Matthew VII
1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
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?
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?
5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
The meaning turns upon the first word — “Judge” (Kptvere). In the gospel by John we are told (vii. 24) to “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Men must, in a certain sense, judge (examine, estimate) one another. This practice penetrates the entire social system, and is, in fact, necessary to the equitable adjustment of human relationships. The element, however, which Christ condemns is censoriousness. The meaning is partially suggested by another use of the word Kplvw, as employed by Christ Himself — “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.” (John iii. 17.) In the 12th chapter of John, Christ repeats this declaration thus, “I came not to. judge the world.” So far, therefore, as judgment is marked by bitterness, censoriousness, or prejudice, it is condemned by Christ. This condemnation does not interfere with — 1. The honest critic; 2. The upright magistrate; 3. The sagacious and honourable citizen. The word (judge) is variously rendered in the New Testament; e.g.: — “Of the hope of the resurrection of the dead am I called in question — /cpLvoficu.” “One man estecmeth one day above another: another esteemeth (Kpivet) every day alike.”
The whole passage may be used to show — I. That good men should guard against the perversion of the judicial faculty on all questions. 2. That specially on personal questions the judicial faculty should be purified and restrained (consider the sacredness of reputation, the consequences involved, &c.) 3. That personal judgments provoke reprisals, and reprisals often engender unholy desires for victory, &c. 4. That consciousness of our own imperfections should moderate our personal judgments.
The fact that a man with a “beam” in his eye may “judge” a brother whose eye is darkened by a “mote,” strikingly illustrates the possibility of self-delusion. 1. We correct one another best by being personally pure. 2. Men may resent a word, when they might accept the silent rebuke of a deed. 3. The most influential judgment is that of a blameless life.
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.
In this verse we are distinctly called to judgment. Men must judge both thought and character, otherwise they know not what is meant by “holy,” or “pearls,” or “dogs,” or “swine.” Yet there is no discrepancy between the first verse and the sixth, for into this latter judgment the element of censoriousness should not enter, — and that alone is the element which Christ condemns. The idea of the verse may be hinted at thus: — discriminate as to the character of the persons by whom you are surrounded; study adaptation in your speech, as the law of accommodation or adaptation must operate from the highest to the lowest, and not from the lowest to the highest, so you who are enlightened must adapt yourselves to the circumstances by which you are beset; bad men cannot understand sanctified affection, and if you expose yourselves to them you will be misinterpreted, misrepresented, and injured; for dogs and swine which cannot understand the value of precious things may turn and rend you: the lowest, basest things, being able do mischief.
Homiletically, the idea might be arranged thus: — I. Good men are enriched with precious spiritual treasures 2. Bad men are unable to estimate the worth of such treasures. 3. Good men should so study the judicial capability of bad men as to cause themselves not to be misjudged and injured. Adaptation to men, places, and things, requires consummate judgment; the savage might be more pleased with a brass button than with a thousand-pound note. He who would give a telescope to a wild barbarian would be deranging the true relations of things, as would he also who excluded all but the blind from the galleries of art. Men must be met on their own intellectual plane, and judgment must be so far exercised as not to confound fools with philosophers, or to regard the toys of children as the accoutrements of warriors. “Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.” (Prov. xxiii. 9.) We receive from men according to their peculiarity of nature. “Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man and he will love thee.”
7. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8. For every one that asketh receiveth: and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
i. This law holds good not only in relation to what is distinctly termed prayer, but also to progress of every kind.
2. The highest blessings are contingent upon the simplest conditions. 3. Man must take the initiative. 4. Divine promises should be regarded not as sedatives, but as stimulants. Or thus: —
1. All these directions will be ineffective apart from conscious want on the part of man. 2. A right use of these directions will preserve the true relation between man and God.
3. These directions enable us to judge of the world’s spiritual life. Where there has been much received there must have been much asking; where there is little asking there can be but little receiving.
Is there anything suggestive in the grammatical form of the words in the original — ahcov, fyreov, xpovcov {^povovri)? The idea, from the literal rendering (asking, seeking, knocking), seems to be that while men are in the very act (“whiles they are yet speaking “) the desired blessing is conferred. Thus we have immediate, not deferred, answers to prayer. “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” A man does not ask his friend a question and wait a week for an answer; nor does a man knock at his friend’s door and return in a month to see if it be opened. But are we at liberty to reason thus analogically? Can we move in our inferences from the earthly to the heavenly? Let us see: —
9. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10. Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
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?
Then we are entitled to reason from the less to the greater. We have our own notions of fatherhood; with that holy relation we have associated ideas of care, strength, wisdomr love, benevolence; now God takes up all these ideas and magnifies them according to His infinite nature, so that the littleness of our petitions is lost in the vastness of the answer, for “he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Homiletically, the idea may be put thus: — 1. Man’s capacity is the limit of man’s prayers. 2. God’s capacity is the measure of God’s answers. 3. The relation of the suppliant to the Giver is filial. 4. Supplication (asking, seeing, or knocking) is true and influential, not in proportion to the multiplicity of words, but the intensity of the filial feeling.
Prayer is the rarest of all exercises, — that is to say, men seldom pray. We talk much, but pray little. Now and again there are pangs of the soul which bring us reverently to the Throne: when the shadow falls heavily, or even when joy prevails in the spirit, we come to know, in a partial degree, what prayer is; and it is most precious, and blessed beyond all words to tell. Man’s life, indeed, is a continuous want, but the consciousness of that want is intermittent. The parent does much for the child which the child does not “ask” so also our heavenly Father does much for us apart from our prayers; — sun and rain, for example, shine and fall not in reply to our voice, yet in view of our necessities. There is, then, a great range of blessing opened to us apart from our prayers, yet it need not exist apart from our thankfulness. The morning shineth not because of my prayer, yet I can thank God for its light; my prayers bring not the flowers of summer or the fruits of autumn, yet they may “lead me to repentance,” and excite the most devout and filial gratitude. Did we but know it, gratitude is truly prayer! Our very thankfulness enlarges our petitions. Is it not so in our walks of life? When you bestow an alms upon a thankful fellow-creature your heart is kindled into generosity by the thankfulness of the receiver; and more than this, his gratitude causes you to feel kindlier towards all other men, and to distribute still more of your bounty. Who shall say that this same law, enlarged and sanctified by the Divine nature, does not prevail in heaven?
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.
Is not this a side-lesson rather than direct? It reads as though the speaker had almost unexpectedly deflected from the main line to urge a conclusion which is hardly necessitated by the strain of his remarks, and yet it is in perfect keeping with one of their indirect bearings. The idea may stand thus: if you ask bread you would not like to receive a stone, or if you ask a fish you would consider yourself mocked if you were offered a serpent; therefore remember that you should do unto others as you would that others should do unto you, for the realisation of this idea is the fulfilment of the law and the prophets. Homiletically, the idea might be thrown into this mould: — i. The unity of humanity is attested by the sensibilities which all men have in common (all men may be pleased, grieved,, disappointed, or satisfied). 2. Each man should consult his own sensibilities before making an experiment on the sensibilities of others. 3. This self-introspection would secure the most practical advantages to the individual and to society: (a) it would determine many a question in casuistry, (b) it would restrain much evil passion, (c) it would simplify human intercourse.
Eventually, men get from society what they have given to it. “With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.” He who gives a scorpion for an egg will in his turn receive the scorpion. “He shall have judgment without mercy that showed no mercy.” The experience of Adonibezek is the experience of the whole world: “But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. And Adonibezek said, Three score and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me.” (Judges i. 6, 7.) So true is it, that “The Lord of recompenses shall surely requite.” (Jer. li. 56.)
The expression — “this is the law and the prophets” — is notable. Sometimes the agency employed seems greater than the result attained. Take a flower for example; “This is the soil, the dew, the light, the summer!” These agents are all required, not singly but unitedly, to produce a flower! They produced, indeed, a good deal more than the flower, but were all expressed in the flower. So with “the law and the prophets,” while they are, in their moral effect and purpose, summed up in this word, yet they filled a wider range than it strictly indicated.
This decision, however, is remarkable for its comprehensiveness. “All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” The moral system is one. Duty may have many sections or ramifications, but truly it is one and indivisible. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” To carry out Christ’s idea, then, in this verse, is really not so simple and easy a matter as might at first sight appear. It demands a moral vitality and strength not to be realised except by Divine means and much patient waiting upon God. The artificial florist may make a flower in a day, but nature cannot. Nature is slower than art because it takes a wider sweep and carries forward a vaster design. Nature never makes a single flower only. The artist toils at a single leaf until he has approached the original as nearly as his limitations will allow; but nature works at particulars by working at generals; the impartial sun works upon the poor man’s solitary flower and the rich man’s gorgeous parterre at the same moment, with the same force, and with the same design. Now the moral constitution in its expansion under Christ, resembles rather the processes of nature than the operations of art. It does not produce a solitary grace, but being penetrated by heavenly fire it abounds with all the flowers and fruits and luxuriance of spiritual summer.
It is not so easy a matter, then, to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us. In carrying out this Divine law we shall again and again be thrown into difficulties which will show that Divine laws can only be carried out in Divine strength, and here the promise is full of encouragement — “Ask, and it shall be given you.”
13. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
The straitness of the gate and the narrowness of the way, are not peculiar to the kingdom of heaven. It is a common error to imagine that discipline, qualification, and self-denial are required alone at the door of God’s kingdom. Look through life, and it will be found that in proportion to the importance of any “kingdom” which man wishes to enter is the stringency of the conditions of entrance. Look at the kingdom of learning: strait is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it! Look at the kingdom of wide intellectual influence: strait is the gate, &c. And so at the gate of all great kingdoms man has much to lay down at the outside. If such be the case, then, in the lower ranges of life, why should the Divine Kingdom, so awful in its spirituality, be an exception? Homiletically the form may be this: — 1. The two gates, — only two. 2. The two conditions of entrance, — only two. 3. The two destinies, — “life” — “destruction,” — only two.
The word (a7rapleia) rendered “destruction” is variously translated in the New Testament, but always with terrible significations: it is rendered “perdition” (John xvii. 12); “damnable” (2 Peter ii. 1); “destruction” (2 Peter iii. 16.)
Reflect upon the overwhelming thought — “many there be which go in thereat.” This reflection should: — 1. Impress the Christian with the security of his position; and 2. Impel the Church to evangelistic labour. See how beautifully this command (” Enter ye in at the strait gate “) is provided for by the preceding promise — “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
An awful difficulty has presented itself to many minds in connection with the collateral passage in the Gospel by Luke: — “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” (Luke xiii. 24.) It has been suggested that the explanation is to be found in the difference of intensity between ‘Ayiovi&crde elaeXdetv and Zrjraovaiv eicre6elv; in the one case we have an exercise amounting to agonising, and in the other amounting merely to seeking, as if in a casual way, without any particular determination of purpose. In my judgment this solution is far-fetched and untenable; the explanation, I submit, turns entirely on the question of time. “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door,” — that is the explanation! The “seeking” begins too late! When the daylight is gone, no crying can bring back the sun. The men may seek, may seek earnestly, may agonisingly implore, but when the opportunity has passed no voice can recall the vanished angel.
15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Beware of the false, in everything. The world had been saying this from the beginning: “beware of false coin,
G false medicine, false directions, false promises; “and now Christ takes up the world’s own form of expression and says — “add the words false prophets to all the others which are covered by the word ’ beware.’”
False prophets will allure men to the wide gate under pretence that it is strait: — I. The relation of truth to the corruptness of the age; good men always develop the bad elements in their contemporaries. 2. Prudence which is a general virtue is particularly required in connection with the religious life, — (a) from the nature of the heart; (b) from the fact of diabolic agency; (c) from the power of man to ruin man. This latter point is most solemn. It reveals the depravity and diabolism of selfishness. “False prophets” seek to make a gain of men whose minds are simple and credulous. They are ambitious; seeking influence, for sordid purposes: “also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” “They that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” 3. False prophets are self-revealing. Give them time, and watch them closely. Test doctrine by example; narrowly scrutinise not the words only but the “fruits.” God stultifies and paralyses the bad man simply by allowing him to reveal his corruptness.
This test of life may be employed beyond the case immediately cited. The appeal to “fruits” is practical, and may be conducted by such as have no skill in logomachy, casuistry, or theologic science. (Try this test in the family; in the church: in the social circle.) Christ exposed Himself to this test. “Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? ““If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works:
that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.”
21. 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.
22. 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?
23. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
I. Christian Life is not merely nominal. 2. Christian Life is not merely official (verse 22). 3. Christian Life is an expression of the Divine will in thought, feeling, and service.
Application: (a) How nearly men may come without being right; (b) how terrible to know the name and yet be ignorant of the nature; (c) how awful to be disowned by Christ.
24. 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:
25. 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:
26. 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:
27. 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.
28. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29. For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The Sermon on the Mount may be regarded not only as an exposition of duty, but as an elaborate delineation of the spiritual life of Christ. By-and-bye we shall see Christ in miracle; here we see Him in thought. This is the articulation of His interior (subjective) life, and by this we
G 2 may test the man in His varied relations to society and God. As yet His works have been spoken of only in general terms, and His sermons have been brief and rousing. Here, however, we have a grand inaugural oration, a minute and magnificent programme, which we may accept not only for what it is in itself, but as a basis of inference, hope, and practical speculation. Christ has opened His heart, and told us all we can comprehend at present. There is in this sermon, in a negative point of view, one circumstance most remarkable, viz.: —
The absence of what is now regarded as evangelical doctrine or sentiment. Nothing could well be more unlike a modern sermon than this discourse. No reference is made to Eden. All the ages had been symbolising one great offering of blood, yet no reference is made to sacrifice in this discourse. The terms atonement, reconciliation, faith (the great watchwords of evangelism), are not to be found in this voluminous exposition. It reads rather like a modified Sinaic utterance than a Gospel proclamation; it is not like Calvary, rather like Sinai in summer. We have been wending our historic way through temple and altar and sacrifice, and sundrytypes and symbols, and now we have simply come to “these sayings of mine.” True; but let it be remembered that there may be sacrifice in teaching as well as in dying. When the learned philosopher condescends to teach a child the alphabet, he developes, in a partial degree, the idea of sacrifice; that is to say, he does something for the sake of another, and the doing of it is out of the level of his own plane. I hold, therefore, that Christ’s was a sacrificial life, as well as a sacrificial death. The Incarnation itself was a sacrifice. “When he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant,” He began the earthly part of His sacrificial work.
It is also to be considered that Christ’s sacrifice, viewed as a death, required for its full comprehension by the world a grand foreground of doctrine, teaching, or exposition. The death was to be retrospectively expository of the life. Many of “these sayings of mine” could not be understood until after “the decease which was accomplished at Jerusalem.” Men saw other writing on the cross than Pilate’s. They beheld there explanations of words which had been enigmatical. There is profound meaning in the expression, “These things understood not his disciples at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.” (John xii. 16.) The “glorifying” casts light upon the doctrine and the miracle. Have we not an analogy in our own experience? Are not some men enigmas until they die, and is not death their expounder and friend? The grave is an interpreter. The Sermon on the Mount should be read at the foot of the Cross, or by the edge of the vacant rock.
But is not the absence of evangelical doctrine rather apparent than real? The very first word drives the heart beyond itself for help, — “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.” When a man grasps the meaning of this, he will find his need of a Saviour; the preacher who uttered the words must Himself lead the spirit into the poverty which He blessed. And what shall be said of “the pure in heart “? All movement in this direction requires an energy more than human. In the practical out-working, then, of these precepts, men will come perpetually upon difficulties which will force the soul far below the legal stratum, down to that evangelical grace purposed of God in Christ Jesus before the world began. It is to be remembered, too, that these precepts are not initial, but final: their fulfilment is the highest expression of spiritual life. Necessarily, therefore, they compel the spirit towards the grace without which they would be beyond the reach of the soul. Tell a man that in order to be a trustworthy naval captain he must be able to determine the latitude and longitude of a ship at sea; in that case you have begun at the end of the qualification! You might have said that in order to become a good captain he should study the first four rules of arithmetic, drill himself in the elements of geometry, pass on to trigonometry, and comprehend the processes of logarithmic calculation; but all this was implied; would any man, then, be justified in charging you with having ignored or undervalued the process simply because you announced the result? The very announcement of the result drives the man into an inquiry respecting the process; so when Christ says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” He gives a result, a full analysis of which will disclose all the elements of evangelical religion.
I. This discourse reveals Christ’s relation to historical doctrine: — I. He proclaims His superiority to all other teachers — “It hath been said .... but I say unto you.” 2. He educates the world to an apprehension of the spirituality of life. 3. He makes human destiny turn entirely upon man’s relation to “these sayings of mine.”
II. This discourse shows the essential importance of believing right’ doctrine: — 1. Opinion guides conduct. 2. Whatever guides conduct is immensely powerful. 3. Whatever is immensely powerful should be most carefully watched, trained, and directed.
1. All men are building. 2. All builders have a choice of foundations. 3. All foundations will be tried. 4. Only one foundation will stand.
“The people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority.” The Word was
His life; His preaching was part of Himself; He was not repeating a lesson which was given to Him, but His soul was in every articulation. As preachers become like Christ, they will speak with “authority.” The pulpit loses much by its hesitation, and gains everything by confidence.
“Astonished at his doctrine.” The excitement of wonder may be profitable to religious teachers.
“Astonished at his doctrine.” There is an awful pos- [/ sibility of being “astonished” without being convinced, persuaded, saved!
The 28th verse seems to oppose the idea that the Sermon on the Mount was delivered to the disciples alone. The word (o’xXoi) rendered “people,” cannot be confined to the disciples, for it signifies crowds, and the same word is rendered “multitudes” in the first verse. A close examination of the phraseology will, however, favour the idea that the Sermon was addressed to the disciples, but certainly in the hearing of the “multitudes.” The opening and concluding verses would read thus: — “And when he was set his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them.... And the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught his disciples with authority, and not as the scribes teach their scholars.” I think that the whole genius of the discourse confirms the idea of its having been delivered to a select auditory; especially such expressions as “ye are the light of the world,” &c.
Christendom can never throw off the responsibility of being in possession of this discourse. We can never go back to an older standard of ethics, or pretend to be ignorant respecting the principles which should consolidate, direct, and dignify social life. The Sermon is in our midst, and we make ourselves so much nearer heaven or nearer hell by our treatment of it. The Sermon is of incomparably greater value than the miracle. It is remarkable how little reference is made in any of the epistles to Christ’s miraculous works; they seem to have had little meaning for others than those who beheld them. We are carried forward from miracle to thought; our way is graduated from the outward to the inward, from the actual to the ideal; and this is God’s plan of carrying the world forward; hence in our heavenly state we shall have no need of the “sun,” for the Lamb will be the light, and no need of the “temple,” for all heaven will be the sanctuary of God.*