Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 6

Jesus, having told his disciples of the superior righteousness expected of them, now warns them of the danger of hypocrisy. “Your righteousness” recurs here (cf. comment on 5:20), though the focus has changed from “righteousness” in a purely positive sense to “righteousness” in a formal, external sense.

Jesus is primarily concerned with the motives behind righteous living. To attempt to live according to the righteousness explained in vv.21–48 out of an eagerness for human applause is to prostitute that righteousness. For this there will be no reward from the heavenly Father. There is no contradiction with 5:14–16, where disciples are told to let their light shine before men so that they may see their good deeds; there the motive is for others to praise the heavenly Father. To trade the goal of pleasing the Father for the trivial and idolatrous goal of pleasing people will never do.

This verse introduces the three chief acts of Jewish piety (cf. vv.2–18)— almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. In each act the logical structure is the same: (1) a warning not to do the act to be praised by human beings, (2) a guarantee that those who ignore this warning will get what they want but no more, (3) instruction on how to perform the act of piety secretly, and (4) the assurance that the Father who sees in secret will reward openly.

While some in Jesus’ day believed almsgiving earned merit, ostentation rather than merit theology is the point here. Jesus assumes his disciples will give alms: “When you give to the needy,” he says, not “If you give to the needy.” The reference to trumpet announcements is difficult. It seems most likely that Jesus is referring to a practice of proclaiming public fasts by the sounding of trumpets. At such times prayers for rain were recited in the streets (cf. v.5), and it was widely thought that almsgiving insured the efficacy of the fasts and prayers. But these occasions afforded golden opportunities for ostentation, and that is precisely what “hypocrites” (GK 5695) were guilty of.

The form of hypocrisy mentioned here seems to be that of those who deceive themselves into thinking they are acting for the best interests of God and others and deceive onlookers as well. The needy are unlikely to complain when they receive large gifts, and their gratitude may flatter and thus bolster a giver’s selfdelusion.

The Pharisees’ great weakness was that they loved praise from others more than God’s praise (cf. Jn 5:44; 12:43). Those who give out of this attitude receive their reward in full. They win human plaudits, and that is all they get (cf. Psalms 17:14).

The way to avoid hypocrisy is not to cease giving but to do so with such secrecy that we scarcely know what we have given. Jesus’ disciples must themselves be so given to God (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:5) that their giving is prompted by obeying God and having compassion on other people. Then their Father, who sees what is done in secret (Hebrews 4:13), will reward them (a reward received both in time and in eternity).

The way to avoid hypocrisy is not to cease giving but to do so with such secrecy that we scarcely know what we have given. Jesus’ disciples must themselves be so given to God (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:5) that their giving is prompted by obeying God and having compassion on other people. Then their Father, who sees what is done in secret (Hebrews 4:13), will reward them (a reward received both in time and in eternity).

In his second example, Jesus assumes that his disciples will pray, but he forbids the prayers of “hypocrites” (see comment on v.2). Prayer had a prominent place in Jewish life and led to countless rabbinic decisions. To Jesus, the critical element was not the location or position of the one praying, but the motives (“to be seen by man”). And again there is the same reward (cf. v.2).