Mat 7:1-11 | KingComments | STEP | In the previous chapter we have the Lord’s teaching about bringing His disciples into a relationship with the Father in heaven. He wants the Father to fill all of their thinking, whether it be for giving, prayer, fasting, or their relationship to possessions and all the necessities of life. In this chapter the Lord teaches His disciples about the relationship to their brothers and even to wicked people. This chapter is about the reign of God in the life of the disciple. The ‘government of God’ means that a person is responsible for what he does and that God always connects consequences for him and often for others to his actions or words. If the Lord says here “do not judge”, it has nothing to do with what is evident, but with what is hidden. It concerns the warning to guard against the spirit of criticism in ourselves, the tendency to suggest evil motives in others in what is not evident. That is not to say that the Lord means to weaken the necessary judgment of evil. If there is public evil in the church, the church must judge it ( ). If we presume a judgment where it is not allowed ( ), we will have to deal with the government of God. God will then judge and measure us according to the standards we have set for others. Then we will experience how much we have defrauded others. This wrong spirit of judgment is also reflected in the extent of the evil we think we perceive in others, while we are blind to our own much greater wrongs. We make a big fuss about that little speck in our brother’s eye, that speck is enlarged, while the log in our own eye is trivialized. We worry when someone doesn’t see a minor matter of the truth, while we don’t realize that we ourselves disregard large parts of the truth. If there is sincere care for each other, we will want to help another person to get rid of a speck out of his eye. That’s why we are members of the same body. But it has to be done in the right way. These are hypocritical judgments, judgment without self-judgment, doing wrong with a particular evil and then still condemning another for that very same evil. seems to deal with a completely different subject than the previous verses. Yet there is a connection. In , the Lord warns that we should not judge the motives of the heart of our fellow disciples. They are hidden from us. is about judging people who present themselves as Christians, but whose mouths and deeds show that they are trampling the precious things of the Lord Jesus under their feet. Of that, He says strongly that we have to judge that. “Dogs” and “swine” refers to people in Christianity for whom the preciousness of God’s truth has no meaning and value whatsoever. We have to pass a sharp judgment on such people. We must not give them anything of what God has intended only for His people and what is precious to them. Not only will they trample that precious thing into the mud, but they will also drag and tear to pieces us who gave it (cf. ). “Dogs” and “swine” do not refer to sinners in general, and “what is holy” and “pearls” do not refer to the gospel. Bringing the gospel is not pearls before swine. The gospel is meant especially for all sinners, even the most ‘swinish’ of them.

‏ Matthew 7:1-11

Judging Others

In the previous chapter we have the Lord’s teaching about bringing His disciples into a relationship with the Father in heaven. He wants the Father to fill all of their thinking, whether it be for giving, prayer, fasting, or their relationship to possessions and all the necessities of life. In this chapter the Lord teaches His disciples about the relationship to their brothers and even to wicked people.

This chapter is about the reign of God in the life of the disciple. The ‘government of God’ means that a person is responsible for what he does and that God always connects consequences for him and often for others to his actions or words.

If the Lord says here “do not judge”, it has nothing to do with what is evident, but with what is hidden. It concerns the warning to guard against the spirit of criticism in ourselves, the tendency to suggest evil motives in others in what is not evident. That is not to say that the Lord means to weaken the necessary judgment of evil. If there is public evil in the church, the church must judge it (1Cor 5:12-13).

If we presume a judgment where it is not allowed (1Cor 4:5), we will have to deal with the government of God. God will then judge and measure us according to the standards we have set for others. Then we will experience how much we have defrauded others.

This wrong spirit of judgment is also reflected in the extent of the evil we think we perceive in others, while we are blind to our own much greater wrongs. We make a big fuss about that little speck in our brother’s eye, that speck is enlarged, while the log in our own eye is trivialized. We worry when someone doesn’t see a minor matter of the truth, while we don’t realize that we ourselves disregard large parts of the truth.

If there is sincere care for each other, we will want to help another person to get rid of a speck out of his eye. That’s why we are members of the same body. But it has to be done in the right way. These are hypocritical judgments, judgment without self-judgment, doing wrong with a particular evil and then still condemning another for that very same evil.

Mt 7:6 seems to deal with a completely different subject than the previous verses. Yet there is a connection. In Mt 7:1-5, the Lord warns that we should not judge the motives of the heart of our fellow disciples. They are hidden from us. Mt 7:6 is about judging people who present themselves as Christians, but whose mouths and deeds show that they are trampling the precious things of the Lord Jesus under their feet. Of that, He says strongly that we have to judge that.

“Dogs” and “swine” refers to people in Christianity for whom the preciousness of God’s truth has no meaning and value whatsoever. We have to pass a sharp judgment on such people. We must not give them anything of what God has intended only for His people and what is precious to them. Not only will they trample that precious thing into the mud, but they will also drag and tear to pieces us who gave it (cf. 2Pet 2:22).

“Dogs” and “swine” do not refer to sinners in general, and “what is holy” and “pearls” do not refer to the gospel. Bringing the gospel is not pearls before swine. The gospel is meant especially for all sinners, even the most ‘swinish’ of them.

Ask, Seek, Knock

The Lord gives great encouragement to put into practice all the teaching He has given. Once we have heard the teaching, we feel powerless to follow it. But here the Lord gives the tools: ask, seek, knock. He invites us to make unlimited and continuous use of it. If we really do, we can be sure to be heard. He assures us with the word “for” (Mt 7:8) that He will respond.

‘Ask’ is the expression of a desire. ‘Seek’ indicates that the desire is not within reach, but that we have to make an effort to get what we want. With ‘knock’ the emphasis is on the one asking being insistent with God and also that a door must be opened, which can be applied to the taking away of an obstacle.

The limit to the giving of God is determined by our faith. God is a willing and abundant Giver. His fullness is inexhaustible. His ability to give is unlimited. He says: “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (Psa 81:10c). Yet God does not give everything we ask. He only gives what is good. If we ask the Father something, He will not give us something worthless like a stone or dangerous like a snake. His standard is not inferior to that of an earthly father.

Mt 7:12 is a summary of Mt 7:1-11 and, in fact, of the whole Old Testament in so far as it speaks of relations with fellow men. Whatever someone else does, my concern is to do him what I want him to do to me. Then I act as a child of my heavenly Father.

It does not say: ‘What you don’t want someone does to you, don’t do it to someone else’. That is a negative approach to the other. The Lord presents it positively. This is how it fits in well with what precedes. If the Father gives so generously to us, we will also give generously to others. We can therefore also see these words of the Lord as a summary of Christendom in its expression to our fellow human beings.