Matthew 7
HAMMMatthew 7:1
THE sin of judging is very rife among the Jews, (see note on Rom. ii. [a]), against this therefore you are to be forewarned. Observe not other men’s words or actions severely or without mercy, lest you suffer the same from others which you do to them, and will be most unwilling to suffer from them, nay, feel the like severity from God when he comes to judgment, James ii. 12.
Matthew 7:2
For you have reason to expect to be dealt
Matthew 7:3
How strange a thing is it, that thou shouldest look so severely on the light faults of others, who hast for the most part so much vaster crimes, particularly this of judging others, to be censured and reformed in thyself? this makes thy censuring others very unreasonable in thee.
[a] mote] What κάρφος here signifies will appear by two ways of judging; first, by the judgment of the Greek grammarians. Hesychius renders κάρφη, ξύλα λεπτά καὶ ξηρά, “thin, dry pieces of wood;” and then taking it in that notion of a thin piece of wood, the least splinter or shiver imaginable, of very little, yet of some length, it will be here very fitly used, and set opposite to the δοκός, the beam, the biggest and longest piece of wood which is used. The second way is by comparing the next verse (which is the varying the phrase a little) with a proverbial speech among the Jews, in and before Christ’s time, (set down afterward with some variation in the Talmud, thus,) They which say to others טול קיסם מבין שניך, “Take out the small piece of wood out of thy teeth,” are answered, טול קורה מבין עיניך, “Take out the beam out of thine eyes;” to check the importunity of those who are always censuring and condemning others for small matters, reprehending for trifles, when they are themselves guilty of those things which are much more to be reprehended.
Matthew 7:4
Which way in reason shalt thou ever be fit so much as to reprehend, or direct another to amend any the least fault, much less to judge him, when thou art thus guilty of greater faults thyself? Thy continuing still guilty of such greater sins (such is this of judging others) argues either no need of having his lesser faults reformed, or thy no skill to assist him therein.
Matthew 7:5
The beginning with other men, judging of them and neglecting the reforming of thyself, is a piece of hypocrisy. Take care to reform thyself first, then wilt thou be better able to work a reformation of any even the smallest sin in another.
Matthew 7:6
And for this matter of reprehending others, (all holy advices and admonitions out of God’s word,) because they are a very precious deed of charity, (and so in like manner, for all other holy things, the word, and prayer, and the use of the sacraments, &c. by way of analogy with that of reprehension here particularly spoken of, ver. 4,) take care they be not cast away upon those that are incorrigible, and will but return thee reproaches and contempt for them, as swine tread under feet the most precious jewels that are offered them, and as dogs often tear them that give them what is most precious.
[b] they trample] There is in these words observable an ἐπάνοδος, or ὑστέρησις, a going back, speaking first to the second of the two things proposed, and then after to the first. As it is very frequent with the prophets in the Old Testament, and not seldom used in the writers of the New. So Matt. xii. 22, the blind and the dumb both spake and saw, that is, the blind saw and the dumb spake; and ch. xviii, Christ having mentioned the three degrees of admonition, by one alone, by two or three, and by the rulers in the presence of the assembly, vv. 15—17, he then resumes to speak somewhat further of each of these, and begins first with the last, what, in case of such refractoriness, the rulers of the church are to do; Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, &c., ver. 18. And then, ver. 19, (in reference to the second thing mentioned, the admonition in the presence of one or two, ver. 16,) Again, Verily I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree upon the earth, &c. it shall be done unto them of my Father; from which, before he proceeds back again in the first place to the first, of the private admonition, Peter asks a question, which introduces the discourse, which was proper to have been delivered on that subject. So ch. xxiii. 16, Christ having mentioned swearing by the temple first, and then by the altar, ver. 18, he, after resuming them both again, ver. 20, begins first with that of the altar, and then that of the temple, after it. So in that ch. xxiii. 25, having mentioned first the outside of the cup and platter, and then the inside, ver. 26, he returns first to the cleansing of the inside, then the outside of it. So Rom. ii. 12, St. Paul having affirmed two things; the first, of the Gentiles that had not the law, that they should perish without it; the second, of the Jews, that had the law, that they should be judged by it, he, ver. 13, speaks first of the second, For the hearers of the law, &c.; and then, ver. 14, of the first, For when the nations, &c. So Rom. xiv. having set down two heads of discourse, that the strong should not set at nought the weak; nor, secondly, the weak judge, or condemn the strong, ver. 3; he resumes the latter first, ver. 4, Who art thou that judgest? and then, ver. 10, returns to the former, And thou, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? So 1 Cor. vi. 11, after the general of washing, which contains the two subsequent, sanctifying
Matthew 7:7
And that yourselves may be blameless, free from the greater and lesser guilts, (and so for all other things you want,) apply yourselves to God in prayer, and that will be a means of obtaining it, Luke xi. 9,
Matthew 7:8
For prayer, if joined with constancy and importunity, never misseth to obtain that which is most for his benefit to receive, and therefore shall not fail to obtain grace. ¹ small thin shiver of wood.
Matthew 7:11
If you therefore, which are not always willing to give, and do not always know what is good for your children, do yet not make such ill returns to your children’s requests as to give them serpents for fishes, how much more shall God be sure to give you those things that are best for you? (though not always in kind what you ask for, because that is not always such, yet) grace which is always so.
Matthew 7:12
Another branch of prime Christian duty required of you is this, that whatsoever you would esteem reasonable that other men should do to you, if you were in their, and they in your condition, the same you must now think yourselves obliged to do to them, for this equity is taught you by your own law and scriptures in force among the Jews: see note on Matt. v. [g].
Matthew 7:13
Let all your care be to set yourselves upon the Christian course, be it never so strict, (for it is easy to enter on a vicious course, and go through with it, and there are multitudes good store which pass that way to eternal destruction and damnation.)
Matthew 7:14
And there will be all need of your care, because the entrance and whole course of a Christian’s life is made up of perfect strictness, in opposition to the looseness of the world, and that makes so few to choose it.
Matthew 7:15
Take heed of false teachers, that, when they come to infuse their doctrines into you, wear sheep-skins, as the prophets oft used to do, thereby pretending the greatest innocency and meekness that can be, but design and intend the direct contrary, devouring and rapacity. See Acts xx. 29.
Matthew 7:16
Ye shall certainly know them and discern them, if you take notice of and weigh the doctrines which, when they have gotten some authority with you, they will presently endeavour to infuse into you. They that make no other use of their being counted prophets, but to infuse higher degrees of all kind of piety and charity into you, ye may resolve they are sent from God, for the devil would
² envious, niggardly: see note on ch. vi. [f].
Matthew 7:21
And though in words they take upon them to be the only servants, sons, and saints of God, as heretics and schismatics ordinarily do, yet these words of theirs and their confident calling on God are not such fruits by which you can judge well of them, for it is not every one which believeth on me, which acknowledgeth me, which looketh for salvation from me, that—
at the day of judgment, Lord, we are the men which thou by thy power hast enabled to foretell things to come, and by the same to exorcise devils, and do all kind of miracles.
saying, I never knew you:
believeth and entertaineth all these commands here contained in this sermon, (beginning ch. v. 1,) and practiseth them, he is like a prudent builder, that laid the foundation of his house upon a rock: (see note on ch. x. [b]).
land floods that proceeded from that sudden rain, by, τῷ ὀνδμ.
Matthew 7:32
(The things that heathen men are so solicitous for; they that worship false idol gods, or that acknowledge nothing of a divine providence,) for the gospel tells us (not that we have no need of them, but) that God knows we have need of them, and will in his providence take care for our wants, help us to the necessaries of life in due time, as long as he affords us life.
Matthew 7:33
But let your principal and first care be to approve yourselves the obedient servants of God, performing all those things with all diligence and exactness, which are required to render you acceptable in his sight, and then for the necessaries of this life (though ye now, which follow me, have no way to lay in for yourselves) I promise you, that they shall not be wanting to you, I will take care they shall be brought in unto you.
Matthew 7:34
Be not therefore beforehand importunely doubtful or solicitous concerning your future subsistence, be not solicitous for that to-day, which may be soon enough cared for to-morrow, only labour and pray for that which is sufficient for the present time; and when the future comes, then take care and pray for that, let that have the proportion of care and prayer, which is due to it, laid or charged upon it, and let not the present have the charge and burden of the future also, having enough of its own trouble and turmoil belonging to it. (Thus is this whole discourse directly designed by Christ to prohibit all anxiety for the future in a Christian, though not absolutely all care or provision for the present necessities of life, or the prudent managing of store and possessions, when God gives such. Every day, as it comes, requiring that duty from us, to preserve that life in ourselves (and those that belong unto us) which God hath bestowed on us.