*Matthew 7:1-12
Jesus warns against judging others and instructs followers to ask, seek, and knock to receive from God.
- Judging Others: The passage opens with a famous admonition against judgment, urging readers not to judge others if they don’t want to be judged themselves. It emphasizes the importance of understanding that the standards by which we judge others will also be applied to us.
- Hyperbole in Judgment: Jesus employs hyperbolic language, cautioning against the tendency to nitpick flaws in others while ignoring our own faults. He uses the metaphor of a speck of sawdust versus a plank of wood in the eye to illustrate this point vividly.
- Self-Reflection and Correction: The passage encourages self-reflection before attempting to correct others. Jesus advises removing the metaphorical plank from one’s own eye before attempting to remove the speck from someone else’s eye. This emphasizes the importance of humility and self-awareness.
- Casting Pearls Before Swine: Jesus warns against giving what is holy to dogs or casting pearls before swine, implying that some people may not appreciate or understand valuable truths and may even trample them. This suggests discernment in sharing spiritual insights.
- Ask, Seek, Knock: Jesus encourages persistence in prayer, assuring that those who ask, seek, and knock will receive, find, and have doors opened to them. This highlights the importance of persistence and faith in seeking God’s guidance and provision.
- Golden Rule: The passage concludes with the Golden Rule: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” This principle encapsulates the essence of ethical behavior and interpersonal relationships, urging empathy and kindness towards others.
7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 7:4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 7:5 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.
7:6 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.
7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 7:10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 7:11 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? 7:12 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.