Matthew 7:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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?

NIV: How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

NASB: Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye?

CSB: Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the splinter out of your eye,' and look, there's a beam of wood in your own eye?

NLT: How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?

KJV: 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?

NKJV: Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?

Jesus is calling out the universal human tendency to inflate the wrongdoing of other people while minimizing our own. Jesus has forbidden His listeners from presuming God's place by making shallow judgments of others (Matthew 7:1–2). One reason we are unqualified to pronounce judgment superficially is that we are so often blind to our own wrongdoing. We are capable of noticing "specks" in the lives of others, while the "logs" in our own may be far greater than what we're trying to correct in another person.

The picture Jesus uses to illustrate this point is intentionally comical. In the rare cases where someone asks for help removing something from their eye, it can be hard for another person to see it. One can imagine the helper peering intently into someone else's eyes, trying to see a tiny fleck of dust. In contrast, it's absurd to think of that "helper" doing so while they have a huge stick jammed into their own eye. It would be a complete farce for someone impaled on a stick to examine others so closely that they can notice mere specks, and even more ridiculous to tell the other person they have an issue which must be fixed.

Some listening to Jesus' words here, given during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1–2) may have laughed. The imagery is meant to be extreme, and even humorous. The meaning behind this visual joke isn't so funny. Jesus will call the one with the log in his eye a hypocrite in the following verse for being unwilling to deal with his own sin while calling out sin in the life of another (Matthew 7:5). However, it should be noted that Jesus does, in fact, endorse the act of helping another to remove their "speck."

Matthew 7:1–6 delivers Jesus' declaration that His followers must not pronounce God's judgment on each other. Those who do try to take God's role in this way will be judged in the same way themselves. Human beings are not qualified to pronounce judgment because they are blind to their own sin. To help another with a speck in his eye, a person must first remove the log of obvious sin from his own eye. He also warns against wasting time or effort on those who clearly have no interest; they won't appreciate it and may attack you for it.

Matthew 7 is the last of three chapters that record what is now known as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus commands His hearers not to pronounce shallow or hypocritical judgment. He describes God as a generous Father eager to give good things to His children when they ask. He commands His followers to enter the narrow gate and walk the hard road to life. False prophets can be recognized by their fruit, meaning their actions and choices. At the same time, good deeds are not absolute proof that someone has true faith. To live by Jesus' teaching is like building the house of your life on a solid foundation instead of shifting sand.

Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5, discussing the Beatitudes and the idea that inner thoughts are very much part of sin and righteousness. Chapter 6 denounced hypocrisy, modeled prayer, and opposed anxiety. Chapter 7 discusses the proper manner of judgment, including how to gauge the teachings of others. Jesus also warns against spiritual self-deception. He concludes with an analogy about foundations and storms. The crowd's amazement at Christ's teachings leads into the miracles and encounters of chapters 8 and 9.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.