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Matthew 7:1. Judge not, lest ye be judged, The Lord forbids condemning, not exposing, because exposure is beneficial, and condemnation is an insult and humiliation, especially in the case when someone himself, having serious sins, reproaches others and condemns those who have much lesser sins, for which only God can judge. Matthew 7:2. For with the kind of judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:3. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not feel the plank in your own eye? Matthew 7:4. Or how will you say to your brother: “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” but there is a beam in your eye? Matthew 7:5. Hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see how to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Anyone who wants to reproach others must be blameless, for if he, having a plank in his own eye, that is, a large beam, or sin, reproaches another who has a mote, he will make him unscrupulous. But the Lord shows that one who sins a lot cannot clearly see the sin of his brother, for how can one who himself has a plank in his eye be able to see the sin of another, easily wounded? Matthew 7:6. Do not give holy things to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces. “Dogs” are the infidels, and “pigs” are those who, although they believe, nevertheless lead a dirty life. So, we should not speak about the mysteries of faith before the unbelievers and utter bright and pearly words of theology before the unclean, because pigs trample or despise what is said to them, and dogs, turning around, torment us, which is what those who are called philosophers do. When they hear that God was crucified, they begin to torment us with their speculations, proving with sophisms that this is impossible. Matthew 7:7. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; Matthew 7:8. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Previously, the Lord commanded us great and difficult things, but here he shows how this can be accomplished, namely, with the help of continuous prayer. For he said “ask” instead of “ask always,” but did not say “ask once.” Then he confirms what was said with a human example. Matthew 7:9. Is there a person among you who, when his son asks him for bread, would give him a stone? Matthew 7:10. and when he asks for a fish, would you give him a snake? Here the Lord teaches us that we must ask strongly for useful things. “For you,” he says, “see how your children ask you for useful things: bread and fish, and when they ask for it, you give it to them, so in the same way you also seek the spiritual, and not the carnal.” Matthew 7:11. So if you, being evil, 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. He calls people wicked, comparing them with God: our nature, as God’s creation, is good, but we become wicked of our own free will. Matthew 7:12. So, in everything that you want people to do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. Shows a short path to virtue, for we are people and therefore already know what we should. If you want people to do good to you, do good; If you want your enemies to love you, love your enemies yourself. For both the law of God and the prophets say the same thing that the natural law commands us. Matthew 7:13. Enter through the narrow gate; For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go there; By the narrow gate he means trials, both voluntary, for example, fasting and others, and involuntary, for example, bonds, persecution. Just as a fat person or a person burdened with a large burden cannot enter a narrow place, so a pampered or rich person: such people walk along the broad path. Showing that both tightness is temporary and breadth is traversable, He calls them gates and paths. For whoever suffers insults passes through some gate or suffering, just as the pampered person passes through voluptuousness, like a certain path. But since both are temporary, one must choose the best. Matthew 7:14. because narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few find it. The word "because" means surprise. The Lord marvels: what a gate! Why does He say in another place: “My burden is light?” (Matthew 11:30) Because of future rewards. Matthew 7:15. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:16. By their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:19. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 7:20. So by their fruits you will know them. This is directed against the Jews, for John also told them the same thing. A person is likened to a tree because he can be grafted from fruitless sin to virtue. Matthew 7:21. Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! God!" He who does the will of My Father in Heaven will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Here with the words “not everyone who says to Me: Lord! God!" He shows Himself to be the Lord, since He calls Himself God and teaches us that if we have faith without works, we will not receive any benefit from it. "Doer of will"; He did not say: “performing once,” but “performing” until death. And he did not say: “My will,” so as not to seduce the listeners, but “the will of My Father,” although, of course, the will of the Father and the Son is one. Matthew 7:22. Many will say to Me on that day: Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and was it not in Your name that they cast out demons? and did they not perform many miracles in Your name? Matthew 7:23. And then I will declare to them: I never knew you; Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:26. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; Matthew 7:27. and the rain fell, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and he fell, and his fall was great. He did not say: “I will liken him,” but “he will be likened,” that is, to himself, to the unreasonable one who has faith but does not do works. So, such a person builds on sand, from rotten material, and therefore falls from the temptations of the devil. When he fails, that is, when temptation falls upon him, he falls into a great fall. None of the infidels fall, for they always lie on the ground; believer, this one falls. That is why the fall is great, that a Christian falls. Matthew 7:28. And when Jesus had finished these words, the people marveled at his teaching, Matthew 7:29. for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes and Pharisees. It was not the leaders who were surprised, for how could those who envied Him be surprised? - but the gentle masses were surprised not by the turns of speech, but by its freedom, for the Lord showed Himself above the prophets. They said: “This is the Lord speaking,” and Christ, as God, said: “I am telling you.”