# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1904_S8
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

8 Proceedings of the twentieth convention

earnestly warned against judging the neighbor, against passing a condemning, dismissive judgment upon him. But with verse 15 He goes on to say that His disciples are nevertheless not to stand there without judgment. What does the LORD teach here? Holy thing and pearls, giving and casting, dogs and swine are the same. Yet it is to be noted that Christ says: τὸ ἅγιον [the holy thing] and then τοὺς μαργαρίτας ὑμῶν [your pearls]. He tells His disciples, concerning the holy thing, that for them it is their pearls, something with which they adorn themselves, which is their treasure, their joy; their pearls, something that belongs to them, that is theirs, that they know how to value, whose worth they recognize and understand. This is not to be given to dogs and swine. By dogs and swine the LORD does not mean especially coarse and filthy sinners — with these He sits down at table and eats with them, talks with them, for instance at Jacob's well, and lets them touch Him and wipe His feet, wet with their tears, with their hair. The picture of the dogs and swine is chosen for the sake of the picture of the pearls. With holy things and pearls these animals know nothing to do. They do not know their worth and use, nor do they learn to know it, so long as they remain dogs and swine. The holy things and pearls are also not for such as they, but for you, the LORD wishes to tell His disciples. You hold them for a treasure and an ornament. That is what they are there for, that is why they are given to you. Where one does not use them for that, you are not to give them away, not even with the thought of doing them something good and kind, of not offering them to them. You are not to cast them before the dogs and swine; they will simply trample them.

In applying the parable it lies nearest, in the case of the holy thing and the pearls, to think of the dear Gospel, of the comfort of the Gospel. Dogs and swine are then such people as know nothing to do with the Gospel, to whom it is an offense and a foolishness, who pervert and corrupt it altogether.

Luther says: "They are both, those who corrupt the Gospel with doctrine and with life; who take our Gospel from us and learn it, and so bring our jewel and precious treasure, in which we are baptized, live, and glory, and afterwards go away to their own place and begin to preach against us, and turn their snouts and teeth against us." But how is it to be understood that we are not to give to them? Μὴ δῶτε [Give not], says Christ, μηδὲ βάλητε [neither cast]. It is to be noted that the LORD says τὸ ἅγιον [the holy thing] and τοὺς μαργαρίτας ὑμῶν [your pearls]. That they hear the glad tidings, that Christ has come into the world to save sinners, we cannot prevent, nor ought we to prevent; for we are to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Preaching the Gospel, yes, but the holy thing, our pearls, these are not for everyone. The LORD JESUS speaks to His disciples. Our pearls, the comfort, the certainty that Christ is our own and that we have forgiveness of sins,