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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Matthew 7 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/matthew/7.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/matthew/7-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Matthew 7</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../matthew/6.htm" title="Matthew 6">◄</a> Matthew 7 <a href="../matthew/8.htm" title="Matthew 8">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-1.htm">Matthew 7:1</a></div><div class="verse">Judge not, that ye be not judged.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 1-12.</span> - <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> As anxiety about the things of this life hinders us Godwards (ch. 6:19-34), so does censoriousness manwards (vers. 1-12), our Lord thus tacitly opposing two typically Jewish faults. Censoriousness - the personal danger of having it (vers. 1, 2), its seriousness as a sign of ignorance and as a hindrance to spiritual vision (vers. 3-5), even though there must be a recognition of great moral differences (ver. 6). Grace to overcome it and to exercise judgment rightly can be obtained by prayer (vers. 7-11), the secret of overcoming being found in treating others as one would like to be treated one's self (ver. 12). <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - Parallel passage: <a href="/luke/6-37.htm">Luke 6:37</a>. <span class="cmt_word">Judge not</span>. Not merely "do not condemn," for this would leave too much latitude; nor, on the other hand, "do not ever judge," for this is sometimes our duty; but "do not be always judging" (<span class="greek">μὴ κρίνετε</span>). Our Lord opposes the censorious spirit. "Let us therefore be lowly minded, brethren, laying aside all arrogance, and conceit, and folly, and anger, and let us do that which is written... most of all remembering the words of the Lord Jesus which he spake, teaching forbearance and brag-suffering; for thus he spake... 'As ye judge, so shall ye be judged,'" Clem. Romans, § 13 (where see Bishop Lightfoot's note; el. also Resch, 'Agrapha,' pp. 96, 136 ft.); cf. 'Ab.,' 1:7 (Taylor), "Judge every man in the scale of merit;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> let the scale incline towards the side of merit or acquittal. <span class="cmt_word">That ye be not judged</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> by God, with special reference to the last day (cf. <a href="/james/2-12.htm">James 2:12, 13</a>; <a href="/james/5-9.htm">James 5:9</a>; <a href="/romans/2-3.htm">Romans 2:3</a>). Hardly of judgment by men, as Barrow (serm. 20.): "Men take it for allowable to retaliate in this way to the height, and stoutly to load the censorious man with censure." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-2.htm">Matthew 7:2</a></div><div class="verse">For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - Parallels to the second clause in <a href="/luke/6-38.htm">Luke 6:38</a> and <a href="/mark/4-24.htm">Mark 4:24</a>, <span class="cmt_word">For</span>. Explanatory of" that ye be not judged." The principle of your own judgment will be applied in turn to yourselves. <span class="cmt_word">With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.</span> The judgment (<span class="greek">κρίμα</span>) is the verdict; the measure is the severity or otherwise of the verdict. In both clauses (cf. ver. 1, note) the passives refer to judgment by God, as is even more clear in <a href="/mark/4-24.htm">Mark 4:24</a>. The saying, "with what measure," etc., is found in Mishua, 'Sotah,' 1:7 ("With the measure with which a man measures do they measure to him"), where it is applied to the <span class="accented">jus talionis</span> in the case of a woman suspected of adultery (<a href="/numbers/5-11.htm">Numbers 5:11-31</a>). <span class="accented">Again.</span> Omitted by the Revised Version, with the manuscripts. It was naturally inserted by the copyists, either as an unconscious deduction or from the parallel passage in Luke; but it is absent in the characteristically Jewish form of the saying found in the Mishna. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-3.htm">Matthew 7:3</a></div><div class="verse">And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 3-5.</span> - The heinousness of censoriousness as a hindrance to one's self and to one's work for others. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - Parallel passage:<a href="/luke/6-41.htm">Luke 6:41</a>. <span class="cmt_word">And why</span> - when it is so contrary to common sense - <span class="cmt_word">beholdest thou the mote,</span> etc.? A Jewish proverbial saying, <span class="accented">e.g.</span> Talm. Bab., 'Bab. Bathra,' 15b, Rabbi Jochanan ( <span class="date">third century A.D.</span>),expounding <a href="/ruth/1-1.htm">Ruth 1:1</a>, says, "A generation which when under judgment (<span class="hebrew">שנשפט</span>) judgeth its judges. When one saith to a man, Cast out the mote out of thine eyes, he saith (in answer), Cast out the beam out of thine eyes." In Talm. Bab., 'Erach.,' 16<span class="accented">b</span>, "Out of thy teeth" seems to be the right reading. In these verses the "eye" is usually taken as belonging solely to the illustration, and as not itself representing any one object. It may be so, but it has been used so recently (<a href="/matthew/6-22.htm">Matthew 6:22</a>) of the spiritual sense that it is more natural to take it so here. In this case the thought of the passage is of faults existing in a man's spiritual sense hindering his spiritual vision. The censorious man sees any fault, however small, readily enough in others, but does not see the much greater fault which he himself as a matter of fact has - his own censoriousness. This censoriousness is not a slight, but a great hindrance to his own spiritual vision, much more to his being of use in removing hindrances from the eye of another. <span class="accented">The mote</span>; <span class="greek">τὸ κάρδος</span>; Latt. <span class="accented">festucam</span>; any small vegetable body. The English word is from the Anglo-Saxon <span class="accented">mot</span>, "a small particle" (cf. further <a href="/luke/6-41.htm">Luke 6:41</a>, note). Observe that our Lord allows that there is something wrong with the brother's spiritual vision, just as he allows that the unmerciful servant had a real debt owing to him. <span class="cmt_word">That is in thy brother's eye</span> (<a href="/matthew/5-22.htm">Matthew 5:22</a>, note). Our Lord is here speaking of the relation of believers to fellow-believers. He tacitly contrasts the censoriousness of the Pharisees towards fellow-Jews (<a href="/john/7-49.htm">John 7:49</a>). <span class="cmt_word">But considerest not</span> (<span class="greek">οὐ κατανοεῖς</span>). With any attention of mind; contrast <a href="/romans/4-19.htm">Romans 4:19</a> (Abraham gave earnest consideration to his own age, and yet believed). <span class="cmt_word">The beam</span>. So huge a piece of wood is there in thine own eye. <span class="cmt_word">That is in thine own eye</span>. The order of the Greek lays still more emphasis on the fact that, though in thy very own eye there is a beam, thou payest no regard to that (cf. ver. 5, note). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-4.htm">Matthew 7:4</a></div><div class="verse">Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam <i>is</i> in thine own eye?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - Parallel passage: <a href="/luke/6-42.htm">Luke 6:42</a><span class="accented">a</span>. <span class="cmt_word">Or</span>. A second case is supposed. You may only see the mote or you may offer to remove it. How; with any conscience. <span class="cmt_word">Wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out?</span> <span class="accented">Let me</span> (<span class="greek">ἄφες</span>,, ch. 3:15). There is nothing here of the rudeness that so often accompanies censeriousness. <span class="accented">Pull out</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">cast out</span> (<span class="greek">ἐκβάλω</span>). The thought is of the completeness, not the method, of the removal (cf. <a href="/matthew/9-38.htm">Matthew 9:38</a>). A beam; <span class="accented">the beam</span> (Revised Version); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the beam already mentioned. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-5.htm">Matthew 7:5</a></div><div class="verse">Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - Parallel passage: <a href="/luke/6-42.htm">Luke 6:42</a>b. Thou hypocrite (<a href="/matthew/6-2.htm">Matthew 6:2</a>, note). The thought here is of the personation of a part (a man free from impediment in his vision)which does not belong to you. First cast out <span class="cmt_word">the beam out of thine own eye,</span> In ver. 3 the order of the words lays the emphasis on "thine;" here, on the eye. It is in thine eye, of all places, that the beam now is. <span class="cmt_word">And then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye</span>. Surely a promise as well as a statement. <span class="accented">See clearly</span> (<span class="greek">διαβλέψεις</span>, <span class="greek">δια</span>- discriminatingly); as in the right text of <a href="/mark/8-25.htm">Mark 8:25</a>, itself after the recovery of full power of sight. <span class="accented">See clearly.</span> Not the mote (ver. 3), but to cast out the mote. The verse seems to imply that if the spirit of censoriousness be absent, it will be possible for us to remove "motes" from the eyes of our brothers. Thus the passage as a whole does not say that we never ought to try to remove such "motes," but that this is monstrous and almost impossible so long as we ourselves have a fault of so much magnitude as censoriousness. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-6.htm">Matthew 7:6</a></div><div class="verse">Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - Matthew only. <span class="cmt_word">Give not that</span> <span class="cmt_word">which is holy,</span> etc. While you are not to be censorious towards brethren (vers. 1-5), you must recognize the great and fundamental differences that there are between men. You must not treat those who are mere dogs and swine as if they were able to appreciate either the holiness or the beauty and wealth of spiritual truth. <span class="accented">Give</span> Observe that "give," "cast," are naturally used of feeding dogs and swine respectively. <span class="accented">That which is holy</span> (<span class="greek">τὸ ἅγιον</span>). The metaphor is taken from the law that the things offered in sacrifice were no longer to be treated as common food (<a href="/leviticus/22-1.htm">Leviticus 22:1-16</a>, especially ver. 14, <span class="greek">τὸ ἅγιον</span>). <span class="cmt_word">Unto the dogs</span>. The scavengers of Eastern cities, which by nature and habit love and greedily devour the most unholy of things (cf. <a href="/exodus/22-31.htm">Exodus 22:31</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Neither</span> <span class="cmt_word">cast ye your pearls,</span> <span class="accented">Pearls.</span> Only here and <a href="/matthew/13-45.htm">Matthew 13:45, 46</a> in the Gospels. In form not so very unlike swine's food of beans or nuts, they here represent the beauty and precious wealth of the various parts of the Gospel, in which Christ's disciples are accustomed to delight (<span class="greek">ὑμῶν</span>). Ignatius ('Ephesians,' § 11) calls his bonds his "spiritual pearls." <span class="cmt_word">Before swine</span>; <span class="accented">before the swine</span> (Revised Version). Probably in both cases the article is used with the object of bringing the particular dogs and swine to whom these are given more vividly before us. <span class="accented">Swine.</span> Which have no care for such things, but rather wallow in filth (<a href="/2_peter/2-22.htm">2 Peter 2:22</a>). <span class="accented">Dogs... swine.</span> The terms seem to so far indicate different classes of men, or more truly different characters in men, as that the one term points to the greedy participation of the wicked in open profanation, the ether to the sottish indifference of sinners to that which is most attractive. <span class="cmt_word">Lest</span> <span class="cmt_word">they;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the swine. Dogs, even though wild in the East, would not "tread down" the food. <span class="cmt_word">Trample them under their feet</span> (<a href="/matthew/5-13.htm">Matthew 5:13</a>). In ignorance of their real worth and in disappointment that they do not afford them satisfaction (For the future, <span class="greek">καταπατήσουσιν</span>, cf. <a href="/matthew/5-25.htm">Matthew 5:25</a>, note.) It here expresses the greater certainty of the trampling than of the rending (aorist subjective). <span class="cmt_word">And turn again</span> - Revised Version omits "again" <span class="cmt_word">- and rend you</span>. In rage at the disappointment experienced. The clause expresses the personal enmity which those who wilfully reject the gospel often feel towards those that have offered it to them. It might be thought difficult to carry out this command, as it is evident that we cannot know beforehand who will accept the gospel or not. But in cases where the character of the person is not known (<span class="accented">e.g.</span> as when St. Paul preached at Athens, etc.), the command does not apply. Our Lord <span class="accented">supposes</span> the case where the character is apparent (cf. <a href="/1_timothy/5-24.htm">1 Timothy 5:24</a>). Theodoret (<span class="accented">vide</span> Resch, 'Agrapha,' pp. 103, 168), in quoting this verse, adds, "My mysteries are tot me and mine," which, clearly an adaptation of Symmachus and Theodotion's rendering of <a href="/isaiah/24-16.htm">Isaiah 24:16</a>, <span class="hebrew">רזי לי</span> (cf. also Targ. Jon.), seems to have become almost an authorized, and certainly a true, interpretation of our verse. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-7.htm">Matthew 7:7</a></div><div class="verse">Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 7-11.</span> - <span class="accented">Ask</span>, <span class="accented">and it shall be given you</span>, etc. Parallel passage: <a href="/luke/11-9.htm">Luke 11:9-13</a>. Nearly verbally identical, but in the son's request, reads "<span class="accented">egg"</span> and "<span class="accented">scorpion"</span> for "bread" and "stone," and reverses the order of the sentences. In Luke the verses are closely connected ("and I say unto you") with the parable of the friend at midnight, which itself immediately follows the Lord's Prayer. It seems probable that, as with the Lord's Prayer (ch. 6:9-13, note), so with these verses, the original position is given in Luke; yet, as also with the Lord's Prayer, Matthew's form of the individual clauses may be the more original (cf. ver. 11, note). With the general promise contained in these verses, cf. <a href="/mark/11-24.htm">Mark 11:24</a>. The connexion with the preceding verse is probably not <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> pray for others who have no apparent capacity for receiving the truths of the gospel (Weiss); nor <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> in answer to the question suggested by ver. 6, if this be the measure of the Divine dealings, what bounties can sinners expect at God's hands? Let them, nevertheless, ask of God, and it shall be given them (cf. Alford); but <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> in close connexion with the whole subject from vers. 1-6, you feel conscious of want of wisdom for the true and loving judgment of others without censoriousness - ask for this special grace. With this connexion ver. 12 follows on naturally; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the key to the right treatment of others may be found in one's own feelings and wishes; from the perception of what we desire to receive from others we may learn what others ought to receive from us. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Ask... seek... knock</span>. Gradation in urgency. Further, the three clauses think of the Giver, the sphere in which the gift lies, the obstacles in the way of obtaining it. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-8.htm">Matthew 7:8</a></div><div class="verse">For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For every one that asketh receiveth</span>. Every one that asketh of God receiveth, for he is not the censorious Judge that you are inclined to be in your dealings with others. Therefore ask expectantly. He "giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not" (<a href="/james/1-5.htm">James 1:5</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-9.htm">Matthew 7:9</a></div><div class="verse">Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 9, 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Or what man is there of you</span>, etc.? <span class="accented">Or.</span> Is not what I say true? or - if you think not - what man of you yourselves would act otherwise towards his own son? Our Lord appeals to the experience and natural feelings of his hearers themselves to emphasize the readiness of the Father - "your Father," whose nature you share, and from whom you derive your feelings of fatherhood (<a href="/ephesians/3-15.htm">Ephesians 3:15</a>) - to grant the prayers of his children. Observe: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> Our Lord assumes that our natural feelings are of the same <span class="accented">kind</span> as God's. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> Our Lord speaks of God's <span class="accented">children</span> asking him for gifts (cf. <a href="/matthew/5-16.htm">Matthew 5:16</a>, note). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> Our Lord does not suggest, "Will he absolutely refuse him?" but "Will he give him something which is an answer in appearance only (a stone for bread, a serpent for a fish)?" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> our Lord implies that God's gifts, like an earthly father's to his son, are such as really and completely to satisfy the need which is expressing itself. A blessed encouragement, for he will thus answer the underlying desire, though not necessarily the verbal expression of the prayer. So when Monica prayed that her son might not sail to Rome, God did not grant this, but gave her "the <span class="accented">hinge</span> of her desire," for it was <span class="accented">Augustine's</span> journey to Italy that was the means of his conversion (Aug., 'Conf.,' 5:15). <span class="cmt_word">Bread... fish.</span> The most usual food on the Lake of Galilee (cf. <a href="/matthew/14-17.htm">Matthew 14:17</a>; <a href="/john/6-9.htm">John 6:9</a>; cf. <a href="/matthew/4-3.htm">Matthew 4:3</a>, note). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-10.htm">Matthew 7:10</a></div><div class="verse">Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-11.htm">Matthew 7:11</a></div><div class="verse">If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - Parallel passage: <a href="/luke/11-13.htm">Luke 11:13</a>. <span class="cmt_word">If ye then being evil</span>. Application of the thought of vers. 9, 10, with further emphasis on the evil of human nature. If you with your moral worthlessness (<a href="/matthew/6-13.htm">Matthew 6:13</a>, note), etc. (cf. also <a href="/matthew/12-34.htm">Matthew 12:34</a>). <span class="accented">Being</span> (gyros). The presence here in the parallel passage of Luke of his common word <span class="greek">ὑπάρχοντες</span> points to St. Matthew's form of the sentence being the more original. Know; intuitively (<span class="greek">οἴδατε</span>). Notwithstanding, then, the evil bent of fallen human nature, there is some good still remaining. <span class="cmt_word">How much more shall your Father which is in heaven.</span> "In quo nulla est malitia" (Bengel). <span class="cmt_word">Give good things</span>. Observe: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> In the parallel passage in Luke, "the Holy Spirit," or, more strictly, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit (<span class="greek">Πνεῦμα Αγιον</span>). The historian of the early Church not unnaturally singles out that gift which ultimately produces all others; but St. Matthew, keeping to the general subject of wisdom, etc., in the treatment of our brethren, uses a more distributive expression which yet includes the particular gift asked for. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> Is the omission of the word "gifts" in this clause to be accounted for by our Lord not wishing to suggest that the grace asked for is so given as that it can afterwards be possessed apart from the Giver? </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-12.htm">Matthew 7:12</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - Ver. 12<span class="accented">a</span>, parallel passage: <a href="/luke/6-31.htm">Luke 6:31</a>; <a href="/luke/12.htm">Luke 12</a>b, Matthew only. <span class="cmt_word">All</span> <span class="cmt_word">things therefore</span>. <span class="accented">Therefore.</span> Summing up the lesson of vers. 1-11 (cf. ver. 7, note). In consequence of all that I have said about censoriousness and the means of overcoming it, let the very opposite feeling rule your conduct towards others. Let all (emphatic) your dealings with men be conducted in the same spirit in which you would desire them to deal with you. <span class="cmt_word">Even so</span>. Not "these things" do ye to them; for our Lord carefully avoids any expression that might lead to a legal enumeration of different details, but "thus" (<span class="greek">οὕτως</span>), referring to the character of your own wishes. (For this "golden rule," cf. Tobit 4:15 (negative form); cf. also patristic references in Resch, 'Agrapha,' pp. 95, 135.) On the occasional similarity of pre-Christian writings to the teaching of our Lord, Augustine (<span class="accented">vide</span> Trench, 'Serm.,' <span class="accented">in loc.</span>) well says it is "the glory of the written and spoken law, that it is the transcript of that which was from the first, and not merely as old as this man or that, but as the Creation itself, a reproduction of that obscured and forgotten law written at the beginning by the finger of God on the hearts of all men. When, therefore, heathen sages or poets proclaimed any part of this, they had not thereby anticipated Christ; they had only deciphered some fragment of that law, which he gave from the first, and which, when men, exiles and fugitives from themselves and from the knowledge of their own hearts, had lost the power of reading, he came in the flesh to read to them anew, and to bring out the well-nigh obliterated characters afresh." (Compare also Bishop Lightfoot's essay on "St. Paul and Seneca," in his 'Philippians.') <span class="cmt_word">For this is</span> <span class="cmt_word">the law and the prophets.</span> <span class="accented">For this<span class="cmt_word">.</span> </span>This principle of action and mode of life is, in fact, the sum of all Bible teaching (cf. <a href="/leviticus/19-18.htm">Leviticus 19:18</a>). Observe: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> Our Lord brings out the same thought, but with its necessary limitation to the second table, in <a href="/matthew/22-40.htm">Matthew 22:40</a> (cf. <a href="/romans/13-10.htm">Romans 13:10</a>). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> Our Lord thus returns to the main subject of his sermon, the relation in which he and his must stand to the Law (<a href="/matthew/5-17.htm">Matthew 5:17</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-13.htm">Matthew 7:13</a></div><div class="verse">Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide <i>is</i> the gate, and broad <i>is</i> the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 13-27.</span> - <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(4)</span> <span class="accented">Epilogue</span> (cf. <a href="/matthew/5-3.htm">Matthew 5:3</a>, note). Dare to take up this position, which has been laid down in <a href="/matthew/5-21.htm">Matthew 5:21 - 7:12</a>, involving though it must separation from the majority of men (vers. 13, 14); and this notwithstanding the claim of others to reveal the Lord's mind, whose true nature, however, you shall perceive from their actions (vers. 15-20); they that work iniquity have neither present nor future union with me (vers. 21-23). Finally a solemn warning (vers. 24-27). <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - For vers. 13, 14, cf. <a href="/luke/13-23.htm">Luke 13:23, 24</a>, which, however (notwithstanding the similarity of vers. 25-27 to our vers. 21-23), were probably spoken later, and were perhaps suggested to both the disciples and the Master by this earlier saying. On the other hand, our ver. 14 seems so direct an answer to <a href="/luke/13-23.htm">Luke 13:23</a> that it is not unlikely that this is one of the many passages placed by St. Matthew, or the authors of his sources, out of chronological order. Enter ye in. Show immediate energy and determination. Observe: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> In Luke, "strive (<span class="greek">ἀγωνίζεσθε</span>) to enter in"; here, "enter at once." <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> In Luke, "through the narrow door" into, apparently, the final abiding-place; here, "through the narrow gate" into apparently the (perhaps long) road which takes us at last to full salvation. Thus in Luke our Lord speaks of continued striving; here, of immediate decision, in which, however, lies the assurance of ultimate success (cf. ver. 14, end; also <a href="/1_john/2-13.htm">1 John 2:13</a>). <span class="cmt_word">At the strait gate</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">by the narrow gate</span> - <span class="accented">the</span> entrance resembling the road (ver. 14, note). Chrysostom (<span class="accented">in lot.</span>), contrasting present trials with future happiness, says, "straitened is the way and narrow is the gate, <span class="accented">but not the city."</span> <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>For wide is the gate, and Broad is the way</span>. So also the Revised Version, but the Revised Version margin has, "some ancient authorities omit <span class="accented">is the gate."</span> (For a full discussion on the difficult question of the genuineness of <span class="greek">ἡ πύλη</span> here, <span class="accented">vide</span> Westcott and Hort, 'App.') Westcott and Hort omit it, with <span class="hebrew">א</span>, Old Latin, and many Greek and Latin Fathers, and say that, though <span class="greek">ἡ πύλη</span> is probably genuine in ver. 14, "till the latter part of the fourth century the first <span class="greek">ἡ πύλῃ</span> has no Greek or Latin patristic evidence in its favour, much against it." They think this is "one of those rare readings in which the true text has been preserved by <span class="hebrew">א</span> without extant uncial support... . It was natural to scribes to set ver. 13 in precisely antithetic contrast to ver. 14; but the sense gains in force if there is no mention of two gates, and if the contrast in ver. 13 is between the narrow gate and the broad and spacious way." There must be a definite entering upon the right way; no entrance upon the wrong way is necessary, men find themselves upon it only too easily, and it is "made level with stones" (Ecclus. 21:10). <span class="cmt_word">Wide... broad</span>. The second epithet (<span class="greek">εὐρύχωρος</span>) lays stress on there being plenty of space to walk in (Latt., <span class="accented">spatiosa</span>)<span class="accented">. <span class="cmt_word"></span>That</span> <span class="cmt_word">leadeth to destruction</span> (<span class="greek_word">ei) th\n a)pw/leian</span>); that "perishing" in which "the sons of perishing" perish (<a href="/john/17-12.htm">John 17:12</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And many there be which</span>; Revised Version, more exactly, <span class="accented">and many be they that</span> (<span class="greek">καὶ</span> <span class="greek">πολλοί εἰσιν οἱ εἰσερχόμενοι</span>). Our Lord says that they that are perishing are many (cf. ver. 14, note). <span class="cmt_word">Go in</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">enter in</span>; keeping up the allusion to "enter ye in." Observe, however, that if <span class="greek">ἡ πύλη</span> (<span class="accented">vide supra</span>) is false, the thought here is of entrance into the final issue of the way - <span class="greek">ἡ ἀπώλεια</span>. <span class="cmt_word">Thereat</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">thereby</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> by the way. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-14.htm">Matthew 7:14</a></div><div class="verse">Because strait <i>is</i> the gate, and narrow <i>is</i> the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - Because (<span class="greek">ὅτι</span>); <span class="accented">for</span> (Revised Version); "many ancient authorities read, <span class="accented">How narrow is the gate</span>, etc." (Revised Version margin). The reading, "how" (<span class="greek">τί</span>) is much easier, as avoiding the difficulty of the connexion of this verse with the preceding, but probably <span class="greek">ὅτι</span> is right. The connexion is <span class="accented">either</span> that it is parallel to the first <span class="greek">ὅτι</span>, and thus gives a second reason for decision in entering through the narrow gate; <span class="accented">or</span>, and better, that it gives the reason for the statement in ver. 13b - many pass along the wrong way because the right way requires at the very outset so much determination and afterwards so much self denial. <span class="cmt_word">Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way;</span> <span class="accented">narrow is the gate</span>, <span class="accented">and straitened the way</span> (Revised Version). Not only is the gate narrow, but the way itself seems compressed (<span class="greek">τεθλιμμένη</span>) by rocks, etc., on either side. <span class="cmt_word">That leadeth unto life</span> (<span class="greek">εἰς τὴν ζωήν</span>). Observe, Christ does not say, "life eternal." He only cares to emphasize the thought of life in the fullest nature of life - life as "the fulfilment of the highest idea of being: perfect truth in perfect action" (Bishop Westcott, on <a href="/1_john/3-14.htm">1 John 3:14</a>). <span class="cmt_word">And few there be that</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">and few be they that</span> (ver. 13, note). Our Lord here affirms more than the disciples ask in <a href="/luke/13-23.htm">Luke 13:23</a>; for there the question deals with those in a state of salvation (<span class="greek">οἱ σωζόμενοι</span>), here those finally saved. <span class="cmt_word">Find it</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the gate and all it leads to. The narrow gate is here looked at as involving life. <span class="accented">Find.</span> It needs a search (contrast ver. 13). But there is the promise of ver. 7, "Seek, and ye shall find." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-15.htm">Matthew 7:15</a></div><div class="verse">Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 15-23.</span> - Matthew only in this form, though most of the separate verses have much matter common to other passages; viz.: vers. 16, 18, parallel with <a href="/luke/6-43.htm">Luke 6:43, 44</a>, cf. also <span class="accented">infra</span>, <a href="/matthew/12-33.htm">Matthew 12:33</a>; ver. 19, cf. <a href="/matthew/3-10.htm">Matthew 3:10</a>; ver. 21, cf. <a href="/luke/6-46.htm">Luke 6:46</a>; ver. 22, cf. <a href="/luke/13-26.htm">Luke 13:26</a>; ver. 23, parallel with <a href="/luke/13-27.htm">Luke 13:27</a>. (For the connexion of these verses, cf. ver. 13, note.) <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - Matthew only. <span class="cmt_word">Beware</span>. The warning against being led from the right entrance and the right way is all the more emphatic for there being no adversative particle in the true text. <span class="cmt_word">Beware of false prophets</span>. The whole class of them (<span class="greek">τῶν</span>). Not, observe, "false teachers" (<a href="/2_peter/2-1.htm">2 Peter 2:1</a>), as though these persons only falsely interpreted fundamental truths, but "false prophets," as falsely claiming to bring messages from God. They claim to bring from God the true message of salvation, but their claim is false. These were doubtless found, at the time that our Lord spoke the words, especially among the Pharisees; but when St. Matthew recorded them, chiefly among Christians, either on the Jewish or on the Gnostic side (<a href="/colossians/2-8.htm">Colossians 2:8</a>; <a href="/1_timothy/6-20.htm">1 Timothy 6:20, 21</a>; cf. also <a href="/1_john/4-1.htm">1 John 4:1</a> and 'Did.,' § 12.). <span class="cmt_word">Which</span>; qualitative (<span class="greek">οἵτινες</span>); seeing that they. <span class="cmt_word">Come unto you in sheep's clothing.</span> In, as it were, the skins of sheep (<span class="greek">ἐν ἐνδύμασι</span> <span class="greek">προβάτων</span>), professing simplicity and gentleness, and (for, perhaps, this thought is also included) claiming to be members of God's true flock. Externally they are all this, but at heart they are something very different. <span class="cmt_word">But inwardly they are ravening wolves</span>. The thought of "ravening" (<span class="greek">ἅρπαγες</span>) is of both violence and greed. These false prophets are not merely wicked at heart and opposed to the truth, but they wish to injure you, and that for their own gain (cf <a href="/galatians/6-13.htm">Galatians 6:13</a>). "Of the ravenousness of wolves among the Jewes, take these two examples besides others. <span class="accented">The elders proclaimed a fast in their cities upon this occasion</span>, <span class="accented">because the wolves had devoured two little children beyond Jordan. More than three hundred sheep of the sons of Judah ben Shamoe were torn by wolves"</span> (Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.;' cf. <a href="/ezekiel/34-4.htm">Ezekiel 34:4</a>, on false shepherds). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-16.htm">Matthew 7:16</a></div><div class="verse">Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - Parallel passage: <a href="/luke/6-44.htm">Luke 6:44</a>. (For the first clause, cf also ver. 20 and <a href="/matthew/12-33.htm">Matthew 12:33</a>.) <span class="cmt_word">Ye shall know them by their fruits</span>. Their appearance and their claims are no proof of their true character. It may seem difficult to recognize this, yet there is a sure way of doing so, by their life. The emphasis of the sentence is on "by their fruits." <span class="accented">Ye shall know. Y</span>e shall come to know them to the full (<span class="greek">ἐπιγνώσεσθε</span>). (On the greater strength of the compound, <span class="accented">vide</span> Ellicott, <a href="/1_corinthians/13-12.htm">1 Corinthians 13:12</a>.) <span class="accented">Fruits.</span> All considered separately (cf. vers. 17, 18, 20), but in ver. 19 as one whole (cf. <a href="/matthew/3-8.htm">Matthew 3:8</a>, note). It is, however, just possible that here and in ver. 20 the plural points to fruit growing on different trees. <span class="cmt_word">Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?</span> The visible outgrowth reveals the nature of that which is within. Those who "profess to combine fellowship with God with the choice of darkness as their sphere of life "(Bishop Westcott, on the suggestive parallel <a href="/1_john/1-6.htm">1 John 1:6</a>) only show that within they are destitute of fellowship with God. Observe, Christ does not say, "Do thorns produce grapes," etc.? (cf. <a href="/james/3-12.htm">James 3:12</a>), but "Do men gather?" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> he desires to bring out the way in which men ordinarily deal with productions external to themselves. You, my followers, ought to use that common sense in spiritual matters which men show in matters of everyday life. <span class="accented">Thistles</span>; apparently <span class="accented">Centaurea calcitrapa</span>, the common thistle of Palestine; in the plains the only fuel. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-17.htm">Matthew 7:17</a></div><div class="verse">Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - Matthew only. <span class="cmt_word">Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit</span>. The similarity between the fruit and the nature of the tree extends not only to the species, but also to the specimen. <span class="accented">Good tree</span> (<span class="greek">δένδρον</span> <span class="greek">ἀγαθόν</span>); intrinsically sound. <span class="accented">Good fruit</span> (<span class="greek">καρποὺς καλούς</span>); attractive in the eyes of men. As is the inner character of the tree, so is the obvious nature of the fruit. <span class="accented">But a corrupt tree</span> (<span class="greek">τὸ δὲ σαπρὸν δένδρον</span>); "the" picturing it. <span class="accented">Corrupt</span>; unsound, rotten, worthless (cf. <a href="/matthew/13-48.htm">Matthew 13:48</a>); also in the moral world (<a href="/ephesians/4-29.htm">Ephesians 4:29</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-18.htm">Matthew 7:18</a></div><div class="verse">A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither <i>can</i> a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - Parallel passage: <a href="/luke/6-43.htm">Luke 6:43</a> (cf. also <span class="accented">infra</span>, <a href="/matthew/12-33.htm">Matthew 12:33</a>). <span class="cmt_word">A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.</span> This correspondence of external product to internal character is necessary. It cannot (emphatic) be otherwise. It' the heart is good, good results follow; therefore, he implies, if good results are not seen in these "false prophets," it is because of their real character. A bad life cannot but spring from a worthless heart. Of course, our Lord deals only with the general rule. There are apparent anomalies in the world of spirit as of nature. <span class="accented">Bring forth</span>... <span class="accented">bring forth</span>; <span class="greek">ἐνεγκεῖν</span> (Westcott and Herr)... <span class="greek">ποιεῖν</span>. A good tree cannot have bad fruit hanging on it; a rotten or worthless tree cannot, with all its efforts, produce good fruit. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-19.htm">Matthew 7:19</a></div><div class="verse">Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - Matthew only (cf. <a href="/matthew/3-10.htm">Matthew 3:10</a>, <span class="accented">vide infra</span>)<span class="accented">. <span class="cmt_word"></span>Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire</span>. A parenthesis expressing the terrible fate of those the general product (ver. 16, note) of whose life is not good. Christ will warn his followers plainly against listening to them. Observe that the form of the sentence (<span class="greek">πᾶν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπόν</span>, <span class="greek">κ.τ.λ.</span>) implies that all trees will be cut down <span class="accented">unless</span> there is a reason for the contrary; that the normal event (the natural result of universal sin, apart, of course, from Christ's atonement) is that men are condemned and perish. In <a href="/matthew/3-10.htm">Matthew 3:10</a> this general statement is applied (<span class="greek">οϋν</span>) to a definite time of impending judgment. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-20.htm">Matthew 7:20</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 20.</span> - (Ver. 16, note.) <span class="cmt_word">Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them</span>. <span class="accented">Wherefore</span> (<span class="greek">ἄραγε</span>). Ver. 16<span class="accented">a</span> is restated, but now in "rigorous logical inference" (Winer, § 53:8. a) from vers. 16<span class="accented">b</span> - 18. Since it is a certainty that fruit is the result of inner nature, you shall from these men's fruits fully learn their true character. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-21.htm">Matthew 7:21</a></div><div class="verse">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 which is in heaven.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 21-23.</span> - These verses stand in close connexion with vers. 15-20. Seeing that external actions are the result of internal life, it is they, not words nor even miracles (since these may in themselves not be dependent on the inner life, though permitted by the Divine power), by which the true followers of Christ will be finally distinguished from others, and which therefore will alone secure admission to abiding with Christ in the kingdom of heaven. To these verses <a href="/luke/13-23.htm">Luke 13:23-28</a> have many resemblances (cf. also vers. 13, 14, <span class="accented">supra</span>). St. Luke thus omits the warning against false teachers. (For ver. 21, cf. also <a href="/luke/6-46.htm">Luke 6:46</a>.) <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord</span>. Professing obedience (<a href="/matthew/6-24.htm">Matthew 6:24</a>). Observe the indirect claim to this title of reverential submission and the implied expectation that it will be given him by many. <span class="cmt_word">Shall enter into the kingdom</span> <span class="cmt_word">of heaven.</span> The final goal of our hopes. <span class="cmt_word">But</span> <span class="cmt_word">he that doeth the will of my Father.</span> Not "of me," but of him whom I represent, and to whom I stand in a unique relation (observe the claim). This man also says, "Lord, Lord" (Winer, § 26:1), but not merely <span class="accented">says</span> it. Such a man enters into family relationship to Christ (<a href="/matthew/12-50.htm">Matthew 12:50</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Which is in heaven</span>. Since you desire to enter the kingdom of heaven, be now obeying the will of him who dwells in heaven. (For the thought of the verse, cf <a href="/1_john/2-4.htm">1 John 2:4</a>.) </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-22.htm">Matthew 7:22</a></div><div class="verse">Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22.</span> - Matthew only; but cf <a href="/luke/13-26.htm">Luke 13:26</a>, from which the "Western" addition of eating and drinking is probably derived. <span class="cmt_word">Many will say to me in that day.</span> The great day. Notice Christ's claim, so early as this, to be the future Judge of the world. Lord, Lord (cf. <a href="/hosea/8-2.htm">Hosea 8:2</a>). In ver. 21<span class="accented">a</span> profession of service, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> as regards work; here, as regards wages. <span class="cmt_word">Have we</span> <span class="cmt_word">not prophesied.</span> Revised Version <span class="accented">did</span>, etc.? The thought is not of abiding effect, but merely of historical facts (<span class="greek">οὐ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι ἐπροφητεύσαμεν</span>)<span class="accented">. <span class="cmt_word"></span>In thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?</span> Revised Version, <span class="accented">by thy name.</span> An important difference, for "in" implies some vital connexion. But in this case the revelation (<a href="/matthew/6-9.htm">Matthew 6:9</a>, note) of Christ was merely the instrument by which these men proclaimed Divine truths, cast out; demons, and wrought miracles. With him, or even with it, they had no real union. The connexion of "prophesied" with the two other words seems to forbid this being only false prophesying (ver. 15; cf. especially <a href="/jeremiah/27-15.htm">Jeremiah 27:15</a> [34:12, LXX.]; 14:14). Rather does the verse teach that spiritual results can be effected by unspiritual men. "Suggested by this and like passages. Augustine has many instructive words and warnings on the nothingness of all gifts, even up to the greatest gift of working nil miracles, if charity be wanting" (Trench, ' Sermon on the Mount'). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-23.htm">Matthew 7:23</a></div><div class="verse">And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 23.</span> - (Cf. <a href="/luke/13-27.htm">Luke 13:27</a>.) <span class="cmt_word">And then will I profess unto them</span>. Openly in the face of all men (cf. <a href="/matthew/10-32.htm">Matthew 10:32</a>). <span class="cmt_word">I never knew you</span>. Even when you did all these miracles. etc., I had not that personal knowledge of you which is only the result of heart-sympathy. There was never anything in common between you and me. Although this is, perhaps, the only example of this sense of <span class="greek">ἔγνων</span> in the synoptic Gospels, it is common in John. <span class="cmt_word">Depart from me</span>. The absence of recognition by Christ, though not represented as the cause, yet will involve departure from his presence (cf. <a href="/2_thessalonians/1-9.htm">2 Thessalonians 1:9</a>). This clause reproduces verbally the LXX. of <a href="/psalms/6-8.htm">Psalm 6:8</a>, except in St. Matthew's word used for "depart" (<span class="greek">ἀποχωρεῖτε</span>), which gives more idea of distance in the removal than the word used in the psalm and in Luke (<span class="greek">ἀπόστητε</span>). <span class="cmt_word">Ye that work</span>. In full purpose and energy (<span class="greek">οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι</span>, cf. <a href="/colossians/3-23.htm">Colossians 3:23</a>), and that till this very moment. Iniquity. The assurance of the psalmist becomes the verdict of the Judge. Observe that at this, the end of his discourse, our Lord speaks not of sin generally (<span class="greek">τὴν ἁμαρτίαν</span>), but of lawlessness (<span class="greek">τὴν ἀνομίαν</span>). He has throughout been insisting upon obedience to the Law in its final meaning as essentially necessary for his followers (most recently ver. 12). So that instead of saying, "ye that work sin," he uses the correlative (<a href="/1_john/3-4.htm">1 John 3:4</a>), for sin is neglect of or opposition to the perfect Law of God in the three spheres that this regards - self, the world, God (cf. Bishop Westcott, on <a href="/1_john/3-4.htm">1 John 3:4</a>). It is, perhaps, more than a coincidence that in <a href="/2_timothy/2-19.htm">2 Timothy 2:19</a> we have again the collocation of the Lord knowing and of man's <span class="accented">departing</span>, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> either from him or from sin (cf. especially the parallel <a href="/luke/13-27.htm">Luke 13:27</a>); <span class="accented">vide</span> Resch, 'Agrapha,' p. 207. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-24.htm">Matthew 7:24</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 24-27.</span> - Parallel passage: <a href="/luke/6-47.htm">Luke 6:47-49</a> (cf. also <a href="/ezekiel/13-10.htm">Ezekiel 13:10-16</a>). A solemn close to the sermon. By the similitude of two builders our Lord warns his followers that to have heard his words will have been useless unless they put them into practice. Observe that although the word "<span class="accented">hear</span> in these verses cannot indicate that full "<span class="accented">hearing"</span> which it sometimes connotes (<a href="/matthew/10-14.htm">Matthew 10:14</a>), yet it seems to mean more than merely listening, and to imply both a grasp of what is intended by the statements made and at least some acquiescence in their truth (<a href="/acts/2-22.htm">Acts 2:22</a>; <a href="/revelation/1-3.htm">Revelation 1:3</a>; <a href="/john/5-24.htm">John 5:24</a>). According to the above explanation, it will be seen that in the imagery the rock represents practice; the sand, mere sentiment. There is thus a partial correspondence with the works insisted on by St. James in contrast to a bare orthodox faith (<a href="/james/2-24.htm">James 2:24</a>). Assent is insufficient; there must be action. Not uncommonly, indeed, the rock is considered to refer to the Lord himself, and the sand to human effort. Cf. Ford: "The parallel passage (<a href="/luke/6-48.htm">Luke 6:48</a>), where the words, 'cometh unto Me,' are inserted, indicates clearly the foundation of <span class="accented">faith</span>, the receiving the Lord Jesus as our Prophet, Priest, and King, which is the only basis on which <span class="accented">good</span> works can be built" (cf. even Allord). This, however, is hardly exegesis, but application, for the "coming to Christ" is in Luke only introductory to the hearing and doing, and is altogether omitted here. Although the statement is true in itself, it is only so far proper to this passage in that, apart from practice, there is (ver. 23) no heart-union with Christ. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 24.</span> - Therefore whosoever hoareth; Revised Version, <span class="accented">every one therefore which heareth</span> (<span class="greek">πᾶς οϋν ὅστις</span> , <a href="/matthew/10-32.htm">Matthew 10:32</a>). The relative used lays <span class="accented">stress</span> on the quality implied in the verb: every one who is of the kind that <span class="accented">hears</span> (contrast ver. 26). <span class="cmt_word">These sayings</span> (Revised Version, <span class="accented">words</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>of</span> <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>mine, and doeth them</span>. Not the individual utterances (<span class="greek">ῤήματα</span>, <a href="/john/6-63.htm">John 6:63</a>), nor the substance of my message considered as a whole (<span class="greek">λόγον</span>, <a href="/matthew/13.htm">Matthew 13</a>:[19] 20), but the substance of its parts, the various truths that I announce (<span class="greek">λόγους</span>). <span class="cmt_word">I will liken him</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">shall be likened</span>, with the manuscripts. Not shall, in fact, be made like, ch. 6:8 (Weiss), but shall be likened in figure and parable. <span class="cmt_word">Unto a wise man</span>. Prudent, sensible (<span class="greek">φρόνιμος</span>). <span class="cmt_word">Which built his house upon a rock</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">the rock.</span> Which in not a few <span class="accented">cases</span> may be found at no great distance from the surface. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-25.htm">Matthew 7:25</a></div><div class="verse">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 a rock.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 25.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">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 a</span> (Revised Version, the) <span class="cmt_word">rock</span>. The stages of the tempest are expressed more vividly than in St. Luke. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-26.htm">Matthew 7:26</a></div><div class="verse">And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 26, 27.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it</span>. In the Plain of Sharon the clay seems to have been so interior that not only were the jars made of it often worthless, but the bricks could offer so little resistance to the weather that the houses were hardly safe. Hence a special prayer was offered by the high priest on the Day of Atonement that the Lord would grant that their houses might not become their tombs (Talm. Jeremiah, 'Yoma,' 5:2 [Schwab, p. 218]; cf. Neubauer, 'Geograph.,' p. 48). In the parable, however, it is not the structure, but the foundation, that is wrong. <span class="accented">The sand</span> may refer, as Stanley suggests ('Sinai and Palestine,' ch. 13. p. 430), to one locality, in which case it is probably "the long sandy strip of land which bounds the eastern plain of Acre, and through which the Kishon flows into the sea;" or, as would seem more probable, to the sand which would naturally be found on the edges of such a torrent as is here described. <span class="accented">Beat upon</span>; <span class="accented">smote upon</span> (Revised Version). In ver. 25 the thought is more of the swoop of the tempest (<span class="greek">προσέπεσαν</span>); here, of its impact on the house (<span class="greek">προσέκοψαν</span>). It is possible that there is here less indication of force necessary for the destruction. "It needed only the first blow, and the house fell" (Weiss, 'Matthaus-ev.'). <span class="accented">And great was the fall of it.</span> Our Lord's solemn verdict of the utter ruin awaiting him who does not put his assent into action. The clause conveys an impression even stronger than ver. 23. There the positive worker of lawlessness is banished from Christ's presence; here, on the mere non-worker of Divine messages received is pronounced ruin and (for such, at least, seems suggested) that irremediable. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-27.htm">Matthew 7:27</a></div><div class="verse">And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-28.htm">Matthew 7:28</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 28, 29.</span> - <span class="accented">The impression produced on the multitudes.</span> With the exception of the formula, "It came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings" (cf. <a href="/matthew/11-1.htm">Matthew 11:1</a>, note), the words are almost identical with <a href="/mark/1-22.htm">Mark 1:22</a> (<a href="/luke/4-31.htm">Luke 4:31, 32</a>), but the time is, as it seems, later. The oral statement of an impression which was probably often produced is affirmed of slightly different times. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 28.</span> - Sayings; Revised Version, <span class="accented">words</span> (ver. 24, note). <span class="cmt_word">The people;</span> Revised Version, <span class="accented">the multitudes</span> (<span class="greek">οἱ ὄχλοι</span>). In contrust to the scribes and ruling classes. <span class="cmt_word">Were astonished</span> (cf. <a href="/acts/13-12.htm">Acts 13:12</a>). <span class="cmt_word">At his doctrine;</span> <span class="accented">at his teaching</span> (Revised Version). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/matthew/7-29.htm">Matthew 7:29</a></div><div class="verse">For he taught them as <i>one</i> having authority, and not as the scribes.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 29.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For he taught them</span>. Such was his constant habit (<span class="greek">η΅ν</span>... <span class="greek">διδάσκων</span>). <span class="cmt_word">As one having authority, and not as the scribes</span>. Who, indeed, never claimed personal authority. Jewish teachers lean on the fact of their having received that which they expound. They professed]y sink their own personality in that of those of old time, to whom the teaching was first given (<a href="/matthew/5-21.htm">Matthew 5:21</a>). To this our Lord's personal claims stand in sharp contrast. <span class="accented">The scribes</span>; Revised Version, <span class="accented">their scribes</span>, <span class="accented">with</span> the manuscripts; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the scribes to which they were accustomed to listen. Whether the reference is primarily to scribes of the nation generally or only to those of the neighbouring district, is hardly material, for these were representatives of the one class. A few authorities add, "and the Pharisees," which may either be derived from <a href="/luke/5-30.htm">Luke 5:30</a> or be an independent gloss due to the fact that the Pharisees were looked upon as the typical Jewish teachers. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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