Matthew Chapter Seven
Miscellaneous Precepts, 7:1-12
Sermon on the Mount—Continued Against Judging, 1-5
1. Judge not.—The terms of this prohibition are universal; but in the paragraph below (16-20) which speaks of false prophets, we are authorized to judge men by their fruits. Limiting this paragraph by that, we conclude that only such judging as is not required by the actual conduct of men is here condemned. Ail judging from surmise, or from insufficient premises, or from ill-will, is prohibited. It is adverse judging, of course, that is referred to.
2. ye shall be judged.—God's judgment of us is always just, whether we judge others justly or unjustly; but men will usually judge us as we judge others. It is man, therefore, by whom we will be judged as we judge others, yet it is also true that God will judge without mercy those who show no mercy. (Jas. 2:13.)
3-5. Thou hypocrite.—It is a very common thing that men who pronounce forbidden judgments on their brethren, possess themselves in a greater degree the fault which they condemn. They are satirized here by the figure of a man with a beam in his own eye officiously proposing to extract a mote from his neighbor's eye. This is hypocrisy, because it is assuming to be far better than we are. The command, "First cast the beam out of your own eye," must not be construed as requiring us to get rid of all faults before we attempt to correct others; for on this condition none would be qualified for the position of teachers; but it requires that we shall rid ourselves of a given fault preparatory to rebuking that fault in another. This lesson is especially important to public teachers, for they have power for good only as their conduct coincides with their teaching.
A Caution, 6
6. unto the dogs.—In this precept there is an allusion to the holy meats connected with the service of the altar. Those parts of the victims which were not consumed on the altar, were eaten by the priests or by the people; but as they were holy, no unclean person, much less an unclean brute, was allowed to eat of them. What was left, after the clean persons had eaten, was not, as at the close of an ordinary meal, cast to the dogs, but it was burned with fire. (Lev. 6:24-30; 7:15-21.) To give holy things to dogs was to profane them: we are here forbidden, then, to use any religious office, work, or ordinance, in such a manner as to degrade or profane it.
pearls before swine.—The thought here is slightly different from the preceding. If a herd of hungry and ferocious hogs are called up to be fed, and instead of grain you throw before them a basket of pearls, they will not only trample the pearls under their feet, but in their eagerness for the expected food they may rush upon you, pull you down, and tear you to pieces. Likewise, some men. when you, press the claims of truth on their attention, will not only despise the truth, but persecute you for annoying them with it. When such men are known they are to be avoided. Jesus acted on this principle in often refusing to answer the Pharisees, and the apostles did the same in turning to the Gentiles when their Jewish hearers would begin to contradict and blaspheme. (Comp. 15:2, 3; 21:23-27; Acts 13:46; 19:9.)
Prayer Encouraged, 7-11
7. Ask... seek... knock.—The two latter terms are figurative expressions of the same idea expressed literally by the first. Asking God for what we want is in the one compared to knocking at a door for admission; and in the other, to seeking for something which we wish to find.
8. for every one.—The universal declaration that every one who asks receives, is modified by the prescribed conditions of acceptable prayer. We have already seen that we need not ask for forgiveness unless we forgive (6:14, 15). We also learn that we must ask in faith (Jas. 1:6, 7); that we must not ask amiss to gratify our lusts (Jas. 4:3); and that we must ask according to the will of God (1 John 5:14). Every one who asks according to these conditions, receives.
9-11. how much more.—Here is an argument from analogy. It is assumed that the paternal feeling which prompts us to give good things to our children exists in a still higher degree in God with reference to His children; and hence it is argued that he will much more give good things to those who ask him. As it is Jesus who assumes the likeness on which the argument rests, we may rely on the correctness of the reasoning; but we must be cautious how we derive arguments of our own from the analogy between God's attributes and the corresponding characteristics of man. We are in constant danger of fallacious reasoning here, because God's attributes are not sufficiently comprehended to make our deductions from them reliable. For example, this attribute of paternal feeling has been employed to disprove the reality of the eternal punishment with which God himself threatens the sinner, because the paternal feeling in man would prevent him from so punishing his own children. The fallacy of the argument consists in assuming that the feeling in question must work the same results in every particular in God that it does in man. But revelation teaches that such is not the case.
Summary of the Moral Law, 12
12. Therefore.—There is nothing in the preceding paragraph from which the precept in this verse is drawn as a conclusion. The conjunction rendered therefore (ὸυν) is not illative, but transitional. Instead of specifying other moral duties, Jesus here closes this division of his discourse with precept which includes them all. The title, Golden Rule, which has been attached to this precept, is a fitting expression of its value.
all things.—Notwithstanding the universal form of this precept, it is obvious that one limitation must be understood. What 1 could rightly or reasonably wish another to do for me, our places being exchanged, is what I must do for him, no more. To understand the precept otherwise would be to make Jesus approve of unreasonable wishes, and erect them as the standard of right I must deal with my child, not altogether as I would wish were I the child and he the parent, but as I could rightly wish: and so in all the other relations of life.
this is the law.—The statement, "this is the law and the prophets," means that in this is condensed all that is required by the law and the prophets as regards our duty to our fellow-men. It extends not to the ceremonial duties, or to the positive precepts of the law.
The Way of Life, 7:13-29
Sermon on the Mount—Concluded The Way a Narrow One, 13, 14
13. at the strait gate.—Life and destruction—that is, eternal life and eternal destruction—are here represented by two walled cities: the one having a wide gate and a broad road leading to it; and the other, a strait gate approached by a narrow path. It is implied that care and precision are necessary in order to enter the latter; hence the few that find it: but that none is needed in order to enter the former; hence the many who go in thereat. It is to be hoped that in some future generation the preponderance will be reversed.
How to Avoid Misguidance, 15-20
15. false prophets.—The term prophets includes only those who ay claim to inspiration. Having the appearance of harmlessness, here represented by sheep's clothing, while secretly filled with mischievous purposes like those of a wolf in the sheepfold, the false prophets were well calculated to lead disciples out of the narrow way. What is true, in this particular, of false prophets, is also true of other false teachers, and consequently the precept is intended to guard us against all persons who by false teaching might lead us astray.
16-20. by their fruits.—As the false prophets appear in sheep's clothing, it must always be difficult to detect them. In judging them by their fruits we are doubtless to observe both their conduct as men and the effects of their teaching. If either is predominantly bad, the man is to be avoided. We say predominantly bad, because, as a good tree may have some specimens of bad fruit, so may a good teacher.
19. hewn down.—The hewing down of the bad trees and casting them into the lire indicate the final destruction of the false prophets. This verse contains a solemn warning against the personal ambition and the pride of opinion which are the chief incentives to false teaching. The true path to honor and usefulness lies in the most scrupulous restriction of our teaching to that which is true beyond all question.
The Way not by Prayer or Miracles Alone, 21-23
21. Lord, Lord.—To say, "Lord, Lord," is to call on the Lord in prayer. While it is almost impossible to overestimate the value of prayer when associated with a consistent life, it has been too common to attribute to it a virtue which it does not possess. The Pharisees were excessively devoted to prayer, and they led the people to believe that every prayerful man would be saved. The Mohammedans and the Romanists are subject to the same delusion, as may be seen in their punctilious observance of the forms of prayer while habitually neglecting many of the common rules of morality. It is here taught that prayer, unattended by doing the will of the Father in heaven, can not save us.
doeth the will.—Doing the will of God must be understood, not in the sense of sinless obedience, but as including a compliance with the conditions on which sins are forgiven. Whether under the old covenant or the new, sinless obedience is an impossibility; but obedience to the extent of our ability amid the weaknesses of the flesh, accompanied by daily compliance with the conditions of pardon for our daily sins, has ever secured the favor of God.
22. Many will say to me.—In this verse many who have prophesied, cast out demons, and wrought other miracles, are represented as seeking admission into heaven, and as urging in proof of their fitness the miraculous powers which they had exercised. The context shows (verse 23) that the exercise of such powers is not conclusive proof of one's acceptance with God. It is proof of a commission from God, and, from the fact that God usually commissions good men, it establishes a presumption in favor of a man's goodness, the very presumption expressed in the text; but such gifts are no certain proof of good character. A bad man, as Balaam, might be selected for the exercise of such powers; and a good man, like Paul, after having exercised them, might at length become a castaway. (1 Cor. 9:27.)
23. profess to them.—The Greek word here employed, ὸμολογέω, means to confess, not to profess. The appropriateness of the term is seen in the fact that while these men were working miracles in the name of the Lord, he appeared to be accepting them and approving their lives, but now he confesses that this appearance was not real; it arose from a misconception on their part and on that of others.
never knew you.—Here the word knew, according to a Hebraistic usage, has the sense of approval, or of knowledge favorable to the person in question.
We are warned in this paragraph against uncandid dealing with our own hearts, and partial estimates of our own characters. Unless we are well guarded at these two points we are in constant danger of self-deception, and of supposing that we are in the narrow way when we are actually walking in the broad road that leads to destruction.
The Way Pointed Out, 24-27
24-27. Therefore whosoever heareth.—In the preceding paragraph it was clearly intimated that the way of life consisted in doing the will of our Father in heaven (verse 21). In this the same lesson is taught and is made the leading thought of the paragraph. The difference between the two builders whose houses are used to illustrate the lesson, is only this, that one built on solid rock and the other on sand. Both represent men who hear the sayings of Jesus (24-26); the latter, those who hear and do not; the former, those who hear and do. The rock, then, is doing; and the sand is doing not. To enter by the narrow way through the strait gate, is to do the will of God; to fail of this doing is to travel the broad road. Compliance with the conditions of pardon must of course have its proper place in the doing. (See above on 21.)
Effect of the Sermon, 28, 29
28, 29. as one having authority.—The most notable effect of the preceding sermon on the people who heard it, was the astonishment produced by a single feature of it, the authority with which Jesus taught. The authority assumed was absolute—the authority which belongs to God alone. It was not that of the scribes, who spake by the authority of Moses; nor that of Moses himself, whose expression was, "Thus saith the Lord;" but it was authority inherent in himself, enabling him to say, even when adding to the law of God itself, "I say unto you." Well might this astonish a people who, though they had learned to respect his goodness of character, were not yet believers in his divinity.
Argument of the Sermon on the Mount No doubt Matthew's chief object in reporting this sermon was to put on record the lessons which it teaches; but his closing remark in which he states its effect on the people (28, 29) shows that he had not lost sight of the line of argument which pervades the other parts of his narrative. Having in previous sections exhibited Jesus as the actual Son of God, he here represents him as speaking with authority suited to his divine nature. If he was the Son of God, he could not properly speak with less authority; and if he was not, it was the extreme of madness and wickedness for him to speak as he did. The latter conclusion is inconsistent with the entire course of his life, and we are forced to the only alternative, that he was conscious of being the actual Son of the living God.
The New Testament Commentary: Vol. I - Matthew and Mark.
Sermon on the Mount—Continued Against Judging, 1-5
1. Judge not.—The terms of this prohibition are universal; but in the paragraph below (16-20) which speaks of false prophets, we are authorized to judge men by their fruits. Limiting this paragraph by that, we conclude that only such judging as is not required by the actual conduct of men is here condemned. Ail judging from surmise, or from insufficient premises, or from ill-will, is prohibited. It is adverse judging, of course, that is referred to.
2. ye shall be judged.—God's judgment of us is always just, whether we judge others justly or unjustly; but men will usually judge us as we judge others. It is man, therefore, by whom we will be judged as we judge others, yet it is also true that God will judge without mercy those who show no mercy. (Jas. 2:13.)
3-5. Thou hypocrite.—It is a very common thing that men who pronounce forbidden judgments on their brethren, possess themselves in a greater degree the fault which they condemn. They are satirized here by the figure of a man with a beam in his own eye officiously proposing to extract a mote from his neighbor's eye. This is hypocrisy, because it is assuming to be far better than we are. The command, "First cast the beam out of your own eye," must not be construed as requiring us to get rid of all faults before we attempt to correct others; for on this condition none would be qualified for the position of teachers; but it requires that we shall rid ourselves of a given fault preparatory to rebuking that fault in another. This lesson is especially important to public teachers, for they have power for good only as their conduct coincides with their teaching.
A Caution, 6
6. unto the dogs.—In this precept there is an allusion to the holy meats connected with the service of the altar. Those parts of the victims which were not consumed on the altar, were eaten by the priests or by the people; but as they were holy, no unclean person, much less an unclean brute, was allowed to eat of them. What was left, after the clean persons had eaten, was not, as at the close of an ordinary meal, cast to the dogs, but it was burned with fire. (Lev. 6:24-30; 7:15-21.) To give holy things to dogs was to profane them: we are here forbidden, then, to use any religious office, work, or ordinance, in such a manner as to degrade or profane it.
pearls before swine.—The thought here is slightly different from the preceding. If a herd of hungry and ferocious hogs are called up to be fed, and instead of grain you throw before them a basket of pearls, they will not only trample the pearls under their feet, but in their eagerness for the expected food they may rush upon you, pull you down, and tear you to pieces. Likewise, some men. when you, press the claims of truth on their attention, will not only despise the truth, but persecute you for annoying them with it. When such men are known they are to be avoided. Jesus acted on this principle in often refusing to answer the Pharisees, and the apostles did the same in turning to the Gentiles when their Jewish hearers would begin to contradict and blaspheme. (Comp. 15:2, 3; 21:23-27; Acts 13:46; 19:9.)
Prayer Encouraged, 7-11
7. Ask... seek... knock.—The two latter terms are figurative expressions of the same idea expressed literally by the first. Asking God for what we want is in the one compared to knocking at a door for admission; and in the other, to seeking for something which we wish to find.
8. for every one.—The universal declaration that every one who asks receives, is modified by the prescribed conditions of acceptable prayer. We have already seen that we need not ask for forgiveness unless we forgive (6:14, 15). We also learn that we must ask in faith (Jas. 1:6, 7); that we must not ask amiss to gratify our lusts (Jas. 4:3); and that we must ask according to the will of God (1 John 5:14). Every one who asks according to these conditions, receives.
9-11. how much more.—Here is an argument from analogy. It is assumed that the paternal feeling which prompts us to give good things to our children exists in a still higher degree in God with reference to His children; and hence it is argued that he will much more give good things to those who ask him. As it is Jesus who assumes the likeness on which the argument rests, we may rely on the correctness of the reasoning; but we must be cautious how we derive arguments of our own from the analogy between God's attributes and the corresponding characteristics of man. We are in constant danger of fallacious reasoning here, because God's attributes are not sufficiently comprehended to make our deductions from them reliable. For example, this attribute of paternal feeling has been employed to disprove the reality of the eternal punishment with which God himself threatens the sinner, because the paternal feeling in man would prevent him from so punishing his own children. The fallacy of the argument consists in assuming that the feeling in question must work the same results in every particular in God that it does in man. But revelation teaches that such is not the case.
Summary of the Moral Law, 12
12. Therefore.—There is nothing in the preceding paragraph from which the precept in this verse is drawn as a conclusion. The conjunction rendered therefore (ὸυν) is not illative, but transitional. Instead of specifying other moral duties, Jesus here closes this division of his discourse with precept which includes them all. The title, Golden Rule, which has been attached to this precept, is a fitting expression of its value.
all things.—Notwithstanding the universal form of this precept, it is obvious that one limitation must be understood. What 1 could rightly or reasonably wish another to do for me, our places being exchanged, is what I must do for him, no more. To understand the precept otherwise would be to make Jesus approve of unreasonable wishes, and erect them as the standard of right I must deal with my child, not altogether as I would wish were I the child and he the parent, but as I could rightly wish: and so in all the other relations of life.
this is the law.—The statement, "this is the law and the prophets," means that in this is condensed all that is required by the law and the prophets as regards our duty to our fellow-men. It extends not to the ceremonial duties, or to the positive precepts of the law.
The Way of Life, 7:13-29
Sermon on the Mount—Concluded The Way a Narrow One, 13, 14
13. at the strait gate.—Life and destruction—that is, eternal life and eternal destruction—are here represented by two walled cities: the one having a wide gate and a broad road leading to it; and the other, a strait gate approached by a narrow path. It is implied that care and precision are necessary in order to enter the latter; hence the few that find it: but that none is needed in order to enter the former; hence the many who go in thereat. It is to be hoped that in some future generation the preponderance will be reversed.
How to Avoid Misguidance, 15-20
15. false prophets.—The term prophets includes only those who ay claim to inspiration. Having the appearance of harmlessness, here represented by sheep's clothing, while secretly filled with mischievous purposes like those of a wolf in the sheepfold, the false prophets were well calculated to lead disciples out of the narrow way. What is true, in this particular, of false prophets, is also true of other false teachers, and consequently the precept is intended to guard us against all persons who by false teaching might lead us astray.
16-20. by their fruits.—As the false prophets appear in sheep's clothing, it must always be difficult to detect them. In judging them by their fruits we are doubtless to observe both their conduct as men and the effects of their teaching. If either is predominantly bad, the man is to be avoided. We say predominantly bad, because, as a good tree may have some specimens of bad fruit, so may a good teacher.
19. hewn down.—The hewing down of the bad trees and casting them into the lire indicate the final destruction of the false prophets. This verse contains a solemn warning against the personal ambition and the pride of opinion which are the chief incentives to false teaching. The true path to honor and usefulness lies in the most scrupulous restriction of our teaching to that which is true beyond all question.
The Way not by Prayer or Miracles Alone, 21-23
21. Lord, Lord.—To say, "Lord, Lord," is to call on the Lord in prayer. While it is almost impossible to overestimate the value of prayer when associated with a consistent life, it has been too common to attribute to it a virtue which it does not possess. The Pharisees were excessively devoted to prayer, and they led the people to believe that every prayerful man would be saved. The Mohammedans and the Romanists are subject to the same delusion, as may be seen in their punctilious observance of the forms of prayer while habitually neglecting many of the common rules of morality. It is here taught that prayer, unattended by doing the will of the Father in heaven, can not save us.
doeth the will.—Doing the will of God must be understood, not in the sense of sinless obedience, but as including a compliance with the conditions on which sins are forgiven. Whether under the old covenant or the new, sinless obedience is an impossibility; but obedience to the extent of our ability amid the weaknesses of the flesh, accompanied by daily compliance with the conditions of pardon for our daily sins, has ever secured the favor of God.
22. Many will say to me.—In this verse many who have prophesied, cast out demons, and wrought other miracles, are represented as seeking admission into heaven, and as urging in proof of their fitness the miraculous powers which they had exercised. The context shows (verse 23) that the exercise of such powers is not conclusive proof of one's acceptance with God. It is proof of a commission from God, and, from the fact that God usually commissions good men, it establishes a presumption in favor of a man's goodness, the very presumption expressed in the text; but such gifts are no certain proof of good character. A bad man, as Balaam, might be selected for the exercise of such powers; and a good man, like Paul, after having exercised them, might at length become a castaway. (1 Cor. 9:27.)
23. profess to them.—The Greek word here employed, ὸμολογέω, means to confess, not to profess. The appropriateness of the term is seen in the fact that while these men were working miracles in the name of the Lord, he appeared to be accepting them and approving their lives, but now he confesses that this appearance was not real; it arose from a misconception on their part and on that of others.
never knew you.—Here the word knew, according to a Hebraistic usage, has the sense of approval, or of knowledge favorable to the person in question.
We are warned in this paragraph against uncandid dealing with our own hearts, and partial estimates of our own characters. Unless we are well guarded at these two points we are in constant danger of self-deception, and of supposing that we are in the narrow way when we are actually walking in the broad road that leads to destruction.
The Way Pointed Out, 24-27
24-27. Therefore whosoever heareth.—In the preceding paragraph it was clearly intimated that the way of life consisted in doing the will of our Father in heaven (verse 21). In this the same lesson is taught and is made the leading thought of the paragraph. The difference between the two builders whose houses are used to illustrate the lesson, is only this, that one built on solid rock and the other on sand. Both represent men who hear the sayings of Jesus (24-26); the latter, those who hear and do not; the former, those who hear and do. The rock, then, is doing; and the sand is doing not. To enter by the narrow way through the strait gate, is to do the will of God; to fail of this doing is to travel the broad road. Compliance with the conditions of pardon must of course have its proper place in the doing. (See above on 21.)
Effect of the Sermon, 28, 29
28, 29. as one having authority.—The most notable effect of the preceding sermon on the people who heard it, was the astonishment produced by a single feature of it, the authority with which Jesus taught. The authority assumed was absolute—the authority which belongs to God alone. It was not that of the scribes, who spake by the authority of Moses; nor that of Moses himself, whose expression was, "Thus saith the Lord;" but it was authority inherent in himself, enabling him to say, even when adding to the law of God itself, "I say unto you." Well might this astonish a people who, though they had learned to respect his goodness of character, were not yet believers in his divinity.
Argument of the Sermon on the Mount No doubt Matthew's chief object in reporting this sermon was to put on record the lessons which it teaches; but his closing remark in which he states its effect on the people (28, 29) shows that he had not lost sight of the line of argument which pervades the other parts of his narrative. Having in previous sections exhibited Jesus as the actual Son of God, he here represents him as speaking with authority suited to his divine nature. If he was the Son of God, he could not properly speak with less authority; and if he was not, it was the extreme of madness and wickedness for him to speak as he did. The latter conclusion is inconsistent with the entire course of his life, and we are forced to the only alternative, that he was conscious of being the actual Son of the living God.
The New Testament Commentary: Vol. I - Matthew and Mark.