Matthew 7:1 - Meaning and Application

Our Saviour is teaching us how to deal with the faults of other people. His words also seem meant as a rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees, who were very strict, harsh, and proud in condemning everyone around them. People who are proud and full of themselves often excuse their own faults while finding fault with others.

First, he warns against judging others (Matthew 7:1-2). Some people are meant to judge, such as magistrates and ministers. Christ did not make himself a civil judge, but he did not come to remove those offices either, for by him rulers still make just laws. This warning is aimed at private people, especially his disciples, who will one day sit on thrones and judge, but not now.

The command is simple: do not judge. We must judge ourselves and our own actions, but we must not take our brother’s place and act as if we have authority over him. We should not put ourselves above others as if our word were law. James warns, “Do not be many masters,” that is, do not be eager to rule and correct everyone else (James 3:1). We must not judge our brother by speaking evil of him, as James explains (James 4:11). We must not despise him or look down on him (Romans 14:10).

We also must not judge rashly. That is, we must not form harsh opinions without good reason, only because we are suspicious or unkind. We must not make the worst possible reading of people’s words and actions. We must not judge in an unloving way, or with a spirit of revenge and a desire to hurt. We must not judge a person’s character from one act, or think we know what he is like inside just because of what he is like to us, since we are often partial in our own cases.

We must not judge other people’s hearts or motives, because that belongs to God, who alone searches the heart. We must not decide their final condition and call them hypocrites, rejected by God, or beyond hope. That goes beyond our calling. What right do we have to judge another man’s servant? Counsel him and help him, but do not take God’s place over him.

The reason for this warning is clear: “That you be not judged.” If we take it on ourselves to judge others, we should expect to be judged ourselves. The person who grabs the judge’s seat will be brought to the defendant’s bar. People usually judge the harsh critic most sharply. Everyone will have something to throw back at the one who is always throwing stones. Like Ishmael, whose hand was against every man, such a person will find every man’s hand and tongue against him (Genesis 16:12).

But that is not the worst of it. He will also be judged by God, and for judging others he will receive the greater condemnation (James 3:1). Both sides will stand before him (Romans 14:10). He will help the humble sufferer, but he will resist the proud mocker and give him enough judgment of his own.

On the other hand, if we are humble and charitable in our judgments, and if we avoid judging others and instead judge ourselves, we shall not be judged by the Lord in the same way. As God forgives those who forgive their brothers, so he does not deal harshly with those who refuse to be harsh toward others. “The merciful shall receive mercy.” Such restraint shows humility, charity, and respect for God, and he will approve and reward it.

God’s judgment also follows a rule of repayment. “With the judgment you use, it will be used against you” (Matthew 7:2). The righteous God often matches punishment to sin, as with Adoni-bezek, the Canaanite king who suffered as he had made others suffer (Judges 1:7). See also (Revelation 13:10; Revelation 18:6). In this way God is shown to be just and great in his judgments, and all people will be silent before him.

“With the measure you use, it will be measured to you again” may even happen in this life, so that men can see their sin reflected in their punishment. Let this keep us from harsh treatment of our brother. What will we do when God rises to judge us (Job 31:14)? What would become of us if God were as strict with us as we are with our brethren, or if he weighed us in the same balance? We may well expect that kind of treatment if we are always eager to expose what others do wrong. In this, as in many other things, violent behavior comes back on the one who uses it.

Second, there are cautions about rebuking others. Because we must not judge others, which is a serious sin, it does not follow that we must never reprove others, which is a serious duty. A loving rebuke can help save a soul from death, and it can also keep us from sharing in another person’s guilt.

Still, not everyone is fit to rebuke. Those who are guilty of the same fault, or of worse sins, should be ashamed to correct others. They are not likely to do any good. Christ gives a strong rebuke here to those who are quick to criticize small faults in their brother while excusing large ones in themselves.

They can spot a speck in another person’s eye, but they do not notice the plank in their own. Yet they are ready to pull the speck out of their brother’s eye, even though they are as unfit for the task as a blind man would be. There are degrees in sin. Some sins are like specks, others like planks. Some are like a gnat, others like a camel. This does not mean any sin is truly small, for there is no small God against whom to sin. If it is a speck, it is still in the eye, and painful. If it is a gnat, it is still in the throat, and dangerous. We cannot be comfortable until it is removed.

Our own sins should seem greater to us than the same sins seem in others. Love may teach us to call a fault in our brother a speck, but true repentance and godly sorrow will teach us to call the same fault a plank in ourselves. We should lessen the sins of others in our view, but increase the weight of our own.

Many people have planks in their own eyes and do not even notice them. They are under the guilt and power of very great sins, yet they are unaware of it and still justify themselves, as if they needed no repentance or change. It is surprising that someone can be in such a sinful and miserable state without realizing it, just as it would be strange for a man to have a plank in his eye and not know it. But the god of this world blinds their minds so cleverly that they still say, with confidence, “We see.”

It is common for those who are most sinful, and least aware of it, to be the quickest and most ready to judge others. The Pharisees, who were most proud in defending themselves, were also most scornful in condemning others. They were severe toward Christ’s disciples for eating with unwashed hands, which was little more than a speck, while they supported people in treating their parents with contempt, which was a plank. Pride and a lack of love are often the real planks in the eyes of those who pretend to be careful critics of others.

Many people are guilty of the very fault they are quick to punish in others when it is exposed. As Seneca said, if you examine yourself carefully, you may find the very flaw you complain about in another person. It is unfair to show public anger at your neighbor’s sin while ignoring the same sin in yourself.

A person who is harsh on other people’s faults but easy on his own is showing hypocrisy, that is, a false appearance of goodness. “You hypocrite” (Matthew 7:5) fits such a person well. However much he may talk against sin, he is really not an enemy of sin if he tolerates his own. In fact, he may be acting as an enemy to his brother, not as a true helper.

Real care for others must begin with care for ourselves. How can a person say to his brother, “Let me help fix you,” when he takes no care to fix himself? His own conscience will condemn the poor logic of that. People will see it as the old warning, “Physician, heal yourself” (Luke 4:23). See also (Romans 2:21).

Still, noticing what is wrong in ourselves should not stop us from giving kind correction. It should keep us from harsh, superior judgment and make us fair and compassionate toward others. “Restore him with a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1), considering what you have been, what you are, and what you would become if God left you to yourself.

So here is a good rule for those who correct others: “First take the log out of your own eye” (Matthew 7:5). Our own sin does not excuse us from correcting others, but it does make us unfit to do it until we have dealt with ourselves. A man’s fault is never a defense for his silence. Instead, he should reform himself first so he can help reform his brother. Those who blame others should live without blame themselves.

This is especially important for those who reprove by position, such as magistrates and ministers. They need to live carefully and keep a good life. An overseer must have a good reputation (1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:7). The snuffers used in the sanctuary were made of pure gold.

Not everyone is fit to receive reproof. “Do not give what is holy to dogs” (Matthew 7:6). This can be taken as a rule for the disciples when they preached the gospel. It does not mean they must never preach to wicked people, because Christ himself preached to tax collectors and sinners. It means they should not keep spending time on those who had already heard and stubbornly rejected the message, blasphemed it, and persecuted its messengers.

It can also be taken as a rule for everyone who gives correction. Our zeal against sin must be guided by wisdom. We should not keep offering instruction, advice, rebuke, or especially comfort, to hardened mockers. They will not be helped by it, and they may only grow more angry. If you throw a pearl to a pig, it may treat it like a stone and lash out. In the same way, reproofs may be treated as insults (Luke 11:45; Jeremiah 6:10).

Good counsel and reproof are holy things, like pearls. They are gifts from God and very valuable. A wise reprover is like a gold earring or fine gold jewelry (Proverbs 25:12), and wise reproof is like excellent oil (Psalm 141:5). It is also like a tree of life (Proverbs 3:18).

Among the wicked, there are some who have become so hardened that they are like dogs and pigs. They are openly vile. They have long lived in sin and have settled into scornful unbelief. They openly hate instruction and resist it. Such people are hardened and beyond easy correction, like the dog that returns to its vomit and the sow that returns to the mud.

Reproof is badly used on such people, and it often brings only contempt and harm to the one who gives it. We should expect them to trample on correction and turn on the reprover. They may answer kind words with angry words, damage a good name with insults, or even persecute the person who tried to help them. Herod treated John the Baptist this way because John was faithful to him.

This also shows how we can recognize dogs and pigs in this sense. They are the people who hate correction and attack those who, out of love for their souls, warn them about their sin and danger. They sin against the very remedy meant to heal them. Who can heal those who refuse to be healed? It is clear that God has already marked such people for destruction (2 Chronicles 25:16).

This warning also applies to the special ordinances of the gospel, especially the holy signs and acts that mark out believers. These must not be handed to people who are openly wicked and profane, or holy things will become cheap and ungodly people will be made harder in sin. It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to dogs.

Even so, we must be very careful before we judge anyone to be a dog or a pig. We should not say that until there has been proper testing and clear evidence. Many people have been judged lost too quickly, when careful help might have saved them. Just as we must not call the good bad by assuming all churchgoers are hypocrites, so we must not call the bad hopeless by assuming every wicked person is a dog or pig.

Our Lord Jesus is very tender toward the safety of his people, and he does not want them to expose themselves needlessly to violent people who will turn on them. He does not require people to be so strict that they destroy themselves. Christ includes wise self-protection within his own law, and the lives of his people are precious to him.