Matthew 6

Matthew 6:1

Compel thee to go one mile. In those days, when there were no stages, railroad trains, postal lines, or regular means of conveyance. It was common for officers traveling to impress men to assist them on the route. It was a necessary, but oppressive, exaction. Christ directs to yield the service, and double it rather refuse it. Mile. A Roman word from “mille”, a thousand. A Roman miles was a thousand paces, 1,520 yards.

Matthew 6:2

Give to him that asketh thee. Palestine swarmed with blind, lepers, and maimed, who were dependent on charity. Turn not thou away. The Lord does not bid to give to “every” one, not to loan to every one, for this would not be a blessing, but to have a spirit that will be ready to do so whenever it is right.

Matthew 6:3

Thou shalt love thy neighbour. See Leviticus 19:18. The Jews gave the command a very limited application. For Christ’s application, see parable of the Good Samaritan (Lu 10:30-37). It embraces any one so near us as to need and to receive our acts of kindness. Hate thine enemy. A Jewish perversion of the meaning of De 23:6. It exhibits the spirit of the whole heathen world. Plato praises the Athenians because they hated the Persians more than any of the other Greeks.

Matthew 6:4

I say unto you, Love your enemies. The fundamental law of Christ’s kingdom. Henceforth love is to be boundless as the ocean. His own earthly life is its perfect application. The enemies are to be conquered by love. See John 3:16. Bless them that curse you. Love will return blessing for cursing, good will for hating, prayers for evil treatment and persecution. Christ on the cross prayed for his enemies (Lu 23:34); so did Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 7:60).

Matthew 6:5

That ye may be children of your Father. We are God’s children when we have the spirit of our Father. We are not if we have the spirit of the world. Our Father above sends blessing, the rain, and the sunshine, on the just and the unjust. He loves all, and even sent his son to have a wicked world because he loved (John 3:16).

Matthew 6:6

Do not even the publicans the same? The tax collectors, the gatherers of the Roman tribute, were generally odious, and deemed the scum of the earth, but even they loved those who loved them.

Matthew 6:7

Salute your brethren only. The Jews usually disdained to speak to a Gentile, a publican, or a “sinner”, but would salute orthodox Jews. Even the Gentiles, the heathen nations, had enough of love for this. Unless the disciples could love better than the Jews, they would be on a level with publicans and heathen.

Matthew 6:8

Be ye therefore perfect. To carry out fully this great law of love would lift man to the Divine standard of perfection. This must be the aim of life. We have before us as a pattern for the perfect God; we have the Divine perfection embodied in Christ. It will require a constant struggle while in the flesh to come near so high an ideal, but it must be our continual aim. This does not teach such sanctification that we cannot sin, nor that we, here on earth, attain absolute perfection, but we have placed before us, as a model, the perfect ideal, and we will constantly ascend higher by striving to attain it.

Matthew 6:10

The Sermon on the Mount (cont’d) SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 6: The Right and Wrong Way of Righteousness. Charity Not for Show. Our Alms-Giving Not to Be Sounded with a Trumpet. Prayer Not to Be Offered for Public Praise. The Model Prayer. Fasting to Be in Secret. Impossible to Serve God and Mammon. Trust in the Heavenly Father. The First Aim of Life. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen. The Common Version is wrong in using the word “alms”, and the Revised Version right, in using “righteousness”. The Savior condemns ostentatious piety, and then he singles out three illustrations of his meaning. The Christian is not forbidden to practice righteousness before men, but to make it his object to be seen.

Matthew 6:11

Therefore when thou doest [thine] alms. This is the first example. The wrong way, that of the hypocrites, is described. The Greek word rendered “hypocrite” means a theatrical actor, one who is not real, but acts a part. Their method was to give ostentatiously. In our age the world rings with the praises of the millionaire who gives a few thousands, but is silent concerning the humble ones who have taken from their necessities and given to the same cause. Do not sound a trumpet before thee. This seems to be a proverbial expression to denote the making of a thing publicly known. The meaning is, when you give to the poor, do not make a show of it. Hypocrite. A Grecian actor. The actors wore masks and appeared to be somebody else than they really were. So, too, the religious hypocrites.

Matthew 6:12

Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. A strong expression to indicate that there must be no publishing of our alms deeds.

Matthew 6:13

That thine alms may be in secret. It is not concealment that is required, so much as to avoid ostentation. Openly. Literally, “in the open place”, in the last day, when every secret thing is made manifest.

Matthew 6:14

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be, etc. The second example of the right and wrong kind of righteousness is now given. That men ought to pray is assured. The wrong way is that of the hypocrites, the men who make a public show of their devotions that they may have the name of sanctity. Love to pray standing in the synagogues. These love not to pray, but to pray where they will be seen, and pray that they may be seen. So the Pharisees took pains to be in some public place, where they could strike an attitude of prayer in the sight of many observers. The same spirit is often seen still.

Matthew 6:15

When thou prayest, enter into thy closet. Private devotions are meant, nor is this designed to prohibit prayers in public assemblies. The Lord himself both prayed “in the mountain alone” (Matthew 14:23), in the night alone (Lu 6:12), and in public in the presence of his disciples. We have records of many prayers offered by the apostles in public assemblies. “Thy closet” may mean any secret place. Peter’s closet was on the house-top; the Savior’s on a mountain alone.

Matthew 6:16

Use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]. What is forbidden is not “much” praying, nor praying “in the same words” (the Lord did both), but making the number of prayers, length of prayers, or time spent in praying, a point of observance and of merit. 1 Kings 18:26 gives an example of the repetitions of the heathen. Mohammedans and Catholics still hold that there is merit in repeating certain prayers a set number of times.

Matthew 6:17

For your Father knoweth. Here is given abundant reason for short prayers. Many prayers apparently aim to give God information on matters connected with this world.

Matthew 6:18

After this manner therefore pray ye. The Savior does not bid us use these words, nor command any set form, but gives this as a proper example of prayer, simple, brief, condensed, yet all-embracing. Our Father which art in heaven. These words reveal a very tender relationship between God and the true worshiper, and base the petition on the fact that the child speaks to the Father. Hallowed be thy name. Of the seven petitions of the Lord’s prayer the first three are in behalf of the cause of God: the glory of his name, the extension of his kingdom, and the prevalence of his will. The other four, which are properly placed last, as least important, pertain to our individual needs. No one can offer the first three petitions who is in disobedience. “Hallowed”: Holy, sacred, reverenced.

Matthew 6:19

Thy kingdom come. The Messiah’s kingdom had not yet come, but was proclaimed by the Lord as at hand. It did speedily come, but in its fullness, and in its final triumph over evil, it has not yet come. For this coming we may now pray, and the prayer is answered in part by each success of the gospel. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven. None can pray thus who have not merged their own wills into the divine will. He, in effect, prays the prayer of Gethsemane, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Lu 22:42). It is mockery for disobedient lips to utter such a prayer.

Matthew 6:20

Give us this day our daily bread. We are bidden to ask for our bread, not for future years, but for “this day”.

Matthew 6:21

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Debts means moral obligations unfulfilled–our shortcomings, our sins. Let it be noted with emphasis that God is asked to forgive us as we forgive others. We ask, in other words, that he may mete out to us what we measure to others.

Matthew 6:22

Lead us not into temptation. The thought is that God may preserve us from temptations that might lead us astray. No man can pray these words who does not try to keep out of temptation. For thine is the kingdom. This clause, called the doxology, is wanting in the oldest and best manuscripts, and undoubtedly an addition by men.

Matthew 6:23

For if ye forgive men . . . your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Our Lord makes it a condition of our obtaining forgiveness, that we shall have a merciful, forgiving spirit.

Matthew 6:25

When ye fast. This is the third example of the right and wrong way of righteousness, in contrast. The same principle of doing nothing for mere show is still insisted upon. Fasting is not wrong, and, indeed, is often blessed richly, but not when our object is to appear to men to fast. Of a sad countenance. It was common to assume a woe-begone look, put ashes upon the head, and even wear sackcloth, in order to show to the world deep humiliation. This is condemned.

Matthew 6:26

Anoint thine head. That is, dress as usual. Wash thy face. The usual practice before eating.

Matthew 6:27

Thy Father . . . shall reward thee. Our self-denial must be for the eyes of God, not of men.

Matthew 6:28

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. This forbids, not the laying up of treasures, but laying them up on the earth; that is, the piling up of worldly wealth for worldly purposes. Riches are no sin in themselves, but the improper use of riches is a sin. Where moth and rust doth corrupt. Unused garments often become moth-eaten; unused coins sometimes rust. All earth treasure will finally perish. Thieves break through. Literally, “dig through”. Often robbers in the East dig through the house walls of mud or unburnt brick.

Matthew 6:29

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. This is the only way to save our wealth. It is a positive precept. Our wealth must be consecrated to God and used as his work demands. Wealth used for doing good is treasure laid up in heaven.

Matthew 6:30

For. This introduces a reason for the preceding precepts. Where thy treasure is, there will your heart be. This states a universal truth. A man’s heart will be upon what he treasures most. If his treasure is in heaven, heaven will have his heart.

Matthew 6:31

The light of the body is the eye. This is not an abrupt transition, but bears on the same subject. If one’s eye is diseased, all he sees is wrong. So the mind, or conscience, is the light of the soul. If these be darkened, all is darkness; if these see aright, all is light.

Matthew 6:33

No man can serve two masters. He cannot give his heart to two services at the same time. He cannot follow two callings successfully. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. This is the direct application. The Chaldee word “Mammon” means money or riches. It is here personified as an idol. “Mammon” originally meant “trust”, or confidence, and riches is the trust of worldly men. If God be not the object of supreme trust, something else will be, and it is more likely to be money.

Matthew 6:34

Take no thought for your life. At the time the Common Version was made, the expression “Take thought” meant to be anxious. The Revised Version properly renders it, “Be not anxious”. The Greek word “merimnao” means “to have the mind distracted”. Christ does not forbid prudent forethought. Is not the life more than food? The argument is: God gave the life, and it is higher than food. If he gave it, he will see that it is sustained, if you trust in him. So, too, he made the body. He will see that it is clothed.