Matthew 7

Notice, once we remove the log from our own eye, we still need to remove the speck from our brother's eye. This passage is NOT teaching Christians not to judge at all, as many people believe. Rather, Jesus is teaching us not to judge hypocritically. If we are in any doubt, in John 7:24, Jesus commands us not to judge by appearances but rather to judge righteously.

This is a difficult verse to interpret. What do the dogs, pigs, and pearls represent? And why is this verse here immediately after the teaching on how to judge others? Matthew wrote this under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so this isn't here by accident. Dogs may refer to unbelievers. Pigs obviously to something that, or someone who, is unclean. Pearls may represent the Kingdom of God if it has the same meaning as the Parable of The Pearl of Great Value (Matt 13:45-46).

This may even refer to the Gospel itself. Sometimes, when we preach the good news of salvation to unbelievers, they react in anger. We must then decide whether to continue or stop. In Matt 10:14, Jesus tells his disciples, "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.". In Acts 13:51 Paul and Barnabas were driven out of Antioch in Pisidia by some Jews who stirred up persecution against them. So, on leaving that district Paul and Barnabas shook their feet against the Jews. Perhaps this verse is teaching the same thing but in a parabolic fashion.

Jesus is not telling us that God functions likes a fairy-god mother, or a genie in a lamp, who gives us everything that we ask for. The truth is, often the things we consider good aren't good at all. But more pertinently, in Luke 11:13, Jesus clarifies this passage, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" What Jesus means by "good" is "righteous", or indeed, "holy", and the ultimate "good" God can give us is Himself. Think about this, what is better than God Himself? Without God giving us His Holy Spirit, we can't be saved. And all the good things we can gain in this world means absolutely nothing - if we end up damned in Hell forever - if God were to refuse us His Holy Spirit. Matthew 16:26 asks, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?" But God, by his grace alone, would give us his Holy Spirit, and would save us from His own Holy justice and wrath - if we would believe His own personal testimony about his son, Jesus Christ - according to Scripture i.e. the Bible. Yes, God's gift of salvation is free. We don't have to do anything to earn it. Indeed, we can't! And it would be a sin even to think that we can. No, all we have to do is simply to repent and believe the good news of salvation in faith. And yet, the tragedy is that so many people refuse to do so - as Jesus tells us so clearly in vv.13-14 when he talks about the narrow and wide gates.

NIV: So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
KJV: 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.
The phrase "the Law and the Prophets" refers to the entire Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament.

Destruction: ἀπώλειαν apōleian G684, Transliteration: apóleia; Phonetic Spelling: (ap-o'-li-a); Definition: destruction, loss ; Usage: destruction, ruin, loss, perishing; eternal ruin. Jesus is saying that many are all their way to Hell and eternal damnation.

See Luke 13:23-30

Technically, false prophets are also false disciples. So, we should be able to tell a false disciple by his fruit too. But Jesus warns us not to be too hasty in calling out false disciples. In the Parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:29) he warns us that in pulling up weeds we may damage good wheat too.

This should not be mistaken as Jesus teaching a works-based salvation. In John 6:29 Jesus says God only requires one work of us, namely, "believe in him whom he has sent" and that's Jesus himself. In John 6:40 he states the will of the Father as "everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I [Jesus] will raise him up on the last day." Putting it altogether, God's will and our singular "work" are the same: believe in Christ for Salvation.

Amazing works may even mean actual miracles. It's astonishing that even people whom God allows to perform miracles - can be false Christians who are unsaved. Today, the Charismatic Movement is gaining a lot of "converts" who are drawn to their showy so-called miracles. Even if they aren't fake miracles, we shouldn't be deceived by supernatural things alone, for Satan himself can perform miracles (2Corinthians 11:14). The true test of a good church is its doctrine.

Workers of lawlessness, or workers of inequity, or simply evildoers. See Luke 13:27

Jesus says he "never" knew them, and not that he "once" knew them and then subsequently rejected them. No, these people were never his to begin with. That is, Jesus had never saved them.

The rock that is Christ.

Those who wilfully disobey Jesus do not have saving faith. James 2:26 says "faith apart from works is dead." We would do well to remember that.

Doctrine: G.1322 didaché: teaching.

The scribes (or "teachers of the law") were often wrong in their interpretation of Scripture. But Jesus taught it with authority - like someone who knew Scripture intimately. And of course, he did. Jesus could never be wrong about Scripture, because he was effectively the author of it. For indeed as one of the persons of the Trinitarian Godhead, he directly inspired the authors of Scripture.