Commentary - Matthew 7:6

Bird's-eye view

In this potent little aphorism, tucked into the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus provides a crucial counterbalance to the command against hypocritical judgment given just verses before. Having told us to take the log out of our own eye before we attend to the speck in our brother's, He now warns us that this does not mean we abandon all spiritual discernment. Far from it. This verse is a command to exercise shrewd, sanctified wisdom. It teaches that the gospel, the holy things of God, are infinitely precious and must not be treated as common. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent. There are those who are honestly wrestling, and there are those who are hardened scoffers. The Christian is called to know the difference and to act accordingly, not out of a sense of self-righteous superiority, but out of a zealous concern for the glory of God and the sanctity of His truth. It is a call to be wise stewards of the most valuable treasure in the universe, the pearl of great price.

The imagery is intentionally stark and offensive to our modern, sentimental sensibilities. Jesus uses the terms "dogs" and "swine" to describe not just people, but a particular kind of person: the intractable, snarling, filthy-minded mocker who has no appetite for holiness. To continuously press the gospel on such a person is not only fruitless, it is counterproductive. It leads to the trampling of truth and can result in vicious blowback against the messenger. This is not a prohibition against evangelism, but a directive for wise evangelism. It is a reminder that while the gospel is for all, not all will receive it, and we are not called to force-feed the hostile.

Outline

Context In Matthew

This verse sits in a section of the Sermon on the Mount that deals with practical righteousness within the kingdom. Immediately preceding this, in verses 1-5, Jesus forbids the kind of hypocritical, censorious judgment that is blind to one's own faults. One might mistakenly conclude from this that all judgment and discernment are forbidden. Verse 6 immediately corrects this potential misunderstanding. It says, in effect, "Now that you have taken the log out of your own eye, you can see clearly. And one of the things you must see clearly is the difference between a brother with a speck in his eye and a hardened, hostile scoffer." This verse, therefore, qualifies the command not to judge. It is followed by the encouragement to ask, seek, and knock (vv. 7-11), which reminds the believer where true wisdom for this kind of discernment comes from: our Father in heaven. The entire section is a unit, teaching us how to relate rightly to both God and man, and that right relation requires both humility and sharp-eyed wisdom.

Key Issues

Guarding the Holy

One of the central errors of the modern evangelical church is a certain kind of sloppy, sentimental universalism in our approach to the gospel. We have taken the great commission to "go and make disciples of all nations" and flattened it into a command to be indiscriminately nice and to ensure that no one ever feels excluded or offended. We have become terrified of making necessary distinctions. But Jesus, in His own ministry and in His instruction to His disciples, was constantly making distinctions. He is doing so here.

This verse is a bucket of ice water in the face of our therapeutic, non-confrontational age. It reminds us that the gospel is not a collection of helpful tips for a better life that we can just toss around like party favors. It is holy. The word "holy" means set apart, consecrated, belonging to God. It refers to the sacrificial things of the temple, and by extension, to the whole corpus of God's revealed truth, culminating in the gospel of His Son. Pearls, in the ancient world, were items of immense value. The gospel is a pearl of great price. And you do not take what is set apart for God and give it to scavenging dogs. You do not take a king's treasure and throw it into a pigsty. To do so is to profane the holy and devalue the precious. This command is fundamentally about treasuring the gospel for what it is and protecting its glory from profane contempt.

Verse by Verse Commentary

6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine...

The command is a parallelism, saying the same thing in two different ways for emphasis. First, let us identify the players. "What is holy" refers to the sacred things of God. In the Old Covenant, this would have included consecrated food from the sacrifices, which was not to be eaten by the unclean. In the New Covenant, this refers preeminently to the gospel message itself, the sacraments, and the deep truths of our fellowship with God. The "pearls" are another metaphor for the same thing: the priceless truths of the kingdom of God. A pearl is formed through irritation and suffering inside an oyster; the gospel was formed through the suffering of Christ. It is beautiful, rare, and of ultimate value.

Who are the "dogs" and "swine"? In the biblical world, dogs were not pampered pets. They were unclean, scavenging curs that ran in packs. Swine were the epitome of uncleanness for a Jew. Jesus is using this shocking language to refer to people who are not just unbelievers, but who are hardened, militant, and contemptuous in their unbelief. These are the mockers, the scoffers, those who have demonstrated by their repeated reactions that they have no appetite for the truth and only wish to defile it. This is not a label we are to apply hastily. This is a settled category for those who have proven themselves to be implacably hostile to the things of God. You know them by their fruit, by their snarling and their love of the mud.

...lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Jesus gives two reasons for this command, and they correspond to the two animals. Swine, when you throw pearls into their muck, will not admire them. They cannot perceive their value. They will simply walk all over them, trampling them into the filth. This is a picture of contempt. The hardened unbeliever hears the glorious gospel of Christ's substitutionary atonement and says, "That's foolishness. That's a crutch for the weak." He tramples the pearl. He shows it utter disdain.

The dogs, however, are more aggressive. After the swine trample the pearls, the dogs "turn and tear you to pieces." When you offer holy food to a pack of feral dogs, they are not only unimpressed, they may become enraged that you did not give them what they actually wanted, which is garbage or raw meat. They will attack you. This is a picture of militant hostility. The scoffer is not content to merely dismiss the gospel; he often becomes viciously opposed to the one who brings it. He will slander you, attack your character, and do everything he can to silence you. Jesus is giving us a very practical warning. Persisting in offering the gospel to those who have demonstrated they are this kind of "dog" is not only a waste of a precious thing, it is also dangerous.

This requires immense wisdom. We are to preach the gospel to every creature, and we do not know at first who is a dog and who is a hungry soul. We offer the truth freely. But when someone repeatedly responds with snarling, contempt, and a clear love for their filth, we are commanded to shake the dust from our feet and move on. We are not to engage in endless, fruitless arguments with those who only want to fight and defile. Our pearls are for those whom the Spirit is drawing, for those with ears to hear.

Application

So how do we apply this bracing command today? First, we must recover a high view of the gospel. It is not cheap. It is not common. It is the holiest, most precious reality in the universe. We should speak of it with reverence, awe, and wonder. Our casual, flippant, man-centered presentations of the gospel are a form of giving what is holy to the dogs. We have turned the pearl of great price into costume jewelry, hoping the swine will find it attractive.

Second, this verse liberates us from the tyranny of the scoffer. Many Christians feel a false sense of guilt if they cannot win over the most hardened, cynical atheist in their office or online. We are commanded to give a reason for the hope that is in us, but we are not commanded to subject ourselves to endless abuse and mockery. There comes a point where continued engagement is foolish. Discerning that point requires prayer, wisdom, and a sober assessment of the other person's posture. Are they asking honest questions, or are they just throwing mud? Are they wrestling with the truth, or are they trampling it?

Finally, this should drive us to our knees. How can we possibly know the difference between a hungry sinner and a vicious dog? How can we discern when to speak and when to be silent? We cannot do it on our own. And this is why the very next verses say, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." The Father knows we need this discernment, and He promises to give this wisdom to those who ask Him. We must depend entirely on the Holy Spirit to give us the eyes to see who we are talking to, lest we waste the treasures of the King and get torn to pieces in the process.