Matthew 7:4 Komentář

This chapter continues and concludes Christ's sermon on the mount, which is purely practical, directing us to order our conversation aright, both toward God and man; for the design of the Christian religion is to make men good, every way good. We have, I. Some rules concerning censure and reproof (Mat 7:1-6). II. Encouragements given us to pray to God for what we need (Mat 7:7-11). III. The necessity of strictness in conversation urged upon us (Mat 7:12-14). IV. A caution given us to take heed of false prophets (Mat 7:15-20). V. The conclusion of the whole sermon, showing the necessity of universal obedience to Christ's commands, without which we cannot expect to be happy (Mat 7:21-27). VI. The impression which Christ's doctrine made upon his hearers (Mat 7:28, Mat 7:29).

Judge not, that ye be not judged. This is not to be understood of any sort of judgment; not of judgment in the civil courts of judicature, by proper magistrates, which ought to be made and pass, according to the nature of the case; nor of judgment in the churches of Christ, where offenders are to be called to an account, examined, tried, and dealt with according to the rules of the Gospel; nor of every private judgment, which one man may make upon another, without any detriment to him; but of rash judgment, interpreting men's words and deeds to the worst sense, and censuring them in a very severe manner; even passing sentence on them, with respect to their eternal state and condition. Good is the advice given by the famous Hillell (u), who lived a little before Christ's time; "Do not judge thy neighbour, (says he,) until thou comest into his place.'' It would be well, if persons subject to a censorious spirit, would put themselves in the case and circumstances the persons are in they judge; and then consider, what judgment they would choose others should pass on them. The argument Christ uses to dissuade from this evil, which the Jews were very prone to, is, "that ye be not judged"; meaning, either by men, for such censorious persons rarely have the good will of their fellow creatures, but are commonly repaid in the same way; or else by God, which will be the most awful and tremendous: for such persons take upon them the place of God, usurp his prerogative, as if they knew the hearts and states of men; and therefore will have judgment without mercy at the hands of God. (u) Pirke Abot, c. 2. sect. 4.

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother?.... This is not so much an interrogation, as an expression of admiration, at the front and impudence of such censorious remarkers, and rigid observators; who not content to point at the faults of others, take upon them to reprove them in a very magisterial way: and it is as if Christ had said, with what face canst thou say to thy friend or neighbour, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye? give me leave to rebuke thee sharply for thy sin, as it deserves, and behold a beam is in thine own eye; thou art guilty of a far greater iniquity: astonishing impudence! Art thou so blind, as not to see and observe thy viler wickedness? Or which, if conscious of, how canst thou prevail upon thyself to take upon thee to reprove and censure others? Dost thou think thy brother cannot see thy beam? And may he not justly retort thine iniquities upon thee, which exceed his? and then what success canst thou promise thyself? Such persons are very unfit to be reprovers of others.

"Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye?" Yea, for many now do this; if they see but a monk wearing an unnecessary garment, they produce against him the law of our Lord, while they themselves are extorting without end, and defrauding men every day. If they see him but partaking rather largely of food, they become bitter accusers, while they themselves are daily drinking to excess and surfeiting: not knowing, that besides their own sins, they do hereby gather up for themselves a greater flame, and deprive themselves of every plea. For on this point, that thine own doings must be strictly inquired into, thou thyself hast first made the law, by thus sentencing those of thy neighbor. Account it not then to be a grievous thing, if thou art also thyself to undergo the same kind of trial.

He speaks of such as though themselves guilty of mortal sin, do not forgive a trivial fault in their brother.

(Vers. 3-5.) But why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, and not see the beam in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,' while the beam is in your own eye? Hypocrite, first remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. He speaks of those who, while being subject to mortal sin themselves, do not overlook minor sins of their brothers: straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel (Matthew 23). Therefore, those who hypocritically pretend to be just, as we said above, are called hypocrites, who, while they have a beam in their own eye, look at the speck in their brother's eye.

First cast the hatred away from you, and then, but not before, shall you be able to amend him whom you love. And He well says, Thou hypocrite. For to make complaint against vices is the duty of good and benevolent men; and when bad men do it, they are acting a part which does not belong to them; just like hypocrites, who conceal under a mask what they are, and show themselves off in a mask what they are not. Under the designation hypocrites, therefore, you are to understand pretenders. And there is, in fact, a class of pretenders much to be guarded against, and troublesome, who, while they take up complaints against all kinds of faults from hatred and spite, also wish to appear counsellors. And therefore we must piously and cautiously watch, so that when necessity shall compel us to find fault with or rebuke any one, we may reflect first whether the fault is such as we have never had, or one from which we have now become free; and if we have never had it, let us reflect that we are men, and might have had it; but if we have had it, and are now free from it, let the common infirmity touch the memory, that not hatred but pity may go before that fault-finding or administering of rebuke: so that whether it shall serve for the conversion of him on whose account we do it, or for his perversion (for the issue is uncertain), we at least from the singleness of our eye may be free from care. If, however, on reflection, we find ourselves involved in the same fault as he is whom we were preparing to censure, let us not censure nor rebuke; but yet let us mourn deeply over the case, and let us invite him not to obey us, but to join us in a common effort. For in regard also to what the apostle says—Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law (not being under the law), that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might gain all,— he did not certainly so act in the way of pretence, as some wish it to be understood, in order that their detestable pretence may be fortified by the authority of so great an example; but he did so from love, under the influence of which he thought of the infirmity of him whom he wished to help as if it were his own. For this he also lays as the foundation beforehand, when he says: For although I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And that you may understand this as being done not in pretence, but in love, under the influence of which we have compassion for men who are weak as if we were they, he thus admonishes us in another passage, saying, Brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. And this cannot be done, unless each one reckon the infirmity of another as his own, so as to bear it with equanimity, until the party for whose welfare he is solicitous is freed from it.

That is, with what face can you charge your brother with sin, when yourself are living in the same or a yet greater sin?

He who would rebuke others ought to be blameless himself. If he himself has a plank in his eye, that is, some great sin, and he finds fault with another who has only a speck, he causes that man to be even more shameless in his sin. The Lord shows that he who has sinned greatly is not even able to see clearly the sin of his brother. For how could one who has a plank in his eye even see another man who is only slightly injured.

How, therefore, i.e., with what sincerity can you say: Let me take the speck out of your eye. You ought to blush. Chrysostom: "With what effort does a man love another more than himself?" For you correct him with the idea of correcting, you should first correct yourself; but this you do for hatred or vainglory. But one asks whether a person in mortal sin can correct another. I say that either he was in sin at one time or was not: if he was never in sin, he should fear lest he fall; therefore, he ought to correct reluctantly. If he has been in sin at some time, he ought to correct with gentleness. And therefore, the Lord perhaps permitted Peter to fall, because he would be the ruler of the Church and should deal meekly with sinners. And Paul says of Christ: "We have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with sinners, but one who in every respect has been tempted, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). But if one lies under sin, it is either public or private: if private, it is either from weakness, because he is not pleased with sinning; and so he can correct another, because what he corrects in another he corrects in himself; or from malice, and then he should never correct. But if it is public, he should not scold severely, but meekly join himself to him. Hence sinners should not be severely reprimanded.

MISCELLANEOUS SUPPLEMENTARY COUNSELS. (Mat 7:1-12) Judge not, that ye be not judged--To "judge" here does not exactly mean to pronounce condemnatory judgment, nor does it refer to simple judging at all, whether favorable or the reverse. The context makes it clear that the thing here condemned is that disposition to look unfavorably on the character and actions of others, which leads invariably to the pronouncing of rash, unjust, and unlovely judgments upon them. No doubt it is the judgments so pronounced which are here spoken of; but what our Lord aims at is the spirit out of which they spring. Provided we eschew this unlovely spirit, we are not only warranted to sit in judgment upon a brother's character and actions, but in the exercise of a necessary discrimination are often constrained to do so for our own guidance. It is the violation of the law of love involved in the exercise of a censorious disposition which alone is here condemned. And the argument against it--"that ye be not judged"--confirms this: "that your own character and actions be not pronounced upon with the like severity"; that is, at the great day.

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?