Matthew 7:1-12 - Judging Self Asking God Serving Others
There is abundant need for a right and sound judgment, illumined by the Spirit of truth; but there is a world of difference between it and the censorious and critical opinions which we are apt to form and utter about others. Human nature is fond of climbing up into the judgment seat and proclaiming its decisions, without hearing both sides or calling witnesses. Beware of basing your judgment on idle stories and gossip. In any case, do not utter it, if it be adverse, unless you have first prayed about it and sought to turn the sinner from the error of his ways. Let God search you, before you search another. See Psalms 139:23-24; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Hebrews 4:12.
We ask for a gift; we seek for what we have lost; we knock for entrance. Only a door stands between us and Christ! He will not give us stones or serpents, even if we clamor for them; but He will never fail to give good things-and above all His Holy Spirit-only we must ask for them.
The Roman Emperor Severus was so charmed with the Golden Rule that he had it inscribed on the walls of his palace. Let us inscribe it on our hearts and act on it in the power of the Holy Spirit, who sheds God's love abroad in the hearts of those who believe. [source]
Chapter Summary: Matthew 7
1Do Not Judge 7Ask, Seek, Knock 13Enter through the Narrow Gate 15A Tree and Its Fruit 24The Wise and the Foolish Builders 28Jesus ends his sermon, and the people are astonished
Greek Commentary for Matthew 7:9
Loaf - stone [αρτονλιτον] Some stones look like loaves of bread. So the devil suggested that Jesus make loaves out of stones (Matthew 4:3). [source]
Bread, a stone [ἄρτον, λίθον] Rev. for bread reads loaf, which is better. On the resemblance of certain stones to cakes of bread, see on Matthew 4:3. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 7:9
Matthew 4:3Bread [ἄπτοι] Lit., loaves or cakes. So Wyc., loaves. These stones were perhaps those “silicious accretions,” which assume the exact shape of little loaves of bread, and which were represented in legend as the petrified fruits of the cities of the plain. By a similar fancy certain crystallizations on Mount Carmel and near Bethlehem are called “Elijah's melons,” and the “Virgin Mary's peas;” and the black and white stones found along the shores of the Lake of Galilee have been transformed into traces of the tears of Jacob in search of Joseph. The very appearance of these stones, like the bread for which the faint body hungered, may have added force to the temptation. This resemblance may have been present to Christ's mind in his words at Matthew 7:9. [source]
John 16:23Ye shall ask [ἐρωτήσετε] Or, as Rev., in margin, ask - question. To question is the primary meaning of the verb, from which it runs into the more general sense of request, beseech. So Mark 7:26; Luke 4:38; John 17:15, etc. Here the meaning is, ye shall ask me no question (compare John 16:19, where the same verb is used). Compare Matthew 16:13; Matthew 21:24; John 1:19. Ask, absolutely, Luke 22:68. Note, moreover, the selection of the word here as marking the asking on familiar terms. See on John 11:22. Another verb for ask occurs in the following sentence: “If ye shall ask ( αἰτήστητε ) anything,” etc. Here the sense is, if ye shall make any request. Compare Matthew 5:42; Matthew 7:7,Matthew 7:9,Matthew 7:10, etc. Note, also, that this word for asking the Father marks the asking of an inferior from a superior, and is the word which Christ never uses of His own requests to the Father. Compare 1 John 3:22. [source]
Hebrews 12:7That ye endure [υπομενετε] Present active indicative or present active imperative and so just “endure for chastening.” Dealeth with you Present middle indicative of προσπερω prospherō but this sense of bearing oneself towards one with the dative here only in the N.T., though often in the older Greek. What Interrogative. Whom Relative. Cf. Matthew 7:9. [source]
What do the individual words in Matthew 7:9 mean?
Orwhichisofyoua manwhomwill ask forthesonof himbreadnota stonewill he givehim
Greek Commentary for Matthew 7:9
Some stones look like loaves of bread. So the devil suggested that Jesus make loaves out of stones (Matthew 4:3). [source]
Rev. for bread reads loaf, which is better. On the resemblance of certain stones to cakes of bread, see on Matthew 4:3. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 7:9
Lit., loaves or cakes. So Wyc., loaves. These stones were perhaps those “silicious accretions,” which assume the exact shape of little loaves of bread, and which were represented in legend as the petrified fruits of the cities of the plain. By a similar fancy certain crystallizations on Mount Carmel and near Bethlehem are called “Elijah's melons,” and the “Virgin Mary's peas;” and the black and white stones found along the shores of the Lake of Galilee have been transformed into traces of the tears of Jacob in search of Joseph. The very appearance of these stones, like the bread for which the faint body hungered, may have added force to the temptation. This resemblance may have been present to Christ's mind in his words at Matthew 7:9. [source]
Or, a loaf. See on Matthew 4:1; see on Matthew 7:9. [source]
Or, as Rev., in margin, ask - question. To question is the primary meaning of the verb, from which it runs into the more general sense of request, beseech. So Mark 7:26; Luke 4:38; John 17:15, etc. Here the meaning is, ye shall ask me no question (compare John 16:19, where the same verb is used). Compare Matthew 16:13; Matthew 21:24; John 1:19. Ask, absolutely, Luke 22:68. Note, moreover, the selection of the word here as marking the asking on familiar terms. See on John 11:22. Another verb for ask occurs in the following sentence: “If ye shall ask ( αἰτήστητε ) anything,” etc. Here the sense is, if ye shall make any request. Compare Matthew 5:42; Matthew 7:7, Matthew 7:9, Matthew 7:10, etc. Note, also, that this word for asking the Father marks the asking of an inferior from a superior, and is the word which Christ never uses of His own requests to the Father. Compare 1 John 3:22. [source]
Present active indicative or present active imperative and so just “endure for chastening.” Dealeth with you Present middle indicative of προσπερω prospherō but this sense of bearing oneself towards one with the dative here only in the N.T., though often in the older Greek. What Interrogative. Whom Relative. Cf. Matthew 7:9. [source]