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The right attitude toward others
1 “Do not judge, so that you be not judged.* 2 Because with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.† 3 So why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ when hey, there is a plank in yours? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.‡
Analyze your audience
6 “A Do not give what is holy to the dogs, B nor cast your pearls before the pigs; B lest they trample them with their feet, and A turning around they tear you to pieces.§
Be persistent, yet considerate
7 “Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 8 For each one asking, receives; and the one seeking, finds; and to the one knocking it will be opened. 9 Or which man is among you who, if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish will give him a snake? 11 If you then, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in the heavens give good things to those who ask Him!* 12 So then, whatever you want people to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.†
Eternal destiny
13 “Go in through the narrow gate; because wide is the gate and broad is the way which leads away into perdition, and those who are going in through it are many. 14 How narrow is the gate and confined the way which leads away into life, and those who are finding it are few!‡
A tree is known by its fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.§ 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do people gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Just so, every good tree produces good fruits, but the rotten tree produces evil fruits.* 18 A good tree cannot produce evil fruits, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruits. 19 So every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.† 20 Therefore, you will know them by their fruits.
We have to do the Father's will
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will go into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of my Father who is in the heavens.‡ 22 Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and perform many mighty works in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me you practitioners of lawlessness!’§
All face adversity—foundation determines outcome
24 “Therefore whoever hears these words of mine and does them, I will compare him to a prudent man who built his house on the bedrock; 25 and the rain fell, and the rivers rose, and the winds blew and attacked that house; and it did not fall, because it was founded on the bedrock. 26 But every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand; 27 and the rain fell, and the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall!”*
Editorial comment
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these words, that the crowds were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not like the scribes.†
* 7:1 By whom? Perhaps both God and man. † 7:2 The use of the future tense probably points toward God. If we call for judgment, not mercy, on others, by so much we are calling for judgment, not mercy, on ourselves. ‡ 7:5 Can you have a ‘plank’ in your eye without knowing it? (The tiniest bit of grit is an unbearable irritant.) When a person does not want to admit or correct his own failures, it is standard defensive procedure to call attention to the failures of others. § 7:6 This verse may be a chiasmus, AB,BA. But just who are ‘the dogs’ and ‘the pigs’? A pig will sniff the pearl and perhaps think it a stone—it not being edible the pig will ignore it and it will get trampled into the mud. So a ‘pig’ is someone who is incapable of recognizing or appreciating the ‘pearl’—the reaction will be one of total indifference. So do not waste your time. In contrast a ‘dog’ reacts in an aggressively hostile manner against what is ‘holy’. So a ‘dog’ is presumably someone who is committed to evil and will therefore attack what is holy. In general our media today are controlled by ‘dogs’. So do not innocently offer what is holy to a ‘dog’—you will get chewed up! We need to try to convert the ‘dogs’, but you need to understand what you are about. Anyone who has sold out to Satan will almost certainly have a resident demon, and we have the authority to bind such. * 7:11 I take it that we are authorized to ask! † 7:12 This is the so-called ‘golden rule’—if everyone did this the world would be a better place. ‡ 7:14 Observe that the Lord Jesus Christ affirms that “few” find the way of life. He Himself makes clear that to travel the way of life requires commitment to the Owner of that ‘way’. Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts have the weaker “Because narrow…”, as in KJV and NKJV. § 7:15 Probably demonized; demonic prophecies are always destructive. * 7:17 The Lord uses ‘rotten’ and ‘evil’ (or ‘malignant’) because He is really talking about people, not trees. † 7:19 The Lord is very clear about the eternal destiny of people who do not produce good fruit. Remember Ephesians 2:8-10—we are not saved by good works, but we are indeed saved for good works; if we do not produce, we are not saved. ‡ 7:21 If we do not do the will of the Father, we will not enter the Kingdom. § 7:23 Evidently they did indeed cast out demons and perform mighty works—so if it was not by God's power, by whose power was it? Could it be that Satan works with those who think they are serving the Lord but are really ‘lawless’, to confirm them in their error? When we do not do things God's way we are being ‘lawless’. * 7:27 Here again, we have to do the words. Note that both houses had to face the same circumstances, but the verbs are different. Everyone faces adversity in this life—your foundation determines the outcome. Why do the adverse circumstances ‘attack’ one house, but only ‘beat on’ the other? The verb ‘attack’ implies an intelligence ordering the circumstances. † 7:29 The scribes would not dare to say, “I tell you”; they would quote a variety of scholars and leave the question up in the air.