The Loving Art of Speck Removal
MATTHEW 7:1-12
MANY FAMOUS PHRASES that we in the Western world use in our common vocabulary come from the Sermon on the Mount. Some examples include go the extra mile, pay the last penny, don’t blow your own horn, a city on a hill, the light of the world, the salt of the earth, the narrow gate. However, no phrase from the Sermon (and perhaps from the whole Bible) is more popular today than that found in 7:1, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (kjv). (People even say it in the King James Version.)
Yet what I find ironic about our culture’s abundant use of this verse is that when quoted it is almost always used by a non-Christian to a Christian after that Christian has advocated some Christian belief or ethic. I can be sitting with a group of men in a pub on a Sunday morning watching the English Premier League, and if I say, “Argh, when is Manchester United going to trade so and so? He is so lazy and overpaid,” no one will turn to me and say, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” We all expect to make and hear judgments on professional athletes, coaches, and teams. Or if I am with my non-Christian neighbors in their family room watching a political debate and I say something like, “You know, I think the senator’s foreign policy is uniformed and naive,” my neighbor will not likely turn to me and say, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” Again, we all expect to make and hear judgments on politics and politicians.
However, if in these same two contexts I say, “I think that Joe Athlete (who we know from the news media lavishly spends his unjustified salary on all sorts of luxuries) spends his money not only irresponsibly but immorally,” what response would I get? Or if I said, “I think Islamic terrorism is based on some fundamental theological flaws in Islam’s holy book, the Quran,” what response would I get? It is then (and often only then) that the world’s new favorite Bible verse rears its head: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
However, here our culture is confused. When the Lord Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged,” he did not mean what our culture means when people presume to borrow this phrase. Jesus’ command does not mean that we are never to make an exclusive theological judgment or offer a moral corrective that is based on God’s Word.
I say this first and most obviously because of the words and actions of our Lord himself. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes one theological and ethical judgment after another. If you took out all the verses in chapters 5, 6 where Jesus says in essence, “Think this way, not that way; live this way, not that way,” you wouldn’t have many verses left. Or simply look in our text. Look at verse 5. It starts with a judgment, with Jesus’ favorite term for the person who turns God’s Law on its head—“You hypocrite” (cp. Matthew 23). Our Lord calls a spade a spade and a sinner a sinner.
Moreover, look at the next verse. In verse 6, as we shall see, Jesus commands us to discern who acts like a Christian—a “brother,” vv. 3-5—and who acts like an animal—a “dog” or a “pig.” These are not only harsh terms, but they are terms of judgment. Chapter 7, in fact, ends in verses 13-27 with us having to make one judgment after another: enter this narrow gate, not that wide one. Build your house on the rock, not on the sand. Listen to true teachers, not false ones.
Therefore, the verse “Judge not, that you be not judged” is not the end of Jesus’ discussion on judgment; rather it is just the beginning. In 7:1-12 our Lord Jesus is not teaching us not to judge (period), but rather how to make true, wise, and (most importantly) loving judgments. He will teach us the loving art of speck-removal.
Asking Our Father for What?
The first question often asked as one reads through this passage is, what is Jesus’ train of thought? For, first, Jesus talks about judging, next he gives this proverb about a dog and a pig, then he talks about prayer, and finally he tacks on the Golden Rule. So what's the ordering here? What is the progression of thought? What is Jesus getting at?
The first thing to notice is what John Stott calls the “connecting thread” of relationships between Christians and (1) God, (2) other Christians, and (3) hostile unbelievers. Once we see this thread, the next thing to do is to start with what Jesus says about our relationship with God (in other words, vv. 7-11). For if we start there (and understand what is taught there), then what comes after it in verse 12 and before it in verses 1-6 starts to unfold like petals of a flower on a lovely spring day.
So let’s start our study on speck removal with verses 7-11. Notice the word “ask” or “asks.” We are to ask (v. 7) and then ask (v. 8) and then ask (v. 6) and then ask (v. 10) and finally ask (v. 11). We are to ask God. We are also to “seek” and even “knock" (vv. 7, 8). We are not to stay put. We are to urgently and continuously call upon the Lord. Confident that our loving Lord will give us good things, we are to stand at his door and knock until he lets our petitions in. That’s the picture here.
But for what are we to pray? For what are we to ask God? The only answer found in verses 7-11 is a rather vague one—“good gifts” or “good things.” Look at verse 1 I. Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
So we are asking God, our Father, for “good things.” Such as? Well, I don’t know. Is this a blank cheque? How about a ton of money for all the things money can buy? I doubt that considering what we learned in Matthew 6. So what are these good gifts from God? Perhaps we are asking for forgiveness, strength to resist temptation, deliverance from evil, power to proclaim the gospel, or all of the above and more. Luke’s version reads, “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). Whether the Holy Spirit is in Matthew’s mind when he penned “good things” we cannot be certain. We can, however, be certain of our need for the Spirit Word to understand and live out all that Jesus has taught thus far in the Sermon on the Mount (5:2—7:6)! More directly related to this context, we need the indwelling Spirit Word to help us heed the Golden Rule (v. 12), especially in the most difficult circumstances, such as rightly judging ourselves and others. We need God’s gifts of discernment, and love—these “good gifts”—so that we might “see clearly,” as Jesus puts it in the middle of verse 5—see ourselves clearly and then see others clearly.
Seeing Ourselves Clearly
So that’s the gist of verses 7-11, of what is to be our relationship through prayer with God. Next look at verse 12, just the first part, as we move from our relationship with God to others: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you...” Do you see how the first part focuses on self? What would you want done to you? Well, no one would want what happens in verses 3,4 done
to them. No one would want some self-righteous, oblivious, uncaring, and condemning hypocrite to judge him from a distance, “Hey you. Yeah, you over there. I see a speck in your eye.” You think to yourself, "What? He sees a what?” And then here he comes, proudly parading over to you, condescendingly coaching you along the way. “Now you stay put. I’ll get that for you." Who would want that done to them?
So first we are to ask God’s help to see ourselves clearly, which involves seeing two things. First, we are to see the scales; second, we are to see the log. By “seeing the scales” I refer to what Jesus teaches in verse 2, where he says (starting in v. 1), “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”
Throughout chapter 7 Jesus emphasizes the judgment of God. Here the scale of God’s judgment on the last day is to be in our sight (cp. Romans 2:1-3; 1 Corinthians 4:4, 5). Jesus is telling us to remember before we pass judgment on someone else that we too will one day stand before the throne of God to give an account for everything. So, with what scale would you like God to weigh you? The scale of mercy that is very forgiving, or the scale of justice that is very exacting, which weighs each and every sinful thought, word, and action with the proper punishment? Jesus calls you to consider the scale of your forgiving heavenly Father before you judge your earthly brother. So, first, see the scale; then second, see the log.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly... (vv. 3-5a)
Stop there. Here Jesus is making a very serious point with a very funny illustration. Picture a guy with a speck in his eye. He really does have a problem. Like a sliver in a lion’s paw, a speck in the eye is not easy to live with. You want someone to remove it. So here comes help. Here comes Mr. Log-in-the-Eye. He has in his eye one of those main beams that holds up a house, which in Jesus’ day were about forty feet long and five feet around. There is no way he could possibly get close enough or see clearly enough to remove the speck. To remove a speck you need to get face-to-face with someone and look closely and carefully.
If the point of the analogy of the scales is, don’t be unmerciful in your judgment of others, the point of this log analogy is, don't be a hypocrite. However, being a hypocrite consists of more than meets the eye (pun intended). Most of us don’t intentionally act like hypocrites. Hypocrisy is usually like that small splash of spaghetti sauce on your left check. In order to see it you need someone else to say something to you, or you need to see it for yourself in the mirror. It is like David who needed Nathan to show him the log of his sin (2 Samuel 12). Or it is like those men who were ready to stone that woman caught in adultery who needed Jesus to open their eyes in order to look first at themselves: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). We all need a prophet or a friend or Jesus, as it is here, to help us see ourselves clearly and (taught here) to see clearly that we are quite dirty not only on the outside but also on the inside.
It is no slip of the tongue when Jesus, almost in passing, calls his followers “evil” in verse 11—“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children...” That is a profoundly true theological statement. We might do “good things.” We might “give good gifts” to our children. But at the root of everything we are and do, we still have our fallen human nature, which is fundamentally “evil.”
It is this evil within that makes it so easy to gossip, tell tales, find faults in others, make rash and hasty and ill-informed judgments, think the worst of others’ motives and actions, or take minor offenses and turn them into grand jury indictments, all the while missing the spaghetti sauce on our own face. Here Jesus says, “None of this in my kingdom. Put away all anger, wrath, malice, slander, and put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience; put away complaining and criticizing others, and put on love, thus bearing with one another and forgiving one another” (cp. Colossians 3:7, 12-14).
See the scales. See the log. See yourself clearly before you start removing specks.
Seeing Others Clearly
Back again to verse 12. The first part reads, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you...”—what I have titled, seeing ourselves clearly. The second half continues, “do also to them...”
We need to see ourselves clearly. However, if we stop there we miss this full command of love. We also need to see others clearly, so that we might act in appropriate ways toward them, and especially (in this context) so that we might judge others rightly and lovingly.
Thus we will now focus on verses 5b, 6. Look first at verse 6. Jesus has moved from the birds in chapter 6 to the dogs and the pigs: “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” Here Jesus says we must be able to discern between who is a “brother,” as in verses 3-5a (the word “brother” is used three times there) and who is a "dog” or a “pig.”
“Dog” is a term Jesus uses elsewhere to refer to “Gentiles” or more genetically “unbelievers” (cp. 15:26,27 and Revelation 22:15). Now I know that some of you are dog lovers, so prepare yourselves emotionally for what I have to say, for our gracious Lord Jesus does not speak well of man’s best friend. This is because in his day dogs were despised creatures. They roamed freely. They were dangerous. They were scavengers who ate whatever scraps they could find. Therefore, unlike our culture, it was uncommon in Jesus’ culture to have a dog as a companion. The only time the Bible mentions dogs hanging out with humans is when the dogs kept homeless Lazarus company by licking his sores (Luke 16:21).
Dogs were disgusting. And pigs... well, pigs were pigs. To a Jew, a pig was the “epitome of uncleanness”—both literally and spiritually. Unlike the pigs we might think of—like Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web—they were not kind. (And they didn’t talk!) They were more like wild boars. These unkosher creatures had a reputation for being not only filthy but also greedy and vicious.
Do you see what Jesus is saying? A “brother” is a believer and a “dog / pig” an unbeliever, though not just your average unbeliever but an antagonistic one (cp. 2 Peter 2:22). Our Lord says in essence, “Now listen, Brother / Sister, you need to be discerning here. Don’t take the gospel of the kingdom (what he labels ‘pearls’) and present it to those who are overly antagonistic toward it. Not only will they not appreciate it, they will be upset at you for throwing them a jewel when all they want is slop. Rather than the gospel that brings life, all they want is their own autonomous, foolish philosophy.”
What Jesus teaches here accords with what is taught in places like Proverbs 9:7, 8a: “Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you.” Furthermore, what Jesus teaches here is illustrated throughout the Scriptures in places like 10:14, where the disciples are told to shake the dust off their feet if they are not welcomed, or Acts 19:9, where we read that Paul “withdrew” from teaching in the synagogue in Ephesus because “some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation.” They rejected the gospel, so Paul moved on.
As Brethren and Sisters, once we see ourselves rightly, we also must see others rightly. We are to “judge with right judgment,” as Jesus puts it in John 7:24b (cp. 1 John 4:1; Titus 3:10, 11). We are not to feed the dogs. We are not to play with pigs. We are to see that some people want nothing to do with us and our gospel. And so, with sorrow in our hearts and tears in our eyes, like our Lord himself (see Luke 19:41,42), we are to leave them to themselves, and ultimately to the hands of God.
That is the first judgment we are to make. We are to discern the dogs from the disciples, the boars from the brothers. However, what are we to do with our brothers if we see that they have a speck in their eye? Are we to say, “Oh, that must be painful, but you know, I’m too busy to do anything about it”? No. Look at the second half of verse 5—the often forgotten aspect of the “judge not, that you be not judged” passage. After you have removed that log from your own eye, Jesus says, “then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.’” Am I reading that right? Yes. There it is! “Take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Step One: See the log in your own eye.
Step Two: Remove it. Repent of your sin.
Step Three: See the speck in your brother’s eye.
Step Four: Remove it. Take the speck out!
Some people think that the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are too lofty, too otherworldly, and thus too unrealistic. On the contrary, they are not. Certainly the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount are high and difficult; they are as challenging and rewarding as climbing a mountain. But they are also as tangible as that mountain, for throughout this Sermon Jesus is repeatedly realistic. In chapter 5 he teaches that entrance into the kingdom doesn’t require absolute keeping of the Law, but humility before God and sorrow over our sins. In chapter 6 he teaches us a prayer, the center of which petitions, “And forgive us our debts.” Jesus knows that we will have debts to ask forgiveness for daily. Here in chapter 7 Jesus says that the Ecclesial community will be filled with sinful brothers, some with specks and others with logs. According to Jesus, even those with logs—bigger or more obvious sins—have not only the right but also the obligation to help those with specks—those with little or less obvious sins. Isn’t that fascinating? Isn’t that beautiful?
Ligon Duncan describes this as the call to mutually discipline each other in the Lord. In the same vein Jesus calls Leviticus 19:18b (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself’) the second greatest commandment. But do you know what comes right before that? Leviticus 19:17, 18a reads:
You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor [i.e.. “brother”], lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people [i.e., your brothers], but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
This “reasoning frankly with your neighbor” is the difficult and delicate procedure of speck removal. The loving thing to do is to rebuke and remove sin. This involves (1) seeing your brother’s sin, (2) helping your brother see his sin, and (3) having him lie down, open wide his eyelids, and trust you—even you with the one-time log in your eye—to remove it carefully and caringly.
Jesus teaches in 18:15, If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Jesus goes on to say what should happen if he won’t listen, which eventually ends in treating him “as a Gentile,” like a dog (see vv. 16, 17). The ideal, however, is corrective eye surgery.
John Chrysostom once said, “Correct your brother, not as a foe, nor as an adversary, exacting a penalty, but as a physician.” That is the perfect analogy. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all physicians (ah! the physicianhood of all believers!), and just as we should not be taken aback if a doctor were to tell us that something is wrong with our eye and that the cure “might hurt a bit,” so we should not be surprised by the sins our brothers and sisters see in us—specks that need to be seen and removed for our own spiritual health.
Love is patient and kind: love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
And may I add, love judges all things rightly, wisely, with others’ best interests in mind.
It is unloving to judge your brother when you have a log in your own eye. But it is also unloving to leave a speck in your brother’s eye.
Asking for Wisdom
When I was a young man, I started reading through the New Testament. When I came to that wonderful book of James, I read these words:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith... (1:5, 6a)
Do you know what I did right after I read those verses? I took God at his word. I put down my Bible and prayed, “God, give me wisdom.”
At the time I didn’t know exactly what wisdom was or what I was asking for, but now I know. I was asking God, like Solomon did, to help me judge matters rightly, to distinguish between right and wrong thinking and living. I was asking God for what Jesus is instructing all his followers here to ask for: to help me make true, right, and (most importantly) loving judgments—those that are in the best interests of others and that I would like others to do for me.
When you pray, for what do you pray? When you knock on Heaven’s door... when you seek earnestly after God... when you pray to your Father in Heaven... for what do you ask? Here in 7:1-12 our Lord Jesus teaches us in pray that we might see ourselves clearly and thus see others clearly—to pray for wisdom so that we might judge one another lovingly.
(R. Kent Hughes. and Douglas Sean O'Donnell., 2013; edited Carl Hinton., 2020)