.

The hurt or injustice may have been real. But does what some people have done tell us the truth about everyone who shares something in common with them? And if we have misunderstood an individual, how much further might that misunderstanding spread when we apply it to an entire group?

James 2:1–9 confronts partiality, showing how easily we judge people by outward distinctions. And Jesus says:

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
John 7:24 (NKJV)

Isaiah 5:20 warns against calling evil good and good evil. Right and wrong still matter. Read alongside that warning, Jesus’ words call for discernment grounded in truth. A group affiliation alone cannot establish someone’s guilt, character, or motives.

But hurt is only one part of this question. What about disagreement, when no personal wrong has occurred?

We can become so attached to our political, cultural, or personal beliefs that disagreement feels like a personal injury. If you challenge what I believe, I may assume you don’t respect me. If you disagree with me, I may decide you are against me.

Of course, words can be cruel, and beliefs can have real consequences. Scripture doesn’t ask us to pretend otherwise. But disagreement itself is not proof of hatred, and being challenged does not mean our worth has been diminished.

James 1:19 calls us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. That gives me a question to ask before I decide what someone else’s disagreement means: Am I responding to what they actually said and did, or to the motives I’ve assigned to them?

And what about differences that may not even involve an argument—the ordinary choices people make about their lives?

One family homeschools; another sends their children to public school. One person attends church every week; another doesn’t. We may have different convictions about parenting, politics, or how to live. But how quickly do I move from noticing a difference to deciding what it says about someone’s character, motives, or relationship with God?

Romans 14:4 asks, “Who are you to judge another’s servant?” (NKJV). Paul was addressing believers judging one another over disputable practices—not erasing the difference between right and wrong. My convictions are not automatically God’s commands.

Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:3–5 brings our own hearts into the question. Before addressing the speck in someone else’s eye, I must examine the plank in my own. Sometimes someone has truly wronged me. Sometimes I have interpreted their actions through my own hurt or expectations. Sometimes I am the one who needs to repent. Scripture gives me no permission to assume I am always seeing clearly. James 4:12 says there is one Lawgiver and Judge, the One able to save and destroy. And 1 Corinthians 4:5 cautions against presuming to expose the hidden purposes of the heart before the Lord comes. I am called to discern actions by God’s truth, not to take His place as the final judge of a person.

There is a question here for anyone who wants to point others toward Him: If I decide who someone is before I really know them, am I helping them encounter the truth of Christ—or am I putting my own judgment in the way? I cannot control how anyone responds to Jesus. But I am responsible for whether my words and actions reflect Him.

If I want others to see me truthfully rather than through assumptions, shouldn’t I offer them the same consideration?

3. Our Struggle Is Not Ultimately Against People

Paul writes:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)

In the surrounding verses (Ephesians 6:10–18), Paul calls believers to stand firm against spiritual evil with truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, God’s Word, and prayer.

That does not remove human responsibility; Romans 14:12 says each of us will give an account to God. Yet Paul’s words challenge the idea that another person is the ultimate enemy we need to defeat.

The person across from me may be wrong. I may have misunderstood them. They may even have sinned against me in a serious way. Yet they are still a person made in God’s image, and I cannot see all that God sees. Like me, they are accountable to Him and dependent on His grace.

So the question changes from How do I win against this person? to How do I remain faithful to Christ in how I respond to this person?

4. Forgiveness Doesn’t Call Evil Good

The question of forgiveness is close to the hurt that brought me to Scripture in the first place. When the wrong is real, what does God ask of us?

Forgiveness can sound like saying the hurt didn’t matter or letting someone escape responsibility. But is that what Scripture means?

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:32 (NKJV)

Here, forgiveness is grounded in the mercy we have received. Yet Jesus also teaches us to confront sin (Luke 17:3–4), and Psalm 33:5 says God loves righteousness and justice. Forgiveness does not require calling evil good.

Those passages leave room to distinguish forgiveness from pretending harm wasn’t real, immediately restoring trust, or staying in an unsafe relationship. Reconciliation may require repentance, accountability, changed behavior, and time. It may not be possible…

Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (NKJV). The words if it is possible matter. Sometimes wisdom requires boundaries or distance.

Romans 12:19 also calls us to leave vengeance to God. I could seek appropriate accountability without making revenge my purpose.

I can tell the truth about what someone did without allowing hatred to determine who I become.

5. What If God Wants to Redeem Them Too?

What does redemption mean for the person who has done wrong? If God can redeem my life, what grounds would I have for declaring someone else beyond His reach?

Before Paul followed Christ, he persecuted believers (Acts 8:1–3). After Jesus met him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1–19), Paul became a servant of the very Christ he had opposed.

His conversion didn’t make his former actions acceptable. And the disciples didn’t immediately trust him—Acts 9:26 says they were afraid of him.

Their caution was understandable. Yet God’s grace was greater than Paul’s past.

Second Peter 3:9 speaks of God’s patience and His call to repentance. That doesn’t promise everyone will change. But it challenges me not to confuse what I’ve seen in a person’s life with everything God is capable of doing.

I can take someone’s actions seriously without pretending I know everything about their heart. I may be mistaken about their motives or even about the meaning of what they did. They may already belong to Christ and still be growing, just as I am. And when someone has done undeniable evil, I still cannot declare them beyond the reach of God’s power to redeem. None of this excuses wrongdoing; it reminds me that God knows what I do not.

6. Truth and Love Belong Together

If I stop defining someone by their worst actions or by their personal beliefs, does that mean I must agree with them or remain silent when they’re are wrong or not aligned to God’s word?

Scripture holds truth and love together:

“Love … does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”
1 Corinthians 13:4–6 (NKJV, excerpt)

Ephesians 4:15 calls believers to speak the truth in love. That involves both what we say and why we say it.

I can challenge an idea without attacking a person’s worth, name wrongdoing without claiming to know every motive, and listen without surrendering what Scripture teaches.

This becomes especially difficult when I’m angry. Sometimes what feels like a desire to speak truth is mixed with a desire to make someone else understand or feel the pain I felt.

James 1:20 warns that human anger does not produce God’s righteousness.

So I have to ask myself: Am I speaking because I want this person to know what is true and good—or because I want to punish them?

We can be right about an issue and still be wrong in how we treat the person across from us.

7. What If They Never Change?

What if the person never apologizes, acknowledges the harm, or changes? What if the relationship is never restored?

If my peace depends entirely on another person’s response, I have placed it in hands I cannot control. But what if the harm is far beyond an ordinary disagreement or misunderstanding? What if evil continues and justice seems distant? God’s Word does not promise that evil will immediately stop. It does not ask me to deny what is happening.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:21 (NKJV)

Matthew 5:44 calls me to love and pray for enemies. That is a call to faithfulness regardless of their response; it is not a promise that they will repent or a command to ignore danger.

I can pray for someone’s salvation without giving them access to my life. I can desire their repentance while keeping necessary boundaries. I can entrust justice to God without pretending justice doesn’t matter.

And when I catch myself replaying the hurt, I can bring my thoughts back to what Scripture says is true. Philippians 4:8 calls us to dwell on what is true, just, pure, and worthy of praise. That doesn’t erase suffering. It reminds me that the wrong done to me is not the only truth worth remembering.

God is just. God is merciful. God sees. And God is able to redeem. Evil can still happen, and it is still evil. But evil does not change what is true about God. My circumstances may remain painful, but through Christ I do not have to let them become the authority over what I believe about Him.

Seeing Others Through the Truth of the Gospel

This search began with a personal hurt and a desire to understand what God said about the people involved. But Scripture invites questions that reach far beyond the situation that first sends us looking.

Across these questions—personal hurt, misunderstandings, group judgments, disagreement, forgiveness, and even ongoing evil—the same foundation holds: neither our experiences nor our interpretations have the authority to establish the whole truth about another person. God does. We can take wrongdoing seriously while remaining willing to have our own understanding corrected.

In 2 Corinthians 5:16–20, Paul connects a changed way of regarding people with new creation in Christ and the ministry of reconciliation. God’s Word calls me to remember that people bear His image, are accountable to Him, and need His grace—just as I do. That doesn’t make every belief right, every action acceptable, or every relationship safe.

And running through this exploration is the question that brought me here: what is the truth that sets us free?

Jesus said that those who abide in His Word will know the truth, and the truth will set them free (John 8:31–32). In the verses that follow, He speaks of the Son setting people free from slavery to sin (John 8:34–36). That is deeper than simply feeling better about what happened to me.

The rest of Scripture helps us explore what life in that freedom can look like, even while circumstances remain painful. Jesus promised trouble in this world, yet peace in Him (John 16:33). Romans 8:35–39 says that even suffering and persecution cannot separate us from God’s love in Christ. Philippians 4:6–7 calls us to bring our concerns to God in prayer and speaks of His peace guarding our hearts and minds. James 1:2–4 shows how trials can produce steadfastness.

Sometimes I am wrong about someone. Sometimes someone is wrong about me. Sometimes people commit terrible evil, and that evil continues. None of it changes who God is or what He has revealed.

God’s truth does not require me to have a perfect understanding of every person or situation. Nor does it require the world around me to become fair before I can trust Him. Psalm 139:23–24 invites me to ask God to search my own heart. Romans 12:19–21 calls me to leave vengeance to Him and not be overcome by evil. Both matter, whether I need correction or have suffered genuine injustice.

I can recognize injustice without allowing bitterness to rule me. I can stand for what is right without claiming God’s place as final judge. I can forgive without denying the hurt, and love without agreeing with everything another person believes. Even that love begins with His love for us (1 John 4:19).

Even if the world around me is filled with hate, still I can love.

Even if I am treated unfairly, still I can trust God’s justice.

Even if I discover I was wrong, still I can turn to His truth.

Even if I experience pain, still I can have His peace.

Even if my circumstances don’t change, still I can find joy in Christ.

I went searching for freedom from pain. The invitation in God’s Word reaches deeper: freedom in Christ, even in the midst of it.

My experience matters. So does yours. But what we call “my truth”—our account of what happened and what we believe it means—is not the truth Jesus promises will set us free. Our understanding can be incomplete, even when the pain is real.

Jesus is the truth, and His Word is trustworthy (John 14:6; John 8:31–36). That gives me a reason to keep bringing my questions to Him—and to let His truth shape how I see the person across from me, too.

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A Question Worth Asking

Is there someone you have come to define entirely by what they have done—or a group of people you’ve come to define by what some of them have done?

Have you ever treated disagreement—or simply a different way of living—as proof of someone’s character or heart?

Could there be a situation where you feel wronged but may not know the whole story—or where God is calling you to acknowledge your own part?

And when the wrong is real, even deeply evil, what does Scripture reveal about God’s justice, His mercy, and the freedom found in Christ?

Am I seeing others through God’s truth, or through the picture I have formed of them?