Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
7:6
“Do not give what is holy to the dogs;
Both dogs and swine were unclean animals according to Mosaic Law. Dogs were not pets in those days but roving scavengers. The “holy” here is the truth of God. We do not present truth to people who radically reject its truth.
nor cast your pearls before swine,
Swine were wild and vicious in Palestine. Since they were unclean, they were not for food.
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
The picture here is of a wild dogs and boars tearing their prey into pieces. That is a symbolic picture of those with very high negative volition toward the gospel. These people mock the gospel as indicated by trampling it under foot and even going further in tearing apart the gospel message itself.
PRINCIPLE: There is no need to present the gospel to those with negative volition toward God.
APPLICATION: It is wrong to try to force the gospel on people. There is no need to share the gospel with people who reject it outright. We have responsibility to carry the gospel to everyone, but once we make the presentation, the responsibility lies on the individual to choose negative or positive volition. If a person chooses negative volition, then there is no necessity for any further presentation of the gospel. Once a person clearly rejects the gospel, there is no further reason to present the gospel to them.
Jesus did not talk to Herod (Lu 23:9) and Paul drew limits when speaking to people who rejected the Word (Ac 13:46).
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Mt 10:16
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words. Pr 23:9
I’m wondering if there isn’t more of a connection between Matt. 7:1-5 and verse 6, including verses 7-12. I know this is a constant conversation that is probably going on out there, but here is my thought. After verse 1, Jesus teaches on how to approach someone that has a spec in their eye. He does not say don’t try to help with the spec, but that one should remove the log from their own eye first. So discerning judgment is allowed. Verse 6 then is guiding one who might, with discerning judgment, approach someone about unrighteousness or sin in their life. Jesus categorically says that there are people that will not accept your attempt at admonition/correction (dogs/pigs) no matter how genuine and non-judgmental, but will only turn it on you in some negative and harmful way. I can’t get my mind around this being a stand alone verse that is about preaching the gospel to people who are resistant. Especially, in light of verse 12 (Golden Rule), it seems that this whole text flows out of the worry for food, drink, clothing, etc., and the want for those things affecting relationships with others in some way. Rather than judgment or casting pearls before unconcerned dogs, we should ask, seek and knock and the Father will make sure that we have what we need. Verse 12 concludes by saying, “So in everything…” This seems to me to be the summary of a larger section where God is described as faithful to his little ones. In the meantime our calling is to do to others as we would have them do to us, again as Jesus said earlier, fulfilling the law/prophets. I might need to organize these thoughts a little better, but this is the gist of it. What do you think? peace, rc
Randy, there may be something to what you say because the whole Sermon on the Mount deals with the standard for entering God’s kingdom, a different kind of righteousness man man possesses.