Matthew 7

Matthew 7:1

Behold the fowls of the air. God feeds the birds without their sowing or reaping, but they do the work for which they were created, and God takes care of them. So, too, he will take care of us–not in idleness or improvidence–but if we do the work for which God created us.

Matthew 7:2

Which of you by being anxious, etc. There can hardly be a doubt that this ought to be rendered, “add one cubit to his age”, or period of life. The idea is: “What is the use of anxiety? Who, by his anxiety, can add anything to life’s journey”? If it is proper to speak of “’length’ of life”, it is also appropriate to speaking of adding a cubit to its length.

Matthew 7:3

Consider the lilies. While the lilies do not toil or spin, they do their work, draw up sustenance from the earth, and drink in the dew, rain and sunbeams. So we are to do our appointed work. It we do this, trusting in God, he will supply all our needs.

Matthew 7:4

Even Solomon in all his glory. To the Jew the court of Solomon was the highest representation of human glory. The magnificence of the court is not only celebrated in Jewish writings, but in all Oriental literature, and it is still proverbial throughout the East. Yet he was never arrayed with the taste and beauty of “one of these”. It is probable that both birds and lilies were in sight from where the Lord was sitting.

Matthew 7:5

If God so clothe the grass of the field. Wild flowers belong to the herbage that is cut with the grass. In Palestine the forests in many localities disappeared thousands of years ago, and in the scarcity of fuel, dried grass and weeds are often used to heat the oven.

Matthew 7:6

Therefore take no thought Have no anxiety over the question of food and raiment. Do your duty, with a full trust in God that he will see that you do not lack for these things.

Matthew 7:7

For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. This worldliness, anxiety, and distrust, might do in heathen, who have no knowledge of a heavenly Father, but you have a heavenly Father, and he knows that ye “need of all these things”.

Matthew 7:8

Seek ye first the kingdom of God. The promise is made that if we seek it first, and its righteousness, all earthly wants will be supplied. The condition demands, (1) That we seek the kingdom “first” in point of time. Some propose to secure a competence, and after they have gained it, they will serve God. (2) We must make it “first” in importance. Everything else must give way before its demands. (3) It must be “first” in our affections, have our whole hearts. We must “love the Lord our God with the whole heart” (Matthew 22:37). His righteousness. The righteousness that God bestows upon those who are in the Kingdom, Christ’s righteousness, the forgiveness of sins in his name.

Matthew 7:9

Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow. Again, it should read, as in the Revised Version, “Have no anxiety about tomorrow”. The morrow shallll take thought for the things of itself. Not “take care of itself”, but bring its own cares, anxieties and troubles. We should not foolishly increase our present burden by borrowing trouble about tomorrow.

Matthew 7:11

The Sermon on the Mount (concluded) SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 7: Motes and Beams. Casting Pearls before Swine. Asking and Receiving. The Golden Rule. The Broad and Strait Gates. Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing. The Tree Known by Its Fruits. The Kingdom Entered by Obedience. The Wise and Foolish Builders. The Wonderful Teacher. Judge not, that ye be not judged. The term “judge” is used in more than one sense, but Christ’s meaning is plain. (1) He does not prohibit the civil judgment of the courts upon evil doers, for this is approved throughout the whole Bible. (2) He does not prohibit the judgment of the church, through its officers, upon those who walk disorderly, for both he and the apostles have enjoined this. (3) He does not forbid those private judgments that we are compelled to form the wrong-doers, for he himself tell us that we are to judge men by their fruits. (See Matthew 7:15-20.) What he designs to prohibit is rash, uncharitable judgments, a fault-finding spirit, a disposition to condemn without examination of charges.

Matthew 7:12

With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. Not by men, but by God. He takes note of the unkind, harsh, censorious spirit, and deals with the man according to his own spirit. There is declared here a great principle that runs through the moral government of God: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

Matthew 7:13

Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye? The Lord uses a figure to show the absurdity of judging severely the faults of others, while we have greater ones. The term translated “mote” means a little splinter, while the beam is something very large.

Matthew 7:15

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye. The man who finds fault with another for sin, while he is more guilty, is a hypocrite. A great many are very zealous to convert the world, who are themselves unconverted.

Matthew 7:16

Give not that which is holy unto dogs. The dog was regarded an unclean animal by the Jewish law. They probably represent snarling, scoffing opposers. The characteristic of dogs is brutality. To try to instill holy things into such low, unclean, and sordid brutal minds is useless. Neither cast ye your pearls before swine. The swine were also unclean. They would have no use for pearls, and perhaps would rush upon those who scattered the pearls. So, too, there are men so dull, imbruted and senseless, as to reject the pearls of truth. It is our duty to help and to try to save others, but we must use common sense.

Matthew 7:17

Ask, . . . seek, . . . knock. The terms are here used with reference to prayer, and these constitute a climax. “Ask” implies a simple petition. “Seek” indicates an earnest search. “Knock” shows perseverance in spite of hindrances. The three represent earnest prayer.

Matthew 7:18

For every one that asketh receiveth, etc. Every one of the class concerning whom the Savior speaks. That class is those who can say, “Our Father in heaven; Hallowed be thy name; Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:9,10).

Matthew 7:19

If his son shall ask bread, will he give him a stone? The assurance of an answer to prayer is based on the fact that God is our Father. He treats his children as a good and wise earthly parent would. No kind parent would mock his child by answering his cry for bread with stones. Bread and fish were the chief articles of food of the Galilean peasant.

Matthew 7:21

If ye then, being evil. Men who have the natural affection of parents, even though sinful men, will not do such things. Whoever believes that the term “Father”, as applied to God, is more than a figure of speech, must believe in prayer. Give good gifts. Lu 11:13, in the parallel passage, says, instead of “good gifts”, “the Holy Spirit”, as though this is heaven’s greatest blessing.

Matthew 7:22

Whatsoever . . . do ye even so to them. This does not imply that we are always to do to others as they wish, but what we would like to have done to ourselves if we were placed in their condition and they in ours. We might injure them by complying with their foolish wishes. A maxim similar to the Golden Rule is found in the teachings of various sages; Socrates among the Greeks (“What stirs you to anger when done to you by bothers, that do not to others”), Buddha and Confucius (“What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others”) among the Orientals, and Hillel (“Do not do to thy neighbor what is hateful to thyself”) among the Jews. But the other teachers do not come up to Christ’s standard. Their maxim is negative and passive.

They say: “Do not do to others what you would not have done to you”. It is a rule of “not” doing, rather than of “doing”.

Matthew 7:23

Enter ye in at the strait gate. The leading thought of the whole discourse is the kingdom of heaven and its conditions. Hence, when the Lord says, “Enter ye in”, he means into the kingdom of heaven. Nearly every town in Palestine is surrounded by walls and is entered by gates. The principal ones are wide, with double doors, closed with locks and fastened with iron bars. The “strait gates” are in retired corners, are narrow, and are only opened to those who knock.

Matthew 7:24

For strait [is] the gate. What is it, Augustine asks, that makes this gate so small to us? It is not that it is “strait”, or narrow, in itself, but that we want to take in our pride, our self-will, our darling sins. Few there be that find it. It has been to be sought. The reason that men do not find it is not because it is hard to find, but because they prefer to walk in the broad way.

Matthew 7:25

Beware of false prophets. The word “prophet”, as used in the Scriptures, means any one who teaches authoritatively the will of God. A false prophet is one who is a false teacher. Christ refers to the scribes and Pharisees. Come to you in sheep’s clothing. While appearing as harmless as sheep they are wolves.

Matthew 7:26

Ye shall know them by their fruits. This common figure is wonderfully expressive. Not leaves (professions), or appearance, are the proper tests of the life that is in the tree, but the fruit it bears. We are to test men and every institution by this principle. Grapes of thorns. Two of the most highly valued fruits of Palestine are grapes and figs. Nothing is more common than thorns and thistles. Geike says that it is the land of thorns and thorny plants. Good fruit cannot be expected on such evil stocks.

Matthew 7:28

A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit. The Lord points to the uniform law of nature. Every tree bears after its kind. The same principle holds good in the moral world. A good man will show forth good deeds, while a bad man will bear fruit according to his nature.

Matthew 7:29

Every tree . . . is hewn down, and cast into the fire. The test of good and bad trees, good and bad men, good and bad systems, has been presented. Now the figure is carried further to show their destiny. The Savior states a principle that seems to run through the whole government of God. Whatever is useless and evil shall finally be swept away.