Chapter
Verse

Matthew 7:5

ESV 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.
NIV You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
NASB 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!
CSB Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.
NLT Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
KJV Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
NKJV Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

What does Matthew 7:5 mean?

Jesus has told His audience in direct terms not to judge each other, else they will also be judged (Matthew 7:1). He does not mean that people should have no discernment about sin, even in the lives of other people. Instead, the command forbids playing God (Matthew 7:2). Christians are not to pronounce God's judgment on other sinners while leaving our own lives unexamined or un-judged. We are not qualified to fill God's sinless, righteous shoes. To judge the sin of others while ignoring our own is as absurd as criticizing someone with dust in their eyes, while our own eye is impaled by a stick (Matthew 7:3–4).

However, Christ also says we are qualified to help each other remove sin from our lives. To say to a brother or sister "let me help you remove sin from your life" is different from pronouncing God's judgment on them. Of course, Jesus has emphasized that we are not qualified even for that role until we have addressed the obvious sin from our own lives. Otherwise, we become "hypocrites," a term derived from the Greek word for "an actor or pretender."

Once we have worked to remove some sin from our own lives—or at least dealt with egregious sins—we may be able to help remove the sin from another person's life, in humility and service.
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