Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 6:24

"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." — Matthew 6:24 (ASV)

Pseudo-Chrysostom: The Lord had said above that one who has a spiritual mind is able to keep his body free from sin, and that one who does not, is not able. He gives the reason for this here, saying, No man can serve two masters.

Glossa Ordinaria: Alternatively, it was declared above that good things become evil when they are done with a worldly purpose. Therefore, someone might have said, "I will do good works from both worldly and heavenly motives at once." Against this, the Lord says, No man can serve two masters.¹

St. John Chrysostom: Or, in what has gone before, He restrained the tyranny of avarice with many and weighty motives, but now He adds even more. Riches do not only harm us by arming robbers against us and clouding our understanding, but they also turn us away from God's service.²

He proves this from familiar concepts, saying, No man can serve two masters. By "two," He means two whose orders are contrary, for harmony makes one out of many. This is proved by what follows: for either he will hate the one. He mentions two so that we may see that a change for the better is easy. For if someone, in despair, were to give himself up as a slave to riches by loving them, he can learn from this that it is possible to change to a better service—that is, by no longer submitting to such slavery, but instead despising it.

Glossa Ordinaria: Or, He seems to allude to two different kinds of servants: one kind who serves freely out of love, and another who serves slavishly out of fear. If, then, one serves two masters of contrary character out of love, he must hate one of them. If he serves out of fear, while he trembles before one, he must despise the other. But as the world or God predominates in a person's heart, he will be drawn in opposite directions. For God draws the one who serves Him to things above, while the earth draws to things below. Therefore, He concludes, You cannot serve God and mammon.³

St. Jerome: "Mammon"—riches are called this in Syriac. Let the covetous person who is called by the Christian name hear this: that he cannot serve both Christ and riches. Yet He did not say, "he who has riches," but, "he who is the servant of riches." For whoever is a slave to money guards his money like a slave, but whoever has thrown off the yoke of slavery dispenses his money like a master.

Glossa Ordinaria: By "mammon" is meant the Devil, who is the lord of money—not that he can bestow it unless God wills, but because he deceives people by means of it.⁴

St. Augustine of Hippo: Whoever serves "mammon" (that is, riches) truly serves him who, because of his perversity, was set over these earthly things and is called by the Lord, The prince of this world.⁵

Alternatively, He shows who the two masters are when He says, You cannot serve God and mammon—that is to say, God and the Devil. Therefore, a person will either hate the one and love the other—namely, God—or he will endure the one and despise the other. For the one who is mammon's servant endures a hard master. Ensnared by his own sinful desire, he has been made subject to the Devil, and does not love him. It is like someone whose passions have attached him to another man's female servant: he suffers a hard slavery, yet does not love the master whose servant he loves. But He said, "despise," and not "hate," the other, because no one can hate God with a right conscience. Instead, he despises God—that is, he does not fear Him, being certain of His goodness.

1. non occ.
2. Hom xxi
3. non occ.
4. ord.
5. Serm. in Mont., ii, 14