Hypocrite

A summary statement on passing judgment upon others

7:1 Jesus did not intend to prohibit all acts of judgment.Elsewhere He commanded believers to discern the actions of others (v. 15; 18:15-20). What Jesus condemned is hypocritical judgment that focuses on the faults of others while excusing one's own sins. 7:2 Jesus warned that those who use a harsh standard of judgment when evaluating others can expect God to use the same harsh standard when they face His judgment.

Matthew 7:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

a. Judge not, that you be not judged: Jesus touches on an important theme related to the way we think of and treat others.

i. We remember that Jesus called for a righteousness that was greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). In the way some people think, the way to make one’s self more righteous is to be more judgmental of others. Jesus here rebuked that kind of thinking.

b. Judge not, that you be not judged: With this command Jesus warned against passing judgment upon others, because when we do so, we will be judged in a similar manner.

i. Among those who seem to know nothing of the Bible, this is the verse that seems to be most popular. Yet most the people who quote this verse don’t understand what Jesus said. They seem to think (or hope) that Jesus commanded a universal acceptance of any lifestyle or teaching.

ii. Just a little later in this same sermon (Matthew 7:15-16), Jesus commanded us to know ourselves and others by the fruit of their life, and some sort of assessment is necessary for that. The Christian is called to show unconditional love, but the Christian is not called to unconditional approval. We really can love people who do things that should not be approved of.

iii. So while this does not prohibit examining the lives of others, it certainly prohibits doing it in the spirit it is often done. An example of unjust judgment was the disciples’ condemnation of the woman who anointed Jesus with oil (Matthew 26:6-13). They thought she was wasting something; Jesus said she had done a good work that would always be remembered. They had a rash, harsh, unjust judgment.

We break this command:

when we think the worst of others.

when we only speak to others of their faults.

when we judge an entire life only by its worst moments.

when we judge the hidden motives of others.

when we judge others without considering ourselves in their same circumstances.

c. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged: Jesus did not prohibit the judgment of others. He only requires that our judgment be completely fair, and that we only judge others by a standard we would also like to be judged by.

i. When our judgment in regard to others is wrong, it is often not because we judge according to a standard, but because we are hypocritical in the application of that standard — we ignore the standard in our own life. It is common to judge others by one standard and ourselves by another standard — being far more generous to ourselves than others.

d. With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you: This is the principle upon which Jesus built the command, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” God will measure unto us according to the same measure we use for others. This is a powerful motivation for us to be generous with love, forgiveness, and goodness to others. If we want more of those things from God, we should give more of them to others.

i. According to the teaching of some rabbis in Jesus’ time, God had two measures that He used to judge people. One was a measure of justice and the other was a measure of mercy. Whichever measure you want God to use with you, you should use that same measure with others.

ii. We should only judge another’s behavior when we are mindful of the fact that we ourselves will be judged, and we should consider how we would want to be judged.

An illustration of Jesus’ principle regarding judging.

7:3-5 The mote, perhaps a piece of sawdust, represents a small fault. The beam, a piece of large timber, represents a major moral fault. He who corrects the minor faults of others without attending to his own more serious faults is a hypocrite. Believers do have a responsibility to help one another repent of sins, but only after first dealing with their own serious sins.

Matthew 7:3–5 KJV 1900

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 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? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

a. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? The figures of a speck and a plank are real figures, yet used humorously. Jesus shows how we are generally far more tolerant to our own sin than we are to the sin of others.

i. Though there might be a literal speck in one’s eye, there obviously would not be a literal plank or board in an eye. Jesus used these exaggerated, humorous pictures to make His message easier to understand and more memorable.

ii. It is a humorous picture: A man with a board in his eye trying to help a friend remove a speck from the friend’s eye. You can’t think of the picture without smiling and being amused by it.

iii. An example of looking for a speck in the eye of another while ignoring the plank in one’s own is when the religious leaders brought the woman taken in adultery to Jesus. She had certainly sinned; but their sin was much worse and Jesus exposed it as such with the statement, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first (John 8:7).

b. Look, a plank is in your own eye: Jesus indicates that the one with the plank in his own eye would not immediately be aware of it. He is blind to his obvious fault. It is the attempt to correct the fault of someone else when we ourselves have the same (or greater fault) that earns the accusation, “Hypocrite!”

i. “Jesus is gentle, but he calls that man a ‘hypocrite’ who fusses about small things in others, and pays no attention to great matters at home in his own person.” (Spurgeon)

ii. Our hypocrisy in these matters is almost always more evident to others than to ourselves. We may find a way to ignore the plank in our own eye, but others notice it immediately. A good example of this kind of hypocrisy was David’s reaction to Nathan’s story about a man who unjustly stole and killed another man’s lamb. David quickly condemned the man, but was blind to his own sin, which was much greater (2 Samuel 12).

c. First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye: Jesus didn’t say that it was wrong for us to help our brother with the speck in his eye. It is a good thing to help your brother with his speck, but not before dealing with the plank in your own eye.

7:6 The holy probably refers to sacrificial meat. Dogs would devour it insensibly without appreciating its sacredness. In Jesus' allegory, this sacrificial meat symbolizes His own sacred teachings. The dogs symbolize the wicked who disregard the value of His teachings. First-century teachers referred to pearls symbolically to speak of insightful and valuable teaching. Consequently, the pearls here symbolize Jesus' teachings given by the disciples. Swine were ritually unclean animals. They symbolize the wicked and unclean. Pigs eat spoiled food but have no appreciation for pearls, just as the wicked consume wicked pleasures but disregard the gospel. This contempt for the gospel is pictured by the pig trampling the pearls underfoot. That pigs may turn against the one offering the pearls shows that contempt for the gospel message can become contempt for the gospel messenger, as has often happened in history.

Matthew 7:6 KJV (WS)

6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.