Casting Pearls Before Swine in Early Christianity
Early Christians usually read Matthew 7:6 as a warning not to give holy teaching to people who will mock it or turn on the teacher. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, and the Apostolic Constitutions all use it this way. The saying is applied to sacred teaching, church discipline, and careful speech about Christ. That makes the early Christian answer clear and broad, not thin or uncertain.
114 early-church witnesses · 217 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about casting Pearls Before Swine?
Early Christians used Matthew 7:6 to teach that holy teaching should not be handed out carelessly to people who will mock it or use it to attack the faith. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, and the Apostolic Constitutions all apply the saying to guarded teaching, discipline, or sacred matters, not just to a word picture about animals. The witness is broad across the 2nd and 3rd centuries and is especially strong in writers who explicitly quote the verse.
A few cards are only background or unrelated swine imagery, but the main teaching is clear and consistent. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Matthew 7:6 was usually read as a warning to guard holy teaching.
- Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, and the Apostolic Constitutions all use the saying in this sense.
- The early Christian use is broad and consistent across the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
Questions Answered by the Sources
What did early Christians think Jesus meant by “cast not your pearls before swine”?
Early Christian writers repeatedly use Matthew 7:6 to mean that holy or precious teaching should not be offered carelessly to people who will treat it with contempt. They present the saying as a warning about protecting sacred truth, not merely as a colorful proverb.
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Tertullian, To His Wife Direct teaching
...s tolerant, or else in regard to your own affliction in avoiding his intolerance. "Do not cast your pearls before swine," says He, "lest they trample them to pieces, and turn round and overturn you also." Your pearls are the distinctive marks even of your daily way of life. The more care you take to conceal them, the more liable to suspicion you will make them, and the more exposed to the grasp of Gentile curiosity. Will you escape notice when you make the sign over your bed, or your body; when you blow away some impurity; when even by night you rise to pray? Will you not be thought to be engaged in some work of magic? Will not your husband know what it is that you secretly taste before taking any food? And if he knows it to be bread, does he not believe it to be that bread which it is said to be? And will every husband, ignorant of the reason for these things, simply endure them, without murmuring, without suspicion whether it is bread or poison? Some, it is true, do endure them; but it is that they may trample on them, that they may make sport of such women. They keep their secrets in reserve against the danger which they believe in, in case they ever chance to be hurt. They d
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
These were the obstacles in the way of my writing. Even now I am afraid, as it is said, to throw pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot and turn and tear us apart. Matthew 7:6 For it is hard to present words about the true light, words that are truly pure and clear, to hearers who are swinish and untrained. Hardly anything they could hear would seem more ridiculous to the crowd than these things. On the other hand, for people of noble character, no subjects could be more wonderful or more uplifting. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the wise do not speak openly what they reason out in council. Yet the Lord says, "What you hear in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops." Matthew 10:27 By this, he tells them to receive the secret traditions of the true knowledge, and to explain them openly and clearly. And as we have heard in the ear, so we are to pass them on to those for whom it is necessary. But he does not command us to share with everyone, without distinction, what is spoken to them in parables. But in these notes there is only an outline, with the truth scattered thinly and
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness
And the Saviour holds converse with all the disciples, as merchant-men who are not only seeking the goodly pearls but who have found them and possess them, when He says, Cast not your pearls before swine.
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Tertullian, On Baptism Direct teaching
On the contrary, this precept is rather to be looked at carefully: Give not the holy thing to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine;
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
for the Lord exhorts us, saying: Cast not your pearls before swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn again and rend you.
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness
Matthew 5:1 for, in the course of those words, He said, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine.
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Tertullian, To His Wife Supporting witness
Cast not, says He, your pearls to swine, lest they trample them to pieces, and turn round and overturn you also.
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Tertullian, On Prescription Against Heretics Supporting witness
That which is holy they will cast to the dogs, and their pearls, although (to be sure) they are not real ones, they will fling to the swine.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
This, he says, is what (Jesus) asserts: Throw not that which is holy unto the dogs, nor pearls unto the swine.
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness
Now connect with the man seeking beautiful pearls the saying, “Seek, and you will find,” Matthew 7:7, and also this, “Everyone who seeks finds,” Matthew 7:8. For what are you seeking? Or what does everyone who seeks find? I dare to answer: pearls, and the pearl possessed by the one who has given up all things and counted them as loss. About this Paul says, “I have counted all things as loss, that I may gain Christ,” Philippians 3:8. By “all things” he means the beautiful pearls, so that he may gain Christ, the one very precious pearl. A lamp is precious to people in darkness, and there is need of a lamp until the sun rises. The glory in the face of Moses is also precious, and I think the glory of the prophets is as well. It is a beautiful sight, by which we are led in so that we may be able to see the glory of Christ, to which the Father bears witness, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” Matthew 3:17. But what has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect because of the glory that surpasses it, 2 Corinthians 3:10. And we first have need of the glory that can be done away with, for the sake of the glory that surpasses it. In the same way,
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness
Matthew 7:6 Perhaps, then, he is not a disciple of Christ, who does not possess pearls or the very costly pearl, the pearls, I mean, which are goodly;
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
And even now I fear, as it is said, to cast the pearls before swine, lest they tread them under foot, and turn and rend us.
More related quotations from this section 1 shown
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Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Direct teaching
for concerning this also the Lord has said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs. Matthew 7:6
Did early Christians use this saying when talking about church discipline and teaching?
Several writers apply the saying to how Christians should speak, teach, and correct others, especially when dealing with unbelievers or the unready. The text is used to support caution in public teaching and the handling of holy matters.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
in keeping with which is the following: It is good to keep close the secret of a king, — in order that the doctrine of the entrance of souls into bodies (not, however, that of the transmigration from one body into another) may not be thrown before the common understanding, nor what is holy given to the dogs, nor pearls be cast before swine.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background
...d dried up the rivers of Etham. You overthrew walls without tools or the hand of man. For all these things, glory be to You, O Lord Almighty. The innumerable hosts of angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, and powers, Your everlasting armies, adore You. The cherubim and the six-winged seraphim, with two covering their feet, with two their heads, and with two flying, say incessantly with thousands upon thousands of archangels and ten thousand times ten thousand of angels, with constant and loud voices, and let all the people say it with them: Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of His glory. Be blessed forever. Amen. Isaiah 6:3; Romans 1:25. And afterward let the high priest say: For You are truly holy, and most holy, the highest and most highly exalted forever. Holy also is Your only begotten Son, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, who in all things ministered to His God and Father, both in Your various creation and Your fitting providence, and has not ignored lost mankind. But after the law of nature, after the exhortations in the written law, after the prophetic rebukes and the government of the angels, when men had perverted b
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Early Liturgies, Liturgy of Adaeus and Maris Supporting witness
It is becoming that the holy things should be to the holy in perfection.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
And let the bishop speak thus to the people: Holy things for holy persons.
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Novatian, On the Jewish Meats Supporting witness
For divine things must be divinely received, and must assuredly be maintained as holy.
What Bible verse says not to cast pearls before swine?
Matthew 7:6 is the direct Bible passage for the saying. The related biblical material in the supplied cards also includes passages about holy things, swine, dogs, and the danger of profaning what is sacred.
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
...ed by swine and dogs, since the Lord says, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and tear you," Matthew 7:6. For when you often came to me with a desire to contradict rather than a wish to learn, and shamelessly preferred to insist on your own opinions, which you shouted out with noisy words, instead of patiently listening to mine, it seemed foolish to me to argue with you. It would be easier and a smaller thing to hold back the angry waves of a stormy sea with shouts than to restrain your madness by arguments. Certainly it would be both useless and ineffective labor to offer light to a blind man, speech to a deaf one, or wisdom to a brute. For a brute cannot understand, a blind man cannot receive the light, and a deaf man cannot hear.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
...r. For in mystical matters we must not be rash, but careful. For the Lord urges us, saying, "Do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and tear you to pieces." Matthew 7:6 For unbelievers, when they hear the teaching about Christ not explained as it should be, but imperfectly, and especially the teaching about His incarnation or His passion, will be more likely to reject it with scorn and laugh at it as false than to praise God for it. And so the older women will be guilty of rashness and of causing blasphemy, and they will inherit a woe. For He says, "Woe to him by whom my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles." Isaiah 52:5
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
Proverbs 26:4 And we are, moreover, bidden to keep what is holy within our own knowledge, and not expose it to be trodden down by swine and dogs, since the Lord speaks, saying, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
...without regard for the Gospel, with profane readiness gave the holy things of the Lord to dogs, and pearls to swine. Although this is a great crime, and one that has spread with unbelievable destruction through almost the whole earth, still, as you yourself write, it ought to be handled carefully and moderately, with the counsel of all the bishops, presbyters, deacons, confessors, and even the laymen who stand firm, as you also testify in your letters. In this way, while we wish too soon to repair the ruins, we may not seem to bring about other and greater destruction. For where is the word of God left, if pardon is granted so easily to sinners? Certainly their spirits must be encouraged and nourished until the proper time of maturity, and they must be taught from the Holy Scriptures how great and extraordinary a sin they have committed. Nor should they be encouraged by the fact that they are many. Rather, they should be restrained by the fact that they are not few. A shameless number has never been accustomed to carry weight in lessening a crime. But shame, modesty, patience, discipline, humility, and submission, waiting for the judgment of others upon itself, and bearing the s
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
For we observe that you have both rebuked with fitting censure, and worthily, those who, unmindful of their sins, had, with hasty and eager desire, extorted peace from the presbyters in your absence, and those who, without respect for the Gospel, had with profane facility granted the holiness of the Lord unto dogs, and pearls to swine;
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
...am as a dwelling place of delight, and afterward giving a command because of providence, and justly casting out the offender, yet in His goodness not casting him off completely, but teaching his descendants in later ages in various ways. For their sake, at the end of the world, He has sent His Son to become man for man's sake, and to undergo all human passions without sin. Therefore, let the priest now call on Him in baptism, and let him say: Look down from heaven, and sanctify this water, and give it grace and power, so that he who is to be baptized, according to the command of Your Christ, may be crucified with Him, and may die with Him, and may be buried with Him, and may rise with Him to the adoption that is in Him, so that he may be dead to sin and live to righteousness. And after this, when he has baptized him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he shall anoint him with ointment, and shall add as follows:
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background
...house of Caiaphas the high priest. There many were gathered, not the people, but a great mob; not a holy council, but an assembly of the wicked and a council of the ungodly. They did many things against Him and tried every kind of injury. They spat on Him, mocked Him, beat Him, struck Him in the face, reviled Him, tested Him, and demanded worthless divination from Him instead of true prophecy. They called Him a deceiver, a blasphemer, a transgressor of Moses, a destroyer of the temple, a taker away of sacrifices, an enemy to the Romans, and an adversary to Caesar. These bulls and dogs in their madness threw these reproaches at Him until very early in the morning. Then they led Him away to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas. And when they had done the same things to Him there, on the day of Preparation they handed Him over to Pilate the Roman governor. They accused Him of many great things, none of which they could prove. Then the governor, as if tired of them, said, "I find no cause against Him," Luke 23:14; John 18:38. But they brought two lying witnesses and wanted to accuse the Lord falsely. Yet when these men were found to disagree, and their testimony did not match, they
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
And so the aged women will be guilty of rashness, and of causing blasphemy, and will inherit a woe.
Common Questions
What did early Christians think Matthew 7:6 meant?
They usually took it as a warning not to give holy teaching to people who would mock it, trample it, or turn hostile.
Did they use it for church discipline too?
Yes. Cyprian and the Apostolic Constitutions use it in settings tied to holy matters, careful teaching, and church order.
Is this verse about hiding all Christian teaching?
No. The early writers use it as a warning about giving sacred things to people who will abuse them, not as a rule to keep all truth secret.
Source Index for Casting Pearls Before Swine
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 217 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 114
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
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Unknown, Unknown Work
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Didache, Connection to Matthew 7:6
Bible Passages 80 shown of 103
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.
Related Resources
Course Lesson
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