THE DOING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE GIVING OF GIFTS TO THE POOR (6:1-4). Analysis of Matthew 6:1. In considering the following analyses the small letters indicate the chiasmus in each section, while the capital letters indicate a comparison with the sections that precede and follow, for from Matthe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT PART 2. Seven Warnings Against False Behaviour, Each Accompanied by The Command To Take Action In The Opposite Direction, And Each of Which Culminates in Assurances of the Father's (God's) Resultant Blessing (6:1-7). Having brought out the full significance of God's Law (in... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR RELIGIOUS EXERCISES ARE TO BE KNOWN ONLY TO THE FATHER AND NOT TO MEN (6:1-18). We will now, therefore, initially consider together the first four passages which deal with their religious behaviour towards God. These commence with a general statement in Matthew 6:1 followed by four different... [ Continue Reading ]
“Take care that you do not do your righteousness before men, To be seen of them, Else you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. These words introduce the whole passage from Matthew 6:1. The point being made is that in whatever they do, their righteousness (their pious behaviour and go... [ Continue Reading ]
“Whenever therefore you do give on behalf of the poor,” The first example put forward is that of giving alms, that is, that of taking care of the needs of the poor, and of widows and orphans, and of the needy, by giving gifts to be used on their behalf. It was one of the better aspects of Judaism th... [ Continue Reading ]
But whenever you give on behalf of the poor, Do not let your left hand know what your right hand does, That your almsgiving may be in secret, And your Father who sees in secret will recompense you.” Whenever the disciples give, (the fact that they will give is assumed), then it is to be done in s... [ Continue Reading ]
“And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, That they may be seen of men. Truly I say to you, They have received their reward.” The disciples are warned against putting on an act in prayer. Among the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ESSENCE OF TRUE PERSONAL PRAYER IS TO BE PRAYING SECRETLY ALONE WITH GOD (6:5-6). Jesus now turns to the question of true prayer. He will deal with this in two stages, firstly as to the need for such prayer to be a secret between God and the one who prays, so that it is genuine prayer and not a... [ Continue Reading ]
“But you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber, And having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, And your Father who sees in secret will recompense you.” But the true disciple when he prays goes into an inner room in his house, probably a store room, where no one will know... [ Continue Reading ]
“And in praying do not use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do, For they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.” In praying they are not to ‘use vain repetitions.' This might literally be translated, ‘do not babble' (but the word is a rare one and its exact meaning is not known). T... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW NOT TO PRAY (6:7-9A). Having gone quietly and secretly into a private room the next question was as to what kind of praying to avoid. The point being made here is that the prayers of most men are useless, and accomplish nothing, simply because when they pray it is not a question of genuinely spe... [ Continue Reading ]
“Do not therefore be like them, For your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him. After this manner therefore pray you.” So they need not think that they should wear down God's resistance, or try to ensure that He really did know what they wanted by their constant repetition... [ Continue Reading ]
“Our Father who is in heaven.” The disciples can now approach God as their Father because they have come to Him as His ‘sons' (Matthew 5:9). They have come under the Kingly Rule of Heaven, and their delight is now to do His will. He is their Father in Heaven (Matthew 5:16; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 6:1)... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW TO PRAY - THE LORD'S PRAYER (6:9-15). The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9). We should note in using the description ‘The Lord's Prayer' that this is not to be seen as how the Lord Himself actually prayed, although He no doubt followed much of this pattern in as far as it applied to Him. This was a... [ Continue Reading ]
“May Your Kingly Rule come.” Unless we are to see these three prayers that make up the first part of the Lord's Prayer as totally independent of each other, and as having different time references, this must be seen as including the prayer that the Kingly Rule of Heaven might begin to come on earth... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Give us this day our tomorrow's (epiousion) bread.' How the significance of this petition depends very much on the meaning of ‘epiousion'. The problem is that this word is otherwise unknown to us prior to the date of this Sermon, and is rarely found, if at all in secular literature, certainly not... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors'. ‘Forgive us our debts.' The meaning of this petition, as Luke specifically brings out, is that we are to pray for the forgiveness of our sins (Luke 11:4). The Jews saw sin as being a debt owed to God. They rightly saw it as a failur... [ Continue Reading ]
And bring us not into testing, But deliver us from evil (or ‘the evil one'). The assumption behind these words is that the world faces positive testing and trial by God, and endures various evils, partly at His hand and possibly partly at the hands of the Evil One. This is an indicator that Jesus r... [ Continue Reading ]
For if you forgive men their trespasses, Your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Jesus then adds a rider, stressing the kind of people that they must be if their Father is to have dealings with... [ Continue Reading ]
“Moreover when you fast, do not be, as the hypocrites, of a sad expression, For they disfigure their faces, That they may be seen of men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have received their reward. Jesus clearly here expects that His disciples will at some time engage in fasting, although He now... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CORRECT APPROACH TO FASTING (6:16-18). The idea of fasting in Israel was that of expressing repentance for sin (Nehemiah 9:1; Jonah 3:5); or of revealing grief (2 Samuel 1:12; Psalms 35:13; Daniel 10:2). It was an act of self-humbling (Isaiah 58:3), or of going without food for the purpose of en... [ Continue Reading ]
But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face, That you be not seen of men to fast, But of your Father who is in secret, And your Father, who sees in secret, will recompense you.” So when they fast they are not to put on a sombre face, or to fail to shave or wash their faces, or t... [ Continue Reading ]
THREE (OR FOUR) COMMANDS WHICH CONCERN THE ATTITUDE THAT HIS DISCIPLES SHOULD TAKE UP WITH REGARD TO THE WORLD EMPHASISING THE TAKING UP OF A POSITIVE SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE AND THE ESCHEWING OF A WORLDLY NEGATIVE ATTITUDE (6:19-7:12). Having described how His disciples are to behave towards the Law (M... [ Continue Reading ]
1). THE CHOICE AS TO WHICH TREASURE WILL BE SOUGHT AND LIVED FOR. Analysis of Matthew 6:19. a A “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth, b B Where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal, c E But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, b F Where neither... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY MUST LAY UP THEIR TREASURE IN HEAVEN AS THEY CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MAMMON (6:19-24). Having dealt with the question of what His disciples' attitude is to be towards ‘religious' activity, namely charitable giving, prayer and fasting, and the need in each case for them to be exercised in secrecy i... [ Continue Reading ]
2). THE CHOICE AS TO WHERE THE EYE WILL BE FIXED. Jesus now takes a general illustration that He regularly uses (compare Luke 11:34) in order to apply it to this particular situation. Again there is no reason to doubt that Jesus, as all preachers do, used the same illustration on a number of occasio... [ Continue Reading ]
a “Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, b What you shall eat, or what you shall drink, b Nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. b Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the clothing? c Behold the birds of the heaven, b That they sow not, neither do they... [ Continue Reading ]
a Do not therefore be anxious for the morrow, b For the morrow will be anxious for itself. a Sufficient to the day is its evil.” Jesus then finishes this passage with a pithy saying. Compare Matthew 5:48; Matthew 6:24 b; Matthew 7:6. Their concentration is to be on each day, and not on the morrow.... [ Continue Reading ]