Matthew 7 explained

In Matthew 7 one Greek verb runs from 7:12 to 7:26 behind the WEB's do, produce, grow and does: the good tree produces good fruit, the one who enters does the will of his Father, and the wise man hears Jesus's words and does them. And "he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes" (7:29) is, in the Greek, the same words as the end of Mark 1:22.

"Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged" (7:1) (tap judge). Jesus gives the reason in the next verse: "For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you" (7:2) (tap measure). Then a picture: "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?" (7:3) (tap beam), and "You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye" (7:5) (tap hypocrite). Here is what almost everyone misses: Mark has the measure words too, in another setting. There Jesus says, "Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you; and more will be given to you who hear" (Mark 4:24). In the Greek text the WEB translates, "with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you" is the same words in both. Favor's Mark 4 doesn't explain the measure there, and these notes don't carry Mark's setting into Matthew's, or Matthew's into Mark's. They are Jesus's words to those who heard him, and these notes make them a verdict on no one today.

The picture of the speck and the beam doesn't end at "First remove the beam out of your own eye". The verse goes on: "and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye" (7:5). Luke's telling ends with it too (Luke 6:42).

Matthew 7:3-5 · Luke 6:42

Deuteronomy 11:26→leads toMatthew 7:24-27

Moses says, "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God" (11:26-28). At the end of the teaching he gave on the mountain (Matthew 5:1, 7:28), Jesus tells of two builders: "Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matthew 7:24), and "Everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand" (Matthew 7:26). Jesus doesn't cite Deuteronomy 11, so setting them together is a reading. One reading hears Jesus setting two ways before his hearers as Moses did, with "these words of mine" where Moses has "the commandments of the LORD your God". Another reads the two as sharing a shape found across Scripture, as in "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death" (Jeremiah 21:8), without pointing to this chapter.

ποιέωpoieosay poy-EH-o

Strong's: "to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)". "he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (7:21), and "Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them" (7:24). In this chapter the WEB gives the verb several English words: do (7:12, twice; 7:22; 7:26), produces and produce (7:17, 7:18), grow (7:19) and does (7:21, 7:24). Matthew's Greek has it 89 times (counted in RP2018), and eleven of them are in 7:12-26. John uses it of fruit too: "Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!" (3:8). In Luke's telling, Jesus asks, "Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46), with the same verb.

"First remove the beam out of your own eye" (7:5). What helps you look honestly at your own life before you look at someone else's?