CHAPTER VII. _Our Lord warns men against rash judgment and uncharitable_ _censures_, 1-5. _Shows that holy things must not be profaned_, 6; _gives encouragement to fervent persevering prayer_, 7-11. _Shows how men should deal with each other_, 12. _Exhorts the people to enter in at the strait... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:2. _FOR WITH WHAT JUDGMENT_] He who is _severe_ on _others_ will naturally excite their _severity_ against _himself_. The censures and calumnies which we have suffered are probably the just reward of those which we have dealt out to others.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:3. _AND WHY BEHOLDEST THOU THE MOTE_] Καρφος might be translated the _splinter_: for _splinter_ bears some analogy to _beam,_ but _mote_ does not. I should prefer this word (which has been adopted by some learned men) on the authority of _Hesychius_, who is a _host_ in such matters;... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:4. _OR HOW WILT THOU SAY_] That man is utterly unfit to show the way of life to others who is himself walking in the way of death.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:5. _THOU HYPOCRITE_] A hypocrite, who professes to be what he is not, (viz. a true Christian,) is obliged, for the support of the character he has assumed, to imitate all the dispositions and actions of a Christian; consequently he must reprove sin, and endeavour to show an uncommon... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:6. _GIVE NOT THAT WHICH IS HOLY_] το αγιον, _the holy or_ _sacred thing_; i.e. any thing, especially, of the _sacrificial_ kind, which had been consecrated to God. The members of this sentence should be transposed thus: - _Give not that which is holy unto the dogs_, _Lest they turn... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:7. _ASK - SEEK - KNOCK_] These three words include the ideas of _want, loss_, and _earnestness_. _Ask_: turn, beggar at, the door of mercy; thou art _destitute_ of all spiritual good, and it is God alone who can give it to thee; and thou hast no claim but what his _mercy_ has given t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:8. _FOR EVERY ONE THAT ASKETH RECEIVETH_] Prayer is always heard after one manner or other. No soul can pray in vain that prays as directed above. The truth and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus are pledged for its success. - Ye SHALL receive - ye SHALL find-it SHALL be opened. These wo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:9. _OR WHAT MAN IS THERE - WHOM IF HIS SON_] Men are exhorted to come unto God, with the persuasion that he is a most gracious and compassionate Parent, who _possesses_ all heavenly and earthly _good, knows_ what is necessary for each of his creatures, and is infinitely _ready_ to co... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:11. _IF YE, THEN, BEING EVIL_] πονηροι οντες, who are radically and diabolically depraved, yet feel yourselves led, by natural affection, to give those things to your children which are necessary to support their lives, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, whose nature is... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:12. _THEREFORE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER YE WOULD THAT MEN_]. This is a most sublime precept, and highly worthy of the grandeur and beneficence of the _just_ God who gave it. The general meaning of it is this: "Guided by _justice_ and _mercy_, do unto all men as you would have them to d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:13. _ENTER YE IN AT THE STRAIT GATE_] Our Saviour seems to allude here to the distinction between the public and private ways mentioned by the Jewish lawyers. The public roads were allowed to be sixteen cubits broad, the private ways only _four_. The words in the original are very em... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:14. _BECAUSE STRAIT_ IS _THE GATE_] Instead of οτι _because_, I should prefer τι _how_, which reading is supported by a great majority of the best MSS., _versions_, and _fathers_. How _strait is that_ gate! This mode of expression more forcibly points out the difficulty of the way to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:15. _BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS_] By false prophets we are to understand _teachers_ of erroneous doctrines, who come professing a commission from God, but whose aim is not to bring the heavenly treasure to the people, but rather to rob them of their earthly good. Teachers who preach fo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:16. _YE SHALL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS._] Fruits, in the Scripture and Jewish phraseology, are taken for _works_ of any kind. "A man's works," says one, "are the _tongue_ of his _heart_, and tell honestly whether he is inwardly corrupt or pure." By these works you may _distinguish_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:17. _SO EVERY GOOD TREE_] As the _thorn_ can only produce _thorns_, not _grapes_; and the _thistle_, not _figs_, but _prickles_; so an _unregenerate heart_ will produce fruits of _degeneracy_. As we perfectly know that a _good_ tree will not produce _bad_ fruit, and the _bad_ tree w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:18. _A GOOD TREE CANNOT BRING FORTH EVIL FRUIT_] _Love_ to God and man is the root of the good tree; and from this principle all its fruit is found. To teach, as some have done, that a state of salvation may be consistent with the _greatest crimes_, (such as _murder_ and _adultery_ i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:19. _EVERY TREE THAT BRINGETH NOT FORTH GOOD FRUIT_] What a terrible sentence is this against Christless pastors, and Christless hearers! Every tree that produceth not _good fruit_, εκκοπτεται, is to be now cut down; the _act of excision_ is now taking place: the curse of the Lord is... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:20. _WHEREFORE BY THEIR FRUITS_, c.] This truth is often repeated, because our eternal interests depend so much upon it. Not to have _good fruit_ is to have _evil_: there can be no innocent sterility in the invisible tree of the heart. He that brings forth _no_ fruit, and he that bri... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:21. _NOT EVERY ONE_] ου πας, a _Hebraism_, say some, for _no person_. It is a _Graecism_ and a _Latinism_ too: ου παντων θεων, _not_ ALL _of the gods_, i.e. _not_ ANY _of the gods_, HOM. _Odyss_. Z. 240. So TERENCE _Sine omni periclo_, without ALL danger, i.e. without ANY danger. An... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:22. _MANY WILL SAY TO ME IN THAT DAY_] εκεινη τη ημερα, _in_ _that very day_, viz. the day of judgment - _have we not prophesied_, taught, publicly preached, _in thy name_; acknowledging thee to be the only Saviour, and proclaiming thee as such to others; _cast out_ _demons_, impure... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:23. _WILL I PROFESS_] ομολογησω, _I will fully and plainly_ _tell them, I never knew you _- I never _approved_ of you; for so the word is used in many places, both in the Old and New Testaments. You held the truth in unrighteousness, while you preached my pure and holy doctrine; and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:24. _THEREFORE WHOSOEVER HEARETH THESE SAYINGS OF MINE_] That is, the excellent doctrines laid down before in this and the two preceding chapters. There are several parables or similitudes like to this in the rabbins. I shall quote but the two following: - Rabbi _Eleasar_ said, "The... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:25. _AND THE RAIN DESCENDED - FLOODS CAME - WINDS BLEW_] In Judea, and in all countries in the neighbourhood of the tropics, the _rain_ sometimes falls in great _torrents_, producing rivers, which sweep away the soil from the rocky hills; and the houses, which are built of brick onl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:26. _AND EVERY ONE THAT HEARETH - AND DOETH THEM NOT_] Was there ever a stricter system of morality delivered by God to man, than in this sermon? He who reads or hears it, and does not look to God to conform his soul and life to it, and notwithstanding is hoping to enter into the kin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:27. _AND THE RAIN DESCENDED, AND THE FLOODS CAME, C._] A fine illustration of this may be seen in the case of the fishermen in _Bengal_, who, in the dry season, build their huts on the _beds of_ _sand_ from which the rivers had retired: but when the rain sets in suddenly as it often... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:28. _THE PEOPLE WERE ASTONISHED_] οι οχλοι, _the_ _multitudes_; for vast crowds attended the ministry of this most popular and faithful of all preachers. They _were astonished at_ _his doctrine_. They heard the law defined in such a manner as they had never thought of before; and th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 7:29. _HAVING AUTHORITY_] They felt a commanding power and authority in his word, i.e. his doctrine. His statements were perspicuous; his exhortations persuasive; his doctrine sound and rational; and his arguments irresistible. These they never felt in the trifling teachings of their m... [ Continue Reading ]