Click link to the next study in my sequential chapter study through the Gospel of Matthew.
“'Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. -> And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.' (1-6)
"In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus deflates pseudo-piety, as directed toward other people (6:3), God (6:5), and even self (6:16). Only the righteousness that God provides will see one safely into His kingdom (6:33). This righteousness freely awaits all who come with a pure heart, mourning for their sins, hungry for God’s approval, humble in heart, making no claims but receiving God’s gift as a beggar accepts alms (5:3–12; Isa 64:6; 61:10). These, of course, are the attitudes described in the beatitudes.” (The Fire That Consumes by Edward Fudge)
“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen' - and likewise as the prodigal son- "'do,' like swine feeding on the husks. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.’ Feed on the corn, that is the substance (Luke 15:!6). "In this manner, therefore, pray:’ Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.’ (9b)- Yeshua, for He shall save His people from their sins. “’Your kingdom come.’ (10a) This is “primarily eschatological, concerned with the disciple’s longing for and preparation for the consummation of God’s kingdom. Practically every clause can be interpreted in that way.” (Tyndale NT Commentary by R. T. France) “’Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (10b) "God rules both in heaven and on earth. In heaven God rules without opposition. On earth God rules, but there is opposition. When Christians pray in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done in earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6:10), the prayer is for the uncontested rule of God. The coming kingdom of God is the extension of God’s rule to the ends of the created order. Or, as the Christmas carol has it, ‘far as the curse is found.’ Scripture is the account of what God has to say about evil and about what God has undertaken through his Son to overturn evil for all eternity.” (The Extinction of Evil: The Biblical Prerequisite for New Heavens, New Earth by Gordon L. Isaac) “’Give us this day our daily bread.’ (11) The word ‘bread,’ here, denotes doubtless everything necessary to sustain life." (Albert Barnes) "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4)
"'Give to us!' (Ten lanu)— ...as the appeal of a child who is utterly dependent upon his father to provide for his needs. God Himself has created in us all the hunger and thirst for life, and a child without such desire would be a sickly child indeed.— ’this day’ (haiyom)...The Father’s manna is given to us one day at a time. ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs... No one is to keep any of it until morning’ (Exod. 16:16,19). We are to live as the birds of the air or the lilies of the field, taking no thought for the morrow, trusting in God’s provision for the needs of our lives.— ‘our daily bread’ (lechem chukeinu) This phrase likewise occurs in Proverbs 30:8, where it is written, ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, but provide me with my daily bread (lechem chuki).’ The Hebrew here suggests food that is given by ordinance (chok), but the verb might also derive from a related Hebrew verb (chakok) meaning ‘to engrave.’ Since God has created us with an ‘engraved’ hunger and thirst, we must ultimately look to Him for our sustenance and life.” (Hebrew for Christians website) “‘And forgive us our debts,’ the suffering of [final] punishment for transgressing God’s laws is a debt which sinners owe to the divine justice.” (Benson) “The guilt of sin is an obligation, binding us over to condign (punishment.” (Trapp) Thus, the wage of sin is death and so this is a plea for salvation from death” (The Miracle of the Scarlet Thread by Richard Booker)— “‘as we forgive our debtors.’ (12)—“not as perfectly, but in like manner as we, according to the imperfect state of our natures.” (Matthew Poole) “Here again 'and,' because the forgiveness of past sin is not enough; we need also preservation from sin in future.” (John Broadus' Commentary) — “’do not lead us into temptation,’ (peirasmon) means originally ‘trial’ or ‘test’ as in James 1:2 and Vincent so takes it here. Braid Scots has it: ‘And lat us no be siftit.’ But God does test or sift us, though He does not tempt us to evil. No one understood temptation so well as Jesus for the devil tempted him by every avenue of approach to all kinds of sin, but without success.” (Robertson’s Word Pictures)—“’but deliver us from the evil one.’ Here we beg sanctification, as in the former petition, justification; and are taught, after forgiveness of sins, to look for temptations, and to pray against them.” (John Trapp)—
“'for" there is reward— "'Your is the Kingdom' of kingdoms— "'and the power'- not just to desire but to do the will of God— "'and the glory' for if we endure to the end, we shall also reign with Him. (2 Tim. 2:12)— "'forever,' that is eternally. "Amen." (13) So be it!
“’For if you forgive men their trespasses,’ - “when they offend or injure you” (Albert Barnes) - ‘your heavenly Father will also forgive you.’ (14) This is “not an arbitrary condition, but the result of the eternal laws of the divine order.” (C. J. Ellicott) “Our Saviour says we should forgive even if the offence be committed seventy times seven times, Matthew 18:22. By this is meant, that when a man asks forgiveness, we are cordially and forever to pardon the offence… If he does not ask forgiveness, yet we are still to treat him kindly; not to harbor malice, not to speak ill of him, to be ready to do him good, and be always prepared to declare him forgiven when he asks it.” (Albert Barnes) “‘But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ (15) You do not love the unseen God, if you don't love your fellows. “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.’ (16-18) "In each case of the parallel pattern, Jesus draws an overarching contrast between acts done for the purpose of being seen by humans, with the consequence of having received any reward such persons will get.., versus acts done for the purpose of being in secret, with the consequence of receiving reward from the heavenly Father. The former characterizes the behavior of ‘hypocrites,’ probably referring specifically to the Pharisees and scribes (Mt 15:6; 23:13, 23, 25, 27, 29), while the latter describes what the disciples are to do. This insistence that acts of piety be done in private rather than before humans may seem to contradict Matthew 5:13-16, but the issue in each case is one of motivation: for the glory of God…, not for personal religious ostentation.” (The Gospel of the Son of God by David Bauer)
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (19-21)
"A moth is one destroying agent, like fire and the worm which dies not. “’Rust’ (brōsis, GK 1111) refers not only to the corrosion of metals but to the destruction effected by rats, mildew, and the like. Older commentaries often picture a farm being devoured by mice and other vermin. Less corruptible treasures could be stolen. Thieves could ‘break in [dioryssousin, dig through, referring to the mud brick walls of most first-century Palestinian homes] and steal. 20–21 By contrast, the treasures in heaven are forever exempt from decay and theft (cf. Lk 12:33). The words ‘treasures in heaven’ go back to Jewish literature (m. Peʾah 1:1; T. Levi 13:5; Pss. Sol. 9:9). Here it refers to whatever is of good and eternal significance that comes out of what is done on earth. Doing righteous deeds, suffering for Christ’s sake, forgiving one another—all these have the promise of ‘reward’ (see comments at 5:12; cf. 5:30, 46; 6:6, 15; 2Co 4:17). Other deeds of kindness also store up treasure in heaven (10:42; 25:40), including willingness to share (1Ti 6:13–19).’ (The Expositor's Bible Commentary by D. A Carson)
"The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (22-23) “’This [eastern] gate [of the temple] shall be shut, and shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel hath entered by it,’ Ezek. 44:2; there by signifying, saith a divine, that although the heart, of a Christian, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost, may let many things enter into it at other gates, yet must it keep the east gate, the most illuminate and highest power and part of it, continually shut against all men..” (Trapp) "No one can serve two masters;’ etc. literally, can be the slave of two masters…. — ‘You cannot serve God and mammon.’ (24) God or mammon, not both together, will be the ruling power with him.” (Ellicott)
In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus “assures us that if we ‘seek first’ and foremost to have a place in the kingdom of grace and glory, everything that we really need in this world shall be given to us. It shall be ‘added,’ over and above our heavenly inheritance. ‘All things shall work together for good for those who love God.’ ‘He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.’ (Rom. 8:28. Ps. 84:11.) Last of all, He seals up all His instruction on this subject, by laying down one of the wisest maxims. ‘Tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day's own evil is sufficient.’ We are not to carry cares before they come. We are to attend to today's business and leave tomorrow's anxieties until tomorrow dawns. We may die before tomorrow. We know not what may happen on the morrow. This only we may be assured of, that if tomorrow brings a cross, He who sends it, can and will send grace to bear it.” (J. C. Ryle)
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