"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. [Matthew 7:6 NASB]In one breath Jesus tells us not to judge. In the next, He is calling some people dogs and pigs.
Actually the "dogs" comment tempers the "do not judge" comment. In contemporary usage He is telling us, "do not judge people, but be discerning about people."
Jesus loves sinners. In His earthly ministry, He spent more time with sinners than He did with religious people. He ate with them, comforted them, and shared the gospel with them.
Interestingly, their is no account of Him sitting down and eating with the Sadducees or Pharisees. Rather, Jesus took many opportunities to condemn their hypocrisy.
When Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the gospel, he gave them these instructions, "“And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. “As you enter the house, give it your greeting. “If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. “Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." [Matthew 10:11-15 NASB]
There are people who will not hear about the things of God. If you share with them how God has blessed you, they will treat you with ridicule and scorn. If you share the gospel with them, they will treat it like a pig trampling pearls.
When Paul went to Corinth, he initially went to the synagogue and preached to the Jews. "But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”" [Acts 18:6 NASB]
He repeated this behavior in Ephesus: "And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus." [Acts 19:8-9 NASB]
So we see that Paul, while not condemning anyone for their sins, rightly discerned by the behavior of some that they would not receive the gospel of Jesus. In response Paul refused to give "what is holy to dogs".
Paul is making this distinction in his letter to Corinth. "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?" [1 Corinthians 5:9-12 NASB]
We are not to judge sinners. Leave that judgment up to God. But we are not to tolerate hypocrisy.
Preaching the gospel to the lost is like spreading seed. True, some will fall by the wayside, but some will fall on good soil. Some will reject the message, but some will receive it. Sharing the holy things of God with a hypocrite is like casting pearls before swine. Throughout His ministry, Jesus repeatedly shows tenderness and compassion for the sinful who are lost, and disdain for the religious who are hypocrites.
The kingdom of God is not about religion, but about relationship. God the Father has adopted us as His children. Let us then approach our loving Father, not with religion and ritual, but with love. Jesus said, "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers." [John 4:23 NASB]
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