Matthew 7:29 Kommentar

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; They measure the efficacy of His power, by the might of His words.

Yet was it rather natural for them to grieve at the unpleasantness of His sayings, and to shudder at the loftiness of His injunctions; but now so great was the power of the Teacher, that many of them were even caught thereby, and thrown into very great admiration, and persuaded by reason of the sweetness of His sayings, not even when He ceased to speak, to depart from Him at all afterwards. For neither did the hearers depart, He having come down from the mountain, but even then the whole auditory followed Him; so great a love for His sayings had He instilled into them. But they were astonished most of all at His authority. For not with reference to another, like the prophet and Moses, did He say what He said; but everywhere indicating Himself to be the person that had the power of deciding. For so, when setting forth His laws, He still kept adding, "But I say unto you." And in reminding them of that day, He declared Himself to be the judge, both by the punishments, and by the honors. And yet it was likely that this too would disturb them. For if, when they saw Him by His works showing forth His authority, the scribes were for stoning and persecuting Him; while there were words only to prove this, how was it other than likely for them to be offended? and especially when at first setting out these things were said, and before He had given proof of His own power? But however, they felt nothing of this; for when the heart and mind is candid, it is easily persuaded by the words of the truth. And this is just why one sort, even when the miracles were proclaiming His power, were offended; while the other on hearing mere words were persuaded and followed Him.

For as the God and Lord of Moses himself, He of His own free will either added such things as seemed omitted in the Law, or even changed some; as above we read, It was said by them of old... But I say unto you. But the Scribes only taught the people what was written in Moses and the Prophets.

(Verse 29.) For he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes and Pharisees. For they taught the people, what was written in Moses and the Prophets. But Jesus, being like God and the Lord of Moses himself, for the freedom of his will, either added to the law what seemed less, or changing it, preached to the people, as we also read above: It was said to the ancients: But I say to you.

(Serm. in Mont. in fin.) Otherwise; Rain, when it is put to denote any evil, is understood as the darkness of superstition; rumours of men are compared to winds; the flood signifies the lust of the flesh, as it were flowing over the land, and because what is brought on by prosperity is broken off by adversity. None of these things does he fear who has his house founded upon a rock, that is, who not only hears the command of the Lord, but who also does it. And in all these he submits himself to danger, who hears and does not. For no man confirms in himself what the Lord commands, or himself hears, but by doing it. But it should be noted, that when he said, He that heareth these words of mine, He shows plainly enough that this sermon is made complete by all those precepts by which the Christian life is formed, so that with good reason they that desire to live according to them, may be compared to one that builds on a rock. (De Cons. Ev. ii. 19.) From that which is here said, He seems to have left the crowd of disciples—those out of whom He chose twelve, whom He called Apostles—but Matthew omits to mention it. For to His disciples only, Jesus seems to have held this Sermon, which Matthew recounts, Luke omits. That after descending into a plain He held another like discourse, which Luke records, and Matthew omits. Still it may be supposed, that, as was said above, He delivered one and the same Sermon to the Apostles, and the rest of the multitude present, which has been recorded by Matthew and Luke, in different words, but with the same truth of substance; and this explains what is here said of the multitude wondering. (Serm. in Mont. ii. 25. i. 10, et seq.) This is what is signified in the eleventh Psalm, I will deal mightily with him; the words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried in the fire, purified of earth, purged seven times. (Ps. 12:5, 6.) The mention of this number admonishes me here to refer all these precepts to those seven sentences that He placed in the beginning of this Sermon; those, I mean, concerning the beatitudes. For one to be angry with his brother, without cause, or to say to him, Racha, or call him fool, is a sin of extreme pride, against which is one remedy, that with a suppliant spirit he should seek pardon, and not be puffed up with a spirit of boasting. Blessed, then, are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He is consenting to his adversary, that is, in showing reverence to the word of God, who goes to the opening His Father's will, not with contentiousness of law, but with meekness of religion, therefore, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Also whosoever feels carnal delight rebel against his right will, will cry out, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. 7:24.) And in thus mourning he will implore the aid of the consoler; whence, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. What is there that can be thought of more toilsome than in overcoming an evil practice to cut off those members within us that hinder the kingdom of heaven, and not be broken down with the pain of so doing? To endure in faithful wedlock all things even the most grievous, and yet to avoid all accusation of fornication. To speak the truth, and approve it not by frequent oaths, but by probity of life. But who would be bold to endure such toils, unless he burned with the love of righteousness as with a hunger and thirst? Blessed, therefore, are they that hunger and thirst, for they shall be filled. Who can be ready to take wrong from the weak, to offer himself to any that asks him, to love his enemies, to do good to them that hate him, to pray for them that persecute him, except he that is perfectly merciful? Therefore, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy. He keeps the eye of his heart pure, who places the end of his good actions not in pleasing men, nor in getting those things that are necessary to this life, and who does not rashly condemn any man's heart, and whatever he gives to another gives with that intention with which he would have others give to him. Blessed, therefore, are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. It must needs be moreover, that by a pure heart should be found out the narrow way of wisdom, to which the guile of corrupt men is an obstacle; Blessed are the peaceful, for they shall he called the sons of God. But whether we take this arrangement, or any other, those things which we have heard from the Lord must be done, if we would build upon the rock.

The mind of man when satisfied reasonably brings forth praise, but when overcome, wonder. For whatever we are not able to praise worthily, we admire. Yet their admiration pertained rather to Christ's glory than to their faith, for had they believed on Christ, they would not have wondered. For wonder is raised by whatever surpasses the appearance of the speaker or actor; and thence we do not wonder at what is done or said by God, because all things are less than God's power. But it was the multitude that wondered, that is the common people, not the chief among the people, who are not wont to hear with the desire of learning; but the simple folk heard in simplicity; had others been present they would have broken up their silence by contradicting, for where the greater knowledge is, there is the stronger malice. For he that is in haste to be first, is not content to be second.

(Mor. xxiii. 13.) Or, Christ spoke with especial power, because He did no evil from weakness, but we who are weak, in our weakness consider by what method in teaching we may best consult for our weak brethren.

This ending pertains both to the finishing the words, and the completeness of the doctrines. That it is said that the multitude wondered, either signifies the unbelieving in the crowd, who were astonished because they did not believe the Saviour's words; or is said of them all, in that they reverenced in Him the excellence of so great wisdom.

"And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His teaching: for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." It was not the rulers who were astonished: how could that be when they viewed Him with spite? Rather it was the guileless multitude that was astonished. They did not marvel at His turns of phrase, but at His straightforward speech, and that He showed authority beyond that of the prophets. The prophets said, "Thus saith the Lord," but Christ spoke as God, "I say to you."

(non occ.) Having related Christ's teaching, he shows its effects on the multitude, saying, And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these words, the multitude wondered at his doctrine.

But what was the reason for the astonishment? Because he taught them as one having authority. Hence in him is fulfilled Ec (8:4): "His speech is full of power." Therefore, as having authority, because he spoke as a lord or as a lawgiver. Or, as having power, i.e., with the ability to penetrate the heart: "Lo, he sends forth his voice, his mighty voice" (Ps 68:33). Or, with the power to work miracles, because he confirmed what he said with miracles. Augustine says that everything preached in this sermon should be reduced to the seven gifts and to the beatitudes, because the first thing said, you shall not kill, pertains to the gift of fear and to the beatitude of piety. Then what follows, make friends with your adversary, pertains to the gift of piety, through which meekness is fulfilled. You shall not commit adultery... pertains to the gift of knowledge, by which the beatitude of mourning is fulfilled. The one concerning endurance pertains to the gift of courage, by which it is fulfilled, and to the beatitude, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice. The part which says, love your enemies, pertains to the gift of counsel, by which the beatitude of mercy is fulfilled. But by the part which follows in c. 6 about not being anxious, up to c. 7, enter by the narrow gate, he intends to cleanse the heart; hence it pertains to the gift of understanding and to the beatitude which is cleanness of heart; hence blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. The rest that follows pertains to the gift of wisdom.

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.

For he taught them as one having authority--The word "one," which our translators have here inserted, only weakens the statement. and not as the scribes--The consciousness of divine authority, as Lawgiver, Expounder and Judge, so beamed through His teaching, that the scribes teaching could not but appear drivelling in such a light. Next: Matthew Chapter 8