matthew-6:7

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 6:1-18

Righteousness and the Father 6:1-18Jesus moved from correcting popular misinterpretations of selected Old Testament texts that speak of righteous conduct (Matthew 5:17-48) to correcting popular misconceptions about righteous conduct. He moved from ethical distinctions to the practice of religion. Throughout this entire section proper motivation for actions is a constant emphasis. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 6:5-15

Praying 6:5-15 (cf. Luke 11:1-13) read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 6:7-8

Jesus digressed briefly to give a further warning about repetitious prayer (Matthew 6:7-8) and a positive example of proper prayer (Matthew 6:9-15). Jesus’ disciples can fall into prayer practices that characterize the pagans. Jesus Himself prayed long prayers (Luke 6:12), and He repeated Himself in prayer (Matthew 26:44). These practices were not the objects of His criticism. He was attacking the idea that the length of a prayer makes it efficacious. Pagan prayer commonly relies on length and... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 6:1-34

The Sermon on the Mount (continued)1. God’s approval, not man’s, to be sought in all our actions. Jesus does not say that we are to do good expecting no reward of any kind, but that we are to look for our reward to God alone: see on Matthew 6:4. That ye do not your alms] RV ’your righteousness.’ The same Heb. word (tsedakah) means both righteousness in general and almsgiving in particular. Our Lord probably used it in the former sense in Matthew 6:1, and in the latter sense in Matthew 6:2 hence... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 6:7

(7) Use not vain repetitions.—The Greek word has a force but feebly rendered in the English. Formed from a word which reproduces the repeated attempts of the stammerer to clothe his thoughts in words, it might be almost rendered, “Do not stutter out your prayers, do not babble them over.” The words describe only too faithfully the act of prayer when it becomes mechanical. The devotion of the rosary, in which every bead is connected with a Pater Noster or an Ave Maria, does but reproduce the... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Matthew 6:1-34

Matthew 6:2 'Practically at present,' Ruskin writes, in Sesame and Lilies, 'advancement in life means, becoming conspicuous in life; obtaining a position which shrill be acknowledged by others to be respectable or honourable. We do not understand by this advancement, in general, the mere making of money, but the being known to have made it; not the accomplishment of any great aim, but the being seen to have accomplished it.' He who sincerely takes life in earnest finds it quite natural and a... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:1-34

Chapter 7The Gospel of the Kingdom("Sermon on the Mount") - Matthew 5:1-48; Matthew 6:1-34; Matthew 7:1-29IT may seem almost heresy to object to the time-honoured title "Sermon on the Mount"; yet, so small has the word "sermon" become, on account of its application to those productions of which there is material for a dozen in single sentences of this great discourse, that there is danger of belittling it by the use of a title which suggests even the remotest relationship to these ephemeral... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Matthew 6:1-34

CHAPTER 6 1. The Better Righteousness.(Matthew 6:1-18 .) 2. Kept in the World; Single-eyed; Trusting God.(Matthew 6:19-34 .) Our Lord said: “For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in nowise enter into the kingdom of the heavens” (Matthew 5:20 ). This righteousness He had taught in His confirmation and expansion of the law, but now He speaks of something higher still. He makes known the motive of this true righteousness, which... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Matthew 6:7

6:7 But when ye pray, use not {c} vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.(c) Long prayers are not condemned, but vain, needless, and superstitious ones. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 6:1-34

Verse 1 warns against practicing righteousness (margin) before men to attract their attention. This is self-righteousness, a mere show. How can we expect the Father to reward what we do merely to impress men? Again, the Lord searches our motives. This is applied in verse 2 specifically to the giving of alms, though verse 1 is of wider application. Hypocrites sounding a trumpet is a graphic expression, indicating their advertising the good they do in order to secure men's adulation. This is... read more