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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 7

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.⁠ 2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.⁠ 3 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?⁠ 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.⁠ 6 Do not give what is holy to dogs⁠ or throw your pearls before pigs;⁠ otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.⁠ 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;⁠ knock and the door will be opened for you.⁠ 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.⁠ 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!⁠ 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you,⁠ for this fulfills the law and the prophets.⁠ 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.⁠ 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.⁠ 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?⁠ 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.⁠ 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.⁠ 20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’⁠ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.⁠ 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’⁠ 24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.⁠ 25 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation had been laid on rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed—it was utterly destroyed!” 28 When Jesus finished saying these things,⁠ the crowds were amazed by his teaching,⁠ 29 because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law.

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 7:6 and Gospel of Philip 11:56

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

The Gospel of Philip appears to expand Matthew's warning about giving holy things to dogs and pigs. Feeding each animal what suits it becomes a rule for teaching people, so the warning helps decide who receives basic lessons and who receives the fullest.

Passages

Matthew 7:6

New Testament
1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. 3 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Gospel of Philip 11:56

Nag Hammadi
This is the way of the disciple of God. If he be wise, he will know what being a disciple is. The forms of the body will not fool him, but he will assess the condition of each individual soul, and will speak with him. Many animals in the world are in the form of humans. If he recognizes them, he will throw acorns to the pigs, but he will pitch barley, and chaff, and hay to the cattle. He will throw bones to the dogs. To the slaves he will give what is preliminary, and to the children he will give what is perfect.
180–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Philip

References

“... In this parable, the by now well-known image of a master feeding his slaves is taken up. Compare, for example, the rabbinic parable from Sifre Deuteronomy 40 that we have discussed above. Just like the parable from Sifre Deuteronomy, the parable from the Gospel of Philip features a master (in Sifre a king1412) who distributes food both to his sons and slaves (cattle is not mentioned in Sifre). Clearly, there are also differences between the parable in Sifre Deuteronomy and the Gospel of Philip: first, in Sifre Deuteronomy, no differentiation is made between the food for both groups. Moreover, while the parable of Sifre Deuteronomy compares the master with God, in the Gospel of Philip, it is the disciple (the follower of Jesus) who is compared to the master. The application of the Gospel of Philip is typically gnostic, and according to Wilson “quite straightforward”:1413 as the wise householder distinguishes what kind of food he gives to which animal or person, so too does the true gnostic distinguish between the different natures of the soul that are present in this world. Only to beings of the highest level – compared to the sons or children in the parable – does he give the best “food,” the most sophisticated teachings. The slaves, representing the lower level of souls, are given teachings of lower quality (“elementary lessons”). The “animals in human form” do not receive food that is compared to a certain kind of instruction. This may remind us of Matthew 7:6b: “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine.” According to Lalleman, the parable is even an “extension” of this saying, “[l]ike so much in the Gospel of Philip.”1414 Thus, content-wise as well, we may conclude that, while the Gospel of Philip gives its own, gnostic, twist to the parable, the themes of the parable are in line with (parable) traditions from the New Testament and early rabbinic literature.1415 ...”
Martijn Stoutjesdijk, “‘Not Like the Rest of the Slaves’?: Slavery Parables in Early Rabbinic and Early Christian Literature” (diss., Tilburg University, 2021), 233.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Matthew 7:6 and Gospel of Philip 11:56

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