1"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2"For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 

Many have misinterpreted the words of the Master here, thinking that we are not supposed to confront sin or scrutinize the words of teachers or prophets. Such an interpretation, however, would be in contradiction to the Torah, since it says in Leviticus 19:17 that “you may surely reprove your neighbor.” Furthermore, the Master is not forbidding trying cases in courts of law. Instead, what is forbidden is undue criticism and false assumptions. To come to conclusions on people and situations without knowing all of the facts, without taking into account people’s motivations, would be to treat people in a way that you would not want to be treated. The command to not judge, then, is an application of the principle given in verse 12 to “treat people the same way you want them to treat you.” The very act of judging someone implies that you are aware of the particular law that you believe has been violated. Without approaching the person or situation with compassion, you are leaving yourself in a dangerous position. It is dangerous because the Master promised that the way you judge is how you will be judged. In this way, when you violate that same law, the standard of measure that you used to judge will be used against you. Therefore, we should always be eager to give people the benefit of the doubt and issue forgiveness, since that is how we would want to be treated.

3"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

The Master then gave this humorous illustration of the ridiculousness of judging others’ sin when your own sin has not been dealt with. Much of the time we major on the minor things people fail in, while at the same time we are blind to some gross sin in our own lives. Once again, the attempt to point out your brother’s sin is an admission that you know God’s righteous standard and are therefore implicating yourself when you commit that same sin. Notice that the Master did not say that we shouldn’t try to help our brother in regards to their sin but that there is a proper way to do it (cf. Leviticus 19:17). Instead of being a hypocrite, we should first deal with the sin in our own lives and then we will be able to help our brother. 

6"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

The terms “dogs” and “swine” were commonly used to refer to pagan Gentiles and those opposed to the ways of God. To our politically correct culture, the words of the Master here are harsh and would hardly be tolerated to those who would espouse the “seeker friendly” approach. Our Master, however, was not seeker friendly; Yeshua would never lower God’s standard of righteousness to tickle the ears of his listeners. In this way, giving to dogs what is holy is presenting the message of repentance to those who are persistent in their antagonism towards God and His ways. Even worse, like swine being given pearls, giving the call to righteousness to rebellious and hard hearted people will only result in an unpleasant reaction. This does not mean that we do not pray for such people but it does mean that sometimes it’s better to be a living example rather than causing unnecessary commotion with your words. It’s imperative to maintain the high standard of the word of God rather than lowering it, so it will become palatable to sinful people.

7"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8"For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9"Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10"Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

As God's children, when we are in need, we shouldn't hesitate to ask God to answer our pleas. The words Yeshua used to describe how we should approach God with our petitions convey a sense of escalation. In other words, not only should we ask, we should also seek, and further to that, we should knock. In Luke 18:1-8, the Master told a parable of widow who continually requested legal protection from an unrighteous judge. Due to the woman’s persistence, the judge gave in and granted her the legal protection she was asking for. It's not that we should assume God is like the unrighteous judge in this parable. On the contrary, if even an evil man will comply with someone's request if they are persistent, how much more so God, who is our loving Father in heaven, answer us when we petition Him? No sane earthly father will give a stone or a snake to their child when the child asks for food, so we should not cease petitioning God with our requests, for He will hear our prayer and answer with compassion. That being said, we mustn't become deluded into thinking that we can ask for absolutely anything we wish and that God will be obligated to comply. Indeed, it is only when we pray within God’s established will as revealed in the Scriptures will He answer our prayers. To be able to pray within His will requires that our lives be consistent with His word. Then what the Apostle John said can be true of us: “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:21-22).

12"In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

To cap what He had taught to that point, the Master gave us His version of the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule to “treat people the same way you want them to treat you” is simply a paraphrase of the commandment given in Leviticus 19:18: “you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” This, the Master said, is “the Law and the Prophets,” which is to say that this principle perfectly summarizes the teachings of the Bible. Some have mistakenly taken this verse to mean that the general principle of love replaces the commandments of the Torah. To understand the Golden Rule as a replacement for the commandments of the Torah is to miss the Jewish context in which the Master spoke. In fact, Rabbi Hillel, who lived in the generation before Yeshua, similarly taught: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn” (Talmud, Shabbat 31a). While not doing what you wouldn’t want others to do to you certainly is in the spirit of the commandment to love your neighbour as yourself, the Master’s version causes us to actively treat people in a way that we might not otherwise. Treating people the same way you would want them to treat you is not a guarantee that people will treat you the way you want to be treated. In this way, we learn that loving someone must be done from a selfless heart. The ability to love unselfishly only comes from God for “God is love and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (cf. 1 John 4:16).

13"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14"For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

When Messiah came, He did not present a message that is commonly heard in churches today; to the Master, the mark of true salvation is more than simply intellectually agreeing with a creed. Here, Yeshua presented a choice with two options; you can either chose the narrow gate and way, which leads to life, or the wide gate and broad way, which leads to destruction. Obviously no one would willingly enter the wide gate if they knew that it led to destruction, so the implication is that both gates appear to lead to life. This is the deception of false religion, that you can be saved and yet follow the crowd on the easy path. How can we then know which one is the narrow way and which is the broad way? We can be sure we are following the narrow path if we follow the teachings of the Master in imitation of His Torah-obedient life. That is not to say that we are saved by our obedience but it is to say that only those who are following God's commandments as interpreted by the Master can have assurance that God has justified them. The Apostle Paul taught the same thing in Romans 2:13: "for it is not the hearers of the Torah who are just before God, but the doers of the Torah will be justified." The broad way on the other hand is to live an outward religious life without ever actually experiencing a change of heart. A great illustration of this is found in Matthew 19:16-22 when a rich young ruler approached the Master and asked Him how to inherit eternal life. Yeshua did not respond with "accept me into your heart and believe that I died for you" but instead said "if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." When the rich young ruler had claimed that he had kept all of the commandments, the Master then instructed him to sell all that he had to the poor and then come and follow Him. The point was not to imply that everyone must sell all that they have in order to attain eternal life but rather to show that the mark of true salvation is a genuine and continuous desire to live a repentant life no matter what the cost. All too often we think that because we raised our hand or said a special prayer that we are saved but real salvation is marked by a daily denying of self, being ready to die and continually changing to be more like Messiah even if it means losing your family (cf. Luke 9:23, 14:26). Few, the Master said, will choose the narrow path but many will choose the broad path.