matthew-6:7

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:1-34

THE CODE OF THE KINGDOM The King has announced His kingdom at hand, and now declares the laws or code of that Kingdom. These which we began to speak of in the last lesson, have a two-fold application, ultimately to the Kingdom when it shall be set up, and approximately and in an accommodated sense to the Christian at present. Except at the first of these is kept in mind, confusion and uncertainty must attend the interpretation. We have two figurative descriptions of disciples, “Salt” and... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Matthew 6:1-18

Chapter 21 True Almsgiving No Compulsion In Religion the Meaning of Long Prayers the Hypocrisy of Fasting Prayer Almighty God, we would hide ourselves under the wings of thy mercy. We dare not look at thy law, for we have broken it, nor at thy righteousness, for it is now unto us as a two-edged sword; but thou hast permitted us to look at thy mercy. Thine eternal pity, those tears of thine that bid us silent but large welcome to all the love of thine heart. God be merciful unto us sinners. We... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Matthew 6:5-8

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Here the LORD speaks of prayer, and which is yet more express in reference to the LORD. Secret it must be between GOD and the soul, even in the public congregation, for what indeed is prayer but immediate communion, in which the only parties are JEHOVAH and his people. No lookers-on, no standers-by, can be supposed to interrupt the conference. But alas! how little understood by the great... read more

George Haydock

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:7

Long prayer is not here forbidden; for Christ himself spent whole nights in prayer: and he sayeth, we must pray always; and the apostle, that we must pray without intermission, 1 Thessalonians v.; and the holy Church hath had from the beginning her canonical hours for prayer, but rhetorical and elaborate prayer, as if we thought to persuade God by our eloquence, is forbidden; the collects of the Church are most brief and most effectual. (St. Augustine, ep. 121. chap. viii, ix, x.) (Bristow) ---... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 6:5-8

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... read more

Frank Binford Hole

F. B. Hole's Old and New Testament Commentary - Matthew 6:1-99

Matthew 6 HAVING INTRODUCED His disciples to God in this new light at the end of Matthew 5.0 , we notice that all the teaching in Matthew 6.0 is in reference to it. The expression “your Father,” in slightly varying terms, occurs no less than twelve times. The teaching falls into four sections: almsgiving (1-4), prayer (5-15), fasting (16-18), earthly possessions and the necessary things of life (19-34). All four things touched the practical life of the Jew at many points, and their tendency... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Matthew 6:7

A lesson in regard to the form of prayer: v. 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. The chief characteristic of the prayers in heathen worship is a gabbling or babbling, a repetition without end of the same forma of words, 1 Kings 18:26; Acts 19:34. Such customs were familiar to the Jews as well as to the Galileans, on account of the mixed population and the presence of strangers in their midst. The... read more

Johann Peter Lange

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical - Matthew 6:1-18

B. Christianity and Pharisaism in their relation to the great virtues of the law; or, three examples from life, showing the perversions of the Pharisees and Scribes, and the spiritual elevation of true Christianity.Matthew 6:1-18False Spirituality of Traditionalism1Take heed that ye do not your alms [righteousness]1 before men, to be seen of [by] them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which [who] is in heaven.2 Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee,... read more

Frederick Brotherton Meyer

F.B. Meyer's 'Through the Bible' Commentary - Matthew 6:1-8

Secret Giving and Secret Praying Matthew 6:1-8 First we have the general proposition that righteousness, that is, one’s religious duties, should not be done for the sake of display; and that principle is then applied to alms, prayer, and fasting-the three departments into which the Jews divided personal religion. The words take heed in Matthew 6:1 are very searching! We are all likely to put better goods in the window than we have anywhere on our shelves; and to show fairer samples than we... read more

G. Campbell Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Matthew 6:1-34

In the first verse the Revised Version has substituted the word "righteousness" for "alms," "a reading approved of, almost unanimously, by the great editors and critics" (Morrison). This is a statement of a new motive for conduct. The application of the principle laid down in verse Mat 6:1 to the subject of alms follows. The secret alms is known to God, who sees in secret. A subject of the King no longer desirous of the applause of his fellow men quietly and secretly helps the needy, and the... read more