Matthew 6:1

describes the general character of Pharisaic righteousness. hen follow three special examples: alms, Matthew 6:2-4; prayer, Matthew 6:5-6; fasting, Matthew 6:16-18. The transition from the one theme to the other was almost inevitable, and we may be sure that what follows formed part of the instruction on the hill.

Matthew 6:1. προσέχετε (τὸν νοῦν understood), to attend to; here, with μὴ following, take heed, be on your guard against. δικαιοσύνην, not ἐλεημοσύνην (T. R.), is the reading demanded in a general introductory statement. Alms formed a very prominent part of Pharisaic righteousness, and was in Rabbinical dialect called righteousness, צדקה (vide Weber, p. 273), but it was not the whole, and it is a name for the whole category that is wanted in Matthew 6:1. If Jesus spoke in Aramaic He might, as Lightfoot (Hor. Hebr.) suggests, use the word tsedakah both in the first and in the following three verses; in the first in the general sense, in the other places in the special sense of alms. ἔμπροσθεν τ. ἀνθρώπων. In chap. Matthew 5:16 Christ commands disciples to let their light shine before men. Here He seems to enjoin the contrary. The contradiction is only apparent. The two places may be combined in a general rule thus: Show when tempted to hide, hide when tempted to show. The Pharisees were exposed, and yielded, to the latter temptation. They did their righteousness, πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι, to be seen. Their virtue was theatrical, and that meant doing only things which in matter and mode were commonly admired or believed by the doers to be. This spirit of ostentation Christ here and elsewhere represents as the leading feature of Pharisaism. εἰ δὲ μήγε, a combination of four particles frequently occurring in the Gospels, meaning: if at least ye do not attend to this rule, then, etc. γέ is a very expressive particle, derived by Klotz, Devar. ii. 272, from ΓΕΩ, i.e., ΕΑΩ, or from ἄγε, and explained as meant to render the hearer attentive. Bäumlein, dissenting from Klotz's derivation, agrees substantially with his view of its meaning as isolating a thought from all else and placing it alone in the light (Untersuchungen über Griechische Partikeln, p. 54) = “Mark my words, for if you do not as I advise then,” etc. μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχετε : on μισθὸν, vide Matthew 5:46. The meaning is that theatrical virtue does not count in the Kingdom of God. Right motive is essential there. There may be a reward, there must be, else theatrical religion would not be so common; but it is not παρὰ τῷ πατρί.