CRITICAL NOTES
Matthew 7:27. Great was the fall of it.—How lively must this imagery have been to an audience accustomed to the fierceness of an Eastern tempest, and the suddenness and completeness with which it sweeps everything unsteady before it! (Brown). We see, from the present example, that it is not necessary for all sermons to end in a consolatory strain (Bengel).
Matthew 7:28. Doctrine.—Teaching (R.V.). Not only the matter, but the manner.
Matthew 7:29. Not as the scribes.—As a rule the scribe hardly ever gave his exposition without at least beginning by a quotation from what had been said by Hillel or by Shammai, by Rabbi Joseph or Rabbi Meir, depending almost or altogether upon what had thus been ruled before, as much as an English lawyer depends on his precedents. In contrast with this usual custom, our Lord fills the people with amazement by speaking to them as One who has a direct message from God (Plumptre).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Matthew 7:24-29
Striking home.—In the earlier part of these words we find our Saviour bringing His solemn discourse to a close. In the latter part we have an account of the effect it produced at the time. The two together may be regarded as showing us two opposite things, viz. on the one hand, the solemn testimony of Christ to His hearers; and, on the other, the open testimony of His hearers to Him.
I. His testimony to them.—This was such as to put before them, in the first place, a serious twofold choice. Just before (Matthew 7:21-23), He seems to have been speaking of more than one unsatisfactory way of dealing with His words; the way of mere profession, the way of mere preaching, the way of mere work. In reality and essence, these came to but one. These were all ways—however varied ways—of doing one thing, viz. of hearing Christ with contempt. Here is the vital point in this matter of hearing. To hear and obey is to hear with respect. To hear without doing is to hear with contempt. One of the two all His hearers must do (Matthew 7:24; Matthew 7:26). There is no other method; no middle course; no possible third. This testimony gives warning, in the next place, of a serious common experience. Both these ways of hearing will be tested in time in a similar way. Both “buildings” will be exposed, in the nature of things, to essentially identical perils, perils of waters, perils of winds, perils of both not only “beating” on, but as it were “smiting” their walls (Matthew 7:25; Matthew 7:27). Cf. also such passages as Job 1:11; Luke 22:31; 2 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 1 Peter 1:7; Revelation 3:10. Also such passages as declare that the “good fish” and the “bad,” the “tares” and the “wheat,” the “goats” and the “sheep,” are to be discriminated first and then divided asunder. A day of judgment—a day of testing—on whichever side we really are—is to come to us all. Lastly, this testimony speaks, in consequence, of a serious twofold result. There will be the result of failure, or else of success; of approval or of condemnation; of confirmed stability or of ruin. This is inevitable in the nature of things. The man who does as the Saviour counsels is treating those counsels with reverence; in other words, he is building on a “rock,” and doing as wisdom dictates. The man who does otherwise is practically despising them. He, on the other hand, is building on the “sand,” and doing as folly dictates. It is impossible, therefore, that such different courses, when they come to be tested, should have a common result. Hardly any amount of wind and water will affect the removal of a “rock.” Almost any amount of wind and water will do this for the “sand”; and therefore, of course, for all that which has been erected upon it. The more conspicuous this is, therefore, the more conspicuous also will be the magnitude of its wreck (Matthew 7:27).
II. Their testimony to Him.—In a general way, this may be expressed in one word. It was the testimony of astonishment. “They were astonished at His doctrine.” Astonished at it in two ways, and on two different grounds. Astonished, first, at its claims. All that their usual teachers even pretended to was very much less. They claimed only to sit “in Moses’ seat,” and to be the expounders of his teaching. Only up to that—not a step above that—did they venture to claim. Cf. Matthew 19:7; Mark 12:19; John 9:28. As to “adding to” his words, whatever they did in practice (Mark 7:13), that they professed to abhor (Acts 6:14). Yet this, on the other hand, though only in the way of confirming, is just what Christ claimed to do in this case. Moses said so much. I say to you more. Moses gave this law. I give you a further. Also the Saviour did this—which is of even greater importance—in a way of His own. The utmost that could be said of Moses was that he spake as he was told. He was faithful as a servant in all his house (Hebrews 3:5). Christ speaks here as a son. He adds and explains; He alters and modifies; He assures and predicts; He legislates and enacts—all on no authority but His own. No wonder, therefore, that His hearers compared this with that lack of authority which was so conspicuous with the scribes; and were astounded thereby. Equally astounded were they, in the next place, at His manifest power. It was not only that He claimed such authority. It was felt also that His teaching possessed it. There was that about it which compelled their attention. There was that in it which made it sink into their thoughts. From the peculiarity of the expression employed, ἦν διδάσκων, He “was teaching” with authority—it would appear that they felt this all the way through. All that they heard Him say they felt to be worthy of saying. All that His manner claimed His matter justified. There was a weight and lucidity and decision—a holiness also, and justice and mercy—a majesty, and at the same time a meekness—about all that He said which made them listen to it, if not as yet with perfect faith, yet with the profoundest respect. “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). “As He spake these words, many believed on Him” (John 8:30). “He was mighty in word” (Luke 24:19). These things, which were said of Him afterwards, describe what was felt concerning Him from the first.
From this account of the close of our Saviour’s great opening discourse several reflections arise:—
1. How completely it answered its purpose.—Coming when it did, its great object was to prepare men for His ministry. The verdict of His hearers shows that this was thoroughly effected. They left Him with the conviction that He was one who knew what He said, and who, therefore, was worth hearing again.
2. How comparatively limited, yet, was its scope.—It is full of our duties, less full of our hopes. It was not such an “invitation” as afterwards (Matthew 11:28). Nor had it quite such a result as afterwards (John 16:29). It was the “Sinai,” in short, rather than the “Zion” of the New Testament (Hebrews 12:22); an introduction to the gospel—as became its position—rather than the gospel itself.
3. How suggestive, therefore, its position.—Does it not point us, for fulness of knowledge, to the end of Christ’s ministry? And do we not find this fulness in those discourses pronounced by Him (Matthew 26:26-29; John 14; John 16.) on the night of His death? Here, as we have seen, we are taught principally about the nature of our duties. In Matthew, as above, we are taught where to find mercy for our failures in duty. In John, as above, where to find help in doing better in future.
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Matthew 7:24. General observations from the Sermon on the Mount.—
I. The connection of this part with the foregoing in the particle “therefore.” From what has gone before it follows clearly that he is a very unwise man who bestows his pains and places his hopes in his knowledge, or faith, or profession, or in his gifts, or in the great esteem he acquires in the world, if he neglects the main thing, a sincere obedience to the laws of the gospel.
II. Our Saviour’s Sermon on the Mount contains all things which were then necessary to salvation.—As to faith in Christ, it is probable they had it as far as was then necessary for persons in their circumstances. As to Christian hope, besides what the Jews knew before of a future state, our Saviour had, in this Sermon, acquainted them with the great rewards in heaven, and everlasting life, to which the narrow way of duty leads, and with that destruction which attends the going on securely in the broad way of sin. He had acquainted them, likewise, with the great day of accounts, and what would and what would not be accepted as a discharge of their duty.
III. This doctrine of our Saviour’s, contained in the Sermon on the Mount, belongs to all men.—“Whosoever.”
IV. Christ’s doctrine is a practical doctrine.—“Doeth them.”
1. In its own nature it is all reducible to practice.—It is not a system of hard and unintelligible terms and distinctions, etc.
2. It is our Saviour’s great design that it be applied to this use.—For,
(1) God’s glory;
(2) our neighbour’s good;
(3) our own soul’s benefit.—Jas. Blair, M.A.
Matthew 7:24-27. The wise and foolish hearers.—The contrast intended is not that between two men deliberately selecting different foundations on which to build, but that between two men, one of whom makes the foundation a matter of deliberate consideration, while the other, on the contrary, never takes a moment’s thought about a foundation, but proceeds to build at haphazard, on the surface, anywhere, just where he happens to be—on the loose sand on the banks, or even in the bed, of a river dried up by the severe drought and scorching heat of summer, as rivers are so apt to be in the East. Insight into the whole connection of thought in the Sermon might lead us to this conclusion, even were we to confine our attention to Matthew’s narrative; but it is forced on our attention by the way in which Luke reports Christ’s words (Luke 6:48-49). Evidently this foolish man is not one who makes a mistake in judgment as to the best foundation for a house, judging sand to be the best, which in certain circumstances it really is; but, rather, one who loses sight of the fact that the foundation of a house is matter of prime importance, and thoughtlessly begins to build, like children who amuse themselves by erecting miniature houses on the seashore, within high-water mark, destined to be washed away a few hours after by the inrolling tide. Let us now see what light this fact throws on the interpretation of the whole passage.
I. We can see the special appropriateness of the emblems employed by our Lord to represent two different types of men in reference to religion. On the general appropriateness of these emblems it is unnecessary to dilate.
1. The building of a house is manifestly an apt emblem of the profession and practice of religion.
(1) A house is for rest.—It is our place of abode, our home. In like manner religion is the rest of the soul (Psalms 116:7; Psalms 90:1).
(2) A house is for shelter from the elements.—In like manner religion is the soul’s shelter from sin, temptation, fear, and care (Psalms 91:1-2).
(3) A house is for comfort.—It is the scene of domestic happiness and peace. Even so is religion the bliss of the soul (Psalms 84:4; Psalms 65:4).
2. A difficulty may be felt in reference to the house built on the sand. A flood in a river is a thing of annual, or even more frequent, occurrence; and it seems to violate all natural probability to represent men as acting in entire disregard of so great a risk. But in this very violation of probability lies the very point and peculiar appositeness of the metaphor. For Christ would suggest that men do in religion things the like of which they would not dream of doing in the ordinary affairs of life; and the implied assertion is unhappily too true.
3. We are at the same time impressed with the peculiar appositeness of the other comparison, of the man who heareth and doeth, to one who being minded to build a house, begins by digging, and going deep in digging, for a foundation. It points him out in contrast to the other as one who considers well what he is about, bears in mind all the uses of a house, and all that it may have to endure. In a word, his characteristics are considerateness and thoroughness, as those of the other are inconsiderateness and superficiality.
II. What light is thrown on the difference between the two classes of men spoken of by the Preacher, by the contrast drawn between the two builders.—Our Lord Himself distinguishes the two classes by representing a man of the one class as one who heareth His sayings and doeth them, and a man of the other class as one who heareth His sayings and doeth them not. The distinction is sufficiently definite for practical purposes. We all have an approximately correct idea of the two types of character thus discriminated. It will be observed that in the figurative representation both men appear as building a house. The difference lies in the quality of their work.
1. Two points of difference in character are clearly hinted at.
(1) The wise builder has a prudent regard to the future; the foolish builder thinks only of the present.
(2) The wise builder does not look merely to appearance; the foolish builder cares for appearance only. His house looks as well as another’s, so far as what is above ground is concerned; and as for what is below ground, that, in his esteem, goes for nothing. Carrying these two distinctions with us into the spiritual sphere, we are supplied with the means of distinguishing very exactly between the genuine and the spurious professors of religion. The spurious look only to what is seen, the outward act; the genuine look to what is not seen, the hidden foundation of inward disposition, the heart-motive, out of which flow the issues of life.
2. But another equally marked distinction between the genuine and the counterfeit disciple is to be found in their respective attitudes towards the future. The one has forethought, the other none.
III. The infallible judges of the builders and their work.—The rain, the wind, the floods. Trial is to be expected and may come quite suddenly.—A. B. Bruce, D.D.
Character-building.—
I. All men are building.
II. All builders have a choice of foundations.
III. All foundations will be tried.
IV. Only one foundation will stand.—Joseph Parker, D.D.
The wise builder and the foolish.—Moses descended a terrible mountain in the wilderness, bringing the law for Israel inscribed on tablets of stone. The Prophet “like unto Moses” sat on a mountain of Palestine in the sunshine, with His disciples and the multitude listening while He opened His mouth in blessings, and then proceeded to indicate the deeper meanings of the Divine law, and to explain the righteousness which belongs to the Divine kingdom among men. Sore punishments were denounced against those “who despised Moses’ law.” A grave responsibility fell on those who heard Christ’s teaching; on the mount. So in closing His discourse, He warned His hearers not to think it enough to pay an outward respect to His instruction. They should be doers of the word, and not hearers only. The admonition is for all who read His words, as much as for those who originally heard them. It is much needed; for scarcely any part of Scripture has been more praised and less obeyed than the Sermon on the Mount.
I. The two builders.—
1. To the wise builder “shall be likened” the obedient hearer of the words of Christ. To some this mode of describing a Christian appears to be scarcely evangelical. It seems to lay stress on doing, and not on believing. But in reality to “do the words” and to believe on Him who uttered them are not different actions of the mind, but essentially one and the same. It should be observed that the Sermon on the Mount was delivered at an early stage of our Lord’s career, when He showed Himself in Galilee as a prophet. In that capacity He spoke, and the proper mode in which to express faith in Him was to hearken to His sayings and keep them. When He came to be more fully revealed in His saving purpose and power, more emphasis was laid on faith in Him. Those who follow Him are disciples, as He is their Teacher; believers, as He is their Saviour. In fact, it is the adherence of the whole heart and mind to the Lord Jesus that is essential and fundamental. This is to base the house upon the rock.
2. To the foolish builder “shall be likened” the disobedient hearer of the words of Christ. He listens and seems to honour and approve, yet does not keep or do the word—is no true disciple.
II. The day of trial.—In fair weather the two houses described may look equally safe, but a day of storm soon tells the difference. Now there are many critical hours in life that test to some extent our spiritual character and hope; but the day of judgment indicated for the two houses is properly that day of which our Lord had spoken in which doers of His Father’s will will be received into the kingdom of heaven, and workers of iniquity, however they may cry “Lord, Lord,” will be shut out. The higher and larger the foolish builder’s house, the greater the ruin into which it falls. Disappointment of vain hopes confidently cherished, enhances the misery of perdition. With these sad words, “Great was the fall of it,” ended the Sermon on the Mount.—D.Fraser, D.D.
Builders in the kingdom: a contrast.
—
I. The two builders.
II. The two foundations.
III. The two results.—J. Harries.
Matthew 7:24-25. The right hearers of Christ’s sayings.—
I. The description of a good Christian.—He is a man well instructed in the Christian doctrine, and one that frames his life and conversation according to the direction thereof.
1. The right qualifications of a hearer.—
(1) It is necessary that he shake off whatever may obstruct his hearing, or attending to what he hears.
(2) Hearing must be mixed with faith.
(3) What is heard must be retained.
2. The doing.—There are a great many good Christian exercises comprehended under this practical part; namely, holy resolution, vigilance against temptations, fervent prayer for grace, repentance after lapses, courage against evil examples, and patience and perseverance to the end.
II. The good success of his labours.—Consider:
1. The comparison between the fabric of religion and the fabric of a house.—As building a great house is one of the greatest designs men commonly undertake, a design which ought to be well laid, and the expense of it well considered before it is gone about, so it is with religion.
2. The comparison between a lively faith in Christ, and the laying a good solid foundation for building upon.—This means,
(1) serious consideration and forecast;
(2) faith in Christ;
(3) a firm resolution to add practice to our knowledge of Christ’s doctrine. These three are the digging deep, and laying the foundation of religion so solidly that it will never fail.
3. The superstructure of a good life.
4. The proof of the excellency and solidity of his religion, beyond that of the hypocrite, in that it stood firm against all shocks and trials.
5. The consequence of this.—That his religion served him not only for his present temporary ends, but like a good, well-built, durable house, answered the ends of a lasting habitation.—Jas. Blair, M.A.
Matthew 7:28-29. The climax.—The teaching of Jesus Christ all through His marvellous life excited not only admiration; it also excited wonder and amazement. The Evangelists record such several times. His majestic authority everywhere commanded reverence where it did not secure love. Such also were the effects and results after our Lord concluded His Sermon on the Mount, that the whole multitude who heard it were “astonished at His doctrine,” and doubtless scores were converted under the Sermon and sought discipleship. Observe:—
I. The doctrine which He taught.—“These sayings,” the gospel of righteousness. Jesus Christ did not deal in metaphysical subtleties, or philosophical abstractions, or theological mysticism, but in practical Christianity. His theoretic theology was always intended to lead to practical religion. He addressed the understanding always in order to reach the heart. The Sermon on the Mount is worth more than all human commentaries upon the law; infinitely superior to all codes and treatises on ethics, and incomparably above all systems of moral philosophy.
1. The teaching of Christ is practical.—Practice is the truth lived.
2. The teaching of Christ is practicable.—The Sermon on the Mount has given us a very high ideal, holding forth a standard of the highest excellence conceivable; yet, the ideal is approachable and attainable.
II. The impression produced.—“Astonished;” or, as the word is sometimes rendered, amazed or astounded. But what gave this extraordinary power to His teaching? Some might suggest as a reason His naturalness, others His originality, others His beautiful simplicity, others His catholicity, others His winning manner. Doubtless these characteristics had much to do in popularising the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, and in making it tell on the people; even “the common people”—that is, what we call in our day “the masses”—“heard Him gladly.” But there is a deeper secret in His teaching than the above characteristics, viz:—
1. His power lay in Himself.—He did not repeat lessons given Him. He did not teach from books or traditions. What would be offensive and intolerable egotism in other teachers was essential in Christ.
2. His power lay in His life.—His life is an expression of His Divine thoughts, is the melody, the charm, and the secret and the convincing power in all His teaching. But learn here—
3. The terrible possibility of being filled with amazement and yet not saved.—Astonishment or admiration will not save.
III. The reason assigned.—“For He taught as one having authority,” etc. As Dr. Caird puts it, “the truth we receive from the lips of another may either derive its authority from the teacher, or reflect on him the authority it contains. As the receiver of money may argue, either that the money is good because it is an honest man who pays it, or that the man is honest because he pays good money; so in the communication of truth, it may be a valid inference, either that the doctrine is true because it is a trustworthy man who teaches it, or that the man who teaches is veracious or trustworthy because his doctrine is true!” The word authority can be taken in both senses in the text.
1. The teaching of Jesus Christ came with authority, because of His inherent Divine character.
2. Because of the credibility of Him who taught.—J. Harries.
The Divine Teacher.—
I. The excellency of the doctrine.—Instead of a discourse of rites and. ceremonies, customs and traditions, wherewith the scribes and Pharisees used to entertain them, here was an instruction of the purest morals the world had ever been taught; morals, which do not rest in regulating only our external behaviour, but such as reach to the root of all our disorders, the thoughts and imaginations of the heart. The doctrine was:
1. Admirable in itself.
2. Well adapted to the condition and circumstances of the hearers.
II. The admirable design, order, and contrivance of the whole discourse.—It was when Christ had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at His doctrine. This Sermon was so contrived that though every particular part of it was beautiful, there is a new beauty results from the whole. The first part (Matthew 5:1-13) meets the carnal expectations of men, from the Messiah’s temporal kingdom, as they imagined it would be. And this gave our Saviour an opportunity to guard His disciples against all gross immorality and profaneness, and to principle them in the contrary virtues. Then in the second part (Matthew 5:13 to Matthew 7:7) which exposes the Pharisaical righteousness and describes at large how the Christian morals are to exceed it, we find the several parts of duty set off to a higher degree of perfection than ever the world knew before, and those vices of pride, covetousness and censoriousness, which are apt to stick to the better sort of people, most excellently guarded against. Then, lastly (Matthew 7:7-28) being now well principled against both profaneness and hypocrisy, great care is taken in the end to direct us to the best means of reducing these precepts to practice, and to guard against all the ways whereby holiness and virtue are commonly undermined; and we are excellently instructed how to stand against these.
III. The wonderful authority of the Speaker.—
1. He spake not like a common interpreter of the law, confirming his doctrine as the Jewish doctors commonly did, by the authority of their learned men, but with the air and authority of a prophet, and by that authority took upon Him to correct the doctrine even of the scribes and Pharisees themselves. And He showed His authority for this His mission and commission from God, by the many miracles which He wrought.
2. By His speaking with authority may be meant, His delivering those divine truths with a seriousness, gravity, and majesty, suitable to the great weight and importance of them, and not drily and coldly, as the scribes did the doctrines about their traditions and ceremonies.
3. By His speaking with authority, or with a powerful influence, so as to touch the hearers, may be meant, the inward grace, which accompanied His outward preaching.—Jas. Blair, M.A.
Sources of pulpit power.—Jesus is pre-eminently the Preacher, and the Pattern and Inspiration of preachers. We therefore ask, what can we learn as to our work as students and preachers of the Word from the Evangelist’s report of the emotions of the crowd of listeners to the teaching of this marvellous Preacher? His words suggest at least five lines along which we may travel in quest of the chief sources of the preacher’s power; and at the head of each line we see the comprehensive and suggestive words, God, Character, Truth, Aim, and Sympathy. God: seen, trusted, and obeyed, the light of the preacher’s intelligence, the inspiration of his life. Character: based on the one foundation, and carefully built up after the likeness of Christ. Truth: as truth is in Jesus. An Aim that lifts out of self and places the worker at the centre of man, charged with and made victorious by the energies of a true human Sympathy. The most incisive element in this characterisation of the power of our Pattern Preacher is in the brief and forcible contrast between the teaching of Jesus and that of His contemporaries. A world of meaning lies in the phrase “not as the scribes.”
I. He was original.—Himself; sharply separated from the generation of mimics. True, as a Jew, He adopted some of the Jews’ ways, and even cast His discourses in the moulds used by the Jewish Rabbis. They used parables; so did He. They questioned their hearers and received and answered questions from them; so did He. They moved from place to place in the fulfilment of their teaching functions; so did He. But the resemblances went little further.
II. He inculcated inwardness and reality (Matthew 7:20).
III. The truth he taught was self-witnessing.—The “golden rule” will not need argument till the sun, shining in his undimmed strength, requires the labours of Euclid to demonstrate his presence. The blessing on the pure-hearted, on peace-makers, on those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; the parables of the good Samaritan, and of the prodigal son, are their own credentials. They do not ask for logic; they receive welcome. They make no call for argument; they are revelations, and force their way into the souls of men by their own light.
IV. His aim differed radically from that of the scribes.—They made more of the mechanism of worship than of its soul, and served systems till they became their taskmasters. Jesus worked for souls, not systems.
V. His aim was originated and sustained by intense love and glowing sympathy.—He who is most man works best for and speaks best to man.
1. Sympathy affects the preacher’s style, making it telling, direct, powerful and homely.
2. It kindles fancy, filling the mouth with parables, and the preaching with illustrations.
3. It gives persuasive power. Nothing gets hold of men like manly sympathy.
4. It renders the preacher a messenger of hope, a helper of joy, a source of brightness and sunshine.—J. Clifford, D.D.
Matthew 7:29. Christ’s originality.—
I. The manner of Christ’s teaching.—If we reflect on His three years of missionary work in Palestine, and on the specimens of His methods of work which are published in His biography, we shall find abundance of material for illustrating this. We can see at once how patient, how graphic, and how effective the manner of Christ’s teaching was. But withdrawing our thoughts from all these, the writer here directs our attention to one special feature of His teaching, viz. the authority with which He spoke. Nor is the matter in any way difficult of explanation. We all know that truth has a genuine ring about it which renders it unmistakable, while falsehood is characterised by cowardice and nervousness. And so the quibbling doctors, at whose feet the people sat, slavish, and speculative, and superstitious, were neither forcible in their utterances, nor commanding in their address. But when Christ taught He did so as One who came out from God to preach what was true, and who felt intensely the worth of what He spoke.
II. The matter of Christ’s teaching.—The particular cause of their amazement at this time was the teaching contained in the Sermon on the Mount, which had just been delivered. And well might such a homily startle a Jewish audience! It announced ideas which were altogether unfamiliar to the Hebrew mind, and laid down principles of life and conduct which ran counter to much of their teaching and many of their traditions. Now on these topics we might dwell, as furnishing many points of contrast with the theology of the Jews, and as well fitted to excite surprise in their minds. But it will be more for our profit to select from the teaching as a whole one or two of the new ideas which Christ propounded, and, through the Jews, communicated to the world.
1. The idea of a spiritual empire and constitution.—“The kingdom of God,” “the kingdom of heaven.”
2. A new and second birth.
3. That the Holy Spirit is a real, living, personal presence in the world.
III. The results of Christ’s teaching.—Christ, with no pretensions to culture, came forth from the obscurity of a Galilean hamlet to startle Jerusalem with His wisdom, and make hundreds of bigoted Hebrews proselytes to the Christian faith.—J. Barclay.