![]() “See clearly” it to have one’s eyes open wide and looking intently at something (BDAG), perhaps with a clear understanding of what is being seen. The result taking one’s own problem is that we will “see clearly” (Τότε διαβλέψεις). Likely as not, they are going through a personal hell as their life falls apart, the individual brother or sister in Christ does not need to fan the flames (probably through verbal sins of their own). If a person has been caught in sin and is publicly shamed as a result, that is not permission to pile on our own gossip and rage toward the person. Jesus is not saying “nothing offends God so love everyone and everything they do.” He is saying that in an ideal Christian community, there will be enough love and grace among the brothers and sisters that condemning one another will not even be a possibility.įourth, the follower of Jesus needs to think about the impact of our condemnation of sin. Third, this is not “blanket tolerance or moral indifference” (McKnight, Sermon on the Mount, 230). This is of course not always the case, especially if a person is guilty of a “grossly selective perspective.” Jesus’s disciples need to deal with sin, but knowing the extent of one’s own shortcomings must lead to a sensitive and gentle correction. Second, if one is dealing with their own sin, they ought to be more sensitive toward people with similar problems. There is something essentially hypocritical about pointing out another person’s sins when you are unwilling to deal with the same sin you your own life. There are several important observations to be made here.įirst, if one is able to actually see what sin they do have in their lives, then they should be more concerned with dealing with their own sin than nit-picking minutia in another person’s life. Jesus is certainly exaggerating, and has been described as ironic or even sarcastic here (Geulich, Sermon on the Mount, 352-3). If we deal with “the log in our own eye” are we permitted to condemn others for their speck? Probably not. The hypocrite only sees one thing, perhaps an issue they consider to be the most important issue of them all, but it is a mere speck compared to a major sin (likely hypocrisy itself) in their own life. John Nolland says this is a scene of “grossly selective perspective” (Nolland, Matthew, 320). The contrast is therefore between a tiny insignificant thing, maybe something that is irritating but not really that noticeable and a massive piece of wood that is impossible to miss. In Josephus’s Jewish War, this word is used to describe a Roman battering ram (JW 3.124). ![]() The word translated “log” (δοκός) is a heavy beam used to construct a roof or to bar a door (BDAG). The word usually translated “speck” (κάρφος) is a bit of straw or word, a small splinter, or even “a tiny foreign object in a wine cup” (BDAG). It makes no sense to condemn someone’s small error if you have a larger error in your own life. Jesus uses a humorous, even absurd, exaggeration. ![]() In order to illustrate the problem with judging others. ![]()
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