Matthew 7:4

Mat 7:4. Πῶς, how?) i.e. How is it fitting for you to do so?

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

Mat_7:4-5. Or how will it be morally possible for thee to say, and so on. The πῶς, like τί (cur), Mat_7:3, expresses what is morally absurd. Est enim proprium stultitiae, aliorum vitia cernere, oblivisci suorum, Cic. Tusc. iii. 30. 73.

καὶ ἰδοὺ, κ.τ.λ.] The more emphatic from there being no ἐστι; and lo, the beam in thine eye!

ἐκβάλω] Conjunct. hortatory, and in the present instance, in the sense of calling upon oneself (used also in the singular, see Kühner, II. 1, p. 185; Nägelsbach on Iliad, p. 404, ed. 3; Bornemann, in d. Sächs. Stud. 1846, p. 30).

ὑποκριτά] Hypocrite, who pretendest to be free from faults. The attribute is here taken from his demeanour as seen from its objective side, while the subjective side, which here presents itself as hypocrisy, is the conceit of self-delusion.

διαβλέψεις] neither imperative nor permissive (thou mayest see), but future. The result of self-amendment will be the earnest effort to help others to amendment Observe the compound (correlative of the simple verb, Mat_7:3) intenta acie spectabis. Comp. Plat. Phaed. p. 86 D; Arist. de Som. 3; Plut. Mor. p. 36 E.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 7:4 . ἐκβάλω , hortatory conjunctive, first person, supplies place of imperative which is wanting in first person; takes such words as ἄγε , φέρε , or as here ἄφες , before it. Vide Goodwin, section 255. For ἄφες modern Greek has ἄς , a contraction, used with the subjunctive in the first and third persons ( vide Vincent and Dickson, Modern Greek , p. 322).

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

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

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 4. Or how wilt thou say] That man is utterly unfit to show the way of life to others who is himself walking in the way of death.

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

(4) How wilt thou say—i.e., how wilt thou have the face to say.

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

4. a beam is in thine own eye] Which (1) ought to prevent condemnation of another for a less grave offence; and which (2) would obscure the spiritual discernment, and so render thee an incapable judge. The Pharisaic sin of hypocrisy (see next verse) was deeper and more fatal to the spiritual life than the sins which the Pharisee condemned.

out of] Greek ἀπό (a reading which rests on the highest MS. authority) = “from the outside surface,” which alone the Pharisee discerns—

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.

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother?.... This is not so much an interrogation, as an expression of admiration, at the front and impudence of such censorious remarkers, and rigid observators; who not content to point at the faults of others, take upon them to reprove them in a very magisterial way: and it is as if Christ had said, with what face canst thou say to thy friend or neighbour,

let me pull out the mote out of thine eye? give me leave to rebuke thee sharply for thy sin, as it deserves,

and behold a beam is in thine own eye; thou art guilty of a far greater iniquity: astonishing impudence! Art thou so blind, as not to see and observe thy viler wickedness? Or which, if conscious of, how canst thou prevail upon thyself to take upon thee to reprove and censure others? Dost thou think thy brother cannot see thy beam? And may he not justly retort thine iniquities upon thee, which exceed his? and then what success canst thou promise thyself? Such persons are very unfit to be reprovers of others.

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

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Ver. 4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, &c.] How impudent are hypocritical find faults, that can say such things to others, when themselves are most obnoxious! whence is this, but either from a secret desire of purchasing an opinion of freedom from the faults they so boldly censure in others, or that they may thereby the sooner insinuate and ingratiate with them they deal with? The Vulgate translation reads here Frater sine, &c., {a} "Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye," &c. "Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. When he speaketh fair, believe him not; for there are seven abominations in his heart," Pro 26:23; Pro 26:25; but there lies a great beam of hypocrisy between him and himself, that he cannot discern them. These are they that by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple, as the serpent did Eve. {b} You would think by their smoothing, soothing honey words, they were wholly set upon seeking your good; when they merely serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, as those Popish flesh flies. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend" (fair they are and pleasant, saith the Chaldee here), "but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful," Pro 27:6, as were those of Joab to Amasa, and Judas to Christ. Καταφιλειν non est φιλειν, saith Philo. Love is not always in a kiss; there are those who kiss and kill. David would not taste of their dainties, nor endure that they should pour upon him the sweetest ointments (as at feasts it was the custom among that people, Luk 7:46). Indeed, if the righteous smite him, he would take it for a singular courtesy. "Let him reprove me," saith he, "it shall be an excellent oil," and shall soak into me, as soft oil doth into wooden vessels, Pro 26:6; Psa 141:4-5. It shall not break my head; my heart it may; and so make way for the oil of God’s grace which is not poured save only into broken vessels; for indeed whole vessels are full vessels, and so this precious liquor would run over and be spilt on the ground, as Bernard hath it.

{a} Frater, quasi fere alter. Gellius xiii. 10.

{b} Pertinax Imp. vulgo dictus est χρηστολογος, quod blandus esset magis quam benignus. Aurel. Victor.

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.

Parallel passage: Luk_6:42a. Or. A second case is supposed. You may only see the mote or you may offer to remove it. How; with any conscience. Wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out? Let me. (afev , Mat_3:15) There is nothing here of the rudeness that so often accompanies censeriousness. Pull out; Revised Version, cast out (ekbalw). The thought is of the completeness, not the method, of the removal. (of. Mat_9:38) A beam; the beam (Revised Version); i.e. the beam already mentioned.

Vers. 4-6. Reproving.

This is kindred to judging, and so these are here closely associated. The Duty of reproving should be discharged with discretion.

I THE REPROVING OF A BROTHER SHOULD BE CONSIDERATE.

1. Reproof is a precious and holy thing.

(1) So it is described (ver. 6). The snuffers in the sanctuary were of pure gold. (see also Psa_141:5 Pro_3:18 Pro_25:12)

(2) It is sanctioned by the holiest examples. Moses; the prophets; Christ.

(3) It serves holy uses.

(a) Saves souls from death. (see Jam_5:19, Jam_5:20)

(b) Frees our souls from the guilt of complicity. (see Lev_19:17, margin)

(c) Leaves the sinner without excuse. So the fidelity of Noah condemned the antediluvians. (Heb_11:7)

2. The office of reprover should not be lightly undertaken.

(1) We are naturally too prone to attempt to set others right. Envy and malice give us piercing vision to discern motes in their eves.

(2) Blindness to our own faults proves us disqualified to cure those of others. Reproof is too often an attempt to depreciate the reproved that the reprover may be better thought of.

(3) It is hypocrisy to pretend zeal for the amendment of others while we have none for our own. Since the prerogative to reprove is with the saint, hypocrites reprove to simulate the saint.

(4) To correct error in another requires moral principle as well as intellectual discernment. Sin destroys spiritual vision. In overlooking this parents err in correcting their children. The truly righteous are the most merciful.

(5) Our badness must not excuse us from reproving. Rendering us unfit to reprove, it does not release us from the obligation to become fit. "A man"s offence can never become his defence.

II THE INCORRIGIBLY WICKED ARE BEYOND REPROOF.

1. They are described as dogs and swine.

(1) Some, like the dog, are pronouncedly unclean. The dog does not part the hoof. He makes no profession of a clean walk. Neither does he chew the cud. lie does not ruminate upon spiritual things.

(2) Some profess to be better than they are., The hog parts the hoof. Here is the profession of a clean walk. But then he does not chew the cud. He is filthy in the thoughts and intents of the heart. Note:

(3) The hog is no less abominable than the dog. False-faced sinners are the more offensive.

2. Their dispositions are brutish.

(1) They would trample upon pearls. The ungodly see no more beauty in holiness than the hog sees in a gem.

(2) They would turn again and rend you. The more refined are your tastes and dispositions the more intensely will the wicked hate you, and the more viciously will they treat you.

3. Let tide incorrigible alone.

(1) "Give not that which is holy." The allusion is to the holy things of the sanctuary. These were things which had touched the altar and were of the nature of sacrifice.

(2) Such things were never intended for dogs. They were eaten by the priests and Levites. The gospel is the "children"s bread." There is no gospel for the impenitent.

(3) Our respect for Christ should lead us to preach repentance first rather than faith to the wicked. Resentment against reproof is the sign of an unclean nature.

(4) We are not needlessly to hazard our lives in reproving the wicked. The hog will mistake the pearl of reproof for the stone of reproach. (see Jer_6:10 Luk_11:45) He will "turn again" in resentment. So Herod turned upon the Baptist.

(5) Our time may be better employed in preaching to those who will hear. (see Act_13:41)

LESSONS.

1. There are degrees in sin the mote as compared with the beam.

2. There are those who have the beam in the eye, but do not consider it. They justify their enormities by pleading that "others do worse.

3. He is no enemy to sin who does not hate it in himself.

4. Let reproof begin at home.

5. Let the severity of our reproving be restrained by consideration of our own frailty. J.A.M.

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

How sayest thou - With what face?

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

4, 5. Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye. The man who finds fault with another for sin, while he is more guilty, is a hypocrite. A great many are very zealous to convert the world, who are themselves unconverted.

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.

4. ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ for ἀπὸ τ. ὀφθ. ἀπὸ denoting removal from the surface, perhaps introduced from a note to mark and heighten the contrast. But the evidence for ἐκ is not decisive.

4. ἄφες ἐκβάλω. ‘Let me cast out.’ See Winer, p. 356 b, and note 3, where instances of this case of ἄφες with conjunctive are quoted from Epictetus, e.g. ἄφες ἴδω, ἄφες δείξωμεν. The expression belongs to the vernacular. In modern Greek ἄς, a corruption of ἄφες, is used with the subjunctive whenever let occurs in the English imperative. Clyde’s Modern Greek, p. 17.

τὸ κάρφος ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθ. ἀπὸ for ἐκ, though probably not the true reading, has considerable MS. support (see Crit. Notes). The gloss if it be a gloss shows a sense of the contrast already indicated by βλέπειν and κατανοεῖν. ἀπὸ implies removal from the surface, ἐκ removal from deep within.

(b) The Father’s love for the children of the Kingdom shown by answering prayer, 7–11

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.

4.] πῶς ἐρεῖς = πῶς δύνασαι λέγειν, Luke; wie darfst du sagen, Luther.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, the beam is in thine own eye ?] Lk. has: “How canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me cast out the mote which is in thine eye, when thyself seest not the beam in thine own eye?”—ἄφες ἐκβάλω] See Blass, p. 208; Moulton, p. 175, who quotes Ox. Pap. 413: ἄφες ἐγὼ αὐτὴν θρηνήσω.

(L)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.