Matthew Henry Commentary Matthew 6

Our Lord next warned against hypocrisy and outward show in religious duties. What we do must be done from an inward principle, so that we may be approved by God, not so that we may be praised by men. In these verses, we are cautioned against hypocrisy in giving alms. Beware of it.

It is a subtle sin, and vainglory creeps into what we do before we are aware. But the duty is no less necessary and excellent for being abused by hypocrites to serve their pride. The judgment Christ pronounces, at first may seem a promise, but it is their reward—not the reward God promises to those who do good, but the reward hypocrites promise themselves, and a poor reward it is. They did it to be seen of men, and they are seen of men.

When we take least notice of our good deeds ourselves, God takes most notice of them. He will reward you: not as a master who gives his servant what he earns and no more, but as a Father who gives abundantly to his son who serves him.

It is taken for granted that all who are disciples of Christ pray. You may as soon find a living man who does not breathe, as a living Christian who does not pray. If prayerless, then graceless. The Scribes and Pharisees were guilty of two great faults in prayer: vainglory and vain repetitions. “Verily they have their reward”; if, in a matter so great as that 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 reward.

Yet he observes every secret, sudden breathing after God. It is called a reward, but it is of grace, not of debt; what merit can there be in begging? If he does not give his people what they ask, it is because he knows they do not need it and that it is not for their good.

So far is God from being influenced by the length or words of our prayers, that the most powerful intercessions are those which are made with groanings that cannot be uttered. Let us carefully study the frame of mind in which our prayers should be offered and learn daily from Christ how to pray.

Christ saw it necessary to show His disciples what must commonly be the subject and method of their prayer. Not that we are restricted to the use of this only, or of this always; yet, without doubt, it is very good to use it. It contains much in a little, and it is used acceptably only insofar as it is used with understanding and without being needlessly repeated. The petitions are six: the first three relate more expressly to God and His honor, the last three to our own concerns, both temporal and spiritual.

This prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and that all other things will be added. After the things of God's glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the necessary supports and comforts of this present life. Every word here has a lesson in it. We ask for bread; that teaches us sobriety and temperance: and we ask only for bread, not for what we do not need.

We ask for our bread; that teaches us honesty and industry: we do not ask for the bread of others, nor the bread of deceit (Proverbs 20:17); nor the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27), but the bread honestly gotten. We ask for our daily bread, which teaches us constantly to depend upon Divine Providence. We beg of God to give it to us, not sell it to us, nor lend it to us, but give it.

The greatest of men must be indebted to the mercy of God for their daily bread. We pray, Give it to us. This teaches us compassion for the poor and also that we ought to pray with our families. We pray that God would give it to us this day; which teaches us to renew the desires of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed.

As the day comes, we must pray to our heavenly Father, and consider that we could as well go a day without food as without prayer. We are taught to hate and dread sin while we hope for mercy, to distrust ourselves, to rely on the providence and grace of God to keep us from it, to be prepared to resist the tempter, and not to become tempters of others. Here is a promise: If you forgive, your heavenly Father will also forgive.

We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven. Those who desire to find mercy with God must show mercy to their fellow believers. Christ came into the world as the great Peacemaker, not only to reconcile us to God but also to one another.

Religious fasting is a duty required of the disciples of Christ, but it is not so much a duty itself, as a means to dispose us for other duties. Fasting is the humbling of the soul (Psalms 35:13); that is the inside of the duty; let that, therefore, be your principal care, and as for the outside of it, do not desire for it to be seen. God sees in secret, and will reward openly.

Worldly-mindedness is a common and fatal symptom of hypocrisy, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and firmer hold of the soul, under the cloak of a profession of religion. The soul will have something that it regards as the best thing, in which it finds pleasure and confidence above all other things. Christ counsels us to make the joys and glories of the other world our best things—those things not seen which are eternal—and to place our happiness in them.

There are treasures in heaven. It is our wisdom to be diligent in making our claim to eternal life secure through Jesus Christ, and to regard all things in this world as not worthy to be compared with it, and to be content with nothing short of it. It is a happiness that is above and beyond the uncertainties and changes of time, an inheritance incorruptible. The worldly person is wrong in his first principle; therefore, all his reasonings and actions that follow from it must be wrong.

This applies equally to false religion; what is considered light is actually thick darkness. This is a dreadful, yet common, situation; we should therefore carefully examine our guiding principles by the Word of God, with earnest prayer for the teaching of His Spirit. A person may do some service for two masters, but can be devoted to the service of no more than one. God requires the whole heart and will not share it with the world.

When two masters oppose each other, no one can serve both. The one who holds to the world and loves it must despise God; the one who loves God must give up the friendship of the world.