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Matthew 7

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1 Judge not, that ye may not be judged;

2 for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.

3 But why lookest thou on the mote that is in the eye of thy brother, but observest not the beam that is in thine eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Allow [me], I will cast out the mote from thine eye; and behold, the beam is in thine eye?

5 Hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine eye, and then thou wilt see clearly to cast out the mote out of the eye of thy brother.

6 Give not that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and turning round rend you.

7 Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.

8 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.

9 Or what man is there of you who, if his son shall ask of him a loaf of bread, will give him a stone;

10 and if he ask a fish, will give him a serpent?

11 If therefore *ye*, being wicked, know [how] to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall your Father who is in the heavens give good things to them that ask of him?

12 Therefore all things whatever ye desire that men should do to you, thus do *ye* also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

13 Enter in through the narrow gate, for wide the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and many are they who Enter in through it.

14 For narrow the gate and straitened the way that leads to life, and they are few who find it.

15 But beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but within are ravening wolves.

16 By their fruits ye shall know them. Do [men] gather a bunch of grapes from thorns, or from thistles figs?

17 So every good tree produces good fruits, but the worthless tree produces bad fruits.

18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruits, nor a worthless tree produce good fruits.

19 Every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

20 By their fruits then surely ye shall know them.

21 Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he that does the will of my Father who is in the heavens.

22 Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied through *thy* name, and through *thy* name cast out demons, and through *thy* name done many works of power?

23 and then will I avow unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, workers of lawlessness.

24 Whoever therefore hears these my words and does them, I will liken him to a prudent man, who built his house upon the rock;

25 and the rain came down, and the streams came, and the winds blew and fell upon that house, and it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.

26 And every one who hears these my words and does not do them, he shall be likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand;

27 and the rain came down, and the streams came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and its fall was great.

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his doctrine,

29 for he taught them as having authority, and not as their scribes.

   

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True Christian Religion # 226

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226. (i) THE WORD IS NOT TO BE UNDERSTOOD WITHOUT DOCTRINE.

This is because the Word in its literal sense is composed of nothing but correspondences, in order that it should simultaneously hold spiritual and celestial meanings; and every single word is a container and support for these. That is why in the literal sense the Divine truths are rarely uncovered, but are clothed. They are then called appearances of truth, and in many cases are made suitable to be understood by the simple, who do not lift their gaze above what is in front of their eyes. Some appear to be contradictions, when in fact there is no contradiction, if the Word is looked at by its own spiritual light. Moreover in some passages of the Prophets there are collections of place-names and personal names, from which no sort of sense can be extracted. Seeing that the Word is like this in its literal sense, it can easily be established that it could not be understood without doctrine.

The Word is not to be understood without doctrine. Doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word. But Divine truth, on which doctrine is based, is not visible to any but those who are enlightened by the Lord.

[2] But let us take examples to illustrate this. It is said that Jehovah regrets (Exodus 32:12, 14; Jonah 3:9; 4:2); and also that Jehovah does not regret (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29). These statements cannot be reconciled without doctrine. It is said that Jehovah visits the wickedness of the fathers upon the sons, to the third or fourth generation (Numbers 14:18); and also that a father shall not die on account of his son, nor a son on account of his father, but each in his own sin (Deuteronomy 24:16). Doctrine can show that these statements do not conflict, but are in harmony.

[3] Jesus says:

Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find. To him that knocks, the door shall be opened, Matthew 7:7-8; 21:21-22.

Without doctrine one might believe that each will receive what he asks for; but we know from doctrine that whatever a person asks from the Lord, that is granted. For this too is what the Lord teaches:

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you, John 15:7.

[4] The Lord says:

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God, Luke 6:20.

Without doctrine one might think that heaven was for the poor and not the rich; but doctrine instructs us that the poor in spirit are meant, for the Lord says:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens, Matthew 5:3.

[5] The Lord says further:

Do not judge, so that you are not judged; with whatever judgment you judge, so will you be judged, Matthew 7:1-2; Luke 6:37.

Without doctrine anyone could be induced to assert that we must not judge wicked people to be wicked; but doctrine tells us we may judge, so long as we do so justly. For the Lord says:

Give just judgments, John 7:24.

[6] Jesus says:

Do not have yourselves called teacher, for you have one teacher, Christ. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one father in the heavens. And do not have yourselves called master, for you have one master, Christ, Matthew 23:8-10.

Without doctrine this would mean that we are not to call anyone teacher, father or master; but doctrine tells us that we may do so in the natural sense, but not in the spiritual.

[7] Jesus said to the disciples:

When the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you too will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Matthew 19:28.

One might infer from these words that the Lord's disciples too are to act as judges, though in fact they can judge no one. Doctrine therefore will reveal the mystery by the fact that the Lord alone, who is omniscient, and knows the hearts of all, can and will be judge. His twelve disciples mean the church in respect of all its truths and all its kinds of good, which are given to it by the Lord by means of the Word. Doctrine infers from this that it is the truths and kinds of good which will judge everyone, as the Lord said in John (John 3:17-18; 12:47-48). There are many more passages like this in the Word, which show plainly that the Word cannot be understood without doctrine.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.