What is the meaning of Matthew 11:15?

He

• The single pronoun starts the invitation with personal focus; Jesus turns from speaking about crowds (Matthew 11:7–14) to addressing each listener individually.

• Scripture frequently shifts from broad teaching to personal appeal—“Whoever believes in Him shall not perish” (John 3:16).

• By saying “He,” the Lord underscores individual accountability before God (Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 14:12).

---

who has ears

• Nearly everyone possesses physical ears, so the phrase signals a universal call. Yet more is implied than biology; Proverbs 20:12 reminds us, “Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.”

• Jesus suggests that having ears is God-given equipment for perceiving truth, yet people may still ignore what they hear (Jeremiah 6:10).

• The expression also hints at spiritual capacity: “The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14), meaning some ears are open while others remain closed.

---

let him hear

• “Hear” in Scripture often carries the sense of heed, obey, and respond—“Be doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22).

• Jesus is urging decisive action. In the immediate context He has just identified John the Baptist as the promised Elijah and Himself as Messiah; failure to “hear” has eternal consequences (Matthew 11:14–19; Hebrews 2:1–3).

• Similar refrains punctuate Revelation: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7), stressing ongoing responsiveness for believers.

• Faith itself springs from such attentive hearing: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

---

summary

Matthew 11:15 compresses a sweeping invitation into one short command. Every person (“He”) equipped by God with the faculty to listen (“who has ears”) is summoned to receive, believe, and obey the revealed word about Christ (“let him hear”). The verse draws a line between mere auditory contact and heartfelt acceptance, reminding us that real hearing transforms the listener’s life and destiny.