Bible Discussion Thread

In Matthew 7:6 in plan English what does that mean?

Matthew 7:6: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."

This verse is part of the message that Jesus gave to his disciples & those who wanted to listen to Him (message starting from chapter 5). So in 7:6, Jesus spoke about those who were undeserving to receive God's Truth (Jesus referred to them as 'dogs & swine'). In those days, both animals were looked down upon & were 'unclean', especially swine, so Jesus' use of these words would have given a lot of meaning to His message. And Jesus spoke about "that which is holy" and of "pearls": again the Jews knew about holiness, both attributed to God's Words in the Old Testament & to how one should live before God.

So Jesus is saying that if there are those that don't just refuse the Truth, but actually become violent & disgusting when hearing it, these people should be avoided - you should not persist in helping them to know about Heavenly matters. Those people would only treat the message as filth, trample upon it & could even turn upon the disciples. And this would be useful for the disciples to know, as Jesus even spoke about the time when people would reject their message & they were to turn away from that city & shake off the dust off their sandals ( Mark 6:11).

Today, we have a wonderful Gospel message to give to all people that will save them from Hell. But most will reject it & some even turn violent against it & us. Jesus says in Mt 7:6, that we should never force His Message, & even turn away from them if you can see that their hatred for God & His Son are evident. Don't fight them - turn away & leave them as those Hell-bound. Maybe at some future time, they will have their hearts touched & changed to receive God's Message.