Now we’re ready to start chapter 7 in the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus is going to talk about the hypocrisy of being judgmental in verses 1 through 5. “It’s not for you to decide what’s right or wrong (good or bad) for others. Mind your own business, unless that’s how you want to be treated.” (Verse 1) The first key word in this paragraph is “judge” from krino, literally, to make a distinction or come to a decision. In this context it means, to give one’s opinion of someone in a private manner (gossip about another’s supposed faults). The idea here is that when you express thoughts concerning the shortcomings of others, you expose your own weaknesses.
“Because if you do it to others, they’ll do it to you. Then it becomes a vicious circle of everyone interfering in everyone else’s life.” (Verse 2) This is unmistakably the scriptural law of sowing and reaping. This is a contemporary, expanded translation of Galatians 6:7-8 where Paul explains this law. “Don’t deceive yourself; God will not allow you to treat Him with contempt by ignoring His commands. Whatever a man sows, that only is what he will reap. So if you sow (follow) your own lower, fleshly nature, then you will reap (receive) from that lower nature only personal corruption and ruin. But if you follow the Spirit, you will from the Spirit receive eternal life.”
“You may think you have a real talent for spotting other people’s problems. But how good are you at seeing your own? After all, your faults are more important; they’re the ones you need to be dealing with.” (Verse 3) This verse is about perspective. In the original text He compares the “mote” (from karphos, a small bit of a dried stick, a speck, used to illustrate a minor fault) with a “beam” (from dokos, a large piece of lumber, used here to illustrate a larger fault or immoral habit). The point here is that dealing with one’s own faults is much more important than pointing out the faults of others. Jesus’ logic is clear, our own faults should be more obvious to us, since they are closer and therefore should look larger.
“You have to be your own first priority. You can’t spend all your time trying to “help” others with their minor problems, while you ignore your own larger ones.” (Verse 4) In other words, “How can you even see the speck in someone else’s eye, when you have a beam in your own that obscures your vision?” This is Jesus’ way of saying, “How can you give someone else good advice on how to handle their faults, when you ignore your own more serious ones?”
“That kind of super-spiritual attitude is useless! True righteousness only comes when people face their own faults and weaknesses with God in confession and repentance. Then they can accurately understand how to help others by encouraging them to do the same.” (Verse 5) Where I have “super spiritual attitude” above, Jesus uses “hypocrite” again in the original of this verse. The use of hupokrites in this continuing context gives it a false, religious flavor. This is someone pretending to act out of a sense of Godly character he does not possess. If he had taken care of his own faults in a personal, individual manner with God in confession and repentance, then the only possible advice he could give anyone else would be for them to do the same.
This truth annihilates most of the worldly concepts of the so-called mental health industry and the practice of psychology and psychiatry. The only value found in these are a few seemingly common sense precepts that actually have their foundation in scriptural truths. For instance “nothing changes, when nothing changes”; meaning, personal change in dealing with personal faults, requires personal responsibility (owning the problem) and personal accountability (not to others, but to God). But for the most part the favorite practices of group therapy (I’m OK, you’re OK, so we’ll just agree to go on accepting our own personal faults) and prescribing drugs that mask symptomatic, problematic behaviors to avoid any change, only perpetuate the problems and guarantee the need for mental health “professionals”.
“And, it’s not for you to decide who should or who shouldn’t hear the truth of God’s word. Don’t you know the purpose of the Good News is to show how God loves everyone, regardless of how undeserving or unacceptable you might think they are, or whether they will either accept or reject that message?” (Verse 6) This verse goes with the previous passage above; but requires some explanation, as it is generally misunderstood. The historical background of this verse is necessary, if we are truly to understand Jesus’ meaning. Here, He quotes two popular (but wrong), religious proverbs, well known to the Jews of His day. The first was usually stated, “What is holy is not to be released to be eaten by dogs.” The second was, “Do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn on you and tear you to pieces.” Both have no basis in Scriptural truth. Remember, the context here is still being judgmental or destructive criticism.
Wild dogs and swine were considered unclean animals, to be avoided and shunned. Both terms were commonly used to describe unbelievers, heathen or Gentiles. The message was that those who did not keep the self-righteous, public, ceremonial law of the religious crowd, were unclean and not to be associated with the sacred. Their attitude was that only the so-called righteous were worthy of the things of God, but those considered sinners (hamartolos, those who followed a particularly offensive, openly sinful lifestyle) were to be excluded (Mark 2:15-16). Of course, Jesus’ both taught and practiced just the opposite (Mark 2:17).
You may still be scratching your head, thinking, wait a minute, Jesus did quote these proverbs; so He apparently agreed with them. So, let’s look at the grammatical structure of the original language. The two verbs (“give not” and “neither cast”) are both in the aorist subjunctive used as an imperative. Not to get too deep in the details, this means both are commands where an additional negative is implied. This is literally a command to not do what these proverbs say to do. This is then consistent with the context. Jesus is saying we should not be judgmental and have the attitude that the holy and sacred should be withheld from those we deem unworthy.
The literal translation should read something like, “Don’t say, Give not that which is holy unto dogs. And don’t say, Neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.” This is the reasoning behind my translation above. The unspoken message here is that you can’t prejudge anyone regarding how they might accept or reject the good news of God’s love and redemption.
“Be persistent when you need the Father’s help. It proves your reliance on Him. When you ask Him for help over and over again, it proves that He’s your only source. When you consistently seek Him, it proves you really want to know Him. And when you look only to Him for guidance (knock), it proves you want to follow only Him.” (Verse 7) In this next paragraph Jesus tells us persistence is the test of true dependence on God and trust in Him and only Him. The KJV says “ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” All three verbs underlined above are present imperative verbs, indicating a command to do something in a continuous, repeated manner. Of course, this is further instruction on how to talk to God (pray) about what can only be given by Him.
The meanings of these verbs are important in understanding what Jesus is really saying here. Let’s break it down. “Ask” is aiteo, and describes the petition of someone in a lesser position of authority or ability to another in a greater position and illustrates dependency, “if you don’t give it, I won’t get it”. “Seek” is from zeteo, used to express an earnest, heartfelt desire, “I really want this, but know You’re the only One that can grant it”. “Knock” is krouo, is a word that illustrates two things, urgency and the desire to understand something that is yet unknown. This takes us to the next verse.
“Then, when you show the Father you’re depending on Him alone, He’ll honor your trust and reveal Himself to you.” (Verse 8) So, if your attitude is that you’re only looking to Him for what you need, not relying on your own plans or abilities, or looking to the world for answers, He’ll honor your request. In the next several verses Jesus again talks about the relationship our heavenly Father wants to have with His children.
“What man would refuse to give his children what they need or betray their trust in him. If they asked Him for something good or needful, would he disregard their request and give them something evil or harmful instead.” (Verses 9 and 10) These are the verses in the KJV that talk about bread or stone, fish or serpent, illustrating the difference between the good and evil, or what is needed or harmful.
“And even as bad as some fathers might be, they still take pleasure in giving good things to their children. Your Heavenly Father, Who is perfect, takes even greater pleasure in giving good things to His children.” (Verse 11) One of the keys to understanding this passage is the meaning of “good” (remember it started back in verse 7 about being persistent in asking, seeking and knocking). In the verse above, “good” is agathos is a Greek adjective that means, good, benevolent, and therefore, needful. The temptation of some is to assume these verses refer to material things. However, an honest and thoughtful examination of the scriptures usually reveal that His emphasis is on the spiritual, not the physical or material (remember Matthew 6:19-21, laying up treasure in heaven).
There is an account of this same teaching in Luke, but it has a little more detail and an important statement at the end that gives it proper context. This is the KJV translation. “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:11-13)
Here Luke adds the part about the egg and serpent in verse 12, giving yet another comparison of the good or evil, needful or harmful. Then in verse 13 he adds “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” This tells us what the context or intent of Jesus’ comments were. The bread and fish were common foods and an important part of the Jewish diet, necessary for life and health (mentioned many times in the gospels, compare John 21:13). Jesus even called Himself the Bread of Life, something necessary for eternal life. (John 6:35, 48)
But Luke compares earthly fathers and our heavenly Father with the phrase “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” In other words, our heavenly Father is able to give “much more” than any earthly father could; He can give the Holy Spirit “to them that ask”. So, we need to know what the significance of this is.
Why should we ask for the Holy Spirit in a persistent way? In John 14, 15 and 16 Jesus tells His disciples that He will be going away and when He does the Holy Spirit will come. He then explains the ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers. The Holy Spirit will enable believers to remember spiritual truths (John 14:26) and guide them into truth they may not yet understand (John 16:13). This promise in Luke 11:13 amounts to both insight and direction from the Holy Spirit for any believer that asks!
But, again, we need to remember the context: the Holy Spirit stands ready to give us what is needed for our spiritual benefit (agathos, the benevolent good), this is not our permission to ask for what we think we want. Jesus has already made it clear the Sermon on the Mount does not promote the prosperity message. “Give us this day our daily bread” is all about trusting God continually for what you need.
“And remember, this is the standard the Father has set; when you think about how you want others to treat you, take the initiative and treat them the same way. Everything you see in the scriptures confirms this.” (Verse 12) This is a summary of everything Jesus has talked about in these first 11 verses. We’re not to judge others, find fault in a hypocriticl way (not dealing with our own faults), decide who should hear truth and be persistent in asking for the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our lives.