Luke 6:37

All these sayings of Christ we had before in Matthew; some of them in ch. 7, others in other places. They were sayings that Christ often used; they needed only to be mentioned, it was easy to apply them. Grotius thinks that we need not be critical here in seeking for the coherence: they are golden sentences, like Solomon's proverbs or parables. Let us observe here,

I. We ought to be very candid in our censures of others, because we need grains of allowance ourselves: "Therefore judge not others, because then you yourselves shall not be judged; therefore condemn not others, because then you yourselves shall not be condemned, Luk 6:37. Exercise towards others that charity which thinks no evil, which bears all things, believes and hopes all things; and then others will exercise that charity towards you. God will not judge and condemn you, men will not." They that are merciful to other people's names shall find others merciful to theirs.

II. If we are of a giving and a forgiving spirit, we shall ourselves reap the benefit of it: Forgive and you shall be forgiven. If we forgive the injuries done to us by others, others will forgive our inadvertencies. If we forgive others' trespasses against us, God will forgive our trespasses against him. And he will be no less mindful of the liberal that devise liberal things (Luk 6:38): Give, and it shall be given to you. God, in his providence, will recompense it to you; it is lent to him, and he is not unrighteous to forget it (Heb 6:10), but he will pay it again. Men shall return it into your bosom; for God often makes use of men as instruments, not only of his avenging, but of his rewarding justice. If we in a right manner give to others when they need, God will incline the hearts of others to give to us when we need, and to give liberally, good measure pressed down and shaken together. They that sow plentifully shall reap plentifully. Whom God recompenses he recompenses abundantly.

III. We must expect to be dealt with ourselves as we deal with others: With the same measure that ye mete it shall be measured to you again. Those that deal hardly with others must acknowledge, as Adoni-bezek did (Jdg 1:7), that God is righteous, if others deal hardly with them, and they may expect to be paid in their own coin; but they that deal kindly with others have reason to hope that, when they have occasion, God will raise them up friends who will deal kindly with them. Though Providence does not always go by this rule, because the full and exact retributions are reserved for another world, yet, ordinarily, it observes a proportion sufficient to deter us from all acts of rigour and to encourage us in all acts of beneficence.

IV. Those who put themselves under the guidance of the ignorant and erroneous are likely to perish with them (Luk 6:39): Can the blind lead the blind? Can the Pharisees, who are blinded with pride, prejudice, and bigotry, lead the blind people into the right way? Shall not both fall together into the ditch? How can they expect any other? Those that are led by the common opinion, course, and custom, of this world, are themselves blind, and are led by the blind, and will perish with the world that sits in darkness. Those that ignorantly, and at a venture, follow the multitude to do evil, follow the blind in the broad way that leads the many to destruction.

V. Christ's followers cannot expect better treatment in the world than their Master had, Luk 6:40. Let them not promise themselves more honour or pleasure in the world than Christ had, nor aim at the worldly pomp and grandeur which he was never ambitious of, but always declined, nor affect that power in secular things which he would not assume; but every one that would show himself perfect, an established disciple, let him be as his Master - dead to the world, and every thing in it, as his Master is; let him live a life of labour and self-denial as his Master doth, and make himself a servant of all; let him stoop, and let him toil, and do all the good he can, and then he will be a complete disciple.

VI. Those who take upon them to rebuke and reform others are concerned to look to it that they be themselves blameless, and harmless, and without rebuke, Luk 6:41, Luk 6:42. 1. Those with a very ill grace censure the faults of others who are not aware of their own faults. It is very absurd for any to pretend to be so quick-sighted as to spy small faults in others, like a mote in the eye, when they are themselves so perfectly past feeling as not to perceive a beam in their own eye. 2. Those are altogether unfit to help to reform others whose reforming charity does not begin at home. How canst thou offer thy service to thy brother, to pull out the mote from his eye, which requires a good eye as well as a good hand, when thou thyself hast a beam in thine own eye, and makest no complaint of it? 3. Those therefore who would be serviceable to the souls of others must first make it appear that they are solicitous about their own souls. To help to pull the mote out of our brother's eye is a good work, but then we must qualify ourselves for it by beginning with ourselves; and our reforming our own lives may, by the influence of example, contribute to others reforming theirs.

VII. We may expect that men's words and actions will be according as they are, according as their hearts are, and according as their principles are.

1. The heart is the tree, and the words and actions are fruit according to the nature of the tree, Luk 6:43, Luk 6:44. If a man be really a good man, if he have a principle of grace in his heart, and the prevailing bent and bias of the soul be towards God and heaven, though perhaps he may not abound in fruit, though some of his fruits be blasted, and though he may be sometimes like a tree in winter, yet he does not bring forth corrupt fruit; though he may not do you all the good he should, yet he will not in any material instance do you hurt. If he cannot reform ill manners, he will not corrupt good manners. If the fruit that a man brings forth be corrupt, if a man's devotion tend to debauch the mind and conversation, if a man's conversation be vicious, if he be a drunkard or fornicator, if he be a swearer or liar, if he be in any instance unjust or unnatural, his fruit is corrupt, and you may be sure that he is not a good tree. On the other hand, a corrupt tree doth not bring forth good fruit, though it may bring forth green leaves; for of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble do they gather grapes. You may, if you please, stick figs upon thorns, and hang a bunch of grapes upon a bramble, but they neither are, nor can be, the natural product of the trees; so neither can you expect any good conduct from those who have justly a bad character. If the fruit be good, you may conclude that the tree is so; if the conversation be holy, heavenly, and regular, though you cannot infallibly know the heart, yet you may charitably hope that it is upright with God; for every tree is known by its fruit. But the vile person will speak villany (Isa 32:6), and the experience of the moderns herein agrees with the proverb of the ancients, that wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, Sa1 24:13.

2. The heart is the treasure, and the words and actions are the expenses or produce from that treasure, Luk 6:45. This we had, Mat 12:34, Mat 12:35. The reigning love of God and Christ in the heart denominates a man a good man; and it is a good treasure a man may bring forth that which is good. But where the love of the world and the flesh reign there is an evil treasure in the heart, out of which an evil man is continually bringing forth that which is evil; and by what is brought forth you may know what is in the heart, as you may know what is in the vessel, water or wine, by what is drawn out from it, Joh 2:8. Of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; what the mouth ordinarily speaks, speaks with relish and delight, generally agrees with what is innermost and uppermost in the heart: He that speaks of the earth is earthly, Joh 3:31. Not but that a good man may possibly drop a bad word, and a wicked man make use of a good word to serve a bad turn; but, for the most part, the heart is as the words are, vain or serious; it therefore concerns us to get our hearts filled, not only with good, but with abundance of it.

VIII. It is not enough to hear the sayings of Christ, but we must do them; not enough to profess relation to him, as his servants, but we must make conscience of obeying him.

1. It is putting an affront upon him to call him Lord, Lord, as if we were wholly at his command, and had devoted ourselves to his service, if we do not make conscience of conforming to his will and serving the interests of his kingdom. We do but mock Christ, as they that in scorn said, Hail, King of the Jews, if we call him ever so often Lord, Lord, and yet walk in the way of our own hearts and in the sight of our own eyes. Why do we call him Lord, Lord, in prayer (compare Mat 7:21, Mat 7:22), if we do not obey his commands? He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination.

2. It is putting a cheat upon ourselves if we think that a bare profession of religion will save us, that hearing the sayings of Christ will bring us to heaven, without doing them. This he illustrates by a similitude (Luk 6:47-49), which shows,

(1.) That those only make sure work for their souls and eternity, and take the course that will stand them in stead in a trying time, who do not only come to Christ as his scholars, and hear his sayings but do them, who think, and speak, and act, in every thing according to the established rules of his holy religion. They are like a house built on a rock. These are they that take pains in religion, as they do, - that dig deep, that found their hope upon Christ, who is the Rock of ages (and other foundation can no man lay); these are they who provide for hereafter, who get ready for the worst, who lay up in store a good foundation for the time to come, for the eternity to come, Ti1 6:19. They who do thus do well for themselves; for, [1.] They shall keep their integrity, in times of temptation and persecution; when others fall from their own stedfastness, as the seed on the stony ground, they shall stand fast in the Lord. [2.] They shall keep their comfort, and peace, and hope, and joy, in the midst of the greatest distresses. The storms and streams of affliction shall not shock them, for their feet are set upon a rock, a rock higher than they. [3.] Their everlasting welfare is secured. In death and judgment they are safe. Obedient believers are kept by the power of Christ, through faith, unto salvation, and shall never perish.

(2.) That those who rest in a bare hearing of the sayings of Christ, and do not live up to them, are but preparing for a fatal disappointment: He that heareth and doeth not (that knows his duty, but lives in the neglect of it), he is like a man that built a house without a foundation. He pleases himself with hopes that he has no ground for, and his hopes will fail him when he most needs the comfort of them, and when he expects the crowning of them; when the stream beats vehemently upon his house, it is gone, the sand it is built upon is washed away, and immediately it falls, Such is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul; it is as the spider's web, and the giving up of the ghost.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_6:37

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged

Judge not

No man, avers Sir Thomas Browne, can justly censure or condemn another, because, in fact, no man truly knows another.

This I perceive in myself; for I am in the dark to all the world, and my nearest friends behold me but in a cloud.… Further, no man can judge another, because no man knows himself. The Vicar of Gravenhurst, in his position of parish priest, owns himself compelled to confess that the best people are not the best in every relation of life, and the worst people not bad in every relation of life; so that with experience, he finds himself growing lenient in his blame, if also reticent in his praise. Again and again I say to myself that only the Omniscient can be the equitable judge of human beings, so complicated are our virtue with our failings, and so many are the hidden virtues, as well as hidden vices, of our fellow-men. If judge at all we dare and do, be it in the spirit and to the latter of Wordsworths counsel:--

From all rash censure be the mind kept free;

He only judges right who weighs, compares,

and, in the sternest sentence which his voice pronounces, neer abandons charity. Never let it be forgotten, insists a Quarterly Reviewer, that there is scarcely a single moral action of a single human being of which other men have such a knowledge--its ultimate grounds, its surrounding incidents, and the real determining causes of its merits--as to warrant their pronouncing a conclusive judgment.

Who made the heart, tis He alone

Decidedly can try us;

He knows each chord--its various tone,

Each spring its various bias;

Then at the balance lets be mute,

We never can adjust it.

(F. Jacox.)

Falsely judged

It is related of a broker in one of the Italian cities, that his strict economy brought on him the reputation of miserliness. He lived plainly and poorly, and at his death a hundred thousand men in the city were ready to curse him until his will was opened, in which he declared that early his heart was touched with the sufferings of the poor in the city for the lack of water. Springs there were none, and the public wells were bad; and he had spent his life in accumulating a fortune that should be devoted to bringing, by an aqueduct, from the neighbouring mountains, streams that should pour abundantly into the baths and dwellings of the poor of the city; and he not only denied himself many of the comforts of life, but toiled by day and by night, yea, and bore obloquy, that he might bless his fellow-citizens. He is dead; but those streams pour their health yet into that city.

A self-denying brother misjudged

The majority of people are ever ready to judge the conduct of their neighbours--in other words, to cast the first stone. But we have no right to judge others until we know all the circumstances that influence their conduct. In many cases we might imitate those we condemn, under like circumstances. A young man employed in a printing office in one of our large towns, incurred the ridicule of the other compositors, on account of his poor clothes and unsocial behaviour. On several occasions subscription papers were presented to him for various objects, but he refused to give his money. One day a compositor asked him to contribute for a picnic party, but was politely refused. Thereupon, the other accused him of niggardliness--an accusation which he resented. You little know, he said, how unjustly you have been treating me. For more than a year, I have been starving myself to save money enough to send my poor blind sister to Paris, to be treated by a physician who has treated many cases of blindness similar to hers. I have always done my duty here in this office, and have minded my own business. I am sacrificing everything in life for another. Would either of you do as much? Could any one do more? He had been judged without a knowledge of circumstances.

We cannot read the heart of others, and in many cases to know all is to judge all. Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Dr. Guyler.)

Difficulty of judging aright

While we are coldly discussing a mans career, sneering at his mistakes, blaming his rashness, and labelling his opinions--Evangelical and narrow, or Latitudinarian and Pantheistic, or Anglican and supercilious--that man in his solitude is, perhaps, shedding hot tears because his sacrifice is a hard one, because strength and patience are failing him to speak the difficult word, and do the difficult deed. (George Eliot.)

The censorious spirit

1. Springs not from the Divine but from the malign elements of our nature.

2. Some men exercise it under the form of a blunt, plain-speaking honesty. There is nothing so blunt as a bull; but a bull is not usually considered to be a good thing to have in orphan asylums or in society. Men, however, who have come up along that line of development, go bellowing and horning their way through life, and justify their action because they are blunt, honest, plain-spoken men.

3. Then there are men who hate hypocrisy, and who are always and everywhere looking around and suspecting people.

4. There is another form of uncharitableness which in some respects is harder to bear than any other. That is where criticism is put in the form of wit. Gold and silver are gold and silver, whether they be in the shape of coin or not; but when they are in the shape of coin and are in circulation, they have a power which otherwise they would not have.

5. The spirit of uncharitableness adds to the irritations, and quarrellings, and sufferings of life.

6. To form judgments of men, so far as their superficial qualities are concerned, requires but little; but to form judgments of their character and disposition is one of the most elaborate and difficult things possible. (H. W.Beecher.)

Concerning fault-finders

Judge not and ye shall not be judged; by whom? By your fellow-men? It is to be feared that whether a man judge them or not, they will judge him. The most uncensorious man in the world will not escape the censure of the uncharitable; they will censure even his uncensoriousness, and pronounce him hypocrite or fool, because he speaks well of all. When your uncharitably-disposed man cannot find a vice in his neighbour, he is so disappointed and out of temper, that he begins to pull his neighbours virtues to pieces. No, this is a warning of Divine judgments; judge not your neighbour lest God judge you. God will bring us into judgment for all our unkind and unfair judgments of our fellow-men. (H. S. Brown.)

The judging spirit

I. We do not hesitate to judge those whom God has placed in a condition, the effects of which, in character and habit, we have no means of correctly estimating.

II. And even supposing actual sin in the case of the exposed man, still judgment on its proceeding from us may be a condemnation of ourselves. What should we have been in his place?

III. In our common life the judging spirit places us in a hard, unfriendly attitude towards both God and man.

IV. The judging spirit, with the injustice it leads to, often displays a remarkable ignorance of human nature which would certainly be corrected by something more of self-inspection, and by that generosity towards others which a thorough knowledge of ones self always excites in a just mind.

V. There is one large part of our subject which I can only name: the habit of judging of the whole spirit and inward life of a man from the religion he has embraced. Creeds separate, as if the souls of men were of different natures, and one God were not the Father of all. (J. H. Them.)

Against censoriousness

Judge not.

I. WE HAVE NOT SUFFICIENT DATA. We see a few of the actions which a man performs, we hear a few of the words he utters; and that is all we know of him. Yet some of us imagine that, on the strength of this knowledge, we can form a complete and infallible judgment in regard to his moral worth. We could not make a greater or more foolish mistake. In order to arrive at a correct decision, we must know the history of the mans ancestors for hundreds of years past, and the different tendencies towards right and towards wrong which they have transmitted to him. Many of us are born, says the author of John Inglesant, with seeds within us which make moral victory hopeless from the first.

II. WE CAN NEVER SEE WHAT GOES ON IN ANOTHERS HEART.

III. EVEN IF WE WERE ACQUAINTED WITH THE FACTS, WE SHOULD BE INCAPABLE OF ESTIMATING CORRECTLY THEIR MORAL SIGNIFICANCE. This is owing partly to the misleading influence of self-esteem. According to an old Indian legend, there once appeared among a nation of hunchbacks, a young and beautiful god. The people gathered round him; and when they saw that his back was destitute of a hump, they began to hoot and jeer and taunt him. One of them, however, more philosophical than the rest, said: My friends, what are we doing? let us not insult this miserable creature. If heaven has made us beautiful, if it has adorned our backs with a mount of flesh, let us with pious gratitude repair to the temple and render our acknowledgments to the immortal gods. This quaint legend illustrates very forcibly some of the curious delusions resulting from self-esteem. We are apt to plume ourselves even on our defects, and condemn those who differ from us merely because they differ. (A. W. Mornerie, M.A., D.Sc.)

On censoriousness

Whatever censuring is contrary to truth and justice, humanity and charity, civility and good manners, is here expressly forbidden.

I. THIS DISPOSITION IS TRACEABLE--

(1) to pride and vanity;

(2) to ill-will and envy;

(3) to indolence and idleness.

II. THE GREAT EVIL AND MALIGNITY OF IT CONSIST IN THE FACT THAT--

(1) it implies great presumption and impiety towards God, inasmuch as it is an invasion of His prerogative;

(2) it implies great injustice towards men;

(3) it is great folly in respect of ourselves--With what measure we mete, &c. (J. Balguy, M. A.)

Christ warns us against judging

I. WHAT IS HERE FORBIDDEN. It is plain that the thing forbidden is not the office, or the upright discharge of the office, of a magistrate or a judge. When provision is made, in a Christian town or state, for the due punishment of offenders against the tranquility of our streets or the security of our homes, there is nothing in this contrary to the will or precept of Christ. He was Himself a respecter of civil order, and of the authority by which it is maintained. Only let the heart of the judge, in the exercise of his office, be full of humility and of compassion; only let him remember that common infirmity, that universal sinfulness, in which he himself is the fellow and the brother of him who stands at his bar for judgment; only let him acknowledge with becoming thankfulness that Divine goodness, of grace and of providence, which alone has made him to differ; and his administration of justice may be the offspring of a Christian devotion, the exercise of a calling in which he was called, of a ministry acceptable and well-pleasing to God.

2. Nor do we understand Him to blame the expression in common society of a righteous displeasure against deeds and against doers of iniquity. It is no charity to call evil good, or to refrain, out of a misplaced tenderness, from calling evil evil. Only let us remember what we ourselves are, and where--sinners living amid temptations; and let us, therefore, speak in humility, in sincerity, and in truth.

3. Yet the world is full of such judgments as are here forbidden.

(1) How little of our conversation upon the faults of others is in any sense necessary l Our judgments are most often gratuitous, willing, wanton judgments; passed in idleness and unconcern; prompted by no feeling of duty; far, far worse, therefore, than any dulness, than any silence.

(2) And, if needless, then uncharitable too. How full of suspicion I How unwilling to allow a merit not patent 1 How ready to imagine a bad motive, where, by the nature of the case (man being the judge), we cannot see nor know it!

(3) And how many of them are false judgments I

(4) Inconsistent and hypocritical. It is always the sinner who suspects sin. It is the practised deceiver who imagines and imputes deceit. There is no real abhorrence of evil where there is a readiness to declaim against it.

II. WHY IT IS FORBIDDEN.

1. There is a retaliation in such things. A law of retribution. The censorious man will have his censor, whereas the merciful man will be mercifully judged--both here and hereafter. Not that a mere abstinence from censorious judgment will purchase for a sinner exemption from the sentence due to his own sins; but this we may say, that a merciful spirit in judging others will both be regarded as an indication of good in the man otherwise not blameless, and will save him from that aggravation of guilt which belongs to him who has both sinned and judged.

2. Such judgment as is here forbidden is an invasion of Gods peculiar office (Rom_12:19).

3. To judge is to betray in ourselves a root of self-ignorance, self-complacency, and self-righteousness. No man could thus judge, who really felt himself to be a sinner.

4. As the root of this unchristian judgment is in self-ignorance, so the fruit of it is definite injury to the cause of the gospel, to the soul of our neighbour, and, most of all, to our own. Who can love so unlovely a Christianity? Who is not disgusted and alienated by that religion which clothes itself in a garb so odious.

5. The whole spirit of the self-constituted judge is, in reality, a spirit of hypocrisy. When he professes to be distressed by the fault of his brother, he has, in truth, within him a tenfold greater fault of his own. He knows not his own weakness; he offers a strength which he has not. He cares not for the cure; he cares only for the distinction, for the superiority, of the healer. Conclusion: No man is fit, in his own strength, to be the counsellor or the guide of man. Every man has his own faults and his own sins; and it is only self-ignorance which makes him overlook them. If any man undertakes to judge another, he thereby judges himself. Let a man first look into himself, try and examine himself as in the sight of God, drag his own transgressions to the light of Gods judgment, and pass sentence with an unsparing strictness upon his own omissions of duty and commissions of sin. (Dean Vaughan.)

The danger of usurping Gods prerogatives

God has reserved three prerogatives royal to Himself--vengeance, glory, and judgment. As it is not safe for us, then, to encroach upon Gods royalties in either of the other two--glory or vengeance--so neither in this, of judgment. We have no right to judge; and so our judging is usurpation. We may err in out judgment; and so our judgment is rashness. We take things the worse way when we judge: and so our judging is uncharitable. We offer occasion of offence by our judging; and so our judging is scandalous (De Isa_41:8; Rom_12:10; Rom_14:4). (Bishop Sanderson.)

Of judging charitably

I never yet knew any man so bad, but some have thought him honest, and afforded him love; nor any one so good, but some have thought him vile, and hated him. Few are so thoroughly wicked as not to be estimable to some; and few are so just, as not to seem to some unequal: ignorance, envy, and partiality, enter much into the opinions that we form of others. Nor can a man in himself, always appear alike to all. In some, nature has made a disparity; in some, report has blinded judgment; and in others, accident is the cause of disposing us to love, or hate; or, if not these, the variation of the bodys humours; or, perhaps, not any of these. The soul is often led by secret motions and attachments, she knows not why. There are impulsive instincts, which urge us to a liking; as if there were some hidden beauty of a more magnetic force than what the eye can see; and this, too, is more powerful at cue time than at another. The same man that has now welcomed me with a free expression of love and courtesy, at another time has left me unsaluted at all. Yet, knowing him well, I have been certain of his sound affection, and have found it to proceed not from an intended neglect, but from an indisposedness, or a mind seriously busied within. Occasion rules the motions of the stirring mind: like men who walk in their sleep, we are led about, we neither know whither nor how. I know there are some who vary their behaviour out of pride, and in strangers I confess I know not how to distinguish; for there is no disposition but has a varnished visor, as well as an unpencilled face. Some people deceive the world; are bad, but are not thought so; in some, the world is deceived, believing them ill, when they are not. I have known the world at large to fall into an error. Though report once vented, like a stone cast into a pond, begets circle upon circle, till it meets with the bank that bounds it: yet fame often plays the cur, and opens when she springs no game. Why should I positively condemn any man, whom I know but superficially? as if I were a God, to see the inward soul. (Owen Felltham.)

The absurdity of judging others

One would have thought that experience must have convinced us, if not of the sin, yet of the absurdity of judging others. The ignorance, the blunders, of other people with regard to ourselves, strike home with startling force to our minds. We know the shame which we have felt, when they have praised us for actions whose motives deserved blame; we know how their disapproval has disheartened us, when we were making the bravest struggle to do right. We feel how little they can know of our deepest feelings--of our moments of fierce conflict, of passionate affection, of sharpest Suffering. There is nothing strange in this ignorance. But what is strange, is, that in the very teeth of this experience, we should calmly sit in judgment on others, and self-complacently try to determine the degree of their feelings, the depth or shallowness of their characters, the quality of their motives, and the precise measure of praise or blame which they deserve. (E. C. R.)

The way to righteousness

The way to righteousness lies in finding not other peoples sins, but our own. (Olshausen.)

The danger of judging others

Of all the faults into which people are liable to fall, that of judging others is one of the most common. Pride, or envy, or a tinge of ill-nature, or an amalgamation of all three, causes them to arraign before the bar of their private judgment the actions, even the motives and thoughts of others. Many evils result from this. Even if we do not consider the habit as rather an ugly deformation of an otherwise lovable disposition, we may still see that it heralds into the soul some undesirable companions.

1. It engenders self-esteem and self-satisfaction in some. If a man always looks outside of himself, at the blots which mar the characters which he contemplates, he will forget what virtues he lacks himself. He will not be conscious of the beam that is in his own eye, yet he will imagine that he is quite capable of pulling out the mote in his brothers eye. He will, so to speak, put the large end of the contemplative telescope to his mental eye when he looks at his own heart; the small end when investigating his neighbours. Consequently, there will be an inverse ratio in the investigation. His neighbours motes will appear standing out in unjust relief; his own beams--the withered, shrivelled, sapless stanchion of self-love--the yawning chasm of avarice--the covert jungle of hypocrisy--the ungenial rock of pride--will become apparently very small, and in the distant prospect will have almost a charm about them.

2. Further, this spirit of judging others has the evil effect of providing untenable excuses for faults committed. People who are guilty of little sins, little failings, little excesses, are in danger of falling into this kind of error. They are, perhaps, aware of their shortcomings. They may even go so far as to acknowledge that they have them. But, in place of grappling with them and seeking to subdue them, they make excuses for them. And this is because they judge others. They compare themselves with others, and the comparison is prejudicial in their own favour.

3. And this judging of others prevents s healthy spirit of self-examination, and consequently of self-improvement. The man who continually pries into other peoples affairs must neglect his own. So the man who looks out constantly with a critical eye on the motives of others, must be unaware of those which actuate himself. There is a means, indeed, by which we may benefit ourselves by a contemplation of others. We have it summed up in the saying of an old Roman writer--Look into mens lives, as into looking-glasses. That is, judge them not, but seek to see yourself reflected in them. See them in their trials and temptations, see them in crises of thought and action, and consider how you would have fared in similar circumstances. This will help you to solve the problem of life, Know thyself. It will also teach you to appreciate the Christian attributes of charity and forbearance. Conclusion: Mans heart, as it weighs and measures its judgment, is sometimes harsh and hard, and the picture of others which it conjures up is often a dark one. But behold arising in the soul the dayspring of the knowledge of the Most High; behold, awakening to a knowledge of self, the soul to which Christ shall give His light, and you will see that light reflected on to the contemplated scene. There may be shades, but there are bright, sunny spots, too, and even the shades take a fairer colour from their proximity. Seen with the eye, which faith, and hope, and love in Christ inspire, all hardness and harshness, all unkindly cynicism, all uncongenial sneers, all puerile ill-nature, all sordid envy, will gradually disappear. And as the beams in the one eye are thus plucked out, the motes in the other eye will be plucked out too. The one character will have its effect on the other. Christs love is too great, too powerful, too immense, too vigorous, to loiter. It will push all before it. It will reflect itself on and on, like the dancing of sunbeams from wave to wave; and the motes and the mists and the fogs and the clouds--whatever they be--will disperse, even at His reflected light, making an entrance to prepare the soul for the full glory of His own presence. So may mans soul be a meet temple for the mighty Spirit. So may something of heavens warmth be felt on earth. (C. E. Drought, M. A.)

On rash and censorious judgment

There is nothing more difficult in itself than to judge justly of the dispositions and conduct of other men; nothing more dangerous, or generally more hurtful, to the person who undertakes it; hardly anything more destructive of the peace and happiness of society; and but very few sins to which we have fewer temptations, and from which we can reap less pleasure or profit. And yet there is hardly anything that all of us undertake, with less diffidence of our abilities for the work--with less sense of our danger, or apprehension of the consequences; hardly any sin more universal, or in which inhumane and unthinking persons more persevere to the end of their lives. How few can lay their hands to their hearts, and say, I am entirely free from this guilt!

1. Rash censorious judgment of the dispositions or conduct of others, must always arise from great disorder in the heart, and proves that it is powerfully influenced, either by pride, or envy, or malice; and therefore must be very hateful to Him who knows all the secret and original springs of every part of our conduct.

2. It is a very presumptuous disobedience of the will and laws of God.

3. It is an arrogant usurpation of the great prerogative of the Almighty Creator, and of the office of our Blessed Saviour; and an uncharitable invasion of the rights and privileges of our fellowmen. (James Riddoch, M. A.)

The folly of judging others

1. We have no capacity to do so with truth and justice. To know, without judging, might be modesty and charity; but to judge without knowing, must be always indiscretion and cruelty; and we must always be without proper knowledge, when we presume censoriously and rashly to judge our neighbours conduct. Upon what insufficient evidence do men venture to censure and slander others.

(1) They judge by appearances. How often has an open and unsuspecting temper, and a consciousness of innocence and right intentions betrayed men into the appearance of faults which their hearts detested, and exposed them to the censure and condemnation of the world; while, on the other hand, a grave, cautious, and designing conduct has covered a multitude of sins, and procured esteem and applause to men who needed only to be known to be despised and detested.

(2) They condemn upon hearsay. That coming fame is frequently a liar, we admit as a maxim established by long experience, and yet we make it the foundation of our rash and censorious judgments, and seem to think that it gives us a right to condemn others with the greatest freedom, vainly perhaps imagining that the guilt remains with him from whom we received the report, while at the same time we are repeating the crime, Rumour, however ill-founded, is favourably received; an unhappy curiosity makes us hearken with attention; a pernicious credulity makes us find it probable; and a desire of telling something new makes us propagate it. Thus, what at first was only the conjecture, suspicion, or invention of one person, grows up to be the belief of the multitude, and is raised, in their opinion, into certainty and fact.

(3) There is a too common disposition to judge of the intention, by the event, and to estimate the general character by some particular errors. Nothing can be more unjust or uncharitable than this. Moses once spake unadvisedly with his lips, though meekness and patience were the prevailing features of his character. St. Peter once denied his Master, though he sincerely loved Him.

2. By judging others we expose ourselves to very great danger. It is impossible for any one habitually to censure others, and to judge of their conduct with severity, without passing sentence against some of his own sins; and nothing can be more just, than that our Judge should ratify these judgments as far as they respect ourselves, and condemn us out of our own mouths.

3. We are rarely so much divested of passions and prejudices, as to be in a capacity to judge righteous judgment. Dislike, affection, interest, envy, connection, and a thousand other things to which we do not even ourselves advert, insensibly mislead the understanding, and bias the judgment. Men judge according to the passions and prejudices that prevail in themselves, rather than according to the virtues or vices that appears in their neighbours conduct. (James Riddoch, M. A. )

Judging others forbidden

I. THE FACULTY OF JUDGMENT MAY BE MISAPPLIED TO IMPROPER SUBJECTS. This happens when it is applied to the character of our neigh-bouts for the mere purpose of detecting faults. Now, the province assigned to us is the detection and correction of our own faults, which is a prior and more important duty; and which we have it in our power to perform more correctly and more usefully than we can do respecting the faults of others. Besides, till we discover and amend our own faults, we shall be very ill-qualified to reform the faults of our neighbour.

II. THIS FACULTY MAY BE EXERCISED IN A CRIMINAL AND PERNICIOUS MANNER. In forming our opinions respecting our neighbours, we are apt to judge without evidence, or from evidence very defective. Our knowledge of our neighbours faults is obtained either by our own observation, or from the testimony of others. Our own observation is often partial and defective; and from ambiguous appearances we often draw hasty and harsh conclusions. In admitting the testimony of others we are often incautious. For we are apt to forget that many judge from their passions; that some who see only a part, fill up what is wanting by the exercise of imagination; that some, anxious only to amuse or surprise, delight in telling wonderful stories of their own creation; that many cannot see things as they are; and that others can repeat nothing correctly. It is a matter, then, of great importance to the justness of our opinions concerning our neighbour, as well as to our own respectability, to be able to distinguish among our acquaintances the persons in whose testimony we can confide. Now, we shall easily discover that the man on whose accuracy we can rely is not the man who employs himself in retailing the faults of his neighbours. (J. Thomson, D. D.)

Judging others

I. Consider ONE OR TWO THINGS WHICH OUGHT TO CHECK AND RESTRAIN US IN OUR JUDGMENTS AND CRITICISMS UPON OTHERS.

1. Let us think how little we really know. What we see is but a small part of what is unseen and what can never be seen.

2. Again, in judging of others, we are apt to overlook their difficulties and temptations.

II. Consider THAT YOUR JUDGMENT OF OTHERS IS THE MEASURE OF THAT JUDGMENT WHICH MUST OVERTAKE YOURSELF. If a man, then, is rigorous and severe--if he applies to the conduct of others a high standard, and if he expects that standard to be reached--finding fault and passing condemnation where it is not reached--he is virtually laying claim to a high knowledge of what right and wrong really are; and it is only just and reasonable that this knowledge should be the criterion to which his own conduct and life should be brought: he cannot complain if he is judged by what he actually knows. So far, we see how there is no vindictiveness in judging men as they have judged others. We cannot say that this result is attained all at once. Our Lord Himself was an instance to the contrary: He did not receive into His bosom what He had given out; He did great good, and sought the good of others, but He was requited with evil and with ingratitude.

III. IT IS CARRYING OUT THE SAME TRUTH IN FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE WHEN CHRIST says, Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? To a man with the spirit of penitence in him, his own faults are never made less than they are; and indeed the more he condemns himself, the more will he be ready to justify others. He feels the mote in his own eye to be as a beam, and he reserves his highest condemnation for his own faults and sins.

IV. ARE WE, THEN, TO BE BLIND TO THE SINS OF THE WORLD AROUND US? Our Lords teaching is calculated to enforce righteous judgment, not partial or false judgment. There is nothing in Christian teaching to sanction tolerance towards sin. It is not every kind of judgment which Christ condemns. Let the spirit of love be in the heart, and the spirit of true judgment will follow.

1. Before judging of the individual, then, in any ease, pause to think how much you really know, and let not your judgment of a man be formed on hearsay and imagination.

2. Remember that your judgment of others is the measure of that judgment which must overtake you.

3. Let your judgment of others take the tone of your judgment passed first on yourself.

4. Let all things be done tinder the remembrance of how much we ourselves owe to a love which is boundless, a forgiveness which has raised us from doubt and fear. (A. Watson, D. D.)

Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven

Forgiveness, human and Divine

There is no point on which Christianity is more vital, searching, and severe than on this--the requisition of a forgiving spirit, as the highest form of benevolence or well-wishing towards our fellow-men. That we have an average good-nature towards good folks is all very well; that we forgive things done against us which we do not feel is all very well; but when an assault of any kind has been made in some tender and sensitive point, and we feel ourselves to be greatly wronged, then to have such a Divine sense of the great law of benevolence as that, under the stinging sensibility of the wrong, we can rise out of the selfness and think well of the offender--that is an example of Godlike love which evidences the Divine presence in the soul. A Christian man who hates, and will not forgive, is as much worse than an ordinary man, as salt that has lost all saltness is worse than common dirt; it is not good for manure; it is only good to make paths with. The only thing that it will not hurt is the bottom of ones foot. (H. W. Beecher.)

Forgiving others

In the Middle Ages, when the lords and knights were always at war with each other, one of them resolved to revenge himself on a neighbour who had offended him. It chanced that on the very evening when he had made this resolution, he heard that his enemy was to pass near his castle with only a few men with him. He determined not to let the opportunity pass. He spoke of his plan in the presence of his chaplain, who tried in vain to persuade him to give it up. The good man said a great deal to the duke about the sin of what he was going to do, but in vain. At length, seeing that all his words had no effect, he said, My lord, since I cannot persuade you to give up this plan of yours, will you at least come with me to the chapel, that we may pray together before you go? The duke consented, and the chaplain and he kneeled together in prayer. Then the mercy-loving Christian said to the revengeful warrior, Will you repeat after me, sentence by sentence, the prayer which our Lord taught to His disciples? I will do it, replied the duke. He did it accordingly. The chaplain said a sentence, and the duke repeated it, till he came to the petition, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive. There the duke was silent. My lord duke, you are silent, said the chaplain. Will you be so good as to continue to repeat the words after me, if you dare to do so? I cannot, replied the duke. Well, God cannot forgive you, for He has said so. He Himself has given us this prayer. Therefore you must either give up your revenge, or give up saying this prayer; for to ask God to pardon you, as you pardon others, is to ask Him to take vengeance on you for all your sins. Go now, my lord, and meet your victim. God will meet you at the great day of judgment. The iron will of the duke was broken. No, said he, I will finish my prayer. My God, my Father, pardon me; forgive me, as I desire to forgive him who has offended me; lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. Amen, said the chaplain. Amen, repeated the duke, who now understood the Lords Prayer better than he had ever done before, since he had learned to apply it to himself. (Preachers Lantern.)

Christian forgiveness

I. THE PRETENCE OF GOOD-WILL TOWARDS OUR ENEMIES. I wish nothing so much, a man will say, as to be reconciled; I am perfectly disposed to it; and, whenever my adversary pleases, I will receive him in such a manner, as to show that no resentment remains with me. Now, this is plausible language; it seems to show generosity, and greatness of mind. But, would you know whence these fine words proceed? From great self-love and little Christianity. You wish to have the credit of a reconciliation without the fancied mortification of it.

II. THE PRETENCE OF SENSIBILITY. If the affront were not so very galling, you may say, if the injury were not so personal, I could make this sacrifice to God and religion; but I cannot forget what is due to myself, and be void of all feeling. I understand you well; this is the language commonly spoken in the world. And I reply, If you were insensible, or if the injury done to you were not deeply felt, I should mot labour to persuade you to forgive; I should consider this precept of the gospel as scarcely directed to you. You renounce both the spirit and the example of the cross.

III. THE PRETENCE OF PRUDENCE IS URGED for omitting this great Christian duty of forgiveness. I cannot be heartily reconciled to my adversary; he is a bad man, and has been treacherous and base to me; prudence requires me to avoid such a one; and, as to religion, it cannot enjoin dissimulation, nor oblige me to do anything imprudent and dangerous!

IV. LET ME CARRY FORWARD YOUR THOUGHTS BEYOND DEATH AND THE GRAVE. (S. Partridge, M. A.)

Forgiveness

I. FORGIVENESS IS POSSIBLE. TO deem it impossible to forgive your offender is--

1. A fatal self-delusion. There have always been men who considered revenge a base passion, and have readily forgiven the greatest offences. Such men have been

(1) amongst the Gentiles. Phocion, a prominent citizen in Greece, had been sentenced by his fellow-citizens to drink the cup of poison. Before tasting it, he said to his son, This is my last will, O son, that thou mayest soon forget this cup of poison, and never take revenge for it.

(2) Amongst the Jews: Joseph, David.

(3) Amongst the Christians: Stephen. Verily, I forgive thee, and thou shalt be my brother in place of him whom thou hast killed, said the Christian knight, John Gualbert, to the murderer of his brother, who, unarmed as he was, begged for his life in the name of the Crucified. If to them it was possible to forgive, why should it not be possible to you?

2. A blasphemy. God requires you to forgive your offender, and has a right to do so.

(1) As our Lord.

(2) As our Father and Benefactor. The best proof of our gratitude.

(3) As our Model.

(4) As our Judge.

II. FORGIVENESS IS NECESSARY.

1. Reason teaches it.

(1) Noble and generous is the conduct of him who is ready for reconciliation. He manifests strength of mind and magnanimity of soul by forgiving the offence inflicted. He overcomes evil by good.

(2) Dreadful are the consequences of implacability. Man is easily offended. If men were not ready to forgive, where would you find peace and happiness? Would not our life upon earth and the society of our fellowmen be a continual source of unhappiness and misery?

2. Revelation requires it (Lev_19:18; Mat_5:38-48; Mat_6:12; Rom_12:19-21; Eph_4:26; Col_3:13).

III. FORGIVENESS IS LAUDABLE AND MERITORIOUS.

1. By forgiving the offences committed against you, you gain

(1) the favour of men (Rom_12:20).

(2) The complacency of God (Mat_6:14).

2. He who is not willing to forgive those who have offended him, sins

(1) against God the Father by trespassing one of His commandments Jam_2:13).

(2) Against God the Son. He denies Him because he denies the characteristic feature and virtue of Christianity (Joh_13:35).

(3) Against God the Holy Ghost, who is the Spirit of love.

(4) Against his fellow-man.

(5) Against himself. He pronounces the sentence of condemnation upon his own head whenever he uses the Lords Prayer (Luk_19:22). Grant us then, O Lord, a heart always ready for reconciliation, that in us Thy Word may be fulfilled (Mat_5:9). (Bourduloue.)

The evil of an unforgiving spirit

Go home to your own breast, and ask your heart these questions: Hast thou, my heart, no other passions but pride and anger? What is become of the humanity and benevolence whereof, on some occasions, thou hast given such pleasing proofs? Wilt thou suffer thy pride to tyrannise over thy love? What an heart art thou, if rage, revenge, and mischief, can afford thee more pleasure than forgiveness and acts of kindness and generosity! If an enemy is thus able to transform and degrade a man to the most odious class of beings, that man not only is now, but was before the injury done him, a very despicable being, and liable, it seems, to an infinitely worse sort of injury, than can possibly be done in regard to fortune, liberty, character, or even life itself; an injury, I mean, in regard to virtue. The enemy who can turn a good man into a bad one is the worst of all enemies. No man, however, can do this to us without our own concurrence. (Philip Skelton, M. A.)

God will measure to you in your own bushel

Forgive, saith a master to one of his servants, in your hearing, forgive your fellow-servant the guinea he owes you, and you shall be forgiven the hundred you owe me. Forgive that other fellow-servant the reproaches he hath flung at you, and you shall be forgiven the theft you lately committed, when you were discovered stealing my goods. Forgive that third fellow-servant the blow you just now received from him, and you shall be forgiven the assault you committed on me, your master, for which you are now under prosecution. If you do not comply with me in this, you shall be paid your guinea; but then I will exact my hundred guineas of you to the very last farthing. You shall have satisfaction, too, for the affront offered you; but shall be publicly exposed to the infamy your theft has deserved. I will punish the man who struck you, as justice requires; but will also execute on you the rigour of that justice for your act of rebellion and violence against myself. As you measure from you, I will measure to you; mercy for mercy, justice for justice, vengeance for vengeance. You demand an exact account, and shall have it; but you shall also give it. You think this servant a perfect madman when you hear him crying out, I insist on an account; I will be paid; I will have satisfaction. Do you indeed? Well, then, Christ is the Master, and thou art the man. What! will you not forgive a trifle, to be forgiven that which is infinite? Will you plunge to the bottom of the lake for the pleasure of seeing your enemy swim on the surface? How is it that you judge so clearly in things of little moment, which relate to others, while in a case of the same nature, but of the last consequence to yourself, you are wholly stupid? Is it self that shuts your eyes? Self! which of all things ought to open them, when your salvation is brought in question? Amazing! Whom will you see for, if you cannot see for yourself? Whom will be wise for, if you will not be wise for yourself? (Philip Skelton, M. A. )

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 6:37-38. Judge not, &c. — See notes on Mat 7:1-2; Mat 6:14-15. Give — Liberally to those that need your assistance; and it shall be given unto you — For your kindness and liberality will naturally gain you love and respect; and God also, by his supernatural grace, will influence men’s hearts in your favour. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over — “Our Lord makes use of these three phrases to express all the different kinds of good measure, according to the different nature of the things measured. Some of them, to make the measure good, must be pressed down and trodden; some of them must be shaken, as the several kinds of grain; and some of them must be running over, such as all sorts of liquors. The figure of giving this good measure into one’s bosom, is an allusion to the eastern habits, which were long pieces of cloth wrapped round their bodies, and girded up with a girdle. Their garments being of this kind, they could receive into their lap or bosom a considerable quantity of such dry goods as they sold by measure.” — Macknight. For with the same measure that ye mete it shall be measured, &c. — Amazing goodness! So we are permitted even to carve for ourselves! We ourselves are, as it were, to tell God, how much mercy he shall show us! And can we be content with less than the very largest measure? Give, then, to man, what thou designest to receive of God.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 20

CRITICISM

Luk 6:37; Mat 7:1. “Criticize not, in order that you may not be criticized; for with whatsoever criticism you criticize, you shall be criticized; and with whatsoever measure ye measure, it shall be measured unto you.” Luke says: “Criticize not, and ye can not be criticized; condemn not, and ye can not be condemned.” Lord, help us to profit by these plain, practical truths and solemn warnings! The critic’s cap, manufactured in hell and dispensed by the devil, is not at all becoming a saint of the Lord. Loke says if you do not criticize others you can not be criticized. Well, it has been said that curses, like chickens, will come home to roost. If you criticize no one, you will find no trouble by the criticism of others; if they undertake it, it will prove a failure, rebounding on their own heads. A critical spirit is incompatible with deep piety, and if indulged will sap the foundation of a Christian experience, and retrogress sweet, perfect love back into sour godliness, which is Satan’s counterfeit holiness. Lord, save us from a critical and condemnatory disposition!

GOOD MEASURE

Luk 6:38. “Forgive, and you shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, heaped up, shaken together, running over, will they give into your bosom. For with the same measure you measure, it shall be measured unto you.” This day in Jerusalem all travelers are astonished at the striking fulfillment of this commandment. Go through the bazaars, and you will see them fill the vessel, shake it down, and run it over. The old Quaker, measuring his wheat and doing just as Jesus commanded, filling, shaking down, and running over, when asked why he gave so bountiful measure, said: “I never can travel this road any more; so I am determined to make everything right as I go along this time.”

BLIND LEADERS

“And He spoke a parable to them, Whether is the blind able to lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?” No wonder our Savior forbade His own apostles to go out preaching the gospel until they had received the sanctifying baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. The departure of the Church from that Divine precept has filled the world with blind leaders. The only available remedy in this case is the sanctification of the ministry and the official members.

OUR SAVIOR’S STEWARD OF PERFECTION

“The disciple is not above his Teacher; but every one who has been made perfect shall be like his Teacher.” Jesus is the only unfallen Son of humanity. Perfection is from facio, “to make,” and per, “complete.” Hence it means “made complete.” Jesus, who was always free from depravity, is our only Paragon. Now, He says that “every disciple who has been made perfect shall be as his Teacher.” When He eliminates original sin out of the heart in the glorious work of entire sanctification, in so doing He makes us perfect, and in that respect like Himself; not that we have the perfection of His Divinity, which is absolute and peculiar to God only, but when we get rid of all sin, we have the perfection of His humanity, with the exception of our infirmities, which are the after-effects of sin, and will inhere so long as we are in these mortal tenements, but which He never had, from the simple fact that He was not a personal participant in the fall.

INFIRMITY & INBRED SIN

“Why do you see the mote which is in the eye of your brother, and recognize not the beam which is in your own eye? Or how are you able to say to your brother, Brother, permit me, I will cast out the mote which is in thine eye, thyself considering not the beam which is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam from thine own eye, and then thou shah see clearly to cast out the mote which is in the eye of thy brother.” Mote here symbolizes infirmity, which does not bring any one under condemnation, just as the mote will never seriously injure the eye, much less put it out; while the beam in the eye, if not removed, would destroy it quickly. Now the beam symbolizes inbred sin, a big thing in the heart which will ruin you, world without end, if you don’t have it taken away; while you can go right on to the end of life with infirmities, as it is the province of glorification, which you receive when soul and body part, to take that all away, and let you fly into heaven with a shout. So we find people all around criticizing little things, which are of no serious moment, and never would keep anybody out of heaven, while they themselves have evil tempers, unholy passions, and worldly greed, and perhaps other phases of inbred sin, pride. vanity, lust, envy, jealousy, prejudice, bigotry, which they must get rid of if they ever pass through the pearly portal.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR AMMUNITION

“Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine; lest they may trample them under their feet, and, turning, tear you to pieces.”

The dog and the hog are prominent in the Bible as unclean animals, symbolic of spiritual impurity; i.e., carnality. This is a profitable warning, much needed, lest in our enthusiasm we preach holiness to carnal people who are utterly incompetent to appreciate it. Therefore it only makes them mad, so they reject us with contempt, and want to do us violence. Much of the Lord’s ammunition is thus wasted on dead game. As hogs can not eat gold coins and diamonds, but will only get mad because we did not give them corn, so carnal people can not receive the pure gold of holiness and the dazzling pearls of Christian perfection. Like hogs and dogs, they run over them with contempt, trampling them in the mud, get angry, blaspheme, and persecute. Then, what should we preach to the carnal, worldly Churches? Preach Sinai. They do not need sanctification, and can not receive it in their present attitude. They need conviction. They must see an open hell before they will give up their pride, fall down in the dust, and cry for mercy. So long as you preach sanctification to them, you recognize their justification, perpetuate their awful delusion, under which they are fast going down to hell. They need the terrors of the law, the doom of the lost, and the duration of eternity held up before them till they get their eyes open, see their awful condition, and cry for mercy.

THE HOLY SPIRIT CLIMAXES ALL BLESSINGS

“Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. What man is there of you whom his son may ask bread, whether would he give him a stone? If he may ask a, fish, whether will he give him a serpent? If then ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in the heavens, give good things to them asking Him?” God never gives us anything useless — e.g., a stone; nor any thing injurious — e.g., a serpent. This explains the reason why so frequently our petitions are not answered. How many pray for riches, which, if granted, would prove a mill-stone round their necks, dragging them down to hell! The child cries for the razor. The father, in love, withholds it, and lets it cry on. Our Savior’s illustration, contrasting us fallen beings with our evil natures, and still so delighted to give good gifts to our children, with the pure and unadulterated parental affection of our loving Heavenly Father, who is certainly infinitely more anxious to bestow on His children all things appertaining to their good in this world and that which is to come. As it is impossible for Him to be unkind, do wrong, or even make a mistake, such should be our perfect confidence in His Fatherly kindness and our unconditioned resignation to His will, that we would offer our petitions and leave the answer with Him, at His own discretion, to answer them at His own time and in His own way. We should be so lost in His will that our perfect rest will not be affected in case that He withholdeth the answer altogether, so far as we know.

THE LAW OF RECIPROCITY

“Therefore all things, so many as you may wish that men may do unto you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Here you see that the gospel dispensation, instead of abrogating the law and the prophets, indorses, adopts, and perpetuates them, as a substratum of that universal kingdom which the apostles were commanded to preach to all nations, girdling the globe with salvation and holiness to the Lord, and thus bringing the blessings of the Old Testament Theocracy, which was restricted to the Jews, into every home, blessing every family on the earth with the hallowed truth, glorious light, and heavenly benignity which reigned in the homes of the patriarchs and prophets, thus gathering all nations into one universal fraternity, making every man beneath the skies your neighbor, brother, friend, doing away with all animosities, alienations, and conflicts obliterating the spirit of belligerence from the face of the earth, consolidating Father Adam’s family in one universal brotherhood.

THE GATE & THE WAY

“Enter in through the narrow gate; because wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are going in through it. Because narrow is the gate and contracted the way which leadeth into life, and few there are finding it.”

“Broad is the road that leads to death, And thousands walk together there; while wisdom shows a narrow path, With here and there a traveler.”

This gate stands at the hither terminus of the King’s highway of holiness which leads up to heaven. The gate is so narrow and difficult of entrance that nothing but the immortal soul can make the ingress; all sin, the pomp, pageantry, pride, riches, emoluments, and aggrandizement of the world, must be left behind. This is the reason why so few pass through the narrow gate of regeneration. They hold to many things they can not take with them. Tethlimmene, which qualifies the way we must all travel to heaven, is a perfect passive participle, from thlibo, “to contract,” “squeeze together;” hence it means having been compressed, drawn together, and rendered very narrow and difficult of passage, illustrating the utter impossibility for an encumbered traveler to pass over it. While we are here assured that very few ever find the narrow way, how sad to know that so many of those few, having found it, fail to walk in it to the end! Some are quickly deflected; others hold on a good while, and are then derailed; while not a few comparatively, having long walked in the way, are sidetracked by the enemy; while others have gone on till the bright hills of glory are actually visible, by the eye of faith, from the summits of the Delectable Mountains, and even after this grand proficiency in the Divine life, make shipwreck.

FALSE PROPHETS

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, and within are rapacious wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them. Do they gather the grape bunch from thorns or figs from brambles? So every good tree produces beautiful fruits, and the corrupt tree produces evil fruits. The good tree is not able to produce evil fruits, neither does a corrupt tree produce beautiful fruits. Every tree not producing good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Luke: “For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh.” This beautiful paragraph is our Savior’s exegesis of the gate and the way which lead to death. While the narrow way is but an air-line, narrow as to principle, but broad as to capacity, amply capacious for all the people in the world to walk along it abreast till they enter the pearly gate of the New Jerusalem, the broad way is wide as the world, permitting you to go any way you please except the way of holiness, conferring on you the largest liberty to take your choice among the three hundred and sixty points of the mariner’s compass, and go any way you will. You observe this terrible warning to “beware of false prophets.” Do you see the connection? It is plain and simple. The false prophet is the counterfeit preacher. How are we to know him? By the differentia which Jesus here specifies: a. He broadens the way; i.e., gives his people large liberties, so they can commend him as a “high-toned, level-headed, broad-minded, cultured gentleman.” Therefore he is popular, and they will keep him a long time. Now do not forget that this follows as a legitimate sequence that the false prophet does not preach this narrow gate and contracted way, so difficult to find and walk in, but he is liberal-minded, and preaches a broad-gauge gospel. b. You are to know him by his fruit. You see where the E.V. reads “good fruits,” you have “beautiful fruit,” the literal translation of the Savior’s word. What does it mean? Why, the beauty of holiness; and as Luke says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” the true prophet not only exhibits the beauty of holiness, but he is full of it. Whenever he opens his mouth, it pours out.

“Having been made free from sin, we have our fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life.” (Rom 6:22.)

Regeneration is the flower, and sanctification the fruit. Now what is the evil fruit against which our Savior warns us? It is anything and everything except holiness.

AWFUL DISAPPOINTMENT

“Not every one saying to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens; but the one doing the will of My Father who is in the heavens. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many mighty works? And I will confess unto them, That I never knew you; depart from Me, ye who work iniquity.” This paragraph describes the false prophets above, in the judgment-day, coming up with their grand and glowing reports of demons cast out — i.e., many souls converted; and many mighty works — i.e., great, fine churches built, powerful sermons preached, and wonderful official triumphs. But do you not see our Savior rejects them altogether? The truth of the matter is, they have never been His preachers at all. The devil, robed as an angel of light, played off on them in the beginning, calling and sending them. So they have been preaching Satan’s counterfeit gospel all their lives, counting many converts and doing many mighty works, helping the devil to delude the people and lead them to hell in solid columns. What is the remedy for these awful troubles in the end? Be sure you pass the narrow gate, so difficult of entrance that it will try your flint and steel, and test your stamina to the very bottom. Then be sure that you travel the self-denial way of “holiness to the Lord.”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:37-42 Do not judge others: Jesus condemned hypocritical judgment that denigrated another person. Those who condemn others will be judged by that same standard. God requires his people to love others by warning them of the dangers of sin (Gal 6:1; Heb 3:13). Exhortation is an act of love; judgment is an act of pride.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 6:37. Μὴ κρίνετε, μὴ καταδικάζετε, judge not, condemn not) By judging, we decide as to the goodness or badness of an action: by condemning, we determine as to the person, what (punishment) the guilty has deserved: comp. Mat 12:7.—ἀπολύετε, let go free [Engl. Vers. forgive[67]]) ἀπολύεται, let go free (loosed), is applied to a person who was held fast (kept confined); but ἀφίεται is applied to a debt being remitted, or forgiven, which was owed. Both verbs occur, Mat 18:27. As to the thing itself, compare Isa 58:6.

[67] So 2Ma 12:45, ἁμαρτίας following. Wahl, Clavis, translates it condono, I absolve. However the distinction between ἀπολύειν and ἀφίεναι supports Bengel’s view.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 6:37 . In these special precepts it is implied throughout that God acts as we are exhorted to act. They give a picture of the gracious spirit of God. καὶ , connecting the following precept as a special with a general. No καὶ in Mat 7:1 , where begins a new division of the sermon. In Mt. the judging condemned is referred to as a characteristic Pharisaic vice. Here it is conceived of as internal to the disciple-circle, as in Jas 4:12 . ἀπολύετε , set free, as a debtor (Mat 18:27 ), a prisoner, or an offender ( τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπολυθῆναι , 2Ma 12:45 ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5 th. Love, the principle of all beneficent moral action on the world: Luk 6:37-45.

The disciples of Jesus are not only called to practise what is good themselves; they are charged to make it prevail in the earth. They are, as Jesus says in Matthew, immediately after the beatitudes, the light of the world, the salt of the earth. Now they can only exercise this salutary influence through love, which manifests itself in this sphere also (comp. Luk 6:27), either by what it refrains from (Luk 6:37-42), or by action (Luk 6:43-45). Above all things, love refrains from judging.

Vers. 37 and 38. “And judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. 38. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom; for with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.”

There is no reference here to the pardon of personal offences; the reference is to charity, which, in a general way, refuses to judge. Jesus evidently has in view in this passage the judgment which the scribes and Pharisees assumed the right to exercise in Israel, and which their harshness and arrogance rendered more injurious than useful, as was seen in the effect it produced on the publicans and other such persons (Luk 6:30, Luk 15:28-30). — Καί indicates the transition to a new but analogous subject: And further. Κρίνειν, to judge, is not equivalent to condemn; it means generally to set oneself up as a judge of the moral worth of another. But since, wherever this disposition prevails, judgment is usually exercised in an unkindly spirit, the word is certainly employed here in an unfavourable sense. It is strengthened by the following term: condemn, to condemn pitilessly and without taking into account any reasons for forbearance. ᾿Απολύειν, to absolve, does not refer, therefore, to the pardon of a personal offence; it is the anxiety of love to find a neighbour innocent rather than guilty, to excuse rather than to condemn. The Lord does not forbid all moral judgments on the conduct of our neighbour; this would contradict many other passages, for example 1Co 5:12: “Do not ye judge them that are within?” The true judgment, inspired by love, is implied in Luk 6:42. What Jesus desires to banish from the society of His disciples is the judging spirit, the tendency to place our faculty of moral appreciation at the service of natural malignity, or more simply still: judging for the pleasure of judging. The reward promised: not to be judged or condemned, to be sent away absolved, may refer either to this world or the other, to the conduct of men or of God. The latter is the more natural meaning, it enforces itself in the next precept.

It is probably from here that the fifth beatitude in Matthew has been taken: “Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.”

With a disposition to absolve those that are accused, is naturally connected that of giving, that is to say, of rendering service to all, even to the greatest sinners. This idea is introduced here only as an accessory to the other. There is some feeling in these successive imperatives, and a remarkable affluence of expression in the promise. Some one has said: “Give with a full hand to God, and He will give with a full hand to you.” The idea of this boundless liberality of God is forcibly expressed by the accumulation of epithets. The measure, to which Jesus alludes, is one for solids (pressed, shaken together); the epithet, running over, is not at all opposed to this.

The expression, into your bosom, refers to the form of the oriental garment, which allows of things being heaped together in the large pocket-shaped fold above the girdle (Rth 3:15).

The plur. δώσουσιν, they will give, corresponds to the French indef. pron. on; it denotes the instruments of divine munificence, whoever they may be (Luk 12:20; Luk 12:48).

This precept is found, in very nearly the same terms, in Mat 7:1 et seq., immediately following an exhortation to confidence in Providence, and before an invitation to prayer,—in a context, therefore, with which it has no connection. In Luke, on the contrary, all is closely connected.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He speaketh not here of civil judgments, and therefore by the word, forgive, is meant that good nature, which the Christians use in suffering and pardoning wrongs.

Brotherly reprehension must not proceed of curiosity, nor churlishness, nor malice, but they must be just, moderate, and loving.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

See on Mat 7:1-2; but this is much fuller and more graphic.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 37. Judge not] See Clarke on Mt 7:1. "How great is the goodness of God, in being so willing to put our judgment into our own hands as to engage himself not to enter into judgment with us, provided we do not usurp the right which belongs solely to him in reference to others!"

Condemn not] "Mercy will ever incline us not to condemn those unmercifully whose faults are certain and visible; to lessen, conceal, and excuse them as much as we can without prejudice to truth and justice; and to be far from aggravating, divulging, or even desiring them to be punished."

Forgive] The mercy and compassion which God recommends extend to the forgiving of all the injuries we have received, or can receive. To imitate in this the mercy of God is not a mere counsel; since it is proposed as a necessary mean, in order to receive mercy. What man has to forgive in man is almost nothing: man's debt to God is infinite. And who acts in this matter as if he wished to receive mercy at the hand of God! The spirit of revenge is equally destitute of faith and reason.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(37) Judge not, and ye shall not be judged.—See Note on Mat_7:1. In St. Luke’s report there is something like a climax. “Seek not to judge at all. If you must judge, be not eager to condemn.”

Forgive.—Better, set free, release, or acquit; the word expressing a quasi-judicial act rather than the forgiveness of a private wrong.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37. fudge not] For comment read Rom_2:1-3; Rom_14:10, “Why dost thou judge thy brother?...for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ;” 1Co_4:3-5; 1Co_4:13, and the Lord’s prayer; Jas_2:13, “he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy.” Hence a “righteous judgment” of others is not forbidden, so long as it be made in a forbearing and tender spirit, Joh_7:24.

forgive, and ye shall he forgiven] For comment see the Parable of the Debtors, Mat_18:23-35.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Give, and it shall be given unto you,.... Give liberally of your worldly substance to indigent persons, as you have an opportunity, according to your ability, and as cases require: and it shall be returned again to great advantage; with great recompense, either in temporals or spirituals, or both:

good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. The allusion is to dry measure among the Jews, for to liquids, the terms used will not agree; and which, though right and full, which is here called good measure, they thrust and pressed to make it hold more; and shook it also for the same purpose, and then heaped it up as much as they could, till it fell over: of all these methods used in measuring, we have instances in their writings; which may serve to illustrate this passage: it is said of (a) one, that

"he measured, , "with measure pressed down"; and therefore they measured to him, with measure pressed down.''

Some of their measures they heaped, and some they did not: they say (b);

"all the measures which were in the sanctuary, "were heaped", except the high priest's, and his heap was contained in it.''

And elsewhere they observe (c) that

"there were two decimaries (or tithing vessels) in the sanctuary, one was "heaped", and the other was "stricken": with that which was heaped they measured all the fine flour for the meat offerings, and with the stricken, that which was for the cakes of the high priest.''

With respect to this distinction of measures, they say it is a tradition of the Rabbins (d), that they do not "strike" in the place where

"they "heap", nor heap in the place where, they strike.''

Between these two measures there was another, which was full measure and just, and right, without heaping or striking (e), R. Papa inquired, whether the handful

"(of sweet incense the high priest took on the day of atonement) which is spoken of Lev 16:12 was of "stricken" or "heaped" measure; R. Abba said to R. Ase, come, hear, the handful spoken of, is neither of stricken nor heaped measure, , "but of equal measure";''

sufficiently full, and no more. Dr. Lightfoot reads it, "flowing over"; by what authority I cannot say; though the gloss says, the word signifies,

"flowing over, by reason of its height,''

But flowing or running over measure, was the same with that which was heaped, as appears from the following instance (f):

"all those that "cause to abound", or run over with the great "measure", it is lawful for them to sell that, of which it is doubted whether it has been tithed or not; and these are they, that "cause to run over", or "heap" with the great measure, as corn factors and fruiterers.''

Who buy corn and fruits to sell again, and which they buy by the large measure, and fill it up, add unto it, and heap it up; and so get more than what is properly due unto them, as the commentators observe (g): would you know the quantity of the heap, or that which ran over, or the difference between even measure, and that which was heaped, learn, it from hence: in Kg1 7:26 it is said, the molten sea held two thousand baths, and in Ch2 4:5 three thousand baths; which difficulty the Jewish writers solve this way, by observing, that the former text is to be understood of liquid measure, and the latter of dry measure, which was heaped: hence says R. Abai, we learn that, , "the heap is the third part" of the measure (h): now to this superabundant measure, Christ here refers; and signifies, that a large compensation should be made to such, who give liberally and generously to needy persons; that as they abounded in their acts of beneficence, so an overflowing plenty of good things should be returned to them: and when he says, that this should be "given into their bosom", he alludes to the long and large garments the Jews wore, into which they were capable of receiving large lapfuls of good things: the words may be read impersonally, "shall be given into your bosom"; or if personally, they may be understood of God, angels, and men, in different senses: the phrase "shaken together", is not in the Syriac and Persic versions: "for with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again"; a common proverb with the Jews: See Gill on Mat 7:2.

(a) T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 107. 2. T. Hieros. Yebamot, fol. 13. 3. (b) Misn. Menachot, c. 9. sect. 5. (c) T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 37. 1, 2. (d) T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 89. 1. (e) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 48. 1. (f) Misn. Demai, c. 2. sect. 4. (g) Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. (h) T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 14. 2. Vid Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, & R. Levi ben Getshorn, in 1 Kings vii. 26. Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 11. fol. 204. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

Ver. 37. See Mat 7:1.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What can be imagined more kind, what more merciful, than this conduct of our Sovereign Lord, that the sentence of the judge should be left in the hands of the person to judged? (Jansenius, Comment. in sanct. Evang.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

See Poole on "Mat 7:1", See Poole on "Mat 6:14", where we have discoursed what private judgings are here forbidden, and what forgiving is here required.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Jesus would have his followers avoid one great error which was too common in the religious Jewish life of his time the habit of censoriously judging others. This uncharitable and often untrue censorship of the motives which led to the acts of others, was one of the practices of the day which stunted and marred all true healthy religious life. Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. That pitiless condemnation which, regardless of circumstances, condemned as sinners beyond the pale of mercy, whole classes of their fellow-country-men, publicans, Samaritans, and the like. This haughty judgment of others in the case of the dominant sects of the Jews resulted in an undue estimate of themselves. His disciples must be very careful how they judged and condemned others; their rule must be, not condemnation, but forgiveness of others.

Human judgment.

These words must be taken with discrimination; they must be applied in the exercise of our natural intelligence, distinguishing between things that differ. We must observe

I THE TRUTH WHICH LIES OUTSIDE THE THOUGHT OF CHRIST. Our Lord could not possibly have meant to condemn the exercise of the individual judgment on men or things. By so doing, indeed, he would have condemned himself; for did he not say, "Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right"? And almost in the same breath he intimates that men are to be judged by their actions as is a tree by its fruit (ver. 44). We are commanded by the Apostle Paul to "prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good;" and John exhorts us to "try the spirits whether they are of God." Things must be judged by us; new doctrines, new institutions, new methods of worship and of work, come up for our support or our condemnation, and we must judge them, by reason, by conscience, by Scripture, that we rosy know what course we are to pursue. Men must be judged by us also. We have to decide whether we will give them our confidence, our friendship; whether we will admit them into the family circle, into the society, into the Church. To decline to judge men is to neglect one of the most serious duties and most weighty obligations of our life. And knowing all that we do know from Jesus Christ what men and things should be, having learned of him the essential value of reverence, of purity, of rectitude, of charity, we are in a position to "judge righteous judgment," as he has desired us to do.

II THE SINFUL ERROR WHICH CHRIST CONDEMNS. The judging and the condemning which our Lord here forbids are those of a wrong and guilty order. They are, at least, threefold.

1. Hasty judgment; coming to unfavourable conclusions on slight and insufficient evidence; not giving to the inculpated neighbour any fair opportunity of explaining the occurrence; not waiting to think or to learn what has to be taken into account on the other side.

2. Uncharitable judgment, and therefore unjust judgment; for we are never so unjust as when we are uncharitable as when we ascribe the lower motive, the ignobler purpose, the impure desire, to our neighbour. All uncharitableness is sin in the sight of Jesus Christ; and when the want of a kindly charity leads us to misjudge and so to wrong our brother, we fall under the condemnation of this his word, and under his own personal displeasure.

3. Harsh condemnation; taking a tone and using a language which are unnecessarily severe, which tend to crush rather than to reform, which daunt the spirit instead of inciting it to better things; condemnation which is not after the manner of him who "hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities," who "will not always chide, neither doth he keep his anger for ever;" condemnation which would be disallowed by him who rebuked his disciples when they rebuked those mothers who were bringing their children to his feet, and who forbade these disciples to forbid any one doing good in his name, even though he "followed not" with them.

III THE PENALTY WE PAY FOR OUR TRANSGRESSION. If we wrongly judge and wrongly condemn, we shall suffer for our mistake, for our sin.

1. God will condemn us for our injustice, or our undue and inconsiderate severity.

2. We shall have, some day, to reproach ourselves. But the most marked penalty will be found elsewhere.

3. Our fellow-men will treat us with the severity we impose on them. It is the universal habit among men to take up the attitude toward any neighbour which he assumes toward them. Toward the merciful we are merciful, even as our Father is; toward the severe we are severe. Again and again does the fact present itself to our observation that the men who have been relentless in their punishment of others have been held fast to the letter of the bond in the day of their own shortcoming; they who show no mercy will find none when they need it for their own soul. But if we judge leniently and condemn sparingly, we shall find for ourselves that men are just unto the just and generous unto the generous. C.

Human responsiveness.

This word of Christ may be taken with that other on the same subject, which none of the evangelists recorded, but which we could ill have spared, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." We may consider

I WHAT WE HAVE TO GIVE. We have much that we can draw from if we desire to benefit and to bless our fellow-men.

1. Our possessions our money, our time, our books, our clothes, etc.

2. Ourselves our thought, our affection, our sympathy.

II WHO SHOULD BE OUR RECIPIENTS. These should be:

1. Our kindred according to the flesh.

2. Our kindred according to the spirit our fellow-Christians, our fellow-members.

3. Our neighbours, those who, as the nearest and most within reach, should receive our kind thoughtfulness.

4. The children of want, of sorrow, of spiritual destitution, both at home and abroad. There is a sense, and that a truly Christian one, in which those who are in the saddest need and in the darkest error, aye, and even in the most deplorable iniquity, have the greatest claim on our pity and our help.

III WHAT MAY BE OUR INCENTIVES.

1. That giving is that act which is most emphatically Divine. God lives to give to bestow life, and health, and beauty, and joy on his creatures. Christ Jesus came to give himself for man.

2. That it is truly angelic.

3. That it is the heroic thing to do. Men have been true heroes in proportion as they have spent themselves and their powers on behalf of their kind.

4. That it is most elevating in its influence on ourselves and, when wisely directed, on those for whom it is expended.

IV WHAT WILL BE OUR RECOMPENSE.

1. The Divine approval. "For God loveth a cheerful giver.

2. The unconscious and uncalculated reaction that will be received by ourselves, enlarging our heart and lifting us toward the level of the supreme Giver.

3. The response we shall receive from those we serve. This is the recompense which is promised in the text. "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure... shall men give into your bosom." There is far too much ingratitude in this world; more, perhaps, than we are willing to believe, until sad experience has convinced us. Nevertheless, there is also a very large measure of human responsiveness on which we may safely reckon. If we give to others, men will give to us; if we love them, they will love us. Do not even the publicans so? (Mat_5:46) Even those whose hearts have been unchanged by the truth and grace of Christ will respond to genuine kindness. Patronage they will recognize and resent; officialism they will distinguish and may endure. But the help which comes straight from the heart they will appreciate, and to him who gives it they will give a free and gladdening response. To the really generous man, as distinguished from the formal "benefactor" or the professional philanthropist, there will flow a stream of warm-hearted gratitude and affection which will far more than repay all the time and treasure, and even all the sympathy and service, that have been expended. The generous giver will be the recipient of

a. the regard,

b. the gratitude,

c. the affection, and,

d. when it may be needed,

the substantial kindness of those whom he has tried to serve, and of many others outside that circle. And to these may be added that which, if its worth be less calculable, yet may be even more valuable and more acceptable than any or all of these the prayers of the good. Selfishness often misses its own poor mark, and it always fails to bless its author with an inward blessing; but beneficence is always blessed. God rains down his large benedictions from above, and below men offer their glad and free contribution. "Give, and it shall be given unto you... for with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matt. vii, 1.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

This prohibition, Judge not, is not to be understood of ourselves, but our neighbors. Self-judging is a great and necessary duty; rash judging of others is an heinous and grievous sin, which exposes to the righteous judgment of God. It is private judging and private condemning of persons which God forbids; it follows, forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Not that a bare forgiving of others is all that God requires in order to your forgiveness, but it is one part of that obedience which we owe to God, without which it is in vain to expect forgiveness from God: Forgive and ye shall be forgiven. Mat 7:1

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XLII. G. Law Concerning Judging].

XLII. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. (A Mountain Plateau not far from Capernaum.) Subdivision G. LAW CONCERNING JUDGING. aMATT. VII. 1-6; cLUKE VI. 37-42.

a1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. c37 And judge not, and ye shall not be judged [Here again Jesus lays down a general principle in the form of universal prohibition. The principle is, of course, to be limited by other Scriptural laws concerning judgment. It does not prohibit: 1. Judgment by civil courts, which is apostolically approved ( 2Pe_2:13-15, Heb_13:17, Tit_3:1). 2. Judgment of the church on those who walk disorderly; for this also was ordered by Christ and his apostles ( Mat_18:16, Mat_18:17, Tit_3:10, 2Th_3:6, 2Th_3:14, 1Jo_1:10, 1Ti_1:20, 1Ti_6:5). 3. Private judgment as to wrong-doers. This is also ordered by Christ and his apostles ( Mat_7:15, Mat_7:16, Rom_16:17, 1Jo_4:1, 1Co_5:11). The commandment is leveled at rash, censorious and uncharitable judgments, and the fault-finding spirit or disposition which condemns upon surmise without examination of the charges, forgetful that we also shall stand in the judgment and shall need mercy ( Rom_14:10, Jam_2:13). Our judgment of Christians must be charitable, ( Joh_7:24, 1Co_13:5, 1Co_13:6) in remembrance of the fact that they are God's servants ( Rom_14:4); and that he reserves to himself the ultimate right of judging [260] both them and us-- Rom_14:4, 1Co_4:3, 1Co_4:4, 2Co_5:10]: a2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you. cand condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: release, and ye shall be released [Though God shall judge us with absolute justice, yet justice often requires that we receive even in the same measure in which we have given it, so in a sense the merciful receive mercy, and the censorious receive censure ( Jam_2:12, Jam_2:13). But from men we receive judgment in the measure in which we give it. Applying the teaching here given locally, we find that Jesus, having condemned the Pharisees in their manner of praying, now turns to reprove them for their manner of judging. Their censorious judgments of Christ himself darken many pages of the gospel. But with a bitter spirit they condemned as sinners beyond the pale of mercy whole classes of their countrymen, such as publicans, Samaritans, and the like, besides their wholesale rejection of all heathen. These bitter judgments swiftly returned upon the heads of the judges and caused the victorious Roman to wipe out the Jewish leaders without mercy. It is a great moral principle of God's government that we reap as we sow. Censorious judgment and its harvest are merely one form of culture which comes under this general law]: 38 give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. [This is not necessarily a promise of the return of our gift in kind. It rather means that we shall receive an equivalent in joy and in that blessedness which Jesus meant when he said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." The figurative language is borrowed from the market where the salesman, grateful for past kindnesses, endeavors, by pressing, shaking, and piling up, to put more grain into the measure for us than it will contain. Pockets were unknown to the ancients, and what they wished to take with them was carried in the fold in the bosom of the coat, the girdle below holding it up. [261] Ruth bore this a heavy burden in her mantle which, in the King James Version is mistakenly called the veil-- Rth_3:15.] 39 And he spake also a parable unto them, Can the blind guide the blind? shall they not both fall into a pit? [Whoso lacks the knowledge of divine truth can not so lead others that they shall find it. They shall both fall into the pitfalls of moral error and confusion.] 40 The disciple is not above his teacher: but every one when he is perfected shall be as his teacher. [Pupils do not surpass their teachers, or, if they do, they are self-taught, and hence do not owe to their teachers that wherein they rise superior to them. All that the scholar can hope from his teacher is that when he is perfectly instructed he shall be as his teacher. But if the teacher is a blind man floundering in a ditch, he affords but a dismal prospect for his pupils. The perfection of such teaching is certainly not desirable.] a3 And why beholdest thou the mote [chip or speck of wood dust] that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam [heavy house timber] that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt { ccanst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me cast out the mote aout of thine eye; cthat is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? aand lo, the beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. cthat is in thy brother's eye. [In Matthew and Luke Jesus gives slightly varying applications to this allegorical passage by setting it in different connections. In Luke, as we see, he places it after the words which describe the disastrous effect of being blind leaders of the blind. It therefore signifies in this connection that we ourselves should first see if we would teach others to see. In Matthew he places it after the words about censorious judgment, where it means that we must judge ourselves before we can be fit judges of others. The thought is practically the same, for there is little difference between correcting others as their teachers or as [262] their self-appointed judges. Jesus graphically and grotesquely represents a man with a log, or rafter, in his eye trying to take a chip or splinter out of his neighbor's eye. Both parties have the same trouble or fault, but the one having the greater seeks to correct the one having the less. The application is that he who would successfully teach or admonish must first be instructed or admonished himself ( Gal_6:1). In moral movements men can not be pushed; they must be led. Hence those who would teach must lead the way. Those who have reformed their own faults can "see clearly" how to help others. But so long as we continue in sin, we are blind leaders of the blind.] a6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you. [The connection here is not obvious. This saying, however, appears to be a limitation of the law against judging. The Christian must not be censoriously judicial, but he should be discriminatingly judicious. He must know dogs and swine when he sees them, and must not treat them as priests and kings, the fit objects for the bestowal of holy food and goodly ornaments. Dogs and swine were unclean animals. The former were usually undomesticated and were often fierce. In the East they are still the self-appointed scavengers of the street. The latter were undomesticated among the Jews, and hence are spoken of as wild and liable to attack man. Meats connected with the sacrificial service of the altar were holy. Even unclean men were not permitted to eat of them, much less unclean brutes. What was left after the priests and clean persons had eaten was to be burned with fire ( Lev_6:24-30, Lev_7:15-21). To give holy things to dogs was to profane them. We are here forbidden, then, to use any religious office, work, or ordinance, in such a manner as to degrade or profane it. Saloons ought not to be opened with prayer, nor ought adulterous marriages to be performed by a man of God. To give pearls to swine is to press the claims of the gospel upon those who despise it until they persecute you for annoying them with it. When such men are known, [263] they are to be avoided. Jesus acted on this principle in refusing to answer the Pharisees, and the apostles did the same in turning to the Gentiles when their Jewish hearers would begin to contradict and blaspheme. Compare Mat_15:2, Mat_15:3, Mat_21:23-27, Act_13:46, Act_19:9.]

[FFG 260-264]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

37, 38. Judge not. See notes on Matt. 7:1, 2. Give into your bosom. The loose garment of a Jew was belted at the waist, and in its capacious bosom grain, or other articles, were carried.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Do not judge

"Do not judge people" or "Do not harshly criticize people"

and you

"and as a result you"

you will not be judged

Jesus does not say who would not judge. Possible meanings are 1) "God will not judge you" or 2) "no one will judge you" (See: Active or Passive)

Do not condemn

"Do not condemn people"

you will not be condemned

Jesus does not say who would not condemn. Possible meanings are 1) "God will not condemn you" or 2) "no one will condemn you" (See: Active or Passive)

you will be forgiven

Jesus does not say who would forgive. Possible meanings are 1) "God will forgive you" or 2) "people will forgive you" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

judge

condemn

forgive

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

37. μὴ κρίνετε. The following καταδικάζετε shews that what is forbidden is not only condemnatory judgment but the critical, fastidious, fault-finding, ungenerous spirit. For comment read Rom 2:1-3; Rom 14:10, “Why dost thou judge thy brother?… for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ;” 1Co 4:3-5; 1Co 4:13, and the Lord’s Prayer; Jas 2:13, “he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy.” Hence a “righteous judgment” of others is not forbidden, so long as it be made in a forbearing and tender spirit, Joh 7:24.

ἀπολύετε, καὶ ἀπολυθήσεσθε. The words should be rendered, ‘Set free and ye shall be set free.’ Comp. Luk 22:68. Vulg[140] dimittite et dimittemini. The verb ἀπολύω in the N. T. never means ‘to forgive.’ For comment see the Parable of the Debtors, Mat 18:23-35.

[140] Vulg. Vulgate.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Forgive [απολυετε] . Lit., release. So Rev., Christ exhorts to the opposite of what he has just forbidden : "do not condemn, but release." Compare chapter Luk 22:68; Luk 23:16, 17.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.