Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 6:25

"Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?" — Matthew 6:25 (ASV)

Take no thought — The Greek word sometimes translated this way, and sometimes as “care” or “be careful” (1 Corinthians 7:32–34; Philippians 2:20; Philippians 4:6), expresses anxiety—literally, the care which distracts us. In the sixteenth century, this was the meaning of the English phrase “take thought.” We have one example of this in 1 Samuel 9:5; other examples are found in Shakespeare, “take thought, and die for Caesar” (Julius Caesar, Acts 2, Scene 1), or in Bacon’s History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh, which speaks of a man “dying with thought and anguish” before his case was heard. The usage of the time, therefore, probably led the 1611 translators to choose this phrase, as it was stronger than the “be not careful” that appeared in all previous versions of this passage. The changing meaning of words has now made it weaker, and it would be better to substitute “be over-careful” or “be over-anxious.” The disposition against which our Lord warns His disciples is not foresight, which merely provides for the future, but allowing ourselves to be harassed and vexed with its uncertainties. To “take thought” in the modern sense is often the most effective safeguard (next to the higher defense of trust in God) against “taking thought” in the older sense.

For your life — The Greek word is the same as that commonly translated as “soul,” and the passage is interesting as an example of its use in the wider sense that includes the lower as well as the higher life. (Matthew 16:25; and Mark 3:4.) We note in the form of the precept the simplicity of the cases selected for illustration. We hear the language of One who speaks to peasants with their simple yet pressing wants, not to the wider cares of the covetous or ambitious of a higher social standing.

Is not the life more than meat, ...? — The reasoning is à fortiori. God has given you the greater gift; can you not trust Him to give you the lesser one as well? In some way or other, food will come to sustain life and clothing for the body, and people should not seek for more in such a way as to be troubled about them.