DON'T GIVE THAT WHICH IS HOLY TO DOGS & PIGS

Do not give that which is holy-the sacred thing-to the dogs; and do not throw your pearls before hogs, lest they trample upon them with their feet and turn and tear you into pieces. (Matthew 7:6).


The disciples, who have already been exhorted to love their enemies (5:43-47) and not to judge (v.1), might fail to consider the subtleties of the argument and become un-discerning simpletons. This verse guards against such a possibility.


"Pigs" and "dogs" serve together as a picture of what is vicious, unclean, and abominable (cf. 2 Pet. 2:22). The pigs trample the pearls under foot (perhaps out of animal dis-appiontment that they are not morels of food), and the dogs can be so disgusted that they turn on the giver. So the aphorism forbids proclaiming the "sacred" Gospel of the kingdom to certain persons designated as dogs and pigs. Rather than trampling the Gospel under foot, everything must be "sold" in pursuit of it (13:45-46).


This verse is not a directive against evangelizing the Gentiles, especially in a book full of various supports for this. "Dogs" and "Pigs" refer to any persons who have given clear evidences of rejecting the Gospel with vicious scorn and hardened contempt.


[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].


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JESUS IS LORD.

THE DANGER OF JUDGING OTHERS

DO NOT judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves.
   2 For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you deal out to others it will be dealt out again to you.
   3 Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother's eye, but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?
   4 Or how can you say to your brother, Let me get the tiny particle out of your eye, when there is a beam of timber in your own eye?
   5 You hypocrite, first get the beam of timber out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the tiny particle out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5).


1 "Do not judge" does not forbid all judging af any kind, for the moral distinctions drawn in the Sermon on the Mount require that decisive judgments be made. Jesus himself goes on to speak of some people as dogs and pigs (v.6) and to warn against false prophets (vv.15-20). Jesus' demand here is for his disciples not to be judgmental and censorious (see Rom 14:10-13). Those who judge like this will in turn be judged, not by other people (which would be of little consequence), but by God. Anyone who engages in such judgments usurps the place of God.


2 Using what was probably a proverbial saying, Jesus asserts that the judgmental person, by not being forgiving and loving, testifies to his own arrogance and impenitence, by which such individuals shut themselves out from God's forgiveness.


3-5 The "speck of sawdust" could be any bit of foreign matter. The "plank" is obviously colorful hyperbole. Jesus does not say it is wrong to help a fellow Christian remove the speck of dust in his eye, but it is wrong for a person with a "plank" in his eye to offer help. That is sheer hypocrisy. But when a brother in a meek and self-judging spirit (cf. 1 Cor 11:31; Gal 6:1) removes the log in his own eye, he has the responsibility of helping his brother remove his speck (Matt 18:15-20).


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JESUS IS LORD.

THE ONLY SIN THAT IS UNPARDONABLE

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub, and by [the help of] the prince of demons He is casting out demons." 23 And He summoned them to Him, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan drive out Satan?  24 And if a house is divided-split into factions and rebelling-against itself that house will not be able to last. 26 And if Satan has raised an insurrection against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is [surely] coming to an end. 27 But no one can go into a strong man's house and ransack his household goods right and left and seize them as plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may [thoroughly] plunder his house. 28 Truly and solemnly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever abusive and blasphemous things they utter; 29 But whoever speaks abusively against or maliciously misrepresents the Holy Spirit can never get forgiveness, but is guilty of and is in the grasp of an everlasting trespass." 30 For they persisted in saying, "He has an unclean spirit. (Mark 3:22-30).

22 The teachers of the law had come down from Jerusalem, indicating that the word about Jesus was spreading and causing concern in high places. Their analysis of Jesus' condition was "he is possessed by Beelzebub!" (i.e., "the prince of demons," or Satan). They accused Jesus and Satan of being in collusion with each other.

23-27 Jesus replied to the charge by making a comparison. His argument is as follows: I have just cast out demons. Now if I am doing this by Satan's power, then Satan is actually working against himself. But that would be absurd. Just as a house or a kingdom cannot stand if it is divided against itself or opposes itself, so Satan will bring about his own destruction by working against himself. In essence, Jesus was saying two things: (1) he cannot be i collusion with Satan; and (2) he is actually destroying Satan's work, which means he is more powerful than Satan.

          By the parable of v.27, Jesus implies that he is tying up Satan in order to deliver from bondage those under Satan's control. That was, after all, one of his main tasks (1 John 3:8).

28-30 Jesus follows this story with a solemn pronouncement: forgiveness is available for all the sins and blasphemies of humans except for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What is that sin? Verse 30 suggests an explanation. Jesus had done what any unprejudiced person would have acknowledged as a good thing. He had freed an unfortunate man from the power and bondage of evil through the power of the Holy Spirit, but the teachers of the law ascribed it to the power of Satan. To call light darkness or good evil or Jesus' work satanic because of prejudice in one's heart is the worst sin of all.

          The words of v.29 have caused great anxiety and pain in the history of the church. Many have wondered whether they have committed the "unpardonable sin." Surely what Jesus is speaking of here is not an isolated act but a settled condition of the soul-the result of a long history of repeated and willful acts of sin through hardness of heart (cf. 3:5). On the other hand, any who are troubled about this sin give evidence that they have not committed it. If the person involved cannot be forgiven, it is not so much that God refuses to forgive as it is the sinner who refuses to allow him.

[NIV BIBLE COMMENTARY Volume 2: New Testament].

[http://twitter.com/SowersOfTheWord].

JESUS IS LORD.