King James Version
Matthew 7
29 verses with commentary
Judging Others
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Jesus commands 'Judge not, that ye be not judged' (Greek: μὴ κρίνετε, ἵνα μὴ κριθῆτε, 'do not judge, so that you may not be judged'). The verb κρίνω means 'judge, condemn, evaluate.' Context clarifies this isn't prohibiting all moral discernment (7:15-20 requires judging false prophets) but condemning hypocritical, harsh, self-righteous condemnation. The passive construction 'be judged' (divine pa...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
VII.
(1) The plan and sequence of the discourse is, as has been said, less apparent in this last portion. Whether this be the result of omission or of insertion, thus much at least seems clear, that while Matthew 5 is mainly a protest against the teaching of the scribes, and Matthew 6 mainly a protest against their corruption of the three great elements of the religious life—almsgiving, prayer, an...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**26. Behold the fowls of the air--**in Mt 6:28, "observe well," and in Lu 12:24, "consider"--so as to learn wisdom from them.
**for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?--**nobler in yourselves and dearer to God. The argument here is from the greater to the less; but how rich in detail! The brute creat...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Christ reproves rash judgment.(1-6)
Encouragements to prayer.(7-11)
The broad and narrow way.(12-14)
Against false prophets.(15-20)
To be doers of the word, not hearers only.(21-29)
**Verses 1-6**
We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our ...
Read full commentary →For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
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KJV Study Commentary
The principle of reciprocal judgment warns that how we judge others sets the standard by which we'll be judged. Harsh, merciless judgment invites harsh judgment in return. This isn't earning salvation by works but describes how God's justice responds to hypocritical condemners who lack mercy while demanding it for themselves.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **With what judgment ye judge. . . .**—Here again truth takes the form of a seeming paradox. The unjust judgment of man does not bring upon us a divine judgment which is also unjust; but the severity which we have unjustly meted out to others, becomes, by a retributive law, the measure of that which is justly dealt out to us.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**27. Which of you, by taking thought--**anxious solicitude.
**can add one cubit unto his stature?--**"Stature" can hardly be the thing intended here: first, because the subject is the prolongation of life, by the supply of its necessaries of food and clothing: and next, because no one would dream of adding a cubit--or a foot and a half--to his stature, while in the corresponding passage in Luke...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Christ reproves rash judgment.(1-6)
Encouragements to prayer.(7-11)
The broad and narrow way.(12-14)
Against false prophets.(15-20)
To be doers of the word, not hearers only.(21-29)
**Verses 1-6**
We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our ...
Read full commentary →And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
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KJV Study Commentary
Jesus employs vivid hyperbole to expose the absurdity of judgmental attitudes. A 'mote' (κάρφος/karphos) is a speck of sawdust or small splinter, while a 'beam' (δοκός/dokos) is a large wooden plank or log. The image is deliberately ridiculous—someone with a log protruding from their eye attempting delicate eye surgery on another! This illustrates how easily we see minor faults in others while rem...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Why beholdest thou the mote** **. . .?**—The Greek noun so translated means a “stalk” or “twig” rather than one of the fine particles of dust floating in the sun to which we attach the word “mote.” The illustration seems to have been a familiar one among the Jews, and a proverb all but verbally identical is found as a saying of Rabbi Tarphon. Like illustrations have been found in the proverb...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider--**observe well.
**the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not--**as men, planting and preparing the flax.
**neither do they spin--**as women.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Christ reproves rash judgment.(1-6)
Encouragements to prayer.(7-11)
The broad and narrow way.(12-14)
Against false prophets.(15-20)
To be doers of the word, not hearers only.(21-29)
**Verses 1-6**
We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our ...
Read full commentary →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?
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KJV Study Commentary
Hypocritical offers to help others with small faults while ignoring your own massive faults is absurd and offensive. The 'mote' (speck) versus 'beam' (log) illustrates the grotesque disproportion. How can the blind lead the blind? Only after self-examination and repentance can we humbly help others.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **How wilt thou say**—*i.e.,* how wilt thou have the face to say.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**29. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these--**What incomparable teaching!--best left in its own transparent clearness and rich simplicity.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Christ reproves rash judgment.(1-6)
Encouragements to prayer.(7-11)
The broad and narrow way.(12-14)
Against false prophets.(15-20)
To be doers of the word, not hearers only.(21-29)
**Verses 1-6**
We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our ...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
First remove your own log, then you'll see clearly to help your brother. This isn't prohibiting all judgment but commanding honest self-judgment first. After dealing with your own sin, you're qualified to help others humbly and clearly, no longer a hypocrite but a repentant helper.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Thou hypocrite.**—The man deserves this name, because he acts the part of a teacher and reformer, when he himself needs repentance and reform the most. The hypocrisy is all the greater because it does not know itself to be hypocritical.
**Then shalt thou see clearly.**—Here the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount rises far above the level of the maxims which, to a certain extent, it resemble...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass--**the "herbage."
**of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven--**wild flowers cut with the grass, withering by the heat, and used for fuel. (See Jas 1:11).
**shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?--**The argument here is something fresh. Gorgeous as is the array of the flowers that deck the fields, surpassin...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Christ reproves rash judgment.(1-6)
Encouragements to prayer.(7-11)
The broad and narrow way.(12-14)
Against false prophets.(15-20)
To be doers of the word, not hearers only.(21-29)
**Verses 1-6**
We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our ...
Read full commentary →Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
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KJV Study Commentary
Holy things (things of God) shouldn't be given to 'dogs' (a Jewish term for Gentiles or impure persons), nor pearls cast before swine. This isn't ethnic prejudice but wisdom about presenting gospel truth to those who will only mock and attack it. Discernment is needed about when to speak and when to remain silent.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **That which is holy.**—The words point to the flesh which has been offered for sacrifice, the “holy thing” of Leviticus 22:6-7; Leviticus 22:10; Leviticus 22:16, of which no un clean person or stranger, and *à fortiori* no unclean beast, was to eat. To give that holy flesh to dogs would have seemed to the devout Israelite the greatest of all profanations. Our Lord teaches us that there is a l...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**31. Therefore take no thought--**solicitude.
saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Christ reproves rash judgment.(1-6)
Encouragements to prayer.(7-11)
The broad and narrow way.(12-14)
Against false prophets.(15-20)
To be doers of the word, not hearers only.(21-29)
**Verses 1-6**
We must judge ourselves, and judge of our own acts, but not make our word a law to everybody. We must not judge rashly, nor pass judgment upon our ...
Read full commentary →Ask, Seek, Knock
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.</strong> This threefold command forms the climactic heart of Jesus's teaching on prayer and divine provision within the Sermon on the Mount. The Greek verbs <em>aiteō</em> (αἰτέω, "ask"), <em>zēteō</em> (ζητέω, "seek"), and <em>krouō</em> (κρούω, "knock") are all present imperatives in the acti...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Ask, and it shall be given.**—The transition is again abrupt, and suggests the idea that some links are missing. The latent sequence of thought would seem to be this, “If the work of reforming others and ourselves,” men might say, “is so difficult, how shall we dare to enter on it? Where shall we find the courage and the wisdom which we need?” And the answer is, In prayer for those gifts.
He...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek)--**rather, "pursue." Knowing nothing definitely beyond the present life to kindle their aspirations and engage their supreme attention, the heathen naturally pursue present objects as their chief, their only good. To what an elevation above these does Jesus here lift His disciples!
**for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
Prayer is the appointed means for obtaining what we need. Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer, and be serious and earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms. Ask, as a traveller asks the way. Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost; or as the merchantman that seeks goodly pearls. Knock, as he that desires to enter into the house knocks at the door. Sin has shut a...
Read full commentary →For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.</strong> This verse concludes Jesus's teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:7-11), offering sweeping assurance about prayer's efficacy. The threefold promise—ask/receive, seek/find, knock/opened—creates a comprehensive picture of prayer as persistent, confident ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you--**This is the great summing up. Strictly speaking, it has to do only with the subject of the present section--the right state of the heart with reference to heavenly and earthly things; but being couched in the form of a brief general directory, it is so comprehensive in its grasp as to...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
Prayer is the appointed means for obtaining what we need. Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer, and be serious and earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms. Ask, as a traveller asks the way. Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost; or as the merchantman that seeks goodly pearls. Knock, as he that desires to enter into the house knocks at the door. Sin has shut a...
Read full commentary →Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
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KJV Study Commentary
God is not a reluctant giver who must be begged or manipulated. He's a generous Father who loves giving good gifts to His children. If a human father wouldn't mock his son's need by giving a stone instead of bread, how much more will the Heavenly Father give what His children need?
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Or what man is there of you.**—The meaning of the illustrations is obvious enough, yet their homeliness is noticeable as addressed to the peasants of Galilee, who found in fish and bread, as in the miracles of the Five thousand and the Four thousand, the staple of their daily food.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**34. Take therefore no thought--**anxious care.
**for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself--**(or, according to other authorities, "for itself")--shall have its own causes of anxiety.
**Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof--**An admirable practical maxim, and better rendered in our version than in almost any other, not excepting the preceding English o...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
Prayer is the appointed means for obtaining what we need. Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer, and be serious and earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms. Ask, as a traveller asks the way. Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost; or as the merchantman that seeks goodly pearls. Knock, as he that desires to enter into the house knocks at the door. Sin has shut a...
Read full commentary →Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
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KJV Study Commentary
A fish versus a serpent continues the comparison. No father would endanger his child by giving a snake instead of fish. God will not mock, trick, or harm those who ask. This builds confidence in prayer—God is trustworthy, generous, and good, always giving what is truly best for His children.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
Prayer is the appointed means for obtaining what we need. Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer, and be serious and earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms. Ask, as a traveller asks the way. Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost; or as the merchantman that seeks goodly pearls. Knock, as he that desires to enter into the house knocks at the door. Sin has shut a...
Read full commentary →If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
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KJV Study Commentary
The conclusion: if you, being evil (sinful, fallen), know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? The logic is unassailable. God's generous nature infinitely exceeds even the best human parenting.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **If ye then, being evil.**—The words at once recognise the fact of man’s depravity, and assert that it is not total. In the midst of all our evil there is still that element of natural and pure affection which makes the fatherhood of men a fit parable of the Fatherhood of God. We mount from our love to His, abstracting from our thoughts the evil of which we cannot but be conscious.
**Give go...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 7
**Sermon on the Mount--**concluded.
Mt 7:1-12. Miscellaneous Supplementary Counsels.
That these verses are entirely supplementary is the simplest and most natural view of them. All attempts to make out any evident connection with the immediately preceding context are, in our judgment, forced. But, though supplementary, these counsels are far from being of subordinate importance. On t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
Prayer is the appointed means for obtaining what we need. Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer, and be serious and earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms. Ask, as a traveller asks the way. Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost; or as the merchantman that seeks goodly pearls. Knock, as he that desires to enter into the house knocks at the door. Sin has shut a...
Read full commentary →Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jesus articulates the Golden Rule: 'Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets' (Greek: πάντα οὖν ὅσα ἐὰν θέλητε ἵνα ποιῶσιν ὑμῖν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς ποιεῖτε αὐτοῖς, 'therefore all things whatever you wish that people would do to you, thus also you do to them'). This positive formulation ('do unto others'...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Therefore . . . whatsoever.**—The sequence of thought requires, perhaps, some explanation. God gives His good things in answer to our wishes, if only what we wish for is really for our good. It is man’s highest blessedness to be like God, to “be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect,” and therefore in this respect too he must strive to resemble Him. The ground thus taken gives a new ch...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. For with what judgments ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete--**whatever standard of judgment ye apply to others.
**it shall be measured to you again--**This proverbial maxim is used by our Lord in other connections--as in Mr 4:24, and with a slightly different application in Lu 6:38--as a great principle in the divine administration. Unkind judgment of others will be...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-14**
Christ came to teach us, not only what we are to know and believe, but what we are to do; not only toward God, but toward men; not only toward those of our party and persuasion, but toward men in general, all with whom we have to do. We must do that to our neighbour which we ourselves acknowledge to be fit and reasonable. We must, in our dealings with men, suppose ourselves in...
Read full commentary →The Narrow Gate
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat : strait: or, narrow
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KJV Study Commentary
Jesus contrasts two paths: 'Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat' (Greek: στενὴ ἡ πύλη καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδός, 'narrow the gate and constricted the way'). The 'wide gate' and 'broad way' suggest easy, popular path requiring little sacrifice. It 'leads to destruction' (ἀπώλειαν) - eternal ruin, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Enter ye in at the strait gate.**—The figure was possibly suggested by some town actually in sight. Safed, the “city set on a hill,” or some other, with the narrow pathway leading to the yet narrower gate, the “needle’s eye” of the city, through which the traveller entered. Such, at any rate, was the picture which the words presented. A like image had been used before, with a singular coinc...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. And why beholdest thou the mote--**"splinter," here very well rendered "mote," denoting any small fault.
**that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?--**denoting the much greater fault which we overlook in ourselves.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-14**
Christ came to teach us, not only what we are to know and believe, but what we are to do; not only toward God, but toward men; not only toward those of our party and persuasion, but toward men in general, all with whom we have to do. We must do that to our neighbour which we ourselves acknowledge to be fit and reasonable. We must, in our dealings with men, suppose ourselves in...
Read full commentary →Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Because: or, How
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KJV Study Commentary
Jesus describes the alternative: 'Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it' (Greek: τί στενὴ ἡ πύλη καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδὸς ἡ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τὴν ζωήν, 'how narrow the gate and constricted the way leading to life'). 'Strait' (στενή) means narrow, confined. The narrow path requires self-denial, sacrifice, and countercultural choices. It 'l...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Narrow is the way.**—Literally, *pressed*, or hemmed in between walls or rocks, like the pathway in a mountain gorge.
**Which leadeth unto life.**—Noteworthy as the first passage in our Lord’s recorded teaching in which the word “life” appears as summing up all the blessedness of the kingdom. The idea is developed as we advance; the life becomes “eternal,” and finally we are taught that the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
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?
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-14**
Christ came to teach us, not only what we are to know and believe, but what we are to do; not only toward God, but toward men; not only toward those of our party and persuasion, but toward men in general, all with whom we have to do. We must do that to our neighbour which we ourselves acknowledge to be fit and reasonable. We must, in our dealings with men, suppose ourselves in...
Read full commentary →A Tree and Its Fruit
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
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KJV Study Commentary
False prophets appear harmless (sheep's clothing) but are destructive (ravening wolves). They infiltrate the flock, speaking pleasant lies rather than hard truth. Jesus warns vigilance—not everyone who claims to speak for God actually does. Test the teachers; examine their fruit.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Beware of false prophets.**—The sequence again is below the surface. How was the narrow way to be found? Who would act as guide? Many would offer their help who would simply lead men to the destruction which they sought to escape. Such teachers, claiming authority as inspired, there had been in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and there would be again. The true gift of prophecy is always fo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. Thou hypocrite--**"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--**Our Lord uses a most hyperbolical, but not unfamiliar figure, to express the monstrous inconsistency of this conduct. The "hypocrisy" which, not without indignation, He charges it with, consists in the pretense of a zealous and compa...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-20**
Nothing so much prevents men from entering the strait gate, and becoming true followers of Christ, as the carnal, soothing, flattering doctrines of those who oppose the truth. They may be known by the drift and effects of their doctrines. Some part of their temper and conduct is contrary to the mind of Christ. Those opinions come not from God that lead to sin.
Ye shall know them by their fruits . Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
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KJV Study Commentary
You recognize trees by fruit, prophets by conduct and teaching effects. Grapes don't grow on thornbushes; figs don't grow on thistles. Similarly, false prophets produce bad fruit—destructive teaching, immoral living, divided churches, damaged disciples. True prophets produce good fruit—holiness, love, truth, unity, maturity.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Ye shall know them by their fruits.**—The question, What are the fruits? is not directly answered. Those who attach most importance to the ethical side of religion, see in them the practical outcome of doctrine in life, character, and deeds. Others, who live in a constant dread of heresy, dwell on doctrines rather than acts as the “fruits” by which we are to discern the false teachers and t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs--**savage or snarling haters of truth and righteousness.
**neither cast ye your pearls before swine--**the impure or coarse, who are incapable of appreciating the priceless jewels of Christianity. In the East, dogs are wilder and more gregarious, and, feeding on carrion and garbage, are coarser and fiercer than the same animals in the West. Dogs and...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-20**
Nothing so much prevents men from entering the strait gate, and becoming true followers of Christ, as the carnal, soothing, flattering doctrines of those who oppose the truth. They may be known by the drift and effects of their doctrines. Some part of their temper and conduct is contrary to the mind of Christ. Those opinions come not from God that lead to sin.
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
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KJV Study Commentary
Good trees bear good fruit; corrupt trees bear corrupt fruit. This is natural law and spiritual law. A person's character determines their fruit. You can't produce righteousness from an unrighteous heart. This underscores the necessity of heart transformation, not just behavioral modification.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17, 18) **Even so every good tree. . . .**—The two verses state nearly the same fact, but each presents a different aspect. First it is stated as a matter of practical experience, then the general fact is referred to a necessary law. If the tree is corrupt, *i.e.,* rotten or decayed at the core, it cannot bring forth good fruit. If there is falseness in the teaching, or in the man, it will sooner...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you--**Though there seems evidently a climax here, expressive of more and more importunity, yet each of these terms used presents what we desire of God in a different light. We ask for what we wish; we seek for what we miss; we knock for that from which we feel ourselves shut out. Answering to this thr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-20**
Nothing so much prevents men from entering the strait gate, and becoming true followers of Christ, as the carnal, soothing, flattering doctrines of those who oppose the truth. They may be known by the drift and effects of their doctrines. Some part of their temper and conduct is contrary to the mind of Christ. Those opinions come not from God that lead to sin.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
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KJV Study Commentary
Good trees cannot bring forth bad fruit; corrupt trees cannot bring forth good fruit. This absolute statement emphasizes the impossibility of faking spiritual fruit long-term. Eventually, true character shows. Hypocrites may deceive temporarily, but fruit-testing reveals truth over time.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened--**Of course, it is presumed that he asks aright--that is, in faith--and with an honest purpose to make use of what he receives. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering (undecided whether to be altogether on the Lord's side). For he t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-20**
Nothing so much prevents men from entering the strait gate, and becoming true followers of Christ, as the carnal, soothing, flattering doctrines of those who oppose the truth. They may be known by the drift and effects of their doctrines. Some part of their temper and conduct is contrary to the mind of Christ. Those opinions come not from God that lead to sin.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
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KJV Study Commentary
Every tree not bearing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. This sobering warning addresses false professors and fruitless professors alike. Mere profession means nothing without transformation and fruit. The fire represents final judgment—eternal consequences for fruitlessness.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Every tree** **that bringeth not forth good fruit.**—The crowds who listened must, for the most part, have recognised the words as those which they had heard before from the lips of the Baptist, and they served accordingly as a link connecting the teaching of our Lord with that of the forerunner. (Comp. Matthew 3:10.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread--**a loaf.
**will he give him a stone?--**round and smooth like such a loaf or cake as was much in use, but only to mock him.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-20**
Nothing so much prevents men from entering the strait gate, and becoming true followers of Christ, as the carnal, soothing, flattering doctrines of those who oppose the truth. They may be known by the drift and effects of their doctrines. Some part of their temper and conduct is contrary to the mind of Christ. Those opinions come not from God that lead to sin.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
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KJV Study Commentary
The conclusion: you shall know them by their fruits. This summarizes the test for false prophets and applies to all believers. Fruit-bearing validates faith. This doesn't mean earning salvation by works, but that genuine saving faith inevitably produces fruit—transformed character, good works, spiritual growth, love for God and others.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Ye shall know them.**—As before, in Matthew 7:16, the word is one which implies knowledge that is full, clear, decisive—such as that to which St. Paul looks forward in the life to come (1Corinthians 13:12).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?--**like it, indeed, but only to sting him.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-20**
Nothing so much prevents men from entering the strait gate, and becoming true followers of Christ, as the carnal, soothing, flattering doctrines of those who oppose the truth. They may be known by the drift and effects of their doctrines. Some part of their temper and conduct is contrary to the mind of Christ. Those opinions come not from God that lead to sin.
True Disciples
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jesus warns against false profession: 'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven' (Greek: οὐ πᾶς ὁ λέγων μοι· κύριε κύριε, εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, 'not everyone saying to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven'). Double 'Lord, Lord' (Κύριε κύριε) indicates emphatic rel...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **He that doeth the** **will of my Father.**—The continued stress laid on the ethical side of religion, on the nullity of the confession of a true faith (as embodied in the “Lord, Lord”) without doing the will of God, more than confirms the interpretation of Matthew 7:16 above given. A further development of the same thought is found in John 7:17, and we are taught that it is by doing the wil...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him!--**Bad as our fallen nature is, the father in us is not extinguished. What a heart, then, must the Father of all fathers have towards His pleading children! In the corresponding passage in Luke (see on Lu 11:13), instead of "good th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
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KJV Study Commentary
Many will claim Christian profession ('Lord, Lord'), even claiming to prophesy, cast out demons, and do mighty works in Jesus's name—yet be rejected as workers of iniquity. Religious activity, even supernatural activity, doesn't prove salvation. Only those who do the Father's will enter heaven.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **Many will say to me in that day.**—No part of the Sermon on the Mount is more marvellous in its claims than this; to those who see in Christ only a human Teacher with a higher morality than Hillel or Seneca, none more utterly incomprehensible. At the commencement of His ministry, in a discourse which, though it is spoken in the tone of authority, gives no prominence to His mission as the Me...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. Therefore--**to say all in one word.
**all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them--**the same thing and in the same way.
**for this is the law and the prophets--**"This is the substance of all relative duty; all Scripture in a nutshell." Incomparable summary! How well called "the royal law!" (Jas 2:8; compare Ro 13:9). It is true that similar maxims a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
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KJV Study Commentary
The most terrifying words in Scripture: 'I never knew you.' Not 'I once knew you but you fell away,' but 'I never knew you.' Despite their religious works and supernatural ministry, Jesus never had relationship with them. They worked iniquity—lawlessness—showing that apparent Christian activity masked unregenerate hearts.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **Then will I profess unto them.**—The words form a remarkable complement to the promise, “Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). The confession there recognised is more than lip-homage, and implies the loyal service of obedience. And the condemnation is pronounced not on those who have wandered from the truth, but ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. Enter ye in at the strait gate--**as if hardly wide enough to admit one at all. This expresses the difficulty of the first right step in religion, involving, as it does, a triumph over all our natural inclinations. Hence the still stronger expression in Luke (Lu 13:24), "Strive to enter in at the strait gate."
**for wide is the gate--**easily entered.
**and broad is the way--**easily tro...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →The Wise and Foolish Builders
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
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KJV Study Commentary
Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with a parable contrasting wise and foolish builders. The 'wise man' (φρόνιμος/phronimos) demonstrates practical wisdom by building on 'rock' (πέτρα/petra)—likely bedrock beneath surface soil. The phrase 'heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them' establishes the critical connection: wisdom isn't mere knowledge but obedient action. The present participle...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **Whosoever.**—The Greek is more emphatically universal, *every one whosoever.*
**These sayings of mine.**—The reference to what has gone before tends, so far as it goes, to the conclusion that we have in these chapters a continuous discourse, and not a compilation of fragments. On the assumption that the Sermon on the Plain was different from that on the Mount, the recurrence of the same ima...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life--**In other words, the whole course is as difficult as the first step; and (so it comes to pass that).
**few there be that find it--**The recommendation of the broad way is the ease with which it is trodden and the abundance of company to be found in it. It is sailing with a fair wind and a favorable tide. The natur...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
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KJV Study Commentary
The wise builder's house survives storms because it's founded on rock—hearing Jesus's sayings and doing them. Knowledge alone doesn't save; obedience validates hearing. The storms represent trials, suffering, persecution, temptation, false teaching, and final judgment. Only those who build on Christ's words will stand.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. Beware--**But beware.
**of false prophets--**that is, of teachers coming as authorized expounders of the mind of God and guides to heaven. (See Ac 20:29, 30; 2Pe 2:1, 2).
**which come to you in sheep's clothing--**with a bland, gentle, plausible exterior; persuading you that the gate is not strait nor the way narrow, and that to teach so is illiberal and bigoted--precisely what the old p...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
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KJV Study Commentary
The foolish builder hears Jesus's sayings but doesn't do them—building on sand. When storms come, the house falls, and its fall is great. Hearing without obeying is spiritual foolishness resulting in catastrophic collapse. Knowledge without obedience doesn't save; it condemns because it adds accountability without transformation.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. Ye shall know them by their fruits--**not their doctrines--as many of the elder interpreters and some later ones explain it--for that corresponds to the tree itself; but the practical effect of their teaching, which is the proper fruit of the tree.
**Do men gather grapes of thorns--**any kind of prickly plant.
**or figs of thistles?--**a three-pronged variety. The general sense is obviou...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
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KJV Study Commentary
Rain descended, floods came, winds blew and beat upon the sand-founded house—and it fell with a great fall. The identical storms test both houses. Trials and judgment come to all—professors and possessors alike. Only those whose faith is real and obedience genuine will survive. The great fall is eternal destruction.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit: but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
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KJV Study Commentary
The crowds were astonished at Jesus's teaching because He taught with authority, unlike the scribes. He didn't merely cite previous authorities or debate interpretations—He spoke as God Himself, with inherent authority. 'You have heard it said, but I say' revealed His divine status as ultimate Lawgiver.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **When Jesus had ended these sayings.**—The words again point to the conclusion that the Evangelist believed that he had been recording one continuous discourse.
**The people were astonished** **at his doctrine.**—Better, *at his teaching;* with greater prominence given, as the words that follow show, to its manner than to its substance.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit--**Obvious as is the truth here expressed in different forms--that the heart determines and is the only proper interpreter of the actions of our life--no one who knows how the Church of Rome makes a merit of actions, quite apart from the motives that prompt them, and how the same tendency manifests i...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
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KJV Study Commentary
The crowds' astonishment at Jesus' teaching stemmed from His inherent authority in contrast to the scribes' derivative authority. Scribes taught by citing previous rabbinical opinions and traditions, but Jesus taught as one possessing intrinsic authority—'I say unto you.' This authority derived from His divine nature as the eternal Word incarnate. His teaching carried self-authenticating power, re...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **He taught them.**—The Greek implies continuity, *He was teaching.*
**As one having authority, and not as the scribes.**—Some instances have been already pointed out: the “I say unto you,” which is contrasted with what had been said “to them of old time”; the assumption that He, the speaker, was the Head of the divine kingdom and the Judge of quick and dead. More striking still is the entire...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire--**(See on Mt 3:10).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-29**
Christ here shows that it will not be enough to own him for our Master, only in word and tongue. It is necessary to our happiness that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. Let us take heed of resting in outward privileges and doings, lest we deceive ourselves, and perish eter...
Read full commentary →