Matthew 7:1-5, ESV

“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. 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 the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

The Old Testament gives us a somber warning about how poorly we see.

You may remember the story of the young shepherd David. Samuel had arrived at the house of Jesse with the commission of God in his hand and the expectation of a king in his eye. A proud father, Jesse marshaled his sons in front of the aging prophet for display. Eliab, the most imposing picture of a king, was the tallest and the eldest. Samuel surveyed him and rendered his verdict in the space of a glance, certain that the Lord’s anointed already stood before him. Even with all his wisdom, Samuel’s verdict was premature and wrong. The Lord interrupted the prophet with one of the most weighty sentences in the Old Testament.

“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart“ (1 Samuel 16:7, ESV).1

If even the prophet of Israel could be fooled by a tall son with kingly bearing, the rest of us should hold our verdicts with considerably looser hands.

In today’s passage, Jesus sharpens our view on how we judge others with three distinct movements that run through these five verses. The command in verses 1 and 2. The diagnosis in verses 3 and 4. The prescription in verse 5.

The Command

The first movement is an order. He sharply instructs them the way a parent steps in to stop two children from arguing. Stop the present pattern. The Greek verb krinō signals the cessation of an action already in progress. The men and women on the hillside were already rendering verdicts on each other, and Jesus is telling them, in real time, to put the gavel down.

Jesus had already preached this same principle in the previous chapter. The Lord’s Prayer reads, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).1 Then, in the only commentary He gives on any of the petitions, He drives it home. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).1 The measure of forgiveness extended is the measure received. The measure of judgment applied is the measure returned. Two applications, one principle.

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism teach the principle of karma, which rests on a false and insufficient foundation. Karma is impersonal and mechanical, operating without a judge. The biblical principle of reciprocal measure is personal and relational, grounded in the fact that God is the one and only true judge. He is not a force. He is a Person, and He is paying attention to the measure you are using. The kingdom runs on the endless mercy displayed on the cross. Shouldn’t yours?

The Diagnosis

The second movement is a question. Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye but not the log in your own? The Greek hones the asymmetry. The speck is karphos, a splinter small enough to lodge in an eye. The log is dokos, the load-bearing beam of a house, the kind of timber that frames a roof. Jesus is using rabbinic hyperbole that no listener could miss. A man walking around with a roof beam protruding from his eye, lecturing his neighbor about a splinter, is a picture that lodges in the memory because of its absurdity.

D.L. Moody captured this in one of his cleanest sentences. “If we would spend half the time finding fault with ourselves that we spend finding fault with our neighbors, what better Christians we should be.”5

The man with the log is not unaware of it. He is choosing to focus on the speck precisely to deflect attention from his own beam. The hypocrisy is not blindness. It is intentional misdirection.

Years ago, when raising investment capital for a software company, I learned what it feels like to be prosecuted from the other side of the chair. While presenting to a room of potential investors, one man glared at me from across the table and interrupted me aggressively. He asked, “Who is your technical founder?” My response was clear. “We don’t have one. We know the problem and the user persona incredibly well.” He fired back without hesitation. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll never invest in a software company without a technical founder.” Then he pushed his chair back, walked out of the room, and left everyone else sitting in silence.

His verdict came down in less than a minute. He saw the speck of a missing technical co-founder and pronounced his judgment without examining the evidence. I sometimes wonder how many times I have done the same thing to others.

The Prescription

The third movement is the order of operations. First, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. The command to address the brother is not eliminated but qualified. The man who has done the inner work is the man who is now qualified to do the outer work.

Warren Wiersbe captured this carefully. “Jesus was not prohibiting honest evaluation of others. He was warning against the kind of judgment that is censorious, hypocritical, and proud.”6 This is where most readings of the verse go wrong. It is not teaching that we leave the brother alone with the splinter in his eye, which would not be mercy at all. The passage ends with both brothers in full recognition of their position before the throne and with both walking away seeing clearly.

Galatians 6:1 shows us a path. “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”1 The watching of one’s own self is the log work. The spirit of gentleness is the posture that follows.

The Charge

Samuel saw Eliab’s grandeur and, had he not been listening to the Lord, could have anointed the wrong king. The investor saw a missing technical co-founder and walked out of the room. The hypocrite of Matthew 7 sees his brother’s speck and renders a verdict from behind a roof beam. You have felt these judgments and given your own.

We read covers; fortunately, God reads the contents. Take the log out first.

Reflection Questions

1. Where are you reading covers when God is reading contents?
2. What is the log in your eye?

Stay on Mission

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Footnotes

1. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001)
2. D.L. Moody, The Way to God and How to Find It (Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1884), Chapter 4. Public domain. Exact wording to be verified against the public-domain digital edition (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) before final publication.
3. Warren Wiersbe, Be Loyal: Following the King of Kings (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1980), commentary on Matthew 7:1-5. Exact wording to be verified against the print edition before final publication.