Matthew 7

Matthew 7:1-5

CHAPTER SEVEN

F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN

(Matthew 7:1-27; Luke 6:37-49)

1. THE DANGER OF HARSHLY CRITICIZING OTHERS.

(Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37-42)

TEXT: 7:1-5

1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.
3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye; and lo, the beam is in thine own eye?
5. Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. What is the connection of thought between the message of this seventh chapter and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount? b. What is a generally universal psychological trait in godly people that makes it necessary for Jesus to begin talking like this to them?

c. What does John 8:7 have to do with the teaching of this passage, if anything?

d. Why does Jesus call a man, who judges harshly, a hypocrite? In what does his hypocrisy show itself, according to Jesus? e. Must we be free from all faults before correcting others? Prove or explain your answer. f. What is the connection in which Luke introduces this passage? What does that connection prove about the meaning of this section? g. Why should Jesus have singled out harsh judgment as such an evil particularly to be avoided by His followers?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Stop criticizing others, so that you may not be criticized. For exactly as you judge others, you too will be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Make allowance for others and they will make allowance for you: acquit and you will be acquitted, Give, and gifts will be given you. They will give you good measure: pressed down, shaken together and running over, they will pour into your pockets, By your standard of measure others will measure back to you.

Then He told them this illustration: One blind man cannot lead another blind man, can he? Of course, they will, A student cannot rise above the level of his teacher. Rather, when his training is complete he will reach his teacher’s level,

Why are you looking at the tiny speck of dust that is in your brother’s eye, but pay no attention to the girder that is in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me get that speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is that great plank in your own? You hypocrite, first get that log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to take the speck out of your brother’s!’’ Will they not both fall into a pit?

SUMMARY

Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. If he presents himself as a man of superior righteousness and carping critic of others, they will throw his merciless judgment back in his face, and God will also judge him according to the severity he used toward others. But if he judges with a merciful disposition to acquit and his personal generosity is obvious, others cannot do enough good to be generous to him. And God’s mercifulness will certainly not be outdone toward such a man who has made allowances for others.

A man whose moral vision is warped is quite incapable of offering himself as the ethical teacher of others whose vision is also distorted. A man cannot teach any better than he himself is willing to be, with the natural consequence that his students, by following his instruction, rise no higher than the source of their moral education. Therefore, self-criticism is in order before criticism of others is even possible, much less allowable.

NOTES

Though it seem that the Lord is changing the subject rather abruptly, yet Luke’s narrative (Matthew 6:27-34) shows that the ideas of this chapter have a close logical connection with the principles that Matthew has introduced earlier (Matthew 5:43-48), After having shown how perfection (Matthew 5:48) is spoiled by hypocrisy (Matthew 6:1-18), greed (Matthew 6:19-24) and anxiety (Matthew 6:25-34), Jesus now returns to the theme of love of one’s neighbor (Matthew 5:43-48) by showing the fallacy of common censorious criticism of others (chap. 7). To Jesus, any religion which leads men to harsh judgment and scorn of others must necessarily be false, because of its lack of love and its legalistic self-righteousness. Nor can any correction of others be really an expression of love if it does not lead to real repentance. We are often tempted to prostitute our powers of discriminating judgment to harmful purposes rather than use them for helping others. So, after He preached against premature, unloving judgment, He balanced His instruction with a clever, proverbial antithesis (Matthew 7:6), arguing that proper distinctions be made. Next He called upon His hearers to make a profound moral judgment regarding their dependence upon God (Matthew 7:7-11), a step, incidentally, which ties the sixth and seventh Chapter s together. Jesus proceeded to urge the audience to judge themselves before judging others (Matthew 7:12) and pointed out other critical areas where very exacting judgment must be exercised (Matthew 7:13-27).

The connection of chapter seven with the rest of the Sermon is also a psychologically necessary one. Those who have attained a measure of growth in the character of Christ are tempted to criticize rather harshly those who have not attained to their measure of perfection. This is especially true if one is conscientious and sincere, because, what one hates in himself as a defect in character he notices more consciously in others. Such high standards mentioned in Chapter s five and six might cause men harshly to judge others who have not even completely understood them, to glory in their own superior holiness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees) and to despise all others. (Cf. Luke 18:9; John 7:45-49) This is possible in spite of the fact that Jesus has, in various ways, hinted at the merciful grace of God and openly stated some of the ethical implications that must be-’ operative in the life of the pardoned sinner (Matthew 5:7; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 6:8; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:14-15) Now He must make those implications explicit.

Matthew 7:1 Judge not that ye be not judged. That this prohibition is evidence of Jesus-’ return to the subject of love, as shown by Luke’s close connection (Luke 6:35-37), is clearer when the full command to love one’s neighbor be heard (Leviticus 19:15-18):

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am Jehovah, Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am Jehovah.

Even the command to rebuke one’s neighbor, rather than let him destroy himself, must be obeyed in the framework of love. Otherwise, the opposite effect is produced, Rather than lead him to see his own sin and repent of it, we cause him to start looking for our sins to judge us. But our responsibility for our neighbor requires that we form some opinion about his conduct, Therefore, let us see

1. What judgments Jesus does NOT intend to prohibit:

a. It is not the ACT of judging in itself which is at stake here, but the SPIRIT of the judge, for Jesus later commands that judgment be made in many areas of life (Matthew 7:12-27). He also immediately qualifies His prohibition with exhortations and prohibitions which touch only the spirit and attitude of the one who must judge (Luke 6:36-38).

b. This ban on judging is no easy-going tolerance of evil, for the Lord requires that we form an opinion about the conduct of others in light of all that He reveals about evil, He expects us to match conduct, both ours and others, against His standard. His word becomes the standard of judgment we must use,

c. Nor can he mean the decisions of civil courts (Romans 13:1-7; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-15).

d. He cannot mean the decision of the Church against sinning brethren (Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:14; Titus 3:10) nor the decision of brethren in private litigation (1 Corinthians 6:1-8).

e. He cannot mean anything that contradicts the plain commands to judge or the exhortations and information how to go about it. (Cf. Luke 12:13 b, Luke 12:57; John 7:24; Romans 14:5, 2 Corinthians 5:14; 2 Corinthians 5:16; 2 Corinthians 13:5 f; Galatians 6:1-5; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 Timothy 5:22; James 2:13; James 5:19-20; 1 John 4:1-6)

Therefore, it is a pious hypocrite that many times advises others never to judge the other fellow, for he may be using the phrase, Judge not. as a protective smoke-screen to escape the valid conclusion of those who know the facts. After all, a dog or a pig or a wolf might subtle try to use this text to shield themselves from the exposure of their real character. But, a dog must be regarded as a dog and a pig as a pig, and they must not be mistaken for priests or pearl merchants! A wolf must be dewooled-’ and must not be taken for one of the sheep. Judgment must be made. So what kind of judgment does Jesus mean to prohibit?

2. Jesus means only unmerciful criticism. Luke (Luke 6:36-38) records this prohibition in the context of personal mercifulness. (Cf. James 4:11-12) The evil He forbids is condemnation based upon suspicion and surmises, insufficient evidence or upon unloving opinions or sheer ill will. He is talking about those judgments which are motivated by no real purpose to help the object of the criticism and which are more often nothing but smug self-righteousness. Jesus is hitting hard at the love of finding fault, that secret joy felt when one discovers another’s failures, that strong inclination to find the neighbor guilty upon slight proof, that presumptuous investigation of motives and that hell-ignited desire to tell it.

To judge or criticize another is to put oneself in a. position superior to, and removed from, the one he criticizes. But as long as we are men, we do not enjoy that privileged position. A critical spirit makes us hard, cruel and vindictive and, worse yet, quite convinced that we are indeed superior men. This spirit causes us to lose our right enthusiasm for people, permits us to admire none, stifles any spontaneous and whole-hearted approval we might have given, causes us to suspect every motive and depreciate everyone. Thus, our own life is inexorably exiled to our own small desert island of perfection.

Matthew 7:2 **For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged:

and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.**

These two lines, spoken in Hebrew thought parallelism, mean the same thing. Censorious criticism provokes the one judged to retaliate by returning due retribution both in kind and quantity. Jesus has deliberately not named the one who will judge and give back equal measure to the unrighteous critic, because this is an ethical principle that will be used against the critic by:

1. God. To judge implies a knowledge of the standard by which the judgment is given; knowledge of the standard requires perfect fulfilment of its requirements. (Romans 2:1-5; Romans 2:13; Romans 2:17-24) Strict justice requires that every fault, every sin, every indiscretion be accounted for (James 2:9-11), but mercy could waive the sentence (James 2:13). Therefore, Jesus very clearly taught that our personal generosity and willingness to try to understand others’ position will determine how the law of divine justice will be applied to us. (See Notes on Matthew 5:7; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 6:14-15; cf. also Matthew 18:21-35, esp. Matthew 18:32-33; Galatians 6:7; Proverbs 26:27) Normally, God is so generous that He would not think of judging men by measure (Cf. Psalms 103:8-14), unless man self-righteously and unmercifully holds his brother to strict justice. In this case, God deals back judgment to the critic just as he dished it out to others: measure for measure, (Cf. Isaiah 65:1-7) It shall be measured to you renders more acute the need for mercy, because it intensifies the severity of judgment, but, ironically, mercy is out of the question because of the unbending hypocrisy of the man who needs the mercy for himself but had never shown it to others. Who would dare stand up before God demanding to be judged just as he judged his fellows? If God judged us like that we would be in hell already! Even if we could be sure of being perfect in everything else, desiring to condemn others would damn us, because such a spirit is so far out of line with the character of a God who takes no delight in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11) and desires that none perish but all come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

2. Men. We all tend to respond to the kind of treatment others give us, by paying them back in their own coin, whether it be love, appreciation and generosity, or whether it be lynx-eyed criticism, fault-finding and no more helpful service than is absolutely necessary. Luke (Luke 6:37-38) graphically stimulates us to be open-hearted, understanding, forbearing and generous.

3. Ourselves. Worse yet, we deal out to ourselves what cruel depreciation we use against others. Those who are hypercritical of others, by a process of projection, believe that people are just as carpingly cynical of them. They are forced to beware of all others, feeling that others are looking at them with severely critical eyes. Such a feeling of tension is built up in them that they cannot relax.

With what standard they judge others, they thus judge themselves.

A little mercy could break this vicious round of self-condemnation.

For these reasons we must grow sceptical of our best estimates of human character, because our decisions are so temporary, so fallible. Based on such incomplete data as they are, God may easily and justly reverse them completely. Humility on our part is what Jesus wants, because only thus could He save us from the conceit, hypocrisy and beastly self-righteousness involved in such a rebuke of others. (Cf. Ezra 9:5-15; Nehemiah 1:4-7; Psalms 106:6; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 3:25; Daniel 9:3-20) The thought of facing the cruel sentences we have handed down to others should drive us to immediate repentance and confession of sin! As you would that others should judge you, judge them accordingly.

Matthew 7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? How can you even see (blepeis) the mote, that speck of sawdust, straw or anything significant, in another’s eye and not even notice (katanoeo) the beam, or huge timber used as a beam or rafter, in your own? This humorous but pathetic scene Jesus describes is that of a man with a rafter sticking out of his eye who tries to get a good look at his brother’s eye to remove something almost invisible. The Master emphasizes the ridiculous character of the hypercritical censor who would condemn others without realizing or admitting his own failures. The lesson stings: he who has a serious and disgusting character fault but overlooks it and goes around offering his services to one who has some small fault is exactly what the Lord called him: ahypocrite. Jesus regards as one of the worst sins of the spirit the attitude of being intensely critical of others and, at the same time, without the least power of self-criticism.

Beams are any fault, any sin, any inconsistency with the truth. that hinders correct, righteous judgment. One of the biggest beams is one’s inability to form a correct judgment, This is true because he usually possesses an attitude that disqualifies him for doing the best for those who are the objects of his criticism. Without self-knowledge and self-reform, one’s work is but presumption not love. He is also disqualified because of the common but glaring failure to know all the facts in the case. (Cf. John 7:24; 1 Timothy 5:24) Appearances are deceiving to us too. Some men’s good and evil remain hidden to us, perhaps at the very moment when we are gathering our facts upon which our judgment will be based.

Another beam in our eye is the possibility of our condemning in others what is not really sin, Jesus and Paul were condemned for revealing God’s true will as against the popular views, We will be castigated for our relation to Jesus, Eli misjudged Hannah (1 Samuel 1:12 f). Job’s three friends had falsely accused him.

A third beam is the fact that we are not ever sympathetically aware of the strength of the temptations before which he has fallen, or the length of time our brother resisted without our help before he fell (Galatians 6:1-7; 1 Corinthians 10:13) nor have we rightly considered how we would have reacted to that which felled him (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Another beam may be our tendency to judge ourselves and others, not according to perfect justice, but by that standard which we ourselves have reached. Besides using a false standard, we only expose our ignorance and immaturity, (2 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Corinthians 10:18)

A fifth beam might be that our own faults and prejudices tend so to warp our judgment that what we see in this is but a projection of our own faults.

A sixth beam might be our presumptuous seizure of the divine prerogative, because the right of such censorship does not belong to us. (Romans 14:10-13; 1 Corinthians 4:3-5; 2 Corinthians 5:10) It is a meddling in God’s domestic affairs (Romans 14:4),

Not the least, to be forgotten, is any sin about which the human judge seems so little concerned, Considerest not does not mean that the judge concealed his sin; it means that, for the moment, he had conveniently forgotten it. But is this really possible to a person who matches his imperfect brother up against the law I which must certainly point out the critic’s own faults? At best, the critic must pretend to be far better than he is, to be so pained by the presence of some trifling fault that h is forced by his sensitive conscience (which ignores his own sin!) to try to remove his brother’s error. Many are zealous to convert the world when they are themselves yet unconverted. What is worse, they may be so completely blinded by their self-righteousness as to be perfect unaware of their true condition, feeling themselves to be sincere and right in lashing their neighbor.

Matthew 7:4 How wilt thou say? What kind of brazenness does it require to adopt this patronizing tone of smug condescension! A classic case in point is the self-righteous elder brother (a. Matthew 15:25-30) who graphically portrayed the Pharisees and scribes (Luke 15:1-2). Jesus is not denying that the other brother did have a mote in his eye.

But He is more concerned with the impudence of the severe critic who would justify himself by claiming, But I am just telling the truth; I am just calling them as I see them! Jesus argues, So what if it is true that he has a mote? How can you pretend to be qualified to remove it?

Luke (Luke 6:39-40) records two sparkling proverbs that Jesus used to illustrate this basic principle of judgment:

1. Blind leading the blind: both fall into the pit. Before offering our leadership to others, we must first examine our own conscience lest we be mere hypocrites who want to provide more direction to other sinners. In this context, this proverb has nothing to do with our being blind men who follow blind guides (as in Matthew 15:14), but with our being morally unqualified to be such guides as we pretend to be. The point is not: Beware of blind leadership, but -Beware of giving blind leadership.

2*. Disciple not above teacher, but when perfected will be like him.* Plummer (Luke, 190) notes: Disciples will not get nearer the truth than the teacher goes; and therefore teachers must beware of being blind and uninstructed, especially with regard to knowledge of self. The disciple will not excel his master; at the best he will only equal him. And, if the master has faults, the disciple will be likely to copy them.

Matthew 7:5 Cast out first. Consistency requires this first step. But before we can cast out that which hinders our vision and judgment, we must retreat in shame and embarrassed confusion, confessing that the beam is there. We must arrive at the point where we admit: God, be merciful to me, the sinner that I am! I have sinned! This confession of sin, when truly and deeply felt, psychologically prepares us to be fitter judges, because it restores our humility, our knowledge and fear of personal failure and destroys our cocksure self-righteousness. The more critical we are of ourselves, the more merciful we will tend to be toward the failures of others, but the one who feels he is so g d as to need little mercy from God, will have but meager compassion for others. As Jesus observed elsewhere (Luke 7:36-50), the ability to love may be in direct proportion to how much we think we need forgiveness. But if we admit that God has forgiven and helped us remove our greater fault, we can never despair of anyone, for God is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)

**And then thou shalt see clearly to cast out. **Jesus has never denied, but rather here reaffirms, the necessity to form a critical opinion about a brother which may issue in a rebuke of his sins, True love for him absolutely demands that he be helped by such an admonition (see on Matthew 7:1), but he who so admonishes him must proceed from an entirely different spirit, and when painfully conscious of personal weaknesses, will actually do so.

This section is an important context in which to study Jesus-’ warnings about false prophets (Matthew 7:15-19), because a man whose own life is not in order is in no position to unmask the falsity of the other, When the glaring failures of a Christian are put up beside the conduct and character of a false prophet, the false prophet always gains by the comparison, Detection of the false prophet becomes even more difficult when he is camouflaged by the inconsistencies of the flock. But where every true disciple of Jesus living in a state of constant repentance and conduct consistent with their confession, the false would become more readily noticeable by contrast.

Again this section is humbling to those who must judge the false prophets, because Jesus does not intend to reveal the sin and unbelief of the false prophet in order to make His disciples self-righteous and smugly satisfied with their orthodoxy. They must never arrive at the point where, even with respect to a false teacher, they say, Thank God, I am not like him! They must ever recall that there, but for the mercy of God, stand they.

FACT QUESTIONS

1. List at least 10 NT passages which require that a Christian, to be faithful and obedient to God, make judgments, and which tell him how to make such judgments.
2. What limitations are placed on the prohibition against judging, by these passages listed above?
3. What kind of judging is actually forbidden?

Who will judge us as we have judged others?

5. What additions to Jesus-’ general discussion of judging does Luke record, and what point are these additions intended to convey? In what connection does Luke introduce them? How does this connection help to get at Jesus-’ meaning, even as it is introduced by Matthew?
6. What is a mote and a beam? What is the meaning that they are intended to convey in Jesus-’ comic representation?
7. Explain the connection between this section and what Jesus has to say about false teachers.
8. Does Jesus, in this section, admit the necessity to judge a brother? If so, under what conditions?

Matthew 7:6

F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN

(Matthew 7:1-27; Luke 6:37-49)

2. THE DANGER IN FAILING TO DISCERN IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES. TEXT: 7:6

3. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast you pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. Would Jesus call a man a dog, or a -hog? Are not these terms usually used as despisingly derogatory terms? Then, how is it that God’s Son can mean these words? b. What is the connection of this little allegory with the general subject of judging others and being judged?

PARAPHRASE

Do not give what is holy to dogs nor feed your pearls to swine, lest they only trample them underfoot and turn on you to tear you to pieces.

SUMMARY

Some men have no appreciation for what belongs to God; others have no sense of values. Therefore, do not intrust them to them, lest they not only despise them but also ungratefully attack you for having been so optimistic about their real character and reaction.

NOTES

Even though Jesus specifically stated that after personal self-criticism one might help his brother (Matthew 7:5), yet with the warning against self-righteous judgments ringing in their ears, the audience might yet think that ALL judgment is wrong and they must never condemn anyone. Thus, from one extreme attitude of criticizing everyone, they might fly to the opposite pole of refusing to discriminate in any case, Here, then, the Lord is balancing the scales: You must judge, yes, but with a well-tempered sense of discernment.

Matthew 7:6 This is another example of Hebrew poetic thought, expressed in an inverted parallelism:

A: Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,

B: **Neither cast your pearls before the swine, **

B: **Lest haply they trample them under their feet, **

A: And turn and rend you,

The thoughts of the first and last members are connected, while those of the two middle members are harmonious. This proverb, because of the thought parallels, is saying just one thing that is expressed by (1) dogs and swine; (2) the holy and your pearls;, and (3) trampling underfoot and* turning to rend*, The literal meaning of this allegory is simple: Do not persist in offering what is sacred or of value to those who least appreciate it, because your gift would be not only contaminated or despised, but also your generosity would be rebuffed if not openly attacked.

But, it will be asked, why did Jesus choose this proverbial form in order to convey such a simple messagecould He not have stated exactly what He meant in literal language? One answer would be, yes, but by stating His message in this proverbial version He rendered it more vivid and memorable, Yes, but why should He choose this particular proverb and talk about dogs and swine?

Does Jesus mean this proverb to be a simple illustration in which only the main point is to be gathered without identifying each point? If so, He is saying, Just as any sensible person would not feed sacrificial meat to dogs nor offer pearls to swine by virtue of their unappreciative nature, even so a sensible person would be able to make proper distinctions between those who would not understand important differences and those who would.

But if Jesus means the problematic proverb as an allegory with more than one point to be interpreted, then one must seek to identify each point of the proverb with some reality in the context which it is supposed to illuminate, clarify or illustrate. If so, the dogs and s d e are men, just as the wolves are men. (Matthew 7:15) But what is there about dogs and swine that is like men, that renders them completely unaware of the value of holiness of that which might be offered them? Dogs were the garbage-disposal units of Palestine, the scavengers of the day. (Exodus 11:7; Exodus 22:31; 2 Kings 14:11; 1 Kings 16:4; 1 Kings 21:19; 1 Kings 21:23-24; 1 Kings 22:38; 2 Kings 9:10; 2 Kings 9:36; Psalms 68:23) However some were, of course, tamed (Matthew 15:26; Mark 7:28) and worked (Job 30:1; Isaiah 56:10-11). In their character as fierce, half-famished animals that ran in packs, they have been used to symbolize the treachery of the wicked (Psalms 22:16; Psalms 59:6; Psalms 59:14-15). Not only being unclean animals (see Leviticus 11), their habits provided a pictorial euphemism for a homosexual person (Deuteronomy 23:17-18; cf. Revelation 22:15). To Jews, this figure is strikingly significant as referring to the dog’s indiscriminate eating of meat, whether the filth and refuse of the street or the consecrated sacrifices of the temple (that which is holy; cf. Leviticus 6:24-30; Leviticus 7:15-21).

Swine, also unclean (Leviticus 11:7-8; Leviticus 14:8; Isaiah 65:4; Isaiah 66:3; Isaiah 66:17) have also been used as a symbol of a person without proper discretion (Proverbs 11:22). Your pearls might symbolize anything of value to man, but which swine would be, by nature, totally incapable of appreciating, hence would trample them under their feet as if they were common gravel.

Jesus did not define the terms, that which is holy or* your pearls,* to mean gospel privileges, as many commentators do. What Jesus said may have been much more general than this one application, although it would certainly include it.

Dogs and* swine*, then, are obdurate, perverse men who have abandoned all moral restraints and who, because of that attitude, are incapable of appreciating the blessings of the holy or its value, or those who, after they have once arrived at an appreciation of spiritual values, retain their vicious, filthy nature. (Cf. Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:29; 2 Peter 2:20-22)

In short, the teaching of the proverb is clear: One MUST make proper distinctions: practical estimates are absolutely necessary. For even if dogs and hogs are without discernment of the holy and valuable, he who must deal with them must not be!

But in the dealing with people, it is not always possible to tell at first what manner of character it is with which one must deal. This however becomes quite evident when they begin to show disregard for the pricelessness of what is offered them, or when they turn to attack the one who would bless them. The NT is replete with examples of applications of this basic idea of Jesus:

1. Jesus-’ dealing with the crowds who clamored for more loaves and fishes (John 6:26) and were failing to discern the really important Bread of Life who would feed them, Rather than continue to feed them, He preached them that sermon which scattered the ones unwilling to accept Him,

2. Jesus-’ refusal to give additional signs to those who would not accept previous miracles and their relative revelations (Matthew 16:1-4). Similarly, Jesus-’ refusal to perform for Herod (Luke 23:8-9).

3. Jesus-’ command to move on to other cities when some would not receive the apostle’s message (Matthew 10:11-14). Paul’s practice (Acts 13:44-52; Acts 18:5-7),

4. Paul’s treatment of Elymas Bar-Jesus (Acts 13:4-12),

5. Peter’s dealing with Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24).

6. Paul’s declaration concerning those who slanderously charged him (Romans 3:8) or brought another gospel (Galatians 1:8-9). But look at Paul’s attitude as he tried to enter the theater of Ephesus (Acts 19:30-31) and tried to win the mob at Jerusalem (Acts 22:1-21) and the court of Agrippa (Acts 26).

7. Paul’s instructions concerning the choice of elders and deacons (1 Timothy 3:1-13) and his warning not to give these holy offices to unworthy candidates (1 Timothy 5:19-24).

As is seen elsewhere in the character of the persons who made these judgments, careful discernment was required before they concluded that the persons with whom they were dealing were hogs or* dogs*. Therefore, before we arrive at this judgment, let us be as full of hope, love and mercy as was God when He was dealing with us. This careful judgment is imperative to keep us from treating men as if they were altogether beyond hope or too sinful to be saved. We must remember that God has transformed men who were often more brutal and more stubborn than we. On the other hand, we must remain on the alert because of the forces of wickedness that are working in human hearts. But just because a man has once rejected the gospel does not necessarily mean that he is therefore to be branded a dog. There is often a hair-splitting distinction between the point at which we are to compel men to come in (cf. Luke 14:23) and the point at which we must cease expending our energies to extend the gospel privileges and our fellowship to those who are so perverse and profane as not to have any appreciation or concern for what God is offering them. (See Ephesians 4:17-18) But the obvious key to the solution is repentance and fruit (Cf. Matthew 18:15-18: if he refuses to be converted after much loving, persistent effort, he is a dog.

FACT QUESTIONS

1. What is that which is holy?
2. What are your pearls?
3. Are they to be distinguished as two separate ideas in Jesus-’ meaning?
4. What are dogs? List other Biblical references to dogs that may help to understand that to which Jesus makes reference.
5. What are swine? List other Biblical references to swine that may help to clarify Jesus-’ choice of their mention.
6. What is it to give what is holy w dogs?
7. Is this to be distinguished from casting pearls before swine? If so, how so? If not, why not?
8. What is meant by the trampling under their feet?
9. What is meant by the act of turn and rend you?
10. Which animal is likely to do each of the above-mentioned deeds?
11. What Hebrew poetic figure is this allegory?

Matthew 7:7-11

F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN

(Matthew 7:1-27; Luke 6:37-49)

3. THE DANGER OF FAILING TO RECOGNIZE GOD’S PROVISION. TEXT: 7:7-11

4. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you;

5. for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

6. Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him a loaf, will give him a stone;

7. or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent?

8. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. Why did Jesus use so many words for praying to God for something? (Ask, ,, seek.,, knock) Would not is have been much simpler merely to say: Pray, and God will answer you? What, then, is suggested by this variety of words? b. Jesus has been talking about judging others and discerning important differences, Why did He change the subject-or did He? If He did not, what is the connection between this section and the general subject of judging?

c. What if we ask for the wrong thing, in the wrong way or for the right thing but for the wrong motive? (Matthew 7:7-11) Will God give to us, help us to find and open to us?

d. Does Jesus really mean every one in Matthew 7:8, that is, just anyone who prays? If so, how? If not, why not?

e. What is the point of comparing God to a human father? What good could be accomplished by doing that?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Keep on asking, and your prayer shall be granted. Keep on searching, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. After all, they who receive are the ones who keep asking, and they who find are the ones who keep searching, and the door is opened to him who keeps knocking. Or, if his son ask for some bread, no father among you would give him a stone, would he? Or if he ask for some fish, he would not give him a snake, would he? Or should he ask for an egg, would he give him a scorpion? No! Therefore, if you, despite your wickedness, know how to provide good gifts for your children, how much more likely it is that your heavenly Father give good things, yes, and the Holy Spirit too, to those who are asking Him!

SUMMARY

We must pray constantly, persistently and with determination; only thus will we receive what is needed. A human father would not cheat his child, because he knows what is good for him. God our heavenly Father can much more surely be trusted to provide what is god for us, if we ask Him.

NOTES

Why does Jesus bring up prayer at this point in His paragraph on judging? At first, any connection seems vague. But the connection is God-s grace, because prayer, by its very nature, admits one’s dependence upon God on the basis of His continuing mercy. But he who is dependent upon God for all His gifts, especially for pardon, is hardly in a right position to be the carping critic of his peers. If so, Jesus is saying, Consider how God is dealing with you; treat your neighbor likewise.

Lenski (292) notes another close connection, that is, although Jesus has admonished us to judge ourselves, we must never doubt or mistrust our true relation to God. Although we must severely analyze our own souls, we must never question the fact that, despite all our character failures, God has made us His children and He is ever ready to bless us with all we need.

Again, this section may be the practical application of all that Jesus said (in Matthew 6:19-34) about dependence upon God. These exhortations have been put in this section instead of that because failure to trust Gad is a failure to distinguish one’s true Source of blessing and supply from only apparent sources. Thus, even prayer is an evidence of the necessity for intelligent discrimination and moral judgment.

Matthew 7:7 (Cf. Luke 11:9-13) Ask. seek. knock. These three words, all of which are present imperative indicating continuing action, suggest an increasingly unrelenting insistence in prayer. Luke (Luke 11:5-8) notes how Jesus definitely connected this teaching with exhortations to keep praying. Ask is the simple prayer that indicates the dependence of the petitioner upon God, and his consciousness of his need. (Cf. Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 18:19; Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; Mark 11:24; John 14:13; John 15:17; John 16:23-24; James 1:5-8; James 5:16-18; 1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14) But those who ask for themselves, in order that they might continue to rule in their own sovereignty, will never receive from God, for they have not really acknowledged their dependence upon Him. (James 4:3-4; cf. Luke 18:9-14) Seek suggests the personal effort of the one who prays to do his part toward getting his own prayers answered. (Cf. Isaiah 55:6) It also suggests concentration, through prayer, of all of one’s powers upon the realization of what is prayed. Knock savors of perseverant importunity despite difficulties and hindrances, a vital factor in effective prayer. God does not always answer our request upon the first two or three utterances of it, probably to test our seriousness, to prepare us to receive it, and to work out the combination of circumstances and of persons necessary to its answer, (Luke 11:5-13; Luke 18:1-8; Galatians 6:9) Illustrations of knocking are: Abraham (Genesis 19:22-23); Jacob (Genesis 32:26); Elijah (James 5:16-18); Jesus (Luke 22:44); the Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:21-28); the early Church (Acts 12:5).

Matthew 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth. At first hearing, this phrase seems to open the channels of promised answers to prayer to anyone who would call upon God. Jesus is talking to Jews who, of course, already enjoyed a privileged relationship to God, Thus, to them and even to others, Jesus-’ word becomes a great invitation to unburden their hearts before the Father. But Jesus is not committing God to honor the blasphemies of those who flout His commands and refuse His Lordship. Jesus has already qualified the kind of prayer that is acceptable (Matthew 6:5-15; also cf. James 1:6-7; James 4:3; 1 John 5:14-15). Thus, this whosoever will refers to those who are willing to commit themselves to seeking first God-s kingdom and the kind of righteousness that Jesus is preaching (Matthew 6:10; Matthew 6:33). Receiveth. ,. findeth. to him it shall be opened. God always keeps His promises (Cf. Deuteronomy 7:9; Joshua 21:45; Nehemiah 1:5; Nehemiah 9:32; Daniel 9:4) but He would have us toil in prayer to get what we desire. Blessings that would come too easy or cost us nothing would ruin our appetite, dull our sensitivity and would give us what we wanted before we had been driven to our highest longing and most noble efforts to attain them

Matthew 7:9-11 Next, Jesus asks a series of rapid-fire rhetorical questions

not only to arouse individual interest, stimulate curiosity and draw attention to the conclusion which follows, but also to draw out of His hearers a moral decision. Here again Jesus shows His followers that they are constantly making moral judgments, and already have a conscience about certain things, even in the most simple family situations.

Matthew 7:9-10 Or what man is there of you, who if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? Luke (Luke 11:12) adds: or a scorpion for an egg? Each of Jesus- questions in Greek begins and me, the negative which expects a negative answer: No, he would not. A human father would not mock his children’s request by giving what is useless, unclean or positively harmful. Natural parental affection requires that a father give what is needed. This is a human judgment that is deeply felt and rightly arrived at. Upon it Jesus will base His argument.

It might well be wondered whether these heart-touching questions are not echoes of Jesus-’ thought when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. (Cf. Matthew 4:2-4) Even if not, the same logic of heroic faith is in the conclusion which Jesus offers.

Matthew 7:11 Ye know how to give good gifts unto your children. This is the right conclusion to the rhetorical questions Jesus posed. If ye, being evil: in what sense does Jesus intend this to describe the audience? Probably in the relative sense, because there were undoubtedly some of the earth-s finest people present that day. But in relation to God, they were yet &ked by comparison. They were imperfect, sometimes unwise, sometimes partial, sometimes fickle toward their children. But God is always wise and helpful. Being evil is Jesus-’ judgment upon us: it must humble us and it is a judgment that will keep us from pronouncing self-righteous judgments -upon others. Although Jesus calls us wicked, He would have us remember that we are, for all our unworthiness, still God’s beloved children. Again, at this critical point, Jesus calls God your heavenly Father. (See notes on Matthew 5:45; Matthew 5:48; Matthew 6:1; Matthew 6:8; Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:32) Whoever believes all that Jesus has revealed about the Father and believes that God is all that the word Father conveys, cannot but pray, knowing that his Father will be better and kinder than the most tender parents, and will give him what is truly best. How much more? is an argument from the lesser to the greater and a call for a moral judgment.

He will give good things to them that ask him. Jesus does not promise that He will always or necessarily grant the thing we ask, but what He judges to be good for us. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; James 1:16; Psalms 84:11) Too often we are blinded by the seeming desirability of earth’s treasures. How shocked we would be to learn how often we have asked God for stones, serpents and scorpions, being deceived into thinking they would contribute to our happiness! (Cf. 1 Timothy 6:9-10)

Yes, Jesus invites us to ask, to seek, to knock. He is offering us the key to God’s wealth! Therefore, whose fault is it if we are poor, miserable and hungry? (James 4:2 c)

But we must be careful about reversing Jesus-’ argument by deciding that our attitudes and actions toward our children automatically commit God to react the same way towards us. Too easily we forgive our children when they do wrong; too often we do not enforce our word and fail to punish in -cases where they definitely did need it. To suppose that our heavenly Father would do nothing that we parents would do is to ignore His plain declarations to the contrary. He has definitely declared that He will disinherit those who were once His children, who, as time went by, gradually drifted away into sin and died in that condition. (Cf. Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 8:12; Matthew 22:11-13; Matthew 24:45-51; Matthew 25:30; Hebrews 2:1-3; Hebrews 3:12-14; Hebrews 4:1; Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 6:9-12) The concept of eternal punishment for unforgiven sins, in whomever they may be found, is God’s idea, and man is a fool to argue with Him about it.

What would be the result of such praying as Jesus describes here?

1. There would be no censorious judging done (Matthew 7:1-5); more humility.

2. There would be wisdom to make right judgments and be good judges of character. (Cf. James 1:5-8; Matthew 7:6, Matthew 7:15-20)

3. There would be no foolish dependence upon earthly wealth (Matthew 6:19-34)

FACT QUESTIONS

What Scriptural limitations are there which restrict the seemingly unlimited character of Jesus-’ promise of answer to prayer?

What is meant by the three different words denoting prayer (Matthew 7:7-8),?

Why would Jesus use so many expressions? Would not a simple command to pray be sufficient?

Explain the connection between the possibility of a son’s asking for a loaf of bread and the father’s giving him a stone. And why mention a fish in connection with a serpent? What is the connection?

What is the logical structure of Jesus-’ argument based on the comparison between a human father and God?

In what sense does Jesus intend to call His disciples evil? (Matthew 7:11)

What is the contextual connection between this section and the general topic under study: judging one’s fellows?

What is the connection between this section and the contextual arguments of the sixth chapter of Matthew?

Matthew 7:12

F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN (Matthew 7:1-27; Luke 6:37-49)

4. THE DANGER OF MISSING GOD’S TRUE STANDARD OF CONDUCT.

**TEXT: **7:12

12. All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

Is the Golden Rule a practical ethical principle in this modern, competitive world? What mates you think so? Can you think of any exceptions that should be taken to this rule? That is, are there any qualifications that you would make to it or any limitations to its practical application? What is the difference, if any, between the Lord’s version of the Golden Rule and this maxim: What you do not want done to you, do not to others?

What is the relationship, if any, between the Golden Rule and the two greatest commandments of the Law? (Cf. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18)

What is the contextual relationship of this verse to the larger argument on judging one’s neighbor?

PARAPHRASE

Therefore, whatever you desire that others do for you, you must do so for them, since this is the teaching of both the Law and the prophets.

SUMMARY

The essence of all OT morality may be summed up thus: as you judge another, put yourself in his place as he stands before you. Decide what course of action would be in your best interest, if he were to do it to you. Then, returning to your own decision toward him, make it on that basis and carry it out.

NOTES

Matthew 7:12 This verse, although often connected and printed with the preceding paragraph (Matthew 7:7-11), is a separate idea and advances Jesus’ thought another complete step as He discusses the general subject of right judgment. Here the Lord offers a handy rule for thumb for judgment of our own behavior toward others. This Golden Rule lays the practical groundwork for an intelligent application of the second commandment (Matthew 22:39-40). In fact, Luke (Luke 6:31) records the Golden Rule in connection with the section on loving one’s enemies, thus putting it in the middle of Mat 5:43-48. There is no plausible reason why Jesus could not have repeated the Golden Rule in two separate connections in the Sermon: once, to introduce it as the

practical expression of love (Luke 6:31) and again, to

apply it in the field of judging oneself and others (Matthew 7:12).

NOTE: Both Matthew and Luke record such verbal repetitions. Luke (Luke 6:27; Luke 6:35) repeats: Love your enemies, do good. Matthew (Matthew 7:16; Matthew 7:20) repeats: You will know them by their fruits. Thus, it is not impossible to conceive that Jesus should have repeated the Golden Rule in different applications, although with the same intent to explain the implications of love.

The Golden Rule is but another way, then, of saying Love your neighbor as yourself, and, as such, is but the positive force that acti­vates Jesus’ second great commandment. (Cf. Matthew 22:39-40; See notes on Matthew 5:43-48) If so, the Golden Rule, to have any meaning, justification and sufficient motivation, cannot be divorced from the love we hold for God (Matthew 22:37-38), expressed in the first great commandment. Only as the Golden Rule is regarded as the sum­mation of revealed religion, i.e. interpreted and applied as the summary of the ethics of the Law and prophets, does it have real value and power, according to Jesus. (Cf. Romans 12:10; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8)

The genius of our Lord is expressed in these simple words of this Rule. To the systematic theologians, the message of Jesus must be frustratingly simple, because He makes no effort to be exhaustive in stating and applying His great propositions. Jesus could have given the last word from heaven on each and every imaginable possibility regarding human relations and individual conduct. The resultant authoritative word of the Lord would be a veritable library of Christian laws which would discourage the potential disciple and exhaust the finest efforts of the most zealous scholars, and no Christian could ever be sure of remembering all that Jesus said on any one single case. But Jesus relieved the necessity for such an exhaustive and exhausting statement of all the intricacies of human behavior by giving this simple, all-inclusive guide to conduct that can be applied in any society and in any era of human history.

It has been noted by many scholars that a maxim similar to the Golden Rule is to be found among the teachings of some of the world’s greatest sages. This fact has been interpreted by some to mean that Jesus rule is not so original and unique after all. A closer examination of that maxim, however, reveals its typically human origin because it rises no higher than those reflective men themselves. Among the western philosophers, there was Socrates and Aristotle among the Greeks; among the oriental sages, Buddha and Confucius; among the Jews the great Hillel. Basically, these all had said: What you would not have done to yourself, do -not do to others. But this is merely the dictum of selfishness, the expression of an egotistic prudence that withholds injury from another lest the other return the injury. This negative statement is not so foreign to the calculating done by the selfish, because it is easily arrived at by anyone who must come to terms with his society in order to protect himself out of self-interest.

Another expression of selfishness that sometimes appears in connection with this Golden Rule is that mental calculation which practices Jesus-’ words with an ulterior motive: Whatever you would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them, so that they will be kindly disposed to do unto you what you wanted in the first place. This beastly egotism finds no support in Jesus-’ meaning, for consideration of others, not self, is His intention.

For all our sincerity and knowledge of human nature, many times we are ignorant and confused as to where our duty lies. But if we would really love and serve our neighbor as ourself, we will have to learn to put ourselves in his place. Or, as Marshall (108) puts it, we must have a sympathetic imagination in order to visualize what we must do for him. This mental changing of places has a way of clearing away our prejudices and selfishness which keep us from seeing our objective duty toward him.

Do unto others. Jesus demands positive social action. He has no use for that self-complacency which is harmless, negative goodness that does nothing wrong,- but never does any good either. To Jesus, omission to be helpful is sin! (Cf. Luke 10:37-39; James 4:17) Jesus can acknowledge no ethic as genuine that does not inspire a man to be useful or of positive benefit to his fellows. Therefore, Jesus-’ positive dictum commissions us to get busy! We must express to our neighbor all that good that we would have him express to us.

To us, the final test of our actions and motives is not What would Jesus do? because that test too often devolves into an ignorant hypothesis contrary to fact. The more practical test of our social motivation is our own desire to be treated well. Jesus commands us to exchange positions with our neighbor and do for him in his position what we would have him do for us in ours. And, to our surprise, we have discovered what Jesus would have done in our case. But we arrived at this conclusion, not by supposition of what He might have done, but by application of His Rule which determines what we should do.

This handy little rule is not a mere ethical device which happily resolves all social problems, for later Jesus reveals that we will be judged on this rule alone. (Cf. Matthew 25:31-45; cf. John 5:29; Romans 2:6-11; James 1:22-27; James 2:14-17; 1 John 5:14-17)

FACT QUESTIONS

What is the connection of the Golden Rule to the general contextual topic -of judging one’s neighbor, be he afflicted with a mote in the eye, or be he a dog or a swine, or a false prophet, or a self-deceived disciple?

What is the connection of the Golden Rule with the larger context of the entire Sermon on the Mount?

In what connection does Luke bring up the Golden Rule? How does this application of it in that way help us to understand its meaning and application, even as introduced by Matthew?

Is the Golden Rule unique to Christianity as an ethical rule of conduct? What parallels to it are there in other ethical systems or religions?

Are there any significant differences between the Golden Rule, as Jesus stated it, and the parallels seen in these other systems? If so, of what importance are these differences?

In what sense is the Golden Rule the Law and the prophets? What is meant by the phrase the Law and the prophets?

Cite other NT teaching which further illustrates or amplifies Jesus-’ rule of conduct given in the Golden Rule.

Matthew 7:13-14

F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN

(Matthew 7:1-27; Luke 6:37-49)

5. THE DANGER OF CHOOSING THE WRONG WAY OF LIFE. TEXT: 7:13, 14

6. Enter ye in by the narrow gate: -for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby.

7. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. Jesus speaks of the road to Life through the narrow gate as found by only a few, while He declares that the road to Ruin through the wide gate is heavily travelled. Is this a hint of Jesus-’ expectations concerning the outcome of Christian evangelizing clear down to the end of time? b. How does Jesus intend for His disciples to regard this statistically negative picture which He paints in the words many will be destroyed but a few will enter life? In other words, why would He say this to those who would be His disciples? c. How did these relative percentages of humanity get to be this way? Can the percentages be changed? If so, how? If not, why not? d. Does the low figure concerning those who enter into life represent a numerical defeat for God? Explain your response. e. Why do you suppose Jesus describes the road to Life as through a narrow gate and of restricted passage? Did God want it to be that way so only a few could pass that way? Or so that few would go there? Or is the road straitened because the nature of what God expects of saints makes it that way?

PARAPHRASE

Enter in by the narrow gate, because the wide gate opens upon a super-highway that leads to destruction. Many are they who are entering in by it. But the narrow gate opens onto a narrow, confined road that leads to life. Only a few are even finding it.

SUMMARY

Many are called but few accept God’s invitation, The majority of humanity will be lost. Therefore, choose well which decision you will make!

NOTES

Matthew 7:13 The figure that Jesus uses is that of two final destinations under the form of two cities, Destruction and Life. Each city has a gate by which it is entered: one is wide and the other, narrow. Each city is approached by a road: one broad, the other restricted of passage.

Note that, for Jesus, there are only these two possible choices as live options, and as truly as any natural law, His word divides men into these two groups every time. (Cf. Matthew 12:30; Matthew 13:18-23; Matthew 13:38; Matthew 13:49; Matthew 25:32-33) **Enter in by the narrow gate. **The emphasis is not on the entering, as opposed to remaining outside since all of humanity is regarded as entering one gate or the other. Rather, the emphasis is upon the choice of the right gate, In light of the final destination of each of the two roads, the critical question is which gate to choose and the necessity of choosing with discernment. The sad reality about the multitudes is that so many seek only the broad entrance and the easy passage without a thought regarding the final destination of the road!

**Wide is the gate, and broad the way. **Some suggest that the terms wide and broad are intended to suggest that travelling this route permits the following of one’s own inclinations, doing as one pleases and that the inviting breadth of the road promises greater liberties, However, Jesus may be only saying, It is the easiest thing in the world to destroy oneself, and the majority of the world’s people are doing just that. Many are they that enter in thereby. Here is another clue to the impending difficulties of Christian discipleship, (Cf. Matthew 5:10-12) This is a veiled warning that one must be prepared to go against convention, custom and the crowd, and be different even if it means walking alone. Men must not take their moral cue from others, because they too may be lost. Many will be destroyed who did not believe themselves on the broad way. Later Jesus will further illustrate these two basic divisions of humanity under the two parables of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32; Luke 15:11-32). The chief priests and elders of the Jews imagined that surely they of all people must certainly enter into life because of their superior religiosity. Hence they scorned the tax collectors, harlots and other sinners. But Jesus intends for us to see that the broad way is travelled just as much by the aristocratic elite because of their selfishness, unthankfulness, hauteur and inhumanity, just as much as by the vulgar throng.

Destruction (opoleia) describes the disintegration of all that was deemed important in the lives of the wicked, ALL of that for which they spent their lives was nothing but dust and ashes. They stand before the great judgment without friends, without influence, without wealth. without character-morally bankrupt in every respect. Here is the wretchedness of a wasted life, the necessary conclusion to every life lived out of harmony with the will of God. Jesus is revealing this fact as one who knows what He is talking about: He does not argue the point or try to demonstrate it. He presents Himself as one who knows perfectly the issues of life, lived either for God or for self. Perhaps He is picturing Himself as standing at the fork of the two roads, speaking in omniscient mercy, Enter ye in by the narrow gate!

Is fear a proper motive for obedience? Yes, for as Trench (Parables, 174) notes:

This fear does not exclude love, but is its true guardian; they mutually support one another; for while it is true that motives drawn from gratitude and love must ever be the chief incentives to obedience (Romans 12:1), yet so long as our hearts are not made perfect in love, we must be presented with others also.

Matthew 7:14 **Narrow is the gate and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life **and that path gets the most wear along the edges! Some suggest that the terms narrow and straightened have reference to the difficulty of travel toward Life, a fact easily verified. (Cf. Matthew 10:34-39; Luke 14:25-33; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:3) Counting the cost of discipleship requires much long-range discernment, which is another important act of judging. It requires effort, sacrifice and self-surrender to enter into Life. (Cf. Matthew 19:16-22)

And few are they that find it. There is certainly no easy optimism in this sad declaration of Jesus. Jesus intends this statistically negative picture as a frank warning that makes His disciples realists who know what to expect in His service. He would have them make their decision wisely. The exuberant Messianic enthusiasm of the masses that surrounded Jesus must not turn the head of those who were serious a b u t their commitment to Jesus-’ ideals, But is this declaration His practical estimate regarding the actual percentage of men who will finally be saved? Another man asked the Master this same question, (See Luke 13:23 f) But the Master considered it an idle question and answered thus: You must struggle to get in by the narrow gate, because many, I tell you, will try to get in and they will not be able! Our obedience is more important than our knowing whether those who are saved be many or few! (But see also Matthew 22:14; Matthew 18:8; Matthew 24:12-13; Luke 18:8.)

FACT QUESTIONS

1. Explain the allegory of the Two Gates and Roads. First, explain the imagery adopted: what is the picture Jesus has in mind? Then, give the meaning behind the symbols.

List other Scriptures which teach the same message of these two basic divisions in the human race. List also those Scriptures which describe the principles on which this division is based,

What is meant by life?

What is meant by destruction?

Matthew 7:15-20

F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN

(Matthew 7:1-27; Luke 6:37-49)

6. THE DANGER OF BEING LED ASTRAY BY FALSE PROPHETS.

(Parallel: Luke 6:43-45)

TEXT: 7:15-20

15. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves,

16. By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit

18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

What are the logical premises back of Jesus-’ warning against false prophets?

b. Does the sheep’s clothing disguise of the false prophet refer to his character or his doctrine? or both? How do you know? c.

Why do you suppose Jesus chose the particular test of a false prophet that He did?

d. If a corrupt tree cannot bring forth g d fruit, how do you explain the good deeds that appear in the lives of obviously wicked men? e.

Is Jesus making a precise and unvarying observation in Matthew 7:18, or is He making a relative, general statement which may admit of some exception?

f.

Jesus speaks of burning fruitless trees, but He means men, of course. Do you think it is right that God should destroy any of His creatures? If so, why? If not, why not?

g. When Jesus spoke of every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, about whom was He talking? Is this a specific or a general reference, i.e. only to false prophets, or to men in general? h.

Do you think that Jesus-’ mention of burning corrupt, fruitless trees is a threat? Explain.

i. Do you think that Jesus-’ disciples should be afraid of false prophets if their manifest intentions are such that they may be described as hungry wolves? If so, in what sense should they fear them? If not, why not? j. Why do you suppose that Jesus repeated the principle test of a false prophet (By their fruits ye shall know them)? k. Do you think that we, as the flock of God, are in danger of infiltration by false prophets today? What makes you think so? Are there many false prophets around any more?

PARAPHRASE

Watch out for false prophets: they will come to you under the guise of sheep, but at heart they are savage wolves. You will recognize them by the fruits of their lives. People do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, do they? Well, every good tree yields good fruit, but the worthless tree bears bad fruit. A good tree is as incapable of yielding bad fruit as a worthless tree is unable to produce fine fruit. Every tree that fails to bear fine fruit is cut down and burned up. That is why I say: you will recognize them by what their lives produce. A good man produces good things from the good stored up in his heart, and a wicked person brings forth evil things from his own stores of evil. A man’s words will generally express what fills his heart,

SUMMARY

False leaders will hypocritically attempt to infiltrate the flock of God, but their overall conduct will give them away. Character and conduct are the final tests of any life and the surest test of any false leader, Though motives many times can never be known, the clear evidence of one’s deeds is a sure indication of the nature of his heart.

NOTES

How is the narrow gate and the right way (Matthew 7:13-14) to be found? The transition, therefore, is a natural one from the two critical ways from which to choose, to the guides who propose to lead the disciples. Judgment is necessary, therefore, to discern between true prophets and false,

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets. (Cf. Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Matthew 24:4-5; Matthew 24:11; Acts 20:29-30; Romans 16:17-18; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 2:4; Colossians 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; Titus 1:10-11; 2 Peter 2; 1 John 4:1; 2 John 1:7-11; Revelation 2:2; Revelation 19:20; examples: Acts 13:6-12; 2 Kings 13; 1 Kings 22:5-23) A false prophet is any teacher of false doctrine or any teacher who falsely or unjustly claims divine inspiration with a view to authenticate his pronouncements. He pretends to deliver a message from God but really say what is pleasant to his hearers and profitable to himself, (Romans 16:18; Galatians 6:12-13; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 3:1-17; Titus 1:10-16) There is no practical difference between a false prophet and a false teacher, since the one pretends to reveal God-s word, while the other pretends to expound and apply it. Jesus-’ word adequately applies to both (Galatians 1:6-9). What are the presuppositions behind Jesus-’ warning against them?

Error is possible in religion: there is such a thing as objective truth and falsehood or error. (Matthew 15:1-20; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Acts 18:24-28; Acts 19:1-5; Acts 17:16-34)

Error does matter, because false teachers lead men away from the truth which saves. (Cf. Matthew 12:30-33; Matthew 10:24-39; Matthew 15:13-14) They constitute a very grave danger to the individual Christian because they can cause him to lose his soul; they are a peril to the corporate body of the Church.

Who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. Why mention wolves disguised as sheep? Because it is the nature of such hungry wolves to devour sheep, he is pictured as resorting to this trick in order better to gain the confidence of the flock until it is too late to foil his design through discovery of the ruse. Jesus describes the wolves as ravening, i.e. rapacious, hungry to the point of madness. Thus, He gives His judgment upon the real intent and character of the false prophet. The man about whom Jesus is talking is not a simple, self-deceived innocent Christian whose apprehension of the true doctrine has gotten twisted. The disguise is deliberate; the intention was destruction.

Matthew 7:16 By their fruits ye shall know them. In this brilliant changing of figures, Jesus describes the false prophet as a tree whose fruit betrays his real nature. He could have continued the first metaphor by saying that a wolf betrays his real nature when he starts attacking the sheep and eating them. But that figure would not have been adequate to convey other points of comparison that will be brought out later, so He changed.

By their fruits: not by the leaves of their professions, pretensions or appearances, but by the actual outcome of their lives. (cf. Hebrews 13:7) By their fruits alone will we know them. Not by suspicion or hasty judgment, but by actual fruit, and this takes time to mature. Therefore, it requires patience in the fruit inspector. There is no room in the Lord’s vineyard for over-zealous heresy hunters.

But what are the fruits which identify the true nature of the man? What are those things the observation of which tell us about the man?

1. The character of the man’s personal life. (Galatians 5:19-23; James 3:12-18; Matthew 12:33-36) Does his morality promote lascivious living, self-indulgence or the condoning of sin? Is his mind carnal, i.e. wedded to this earth. this life? (Cf. Matthew 23:1-3) What is the influence of his habits, company, conversation and attitudes? One might be teaching true dogma, while the fruit of his life be entirely rotten underneath an exterior of respectable orthodoxy. This is a practical test which is most easily and readily applied by any one who has a proper sense of judgment, A man’s character is more telling than his doctrine many times because of the intricacies of his theological position that are not so easily traced. One’s religion, however held or taught, must stand or fall according to the ethical result it obtains in those who profess to embrace it. So, if his religion makes him partial, spiteful, hateful, immoral, it is false regardless of all protestations to the contrary, Marshall (65f) notes:

It is sometimes objected that such an idea (i.e. that right acts are no sure proof of good character) is flatly contradicted by Jesus-’ words here. But Jesus is thinking of conduct as a whole, conduct so extended as to cover the whole man, with all his actions, words, motives and thought, conduct as the natural and inevitable expression of man’s very nature, like the fruit which a tree bears because it can bear no other. The whole point of the illustration which precedes this utterance of Jesus is that without a good tree there can be no really good fruit ,.. so a good character is essential to genuinely good conduct.., If a man is not morally good, it is only by the merest accident that he ever does what he ought.

2. The doctrine of the man’s message. A man may be morally sound through and through, and yet the fruit of his doctrine, when logically worked out in the lives of others, produce vicious consequences. What are the results of his preaching? (Cf. Romans 16:17-18; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 1:19 b, 1 Timothy 1:20; 1 Timothy 4:1-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-5) What is the character and conduct of those who follow his teaching? Therefore, test both the doctrine and the teacher by the fruit which each produces, as well as by their apparent consistency with Scripture. But, in practice, one’s character affects his teaching and -his doctrine affects his character. So, if a man is morally right but teaches doctrine that is false because of his ignorance of the Word, he may be corrected, for he has a conscience and desires to do the Lord’s will. But a man whose character is rotten does not need new information, but repentance. If he will not, he is all the more dangerous. The case that Jesus assumes in this section, of course, is that of the ravening wolf who would hide his real character with intent to deceive and destroy,

**Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? **Jesus-’ Greek sentence begins with a negative participle (meti) which expects the question to be answered: No! In demonstration of His proposition, Jesus asks two humorous rhetorical questions which put the truth in a more striking form and arouse more attention than if stated simply in an affirmative form: Just imagine people going out to a briar patch to pick grapes, or taking their basket to a clump of thistles expecting to find figs! By this illustration, Jesus is saying what every observer of nature knows: every plant produces according to its kind. Grafting and plant improvement do not enter here, because Jesus is talking about plants in general without reference to the various ways the nature of their fruit can be changed. By mentioning these four plants, grapes, figs, thorns and thistles, He says that any plant is known and valued on the basis of what it produces.

Matthew 7:17 Even so introduces the point of the rhetorical questions: **every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. **Two trees of the same species may be identical in every respect but the maturing of the fruit reveals their true nature. This general rule is completely applicable to all men, even though the immediate application in Jesus-’ mind is to the false teachers. It is to be noted that false teachers are to be judged, as Lenski (303) observes: not according to some exceptional rule pertaining to them only, but according to the universal rule which applies to all.

Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Just as it is impossible for a natural tree to produce fruit that is contrary to its nature and condition, so it is really impossible for a false prophet to masquerade for very long. His true character, evidenced by his conduct, will eventually betray him.

At this point, Luke (Luke 6:43-45) inserts his parallel, however without any direct reference to false prophets, thus proving the universality of the test that Jesus gives. Luke, however, points out that, although conduct is a sure test, however, it is often a much slower one. When a man opens his mouth. whether he intends it or not, he gives himself away. Whatever is hidden in the heart, good or evil, will come out in one’s speech. A man’s words, especially when he is unconscious of them, are a fairly secure indication of the nature and condition of his heart. (Cf. Matthew 12:33-36)

However, as McGarvey (Matthew-Mark, 72) cautions, even some good trees have occasional bad fruit, making it necessary to remember that Jesus is talking a b u t the obvious general tendency of one’s life and not of occasional good or bad deeds, (Titus 1:15; 1 John 3:4-10)

Matthew 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Cf. Matthew 3:10; Luke 13:6-9; John 15:2; John 15:6; Titus 3:14) Failure to serve positively in Jesus-’ name is sufficient grounds for His condemning us. (Cf. Matthew 25:41-46; Note on Matthew 7:12) This warning is apparently more general than the single application to false prophets, but as a reference to them it serves notice to others not to follow them lest they too share the same fate. The blind who follow blind leaders, when they fall into the pit, land just as hard as their blind guides! (Matthew 15:14)

Matthew 7:20 Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Cf. Matthew 7:16) Even if this seems to sum up all that Jesus has to say in this section about false prophets, and even if He repeats for emphasis and clarity the primary test by which they are unmasked, yet this transition verse passes Jesus-’ argument from false prophets to those who ultimately prove themselves to be false disciples (you who work iniquity).

FACT QUESTIONS

1. What is a false prophet? Is he the same as a false teacher? If not, what is the basic difference? If there is a difference, would it change the teaching Jesus gave here?

2. What is intended by the figure of the animals? Who are the sheep whom the disguise is supposed to fool? What is suggested about the real nature and intentions of the false prophets?

3. What is the test that will de-wool the wolves?

4. What are the fruits by which false prophets betray themselves as such?

5. What is the natural principle behind the mention of grapes of thorns and figs of thistles?

6. What is the tree that Jesus is talking about? (Matthew 7:17-19) Are these various mentions made of the same tree or of various trees?

7. By saying that a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, does Jesus mean to imply that a Christian cannot sin? Prove your answer.

8. Who else used the figure about chopping down and burning fruitless trees? When did they use it? To whom were they speaking?

9. What additional figure does Luke record that clarifies Jesus-’ meaning regarding the judgment of a tree by its fruit?

10. How does the principle explained in this section prepare the mind for the rest of the sermon?

Matthew 7:21-23

F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN

(Matthew 7:1-27; Luke 6:37-49)

7. THE DANGER OF SELF-DECEPTION.

(Parallel: Luke 6:46)

TEXT: 7:21-23

21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works?
23. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. Would God empower an unconverted worker of iniquity to prophesy, cast out demons and do many mighty works? What makes you think so? b. Does the phrase, I never knew you, indicate that the condemned miracle-workers, exorcists and prophets never had been Christians? Prove your answer. c. In what sense, then, did Jesus never know them? d. Do you think these who make this protest to Jesus about their past ministry in His Name, were sincere in their protest? In other words, do you think they are genuinely surprised that the verdict has gone against them? Or do you suppose them to be rising to the height of hypocrisy, hoping even to deceive the Judge into believing in their fakery by accepting their word about miracles which they did not, in fact, perform by His power. Do you think they did miracles rather by trickery with intent to deceive others through mention of the Lord’s respectable Name? e.

If you think the condemned were actually inspired and empowered by the Lord to do these wonders, what, then, is the basis of Jesus-’ verdict that they were, in the end, workers of iniquity?

f.

What is the relationship between the miracles (prophecies, casting out of demons, etc.) wrought by someone, and his personal morality and consequent salvation?

g. What is the relation between this section and that which precedes it? Or is there any such connection?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

It is not every one who keeps addressing me as -Lord, Master,-’ that will get into God-s kingdom, but only those who actually do the will of my heavenly Father. What is the use of calling me -Lord and Master,-’ if you do not do what I tell you? On the Day of Judgment, many will protest to me: -But, Lord, did we not proclaim divine revelations in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not many miracles in your name? Indeed we did, Lord!-’ Then I will tell them to their face, -I never knew you. Get away from me, you who work iniquity!-’

SUMMARY

The final test of character and the first requirement for entrance into Gad’s kingdom is willing obedience. That religion is nothing but a sham which will not make a man obey God, regardless of all its other pretences to orthodoxy. Even great evidences of God’s personal intervention through the life of a Christian are not necessary evidence of that man-s personal conversion and consequent salvation, for he may be finally rejected because of his personal refusal to respond to his own preaching.

NOTES

This section has a natural connection with that which precedes it: if the false prophets will be recognized by the fruit of their lives, what does the fruit of my life indicate about me? Jesus-’ argument is driving ever closer to the conscience of His disciple:

My friend, the false teachers will be damned, it is true, on the basis of their deeds, but what about you? What of your deeds? There are many border-line disciples who would never be called false prophets and would never wilfully seek to do what a savage wolf in sheep’s clothing intends to do. Probably they are decent, law-abiding citizens of their community, good church-goers but have not done the one thing essential to entrance into Gods kingdom.

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Not every one: but some will enter the kingdom. To say to Jesus, Lord, Lord, is equivalent to calling Him the Master of one’s life. It is claiming that relation to Jesus expressed in the title. (See Malachi 1:6) Luke (Luke 6:45) abbreviates this dictum in the form of a hard-hitting rhetorical question: Why do you call me -Lord, Lord,-’ and not do what I say? But as Matthew records the saying, He is not denying that the claimants are His servants or that they adhere to the orthodox teaching He gave them or that they are sincere. Their one grave fault was that they did not DO the Father’s will. (Cf. Matthew 21:28-32; Matthew 25:11-12; Romans 2:12-13; James 1:22-25; James 2:14; 1 John 2:17) Only he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven shall enter into the kingdom. (Study John 5:29; John 8:51; John 12:26; John 12:44-50; John 14:15; John 14:21; John 14:23-24; John 15:14; 2 Timothy 3:5) There are those who would be quick to subscribe to the Lordship of Jesus in order to receive the benefits of such a relationship, but they do not often actually try to adopt Jesus-’ way of thinking, which is, after all, the essence of the will of God (or the kingdom of God, see on Matthew 6:9). They might even crucify those who tried to live like Jesus. But, for Jesus, performance and production, not profession and pious prayers, is the test of membership in His kingdom. Too often a clear intellectual grasp of truth is divorced from its practical expression. Paul personally feared this possibility (1 Corinthians 9:27).

There is important psychological insight in Chambers-’ observation (88,100) that

There is a great snare in the capacity to understand a thing clearly and to exhaust its power by stating it. To say things well is apt to exhaust the power to do them, so that a man often has to curb the expression of a thing with his tongue and turn it into action, otherwise his gift of facile utterance may prevent his doing the thing he says.. The frank man is the unreliable man, much more so than the subtle, crafty man, because he has the power of expressing a thing right out and there is nothing more to it,

To have given expression to some truth. such as Jesus-’ Lordship, without acting upon its clear implications is self-deception, even to those who are involved in His service in some special way, (Matthew 7:22-23) Here is another clear principle on how to judge righteous judgments: in judging yourself and your works, do not judge only on the basis of external evidences and appearances and forget the reality of your inward relation to God through real obedience!

The will of my Father is a most significant phrase in this critical moment, because He hereby pronounces Himself Son of the Father in a unique sense, in a relationship shared by none. Shortly (Matthew 7:24-27) He will praise obedience to His message as the epitome of wisdom and He will denounce failure to build one’s life on His word as the height of folly. In a very thinly veiled manner, Jesus is claiming that His words are the very words of God, the obedience to which determines entrance into God’s kingdom. Here He proclaims Himself Judge and Lord before whom all must appear in judgment, Neither Moses nor the prophets could speak this way. These great judgments put the rest of the Sermon which precedes them into a different category, completely separate from all brilliant ethical systems constructed by carefully reasoning. For these words alone are the utterances of our Judge. It is with HIS words, and His alone, that we will have to deal! (Cf. John 6:45; John 8:24; John 8:31-32; John 8:47; John 8:51; John 12:47-48)

Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day. Jesus begins to emphasize the theme with which He will terminate the Sermon: I am Judge, my Word is the final standard. But He does this not merely to assert His deity, but to give present moral guidance to His disciples in the face of moral failure of former disciples. look at Jesus! (Hebrews 12:1-4; 2 Timothy 2:8 f) We tend to panic as some saint we thought secure goes down in sin. We must not repose our confidence in the best man or woman we have ever met! We must trust only the Lord Jesus. In that day: see Matthew 10:15; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:6-8.

Many will say. Lord, did we not? Their question implies that they expected an affirmative answer. There is nothing in the context to indicate that these who so address themselves to Jesus are sheer hypocrites or necessarily false prophets, although they could well be this also. (Cf. Matthew 25:11 ff; Luke 13:25 ff for examples of such judgment-scene conversations.) Did we not:

1. Prophesy by thy name? i.e. utter divine revelation and explain its implications. (Cf. Numbers 24:2; Numbers 24:4; 2 Kings 22:5-20, esp. 1 Kings 22:11; Jeremiah 23:17; cf. Jeremiah 23:16)

2. By thy name cast out demons? (Cf. Mark 3:14; Mark 3:19; Mark 6:7; Mark 6:13; Luke 10:17-20)

3. By thy name do many mighty works? (Cf. Mark 13:22; 1 Corinthians 13:2)

Some of the above-cited references generally prove that even unconverted men have been granted the power to prophesy, exorcize demons and work miracles. Even the Mosaic Law admitted the possibility that true miracle-working power be evidenced even in false prophets (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Jesus does not call these claims false and does not deny that the claimants actually did what they said. Whether these claimants be those who sincerely thought they had a right to claim Him as their Lord and reap the benefit of the relationship involved in this title, or whether these are hypocritical false prophets who actually worked miracles in Jesus-’ name, does not matter greatly in reference to the principle involved, for the result and the verdict is the same. The principle involved is that even the obvious witness of the Holy Spirit, given through such mighty gifts as prophecy, demon-exorcism and mighty signs, is no evidence of personal conversion! (Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:14) But, some would ask, would God give such powers to those whom He could foresee would show up so badly at the final judgment? (Ye workers of iniquity) But this is just the point: until the final judgment there is yet mercy which leaves the opportunity available to every Christian to do the will of God or to apostasize. Judas Iscariot is a key example. (Study Matthew 10:1-4; Matthew 10:7-8; Mark 3:14; Mark 3:19; Mark 6:7; Mark 6:13) Jesus knew from the beginning what Judas-’ end would be, but He empowered him to work right along with the others, God is able to make an instrument of His service even those who may not necessarily remain His willing servants. It is too easy to use Jesus-’ message and miracles to correct the lives of others without responding personally to the implications of the message ourselves. He is pointing to the possibility of moral failure for the true prophet, the failure to live up to the stringent ethical requirements of his own divinely-attested message, Lord, Lord is not the anguished cry of false prophets, but of miracle workers who were once true disciples but did not remain faithful to the God who had empowered them. Their final rejection is stated, not on the ground that their claims are false, but that their failure to do the will of God (Matthew 7:21) was equivalent to working wickedness (Matthew 5:23; cf. James 4:17).

Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Cf. Matthew 25:12; Matthew 25:41; Matthew 13:41; Luke 6:26; Luke 13:27; 1 John 3:4) This verse does not disclaim authorization of their miracles and ministry, nor does it deny the reality of their having performed such a ministry, nor does it affirm that it had been pretence all along as merely a ruse to deceive the unwary, Nor is there any indication that they had used their miracles to attest false propaganda, Jesus-’ verdict involves:

1. His plain declaration: I never knew you, (Cf. 1 Corinthians 8:3; 2 Timothy 2:19) They knew Him and were depending upon this knowledge of Him to save them (cf. Luke 19:22-23; Luke 13:25-26). They had thought of Him as Lord, Lord and were counting upon this relationship to save them. But they had not done what their knowledge and professed allegiance should have caused them to do. Thus, their claim of intimate acquaintance of Jesus went against them, because, for all that, they should have done better and, hence, were all the more responsible for their failure. I never knew you is not a confession of ignorance of their life and ministry, for the Lord knew all about them. He never knew them in the sense that He recognizes as genuine no disciple who does not fix his heart upon doing what God wills. Within the limits of the information offered in this text, it is possible to view these claimants as Christian servants who began to serve Jesus, yes, even worked great signs and wonders, but did not connect their own morality to their true religion and thus failed so miserably to do God’s will, Despite all their professions, they had really been evil because their religion was totally expended in prayers, portents and preachments; it had no practice.

2. His rejection of their company for eternity: Depart from me! (Cf. Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:46 a)

3. The justification of the verdict: they had really been workers of iniquity. If these are false prophets whom He thus addresses, there is no problem, for their doom is clear and needs no explanation. But if these condemned men were once disciples, an explanation is in order. Jesus finishes this section and moves smoothly into the final illustration with which He closes this tremendous Sermon. But there is a clear connection that runs from Matthew 7:21 to Matthew 7:27 and provides explanation of the phrase at hand: ye workers of iniquity. That clear connection is the ethical problem of not living up to the light we possess, because of the simple (but also profound) failure to do what we have heard in God-s Word. (James 1:16-25) Therefore, Jesus is regarding anyone-be he a true disciple, true prophet or false-who stops at hearing and knowing His word, short of full-souled obedience, as a worker of iniquity, for the result is practically the same as if he had never known the way of righteousness.

The formula is as simple as the warning is severe:

1. Only calling Jesus Lord is not doing God’s will.
2. Only hearing Jesus-’ will it not obedience.
3. Only working miracles is not obedience.
4. Only doing God-s will is obedience.
5. ALL else is disobedience and worthy of severest condemnation.

FACT QUESTIONS

1. To whom is reference made in the phrase: every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord?

2. What does Jesus mean by the kingdom of heaven? (Matthew 7:21) What then, is meant by entering it?

3. What is the one requirement Jesus mentions for entrance into the kingdom?

4. What does it mean to address Jesus as Lord, in the negative sense in which some would do so but not enter His kingdom?

5. What does it mean to address Jesus as Lord in the normal, right sense?

6. By the repetition of the double vocative, Lord, Lord, does Jesus mean to identify those in Matthew 7:21 who do not do the will of the Father, with those in Matthew 7:22 who claim to have worked miracles in Jesus-’ name?

7. What is so important to the success of the miracle-workers- protest that they argue that their works were done in thy name? Note that the phrase, in thy name, is repeated each time,

8. What false ideas is Jesus correcting by His remarks about His rejection of certain prophets, certain exorcists and certain miracle-workers?

9. Name some obviously unconverted men who really worked God-given miracles or prophesied under the inspiration of the Spirit of God.

10. As a matter of fact, did Jesus deny that the condemned workers of iniquity had really done miracles, cast out demons or prophesied in His name?

Matthew 7:24-27

G. THE WISDOM OF THE WISE AND GODLY MAN IN OBEYING JESUS (Parallel: Luke 647-49) TEXT: 7:24-27

24. Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them shall be likened unto a wise man, who build his house upon the rock:
25. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock.
26. And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:
27. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. Why do you think Jesus put so much emphasis on doing what His words require? b. Why do men applaud the Sermon on the Mount and yet fail to obey Jesus by trying to live up to what He teaches? c. Why is it that many people accept Christ and begin to build on His word, and then fail to continue a life of faithful building? d. Why do you suppose Jesus ended this tremendous Sermon this way?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Let me show you what those who come to me, listen to my words and act upon them are really like. They may be compared to a prudent men who, in building his house, had the good sense to dig down and go deep to lay the foundation on solid rock. The rain fell, the flood waters swept down, the winds blew. They pounded that house, but it did not fall. They could not even shake it, since it was well built and its foundations had been laid on bedrock. But he who listens to these my words but does not act upon them will be like the fool who built his house upon the sand without any foundation. The rain fell and the rivers swelled, the winds blew and hammered that house, and it collapsed immediately. The wreck of the house was complete!

SUMMARY

Blessed is the man who hears what Jesus has said, believes Him and acts upon it, for he has security for his soul that no crisis, no matter how great, can destroy! Woe is the man who fully knows what the Lord has said but ignores it and Him, for no security on earth. no matter how great, can protect him from all inevitable crises of this life and the terrors of the age to come!

NOTES

Matthew 7:24 Everyone therefore that heareth these words of mine. This is no mere summation of what goes before, although there is a direct connection with the argument on judging: you must discern the difference between merely hearing God’s Word and putting it into practice. Further, Jesus is declaring the consequence of the acceptance or rejection of His teaching. ALL that Jesus has taught up to this point has indicated, illustrated and urged the perfection to which He would lead His disciple. But this conclusion challenges his response to the message: what will you DO about it? These words of mine is not a contrast to any other words of Jesus any more than of mine contrasts those of the apostles, for it was God’s authority which stood behind anything else that Jesus might teach or that His apostles might reveal. These words of mine is merely His emphatic way of separating His own teaching from all human authority and of calling attention to Himself as the revealer of the final Word from God by which any man would be saved or lost, When compared with Jesus- wilderness struggle with Satan in that crisis of character (Matthew 4:1-11), this passage takes on more brilliance. In effect, He is saying: Even as I depended upon every word of God upon which to build my character and by which I overcame the tempter, even so you must depend upon my word as you prepare for your great crises of soul! Who is this who thus places His own message on a par with that God-given word revealed to Moses and the prophets, guaranteeing our moral safety in crisis if we do what He says**? Every one that heareth. and doeth** (Cf. Notes on Matthew 6:10; Matthew 7:21; see also Luke 8:21; John 6:29; John 6:40; John 8:31; John 8:47; John 8:51; John 12:26; John 12:47-50; John 14:15; John 14:21-24; John 15:14; James 1:22-25; 1 John 2:17; 1 John 3:22-24) Obedience is Jesus-’ final test of our real loyalty and discipleship.

**He shall be likened unto a wise man **(cf. Matthew 25:2) who built his house. In this parable both builders understandably wish to locate their house near a source of water, since water in Palestine is very precious. This builder had the good foresight to construct his house upon the rock. Luke (Luke 6:48) seems to suggest that both houses were constructed in exposed positions, since a flood arose, the stream broke against that house. If Matthew and Like are recording the same story, it would seem that this wise builder dug deep before laying the foundation upon bedrock. Palestine is a country of rugged torrent beds especially from the central watershed east to the Jordan Valley. In the summer, during building season, these are dry, but in the winter rainy season they become ugly, raging torrents of racing water. The question of whether the wise builder were less far-sighted for his choice of a site so exposed to floods does not enter here, because in the real life application of Jesus-’ story, there is no place where we may develop our character, protected from temptation and the crises which threaten to destroy us entirely. The point is not the wisdom or folly of choosing a site more or less exposed to floods, but of preparing for every eventuality by building upon the rock. Perhaps Jesus is identifying the rock as the Word of God, backed by the character of God and expressed perfectly in Jesus. (Cf. Deuteronomy 32:4; Deuteronomy 32:15; Deuteronomy 32:18; Deuteronomy 32:31; Psalms 18:2; Isaiah 28:16; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 1 Peter 2:6)

Matthew 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and It fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. The test of a building is not its striking beauty but the strength of its foundation. The picture changes from the hot, dry summer when the house was built, to the winter rains which swell the little creeks into roaring torrents which batter everything in its downward rush to the sea. The storm is anything that throws the soul into a crisis. It is any temptation to do anything other than what Jesus says. The proof of the durability of a life or character is not its outward manifestation only but its real formation according to Jesus-’ word. if we have built ourselves, our character, our life, little by little by listening to Jesus-’ words and by obeying Him, we will have fused into our habitual way of thinking the tremendous power of God, so that when the supreme crisis comes we stand as solid as the rock on which we have so securely fastened our life. The crisis may come unexpectedly, but when it does come the whole story of our life is told in a few seconds. Here there is no opportunity to pretend: either we stand or else we are morally destroyed immediately.

These very words begin to separate Jesus-’ audience into two basic groups: those who would listen, believe and obey Him stand on the one hand. On the other, there are those who either have no intention of obeying Him or else those who have heard but will immediately forget, or those who promise but will not keep it up. (See Notes on Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 7:21; cf. Matthew 12:30)

Matthew 7:26 And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not. (Cf. Notes on Matthew 6:10; Matthew 7:12; Matthew 7:21) Not mere knowledge of the will of God makes a man a real Christian, but the practice of what he knows. (James 4:17; cf. James 1:22-27; Hebrews 10:26-27) Shall be likened unto a foolish man. (Cf. Matthew 25:2) Regardless of how sensible a man may be in all other affairs of his life, if he builds his whole life with all its eternally supreme value on something else than Jesus-’ word, that man is a fool! Who built his house on the sand. To this, Luke adds (Luke 6:49) on the ground without a foundation. The sand is just as definite in meaning as its antithesis, the rock. If the rock refers to Jesus teachings, i.e. the Word of God, the sand is simply anything else which is used as the basis for one’s life. Man could choose from any human philosophy he wishes, but Jesus says that as far as the outcome is concerned, they are all SAND. ALL is well as long as the sun shines, but this gives a false Sense of security, since before the storm both builders found their houses useful and relatively secure. But it is the crisis that demonstrated the true nature of the constructions. The man, who has not built his character, habits and attitudes upon God’s Word, will go down immediately before some great crisis, no matter how strong is his will to stand, It is too easy to admire and quote Jesus-’ sayings, but do we w them in our private lives, in our homes, on the job? Do we DO them so consistently that they form the basis of our basic viewpoints?

Matthew 7:27 And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and smote upon that house. The same crisis arises but arrives at the second house with abated force, for whereas Jesus had described the first house built upon the rock as being beaten with terrific force (pospipto), He now pictures this house as being stumbled against (proskopto) by the tempest and flood. By these different words He may be suggesting that it takes much less a crisis to bring down a man whose life is not founded on God’s Word revealed by Jesus. **And it fell and great was the fall thereof. **Jesus leaves His audience breathlessly listening to the reverberating crash of the wrecked house sounding in their ears, and watching the swirling torrent gouge away the sand and wash away the wreck of the structure. This is the tragedy of a disobedient life: decide where you stand in relation to my words!

FACT QUESTIONS

1. What is the right way to receive the revelation that Jesus gives?
2. Explain the various elements of the parable of the two builders.
3. What does Jesus call a man who will not do what He says?
4. Upon what do many people base their lives, other than the word of Jesus?

Matthew 7:28-29

THE IMPACT OF JESUS-’ PREACHING

TEXT: Matthew 7:28-8:1

28. And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching:
29. For he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. Matthew 8:1. And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. How do you explain the fact that it was when Jesus had finished that the multitudes were astonished, when, in fact, there is much in the Sermon that would have caused much surprise, shock, admiration, fear and amazement much before this? b. What was there about the teaching of Jesus that caused the crowds to arrive at the particular conclusion about Him that they did?

PARAPHRASE

When Jesus finished this message, the people were amazed at His teaching, for, quite unlike their rabbis, He taught them like one who had authority. Numerous crowds of people followed Him as He descended the mountain.

SUMMARY

The difference between Jesus and any other rabbi, yes, and any other human teacher lay in the question of authority. They cited it, but He possessed it. People could see the difference, so they followed Jesus.

NOTES

Matthew 7:28 And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these words. This phrase proves that this is one entire sermon, delivered as Matthew records it here. There was a definite beginning (Matthew 5:2) and this is the clear conclusion to the discourse. It is not a compilation either by Matthew or some other, as some scholars assume.

The multitudes were astonished at his teaching. (Cf. Matthew 19:25; Matthew 22:33; Mark 1:27; Mark 11:18; Luke 4:32; Acts 13:12) That they should suddenly be astonished at His teaching, when actually most of His sermon was most surprising and quite contradictory to their most cherished beliefs, might seem a forced and unnatural reaction. But the psychological impact of the Sermon, as here described, is altogether proper, for, as long as Jesus was speaking, everyone listened spellbound, even if some of Jesus-’ sayings were too new and different to be true and readily acceptable. Then, when He finished His resounding conclusion and stopped talking, the audience itself relaxed and the total impact of what He had said began to take hold in their minds. Amazement swept over the crowds as they confirmed their impressions with their neighbors.

Matthew 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority. This is the major reason for the reaction of the audience, And not as their scribes. The scribes habitually cited as authorities the ancients to establish their tenants, while Jesus showed that He possessed supreme, perfect authority Himself in His own person, He did not base the truth of His message even upon the Old Testament, for He has revealed ideals that surpassed even the lofty ethics of the Law and has done this so brilliantly that not even the doctors of the Law could refute Him. Implied in His presentation of the ideals of perfection on the one hand, and of the depths of human wickedness on the other, is His personal incarnation of the ethics that He teaches. There is no hint of an apology for failure to meet His own standard, there is no confession of sin, Further, He has declared Himself the Judge of the world and that His teaching was the standard by which all would be measured. And this measure of difference that separates Jesus from the Jewish scribes also yawns as an uncrossable chasm between Him and all other religio-ethical teachers. Jesus is not important because what He taught was so great, but His message is vitally essential because HE IS GREAT.

Matthew 8:1 And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. What will they do about Jesus-’ unparalleled Sermon? Some will build wisely; some will be fools. Some will be astonished but not be stirred to obedience. Some will refuse as first, then obey later; some will promise at first, then not come through, Let us humbly follow Him also, doing what He says and enter the kingdom of God.

SUMMARY QUESTIONS

Write an outline of the Sermon on the Mount. As far as possible, make it an interpretative outline, showing all the parts of it in their relation to the main theme and to each other.

List from the Sermon on the Mount all the statements which assert or clearly imply the deity of Christ.

State rather briefly in your own words the essential nature of the righteousness which Jesus is trying to teach in the Sermon. What kind of character does it require? How does one get to be that kind of person?

Discuss the nature and purpose of the Sermon on the Mount. On whom was it intended to be binding? What is its relation to the gospel and to the means of salvation? What was it meant to accomplish?

Discuss the kingdom as preached by John, and then as preached by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. In doing this explain what it was that He called the kingdom.

DO YOU HAVE THE WORD IN YOUR HEART?

Where are the following passages found? Who said it? On what occasion? To whom was it said? Why was it said? What does it mean? Are there parallel passages? variant manuscript readings? important other translations of the verse? Are there problems in interpreting it? How is it to be applied to our lives?

1. I say unto you, every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment.
2. Narrow is the gate and straitened the way that leadeth unto life.
3. Give to him that asketh thee.
4. Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven.
5. Judge not that ye be not judged.
6. For every one that asketh receiveth.
7. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
8. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
9. When thou fastest, anoint thy head.
10. Agree with thine adversary quickly.
11. Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
12. By their fruits ye shall know them.
13. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
14. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
15. How much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
16. And bring us not into temptation.
17. They have received their reward.