Against Judging (Luke 6:37 f., Luke 6:41 f.)· Mt. here returns (from Matthew 5:48) to the Sermon as it stood in Q. The subjects of the kingdom are warned against a censorious habit of mind; judging involves judgment, ultimate and Divine, or (as Mt. interprets it) present and human. Note how Lk. in the parallel to Matthew 7:2 goes on to enjoin a kindly bearing towards others. Matthew 7:3-5 illustrates the warning of Matthew 7:1. mote: a piece of dry wood or straw, a chip or splinter. Cf. the Rabbinic proverb, He who accuses another of a fault has it himself, and Romans 2:1. The censorious man is a hypocrite (Matthew 7:5), because his unkind criticism disguises itself as a kindly act.
Related Commentaries of Matthew 7:1
Matthew 7:1-5
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.
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.