Then Shalt Thou See Clearly

Matthew 7:5  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.

                 For those who know this part of the Bible, they know this verse is part of a larger conversation. Matthew 7:1-5  Judge not, that ye be not judged.  (2)  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.  (3)  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  (4)  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  (5)  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.

                 In my devotional time, as I was reading these scriptures, the phrase that struck my heart was “…and then shalt thou see clearly”. I found that this phrase is the Greek word diablepō (dee-ab-lep’-o) – From dia, meaning “through” and blepo, simply meaning “to look”.

                 This Greek word diablepō only occurs one other time in Luke 6:42  …and then shalt thou see clearly (diablepō) to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. After noticing that this Greek word only appears twice in the New Testament, I thought, “Now, I know the word “see” is in the New Testament more than only twice. So, are those kinds of seeing different than this one?”. And, indeed they are! I found the following eight forms of the word “see” in the New Testament.

1. Diablepō – To look through; as in Luke 6:42  …and then shalt thou see clearly (diablepō) to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.
2. Optanomai – To stare with amazement; as in Matthew 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see (optanomai) God.
3. Horaō – To discern; as in Matthew 16:6  Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed (horaō) and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
4. Blepō –too look or observe; as in Matthew 6:4  …thy Father which seeth (blepo) in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5. Eidō – Past tense of “see”; as in Matthew 2:10  When they saw (eido) the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
6. Theaomai – To visit, to observe, or to look at closely; as in Matthew 11:7 …What went ye out into the wilderness to see (theaomai)? A reed shaken with the wind?
7. Theōreō – To look at from afar; as in Matthew 27:55  And many women were there beholding afar off (theōreō), which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
8. Skopeō – To take aim at; as in 2 Corinthians 4:18  While we look not at (skopeō) the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Now, back to our key verse. Matthew 7:5 …and then shalt thou see clearly (diablepō) to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. Remember, the Greek word diablepō means “to look through”. So, when Jesus says that you will “see clearly”,He is saying you will be able to look through someone, or more specifically to look through someone’s facade and see their real intentions. But, it should be to help them and not to harm them.

                 Often, I believe people take more pride than they should in being able to “see through people”. Jesus is not saying you should not be able to see through people’s facades. As a matter of fact, we are commanded to do so in John 7:24  Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. It’s just that when you are doing this, you must do this with pure motives and we should not let it become a source of pride to us.

Jesus gives us three steps to ensure that we both see through and help others the right way:

1. Focus on yourself first. “…first cast out the beam out of thine own eye”. This is a teaching about self-introspection. Don’t automatically assume that the way you are used to seeing things is the best or only way to see them.
2. Ensure you are seeing clearly. “…and then shalt thou see clearly”. There may be things you do see well, but in other things your vision may also be obscured. Notice that it is possible to see clearly enough to help someone else or for them to help us. Not every time someone tries to help us should we automatically say, “They have a beam in their eye!” Do they, or is that just your way of automatically dismissing them?
3. When seeing through people’s façade, do so with an intention to help them move past it and not to just harm them. Both we and God know the true intention. “…cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye”. It may be they do not even know they have a mote in their eye because they are so used to having it there.

The final takeaway message from Jesus is this. “If you see a detrimental fault in someone, and you wish to help them see their fault so that they may move past it, first ensure you are working on your own faults, especially those in your life that are similar to theirs. Remember, you should only judge in ways you don’t mind being judged by God and by others. Once you have repented where you need to repent and cleaned up what needs to be cleaned up, only then should you approach the other person about their fault. This will give you credibility with them and with God”.

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