Please explain Matthew 7:6.

Matthew 7:6: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast you your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

This analogy was used by Christ to demonstrate how people whose minds have not been opened by God to understand His truth react when they hear spiritual knowledge. Jesus further stated in John 6:44, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him…”

Christ was instructing the disciples not to go about trying to convert the masses. Unless God is opening someone’s mind to spiritual understanding, they will treat God’s truth in the same manner that pigs would treat pearls—as nothing but dirt. A pig would neither understand nor appreciate the great beauty and worth of the pearls. Neither would a person not being called by God understand the great value of the truths of God. He would, figuratively, “trample it under their feet.”

One should never try to force God’s truths on others. Instead, one should “…be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (I Pet. 3:15). As Christians, one should be prepared to answer questions that others may have, if they are asking sincerely—and not for the purpose of debating. Often, when people honestly desire to understand what the Bible teaches, it can be an indication that God is opening that person’s mind.

In Matthew 13, Christ once again compares the truths of God to pearls. This account states, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Like the merchant, who sold all that he had to purchase a pearl of great price, God expects us to treat His truth as a valuable, priceless gem.