Matthew 6

1 Take heed, that ye do not your rightwiseness before men, to be seen of them, else ye shall have no meed at your Father that is in heavens [else ye shall not have meed of your Father which is in heavens].

2 Therefore when thou doest alms, do not thou trumpet before thee, as hypocrites do in synagogues and streets, that they be worshipped of men [+Therefore when thou doest alms, do not thou sing before thee with a trump, as hypocrites do in synagogues and streets, that they be made worshipful of men]; soothly I say to you, they have received their meed.

3 But when thou doest alms, know not thy left hand what thy right hand doeth,

4 that thine alms be in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in huddles, shall requite thee [shall yield to thee].

5 And when ye pray, ye shall not be as hypocrites, that love to pray standing in synagogues and [in] corners of streets, to be seen of men [that they be seen of men]; truly I say to you, they have received their meed.

6 But when thou shalt pray, enter into thy bedchamber, and when the door is shut, pray thy Father in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in huddles, shall yield to thee.

7 But in praying do not ye speak much, as heathen men do, for they guess that they be heard in their much speech.

8 Therefore do not ye be made like to them, for your Father knoweth what is need to you [for your Father knoweth what is needful to you], before that ye ask him.

9 And thus ye shall pray, Our Father that art in heavens, hallowed be thy name;

10 thy kingdom come to; be thy will done in earth as it is in heaven [+thy will be done as in heaven and in earth/be thy will done as in heaven so in earth];

11 give to us this day our each day's bread;

12 and forgive to us our debts, as we forgive to our debtors;

13 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive to men their sins, [and] your heavenly Father shall forgive to you your trespasses. [Forsooth if ye shall forgive to men their sins, and your heavenly Father shall forgive to you your sins.]

15 Soothly if ye forgive not to men [the sins of them], neither your Father shall forgive to you your sins.

16 But when ye fast, do not ye be made as hypocrites sorrowful, for they deface themselves, to seem fasting to men [for they put their faces out of natural terms, that they seem fasting to men]; truly I say to you, they have received their meed.

17 But when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face,

18 that thou be not seen fasting to men, but to thy Father that is in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in privy [and thy Father that seeth in huddles], shall yield to thee.

19 Do not ye treasure to you treasures [here] in earth, where rust and moth destroyeth, and where thieves delve out and steal;

20 but gather to you treasures in heaven [but treasure to you treasures in heaven], where neither rust nor moth destroyeth, and where thieves delve not out, nor steal.

21 For where thy treasure is, there also thine heart is.

22 The lantern of thy body is thine eye; if thine eye be simple, all thy body shall be light-full;

23 but if thine eye be wayward, all thy body shall be dark[-full]. If then the light that is in thee be darknesses, how great shall those darknesses be? [but if thine eye be wayward, all thy body shall be dark-full. Therefore if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great shall those darknesses be?]

24 No man may serve two lords, for either he shall hate the one, and love the other; either he shall sustain the one [or he shall sustain the one], and despise the other. Ye be not able to serve God and riches.

25 Therefore I say to you, that ye be not busy to your life, what ye shall eat; nor to your body, with what ye shall be clothed [or to your body, with what ye shall be clad]. Whether [the] life is not more than meat, and the body more than the cloak [and the body more than cloth]?

26 Behold ye the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither reap, neither gather into barns [nor gather into barns]; and your Father of heaven feedeth them. Whether ye be not more worthy than they [Whether ye be not more worth than they]?

27 But who of you thinking may put to his stature one cubit? [Soothly who of you by thinking may add to his stature one cubit?]

28 And of clothing what be ye busy? Behold the lilies of the field, how they wax. They travail not, neither they spin;

29 and I say to you, that Solomon in all his glory was not covered as one of these.

30 And if God clotheth thus the hay of the field, that to day is, and to morrow is cast into an oven [and to morrow is sent into the furnace], how much more you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not ye be busy, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what thing shall we be covered [or, With what shall we be covered]?

32 For heathen men seek all these things; and your Father knoweth, that ye have need to all these things.

33 Therefore seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his rightwiseness, and all these things shall be cast to you.

34 Therefore do not ye be busy into the morrow, for the morrow shall be busy to itself; for it sufficeth to the day his own malice.

Matthew 6 Commentary

Chapter 6

Against hypocrisy in almsgiving. (1-4) Against hypocrisy in prayer. (5-8) How to pray. (9-15) Respecting fasting. (16-18) Evil of being worldly-minded. (19-24) Trust in God commended. (25-34)

Verses 1-4 Our Lord next warned against hypocrisy and outward show in religious duties. What we do, must be done from an inward principle, that we may be approved of God, not that we may be praised of men. In these verses we are cautioned against hypocrisy in giving alms. Take heed of it. It is a subtle sin; and vain-glory creeps into what we do, before we are aware. But the duty is not the less necessary and excellent for being abused by hypocrites to serve their pride. The doom Christ passes, at first may seem a promise, but it is their reward; not the reward God promises to those who do good, but the reward hypocrites promise themselves, and a poor reward it is; they did it to be seen of men, and they are seen of men. When we take least notice of our good deeds ourselves, God takes most notice of them. He will reward thee; not as a master who gives his servant what he earns, and no more, but as a Father who gives abundantly to his son that serves him.

Verses 5-8 It is taken for granted that all who are disciples of Christ pray. You may as soon find a living man that does not breathe, as a living Christian that does not pray. If prayerless, then graceless. The Scribes and Pharisees were guilty of two great faults in prayer, vain-glory and vain repetitions. "Verily they have their reward;" if in so great a matter as is between us and God, when we are at prayer, we can look to so poor a thing as the praise of men, it is just that it should be all our reward. Yet there is not a secret, sudden breathing after God, but he observes it. It is called a reward, but it is of grace, not of debt; what merit can there be in begging? If he does not give his people what they ask, it is because he knows they do not need it, and that it is not for their good. So far is God from being wrought upon by the length or words of our prayers, that the most powerful intercessions are those which are made with groanings that cannot be uttered. Let us well study what is shown of the frame of mind in which our prayers should be offered, and learn daily from Christ how to pray.

Verses 9-15 Christ saw it needful to show his disciples what must commonly be the matter and method of their prayer. Not that we are tied up to the use of this only, or of this always; yet, without doubt, it is very good to use it. It has much in a little; and it is used acceptably no further than it is used with understanding, and without being needlessly repeated. The petitions are six; the first three relate more expressly to God and his honour, the last three to our own concerns, both temporal and spiritual. This prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and that all other things shall be added. After the things of God's glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the needful supports and comforts of this present life. Every word here has a lesson in it. We ask for bread; that teaches us sobriety and temperance: and we ask only for bread; not for what we do not need. We ask for our bread; that teaches us honesty and industry: we do not ask for the bread of others, nor the bread of deceit, ( Proverbs 20:17 ) ; nor the bread of idleness, ( Proverbs 31:27 ) , but the bread honestly gotten. We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us constantly to depend upon Divine Providence. We beg of God to give it us; not sell it us, nor lend it us, but give it. The greatest of men must be beholden to the mercy of God for their daily bread. We pray, Give it to us. This teaches us a compassion for the poor. Also that we ought to pray with our families. We pray that God would give it us this day; which teaches us to renew the desires of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed. As the day comes we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we could as well go a day without food, as without prayer. We are taught to hate and dread sin while we hope for mercy, to distrust ourselves, to rely on the providence and grace of God to keep us from it, to be prepared to resist the tempter, and not to become tempters of others. Here is a promise, If you forgive, your heavenly Father will also forgive. We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven. Those who desire to find mercy with God, must show mercy to their brethren. Christ came into the world as the great Peace-maker, not only to reconcile us to God, but one to another.

Verses 16-18 Religious fasting is a duty required of the disciples of Christ, but it is not so much a duty itself, as a means to dispose us for other duties. Fasting is the humbling of the soul, ( Psalms 35:13 ) ; that is the inside of the duty; let that, therefore, be thy principal care, and as to the outside of it, covet not to let it be seen. God sees in secret, and will reward openly.

Verses 19-24 Worldly-mindedness is a common and fatal symptom of hypocrisy, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a profession of religion. Something the soul will have, which it looks upon as the best thing; in which it has pleasure and confidence above other things. Christ counsels to make our best things the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen which are eternal, and to place our happiness in them. There are treasures in heaven. It is our wisdom to give all diligence to make our title to eternal life sure through Jesus Christ, and to look on all things here below, as not worthy to be compared with it, and to be content with nothing short of it. It is happiness above and beyond the changes and chances of time, an inheritance incorruptible. The worldly man is wrong in his first principle; therefore all his reasonings and actions therefrom must be wrong. It is equally to be applied to false religion; that which is deemed light is thick darkness. This is an awful, but a common case; we should therefore carefully examine our leading principles by the word of God, with earnest prayer for the teaching of his Spirit. A man may do some service to two masters, but he can devote himself to the service of no more than one. God requires the whole heart, and will not share it with the world. When two masters oppose each other, no man can serve both. He who holds to the world and loves it, must despise God; he who loves God, must give up the friendship of the world.

Verses 25-34 There is scarcely any sin against which our Lord Jesus more warns his disciples, than disquieting, distracting, distrustful cares about the things of this life. This often insnares the poor as much as the love of wealth does the rich. But there is a carefulness about temporal things which is a duty, though we must not carry these lawful cares too far. Take no thought for your life. Not about the length of it; but refer it to God to lengthen or shorten it as he pleases; our times are in his hand, and they are in a good hand. Not about the comforts of this life; but leave it to God to make it bitter or sweet as he pleases. Food and raiment God has promised, therefore we may expect them. Take no thought for the morrow, for the time to come. Be not anxious for the future, how you shall live next year, or when you are old, or what you shall leave behind you. As we must not boast of tomorrow, so we must not care for to-morrow, or the events of it. God has given us life, and has given us the body. And what can he not do for us, who did that? If we take care about our souls and for eternity, which are more than the body and its life, we may leave it to God to provide for us food and raiment, which are less. Improve this as an encouragement to trust in God. We must reconcile ourselves to our worldly estate, as we do to our stature. We cannot alter the disposals of Providence, therefore we must submit and resign ourselves to them. Thoughtfulness for our souls is the best cure of thoughtfulness for the world. Seek first the kingdom of God, and make religion your business: say not that this is the way to starve; no, it is the way to be well provided for, even in this world. The conclusion of the whole matter is, that it is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that by daily prayers we may get strength to bear us up under our daily troubles, and to arm us against the temptations that attend them, and then let none of these things move us. Happy are those who take the Lord for their God, and make full proof of it by trusting themselves wholly to his wise disposal. Let thy Spirit convince us of sin in the want of this disposition, and take away the worldliness of our hearts.