What did Jesus mean when He said to "not cast your pearls before swine" (Matthew 7:6)?

In the sixth verse our Lord warns against the other extreme, which is looseness, the abuse of His grace: "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them with their feet and turn round and rend you." (That incorrect paraphrase called "the Twentieth Century New Testament" has seen fit to put part of this verse in a more refined [? !] language. They translate, "Do not give what is sacred to dogs; nor yet throw your pearls before pigs." How ridiculous!) A person misunderstanding the "judge not" may allow evil to go unjudged, and therefore that which is holy and the pearls become defiled and are trampled under feet by dogs and swine -- unconverted persons, though perhaps outward professors (see 2 Peter 2:22). To apply the passage to the preaching of the Gospel to the unsaved and to those sunk the deepest in vice would be incorrect. It has no reference to the preaching of the Gospel. We should, however, always guard against any irreverent use of the word of God and the blessed things made known in it.

The Lord, then, is not in anywise restraining the gospel from going out to every quarter; but He speaks of the relations of His own people with the unholy. The believer is not to bring out for these the special treasures that are the Christian portion. The gospel is the riches of God's grace to the world. But, besides the gospel, we have the special affections of Christ to the Church, His loving care for His servants, the hope of His coming again, the glorious prospects of the Church as His bride, etc. If you were to talk about these things, which we may call the pearls of the saints, with those out of Christ, you are on wrong ground. If you were to insist upon the duties of the faithful in worldly company, then it is giving that which is holy unto the dogs. There is blessed provision for "the dogs" — the crumbs that fall from the Master's table. And such is the great grace of God toward us, that the crumbs which fall to our portion, Gentiles as we were, are the best.

But there is another thing. In watching against hasty and harsh judgment, there might be the abuse of grace. And the Lord immediately couples this with the former: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." We must carefully remember that the Lord is not here speaking about the gospel going out to sinners. God forbid that we should not carry out the grace of God to every quarter under heaven, because nothing less than this ought to be the desire and effort of every saint of God. All ought to have the spirit of active love going out after others, energetic desires for the salvation and the blessing of souls; for it were a sad shortcoming if it went not beyond souls being brought to Christ. Seeking to grow up into Christ and glorify Him in all things, to know and do the will of God is our calling. In this verse the Lord is not taking up the question of the gospel going out indiscriminately; for, if there be a difference, the gospel best suits those called "dogs", which, to the Jews, was a figure of all that is abominable. Speaking of thieves, drunkards, extortioners, etc., the apostle says: "Such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs," etc. (ver. 6). This has nothing to do with the gospel. The gospel has to do with every creature, no matter how bad they are. God's grace goes out to the most unlikely and the most unworthy. But we must be careful of putting that which specially belongs to the believer before the unsaved. Dogs and swine describe what we all were before grace met us. Turn to 2 Peter 2:22, "It has happened to them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit, again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." The countries that have been outwardly affected by christian doctrine will go back to greater filth than that from which they have been delivered.

Verse 6 has in view the ungodly, insensible of good and unclean in their tastes. Things that are holy and precious are not for them; and if foolishly we present them to them, they are despised and we may suffer their violence. It is right that we should be givers of God's holy things; but not to such.

Matthew 7:6

'Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.' This verse is the counterpart to the first five verses of the chapter. There the Lord Jesus warns his disciples against a wrong judgement and about a judgmental spirit. Here He warns about a lack of spiritual discernment in certain situations, into which they might come as they follow their master.

The Most critical are in fact commonly more deserving of criticism then are their Victims. They will see the trifling mote in another's eye, while ignoring a huge "boom" in their own eye. Let me at least honestly judge and turn from the serious evil in my own life, before rebuking a trivial thing in another. In fact, rather than judging, if one is overtaken in a fault, "ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted" (Col.6:1). Such work requires previous self-judgment, without which we are bound to be guilty of hypocrisy.

On the other hand, we must be careful also of our words in speaking to the ungodly, for they are no more to be pandered to than they are to be judged. Dogs and swine are unclean animals, typical of unclean men (though they may have at one time professed Christianity--2 Pet.3:22). The precious truths of Scripture applying to Christians (holy things and pearls) will be both misunderstood and treated with contempt by ungodly men. Christians have too frequently attempted to import Christian principles into the world's religion and the world's government. These do not mix, for Christianity is heavenly, not earthly. Men of the world need simply the elementary gospel of the grace of God. This will require first the facing of the guilt of their own sins and their need of mercy. If this is absent, it is senseless to try to persuade them of the preciousness of the great blessings found in Christ Jesus that are the portion of believers. We shall suffer for such indiscretion, as well as the truth suffering.

But the apostles realised later what the Lord foresaw when he sent out the twelve and seventy disciples. The Jews in Antioch blasphemed, such that Paul and his companions left the city, and the same happened again in Corinth (Acts 13:45-51; 18:6). They shook off the dust of their feet and their garments against them. This indicated that no communion of the Spirit was possible at all. Had they continued to preach the precious gospel of salvation in the face of this fierce refusal they would have given the holy unto the dogs and cast their pearls before the swine.

The pearls are trampled upon where the gospel is laughed at and blasphemed. The persecutions the apostles suffered and many servants of the Lord still suffer today show the meaning of the Lord's words: '... lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.' Does this imply that we cannot or ought not to be a witness for our Lord where there is mockery? Not at all! But in these very situations we need spiritual discernment to know what is the right thing to do. In such events we can call upon our Lord and implore him for wisdom and help. It might then be that he will tell us to reply the mockers with an earnest appeal: 'Be not deceived; God is not mocked.' Or we might have to suffer the mockery quietly. Lastly it might even be that we have to turn our back with sadness because the Lord reminds us of his words: 'Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.'

Comparing verse 6 with the above, we see that if a censorious spirit is condemned, careful discrimination is called for in our dealings with those that are outside. It does not seem to be the ordinary unconverted person which is in view here, but that class of profane person, such as Herod, to whom, at a later time, the Lord would not answer a word.

(2) The revolt from harsh judgment is apt to carry us into the opposite extreme of laxity, against which the Lord now proceeds to guard us. Dogs and swine are the very images which Peter uses in his epistle to represent those who manifest their still unrenewed nature after apparent conversion: the "dog" by "turning to his own vomit again, the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Peter 2:22). Was he not thinking of the words of his Master here?

Christendom has in fact done shamelessly what the Lord here forbids, and has proved the truth of His words in consequence. Baptism and the Lord's Supper, perverted from their original meaning and application, have been used above all to give the grossest evils tolerance in the house of God, and to make Babylon the great "a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." They have thus been trampled under foot by the profane, and Christianity been rent and mangled fearfully, as all the centuries bear witness. The "judgment of charity" is continually invoked to take darkness to be light, and credit the most barren profession with what it dares not even claim for itself. But the false judgment of laxity has here its woe upon it, as much as the false judgment of censoriousness: upon that which puts good for evil, and that which puts evil for good alike. If grace is the spring of holiness, holiness is, by this very fact, the test of grace.