Matthew
The New American Commentary, v. 22, pp. 116-122
Craig
L. Blomberg
c. TRUE
VERSUS HYPOCRITICAL PIETY (6:1-18). From illustrations of Jesus'
teaching in relation to the law, Matthew now
turns to Jesus' instruction on the manner in
which persons should do God's will. Correct actions with improper motives still
do not please God. The theme of internalizing God's standards continues, as Jesus
stresses the importance of righteous behavior when no one but God is watching
as over against public piety designed to elicit human praise rather than to
glorify God. The three closely parallel examples of almsgiving, prayer, and
fasting focus on three of the cardinal components of Jewish piety (see esp. Tob 12:8). The insertion of the Lord's Prayer makes the
second section disproportionately longer than the other two. The theme of the
entire sermon — the greater righteousness demanded of Jesus'
disciples — clearly continues.
1"Be
careful not to do your `acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them.
If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So
when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But
when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand
s doing, 4so that your giving may be in
secret. Then your Father, who sees what s done in secret, will reward you.
(1)
Heading (6:1). 6:1 The principle uniting all three illustrations appears first.
Verse 1 does not contradict 5:16
because the motives in the two passages are entirely different. That which is
done solely or primarily for personal honor or gain may accomplish its
objective (v. 2b), but God will grant no further reward.
(2) Almsgiving (6:2-4). 6:2-4 In a society without social security
or welfare, voluntary charity and donations for the destitute formed a key part
of ancient Jewish life and remained an important virtue enjoined upon the
righteous. But it was easy to abuse almsgiving by making it plain to others how
generous the person was and thus receiving their adulation. It is not clear
whether the trumpets "in the synagogues and on the streets" (v. 2)
were literal or metaphorical (cf. our expression "blow your own
horn"). The best guess may be that they refer to the noise and clang of
throwing money into various collection receptacles.
But Jesus' point is unambiguous: his followers
must not parade their piety or show off their good deeds. Such ostentation nullifies
the possibility of any spiritual benefit for the almsgiver.
The positive alternative Jesus commands is that we should give in a way that
there is no temptation for others to glorify the giver rather God. Jesus'
language again is figurative (v. 3 is literally possible only; those who
undergo a lobotomy!) and does not imply that we must keep track of giving or
that we be irresponsible in stewardship of finances or refuse to disclose how
we spend our money for the sake of demonstrating financial accountability. Jesus was simply explaining that the m(
for charity must not be the desire for praise from others. In striking contrast
stands the common approach to fund raising in many churches Christian
organizations in which lists of benefactors are published, often as an
incentive for people to give. This kind of motive for giving or soliciting
reflects hypocrisy (v. 2),
pretending to honor God when in fact is distracting attention from him. The
reward humans can offer obviously refers to acclaim in this life, so the reward
God will bestow or with (v. 4) probably also refers to spiritual benefit and
growth in holiness in this life.
5
"And when you pray, do not be
like the hypocrites, for they love to standing
in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. you the truth, they have received their reward in
full. 6But when you pray, go
into your room, close the door and
pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard
because of their many words. 8Do
not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
(3) Prayer (6:5-15). 6:5-8 Verses 5-6 closely parallel vv. 2-4 with respect to
prayer. As with almsgiving, Jesus does not
rule ou public behavior but stresses the private side of
piety. Public prayer is appropriate when practiced with right motives. But
public orations should represent the overflow of a vibrant personal prayer life.
What is n prayer ought not to be used to gain plaudits, summarize a sermon, or
communicate information to an audience but should reflect genuine conversation
with God.
Verses 7-8 add a second element to Jesus'
teaching on prayer. We 1 not "babble" (an onomatopoeic word—battalogeό, literally, to say batta
In light of vv. 7b-8, this at least refers to a long-winded and probably flowery
or rhetorical oration. "Vain repetitions" (KJV)
should be taken as 
emphasizing "vain" and
not "repetitions."
The term may also refer to the uttering of nonsense syllables common to magical
incantations in the pagan religions of Jesus' day. Verse 8 does not forbid prayer, as vv. 9-13
make clear, but calls for simplicity, directness, and sincerity in talking to
God. Matthew 7:7-8 will urge persistence in prayer, but here we
are reminded that God wants to give us good gifts; therefore, we need not
badger him with our requests (cf. 7:11).
God knows our needs, but he has also chosen to grant some things only when his
people pray (Jas 4:2).
9"This, then, is how you should
pray:
'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your
kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it s in heaven.
11Give
us today our daily bread.
12Forgive
us our debts,
as we aso have forgiven our debtors.
13And
lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'"
6:9-13 Jesus
then gave his disciples the "Our Father," or the "Lord's
Prayer." Actually, the "Lord's Prayer" is a better designation
for John 17, whereas the model given here might be better entitled "The Disciples'
Prayer." In light of vv. 7-8 it is highly ironic that this prayer has come
to be repeated mechanically in many Christian traditions (already Did. 8:3 commanded Christians to recite
it three times daily), accompanied by the notion that frequent repetition
develops spirituality. Still, the prayer remains an excellent model; it is
equally ironic that other Christian traditions have carefully avoided its use
or recitation. The key word in v. 9a is "how." Verses 9b-13 illustrate key components and attitudes that Jesus'
disciples should incorporate into their prayer lives. We may choose to pray
these exact words thoughtfully and reflectively or to put into our own words
similar concerns.
Close parallels appear in the standard Jewish Kaddish
prayer and remind us that many Jews were not guilty of the hypocrisy warned
against here. The
parallel in Luke 11:2-4 is usually seen as a more primitive version of the same
account, though the direction of development could be reversed.
More likely the two reflect similar teachings of Jesus
from two different occasions in his ministry.
The Greek "Father" (pater) probably translates the Aramaic Abba (cf. Mark
14:36). Use of this intimate term
for God (almost equivalent to the English "Daddy") was virtually
unparalleled in first-century Judaism. Christians should consider God as
accessible as the most loving human parent. ("Father" should not be
read as implying that God has gender or sexuality.) The phrase "in
heaven" balances this intimacy with an affirmation of God's sovereignty
and majesty. The use of the first-person plural pronouns throughout the prayer
reminds us that our praying ought to reflect the corporate unity, desires, and
needs of the entire church. The Lord's Prayer is not simply a private utterance.
The intimacy Christians may have with their Heavenly Father is balanced also
with insistence on reverence in the clause "hallowed be
your name." "Name" refers to one's person, character, and
authority. All that God stands for should be treated as holy and honored
because of his utter perfection and goodness.
"Your kingdom come, your will
be done on earth as it is in heaven" expresses the desire that the
acknowledgment of God's reign and the accomplishment of his purposes take place
in this world even as they already do in God's throne room. The first half of
the prayer thus focuses exclusively on God and his agenda as believers adore,
worship, and submit to his will before they introduce their own personal
petitions.
The meaning of v. 11 depends
largely on the very rare adjective epiousios. In addition to the traditional
translation, "daily" bread, it could also mean bread for tomorrow (taken either as the next
period of twenty-four hours or as the coming fullness of the kingdom) or
necessary for existence. The
best lexical research suggests that the noneschatological
interpretation of "bread for tomorrow" may be best.
Christians therefore should pray daily for the next day's provision of life's
essentials as they recognize that all sustenance for one's life comes from God
and that he makes no long-term future guarantees. The average affluent
Westerner more than likely plans and prays for "annual bread" except
perhaps in times of extreme crisis. It is also worth noting that the prayer
makes request for our needs and not our greed (cf. Jas 4:3).
"Forgive us our debts"
renders the Greek literally. Luke 11:4,
how-ever, refers to "sins," as does Matthew
in vv. 14-15 (with the more specific paraptόmata, trespasses or conscious transgressions). Spiritual
debts to God are first of all in view. Our plea for continued forgiveness as
believers, requesting the restoration of fellowship with God following the
alienation that sin produces, is predicated on our having forgiven those who
have sinned against us. As v. 15 stresses, without this interpersonal
reconciliation on the human level, neither can we be reconciled to God.
"Lead us not into
temptation" does not imply "don't bring us to the place of temptation"
or "don't allow us to be tempted." God's Spirit has already done both
of these with Jesus (4:1). Nor does the clause
imply "don't tempt us" because God has promised never to do that
anyway (Jas 1:13).
Rather, in light of the probable Aramaic underlying Jesus'
prayer, these words seem best taken as "don't let us succumb to
temptation" (cf. Mark 14:38) or "don't abandon us to temptation."
We do of course periodically succumb to temptation but never because we have no
alternative (1 Cor 10:13). So when we give in, we have only ourselves to
blame. The second clause of v. 13 phrases the same plea positively,
"Deliver us from evil" (or "from the evil one" [NIV marg.], from whom all evil ultimately comes). This
parallelism renders less likely the alternate translation of the first clause
as "do not bring us to the test" ("test" is an equally
common rendering of peirasmos) either as times of trial in this life
or as final judgment. If we are praying for rescue from the devil, he is more
likely tempting than testing us (cf. under 4:1). God tests us in order to prove
us and bring us to maturity (Jas 1:2-4; 1 Pet 1:6-9). Such tests should not be
feared, nor should we pray for God to withhold them.
Numerous late manuscripts add
various forms of a conclusion to Jesus' prayer,
probably based on 1 Chr 29:11-13, no doubt to give
the prayer a "proper" doxology that it otherwise lacked. This
well-known conclusion ("for yours is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen.") appears in the NIV margin but almost certainly did not
appear in Matthew's original text. It is
absent, e.g., from R, B, D, f various Latin and Coptic versions, and numerous
church fathers. It nevertheless affords a very appropriate conclusion, and no
one need campaign to do away with its use in churches
today. Christians regularly and rightly utter many things in prayer that do not
directly quote the autographs of Scripture.
14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But
if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
6:14-15 Verses 14-15 repeat in third-person form the
thought of v. 12 and add the negative consequences of failure to forgive
others. See the comments on v. 12 for more details, but note that Jesus
is not claming God's unwillingness to forgive recalcitrant sinners but
disclosing their lack of capacity to receive such forgiveness.
16"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do,
for they ds-figure
their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth,
they have received their reward in
full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so
that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your
Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you."
(4) Fasting (6:16-18). 6:16-18 Jesus proceeds with the
third example of a common element of Jewish piety. He himself has fasted for
forty days (4:2-11). Pharisees typically fasted on Mondays and Thursdays,
refraining from food but not from drink. In light of such texts as 9:14-17, fasting is more controversial in
Christian circles than prayer or giving to the needy. Jesus
apparently did not give this spiritual discipline a high priority, especially
during his ministry, but he did anticipate that it would occur later (9:15). The only specific New Testament
references to later Christian fasting come in contexts of seeking God's will in
choosing church leaders (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23). As with almsgiving and prayer,
those who fast must not advertise their piety by visible signs of suffering and
deprivation.
Otherwise a person again gains accolades from people rather than from God.
Instead people must groom themselves according to cultural norms in order to
appear joyful and content. The same refrain of vv. 4b and 6b reappears for a
third and final time (v. 18b) and rounds out this section of the sermon.
A. Plummer aptly summarizes vv.
1-18 as follows: "The light of a Christian character will shine before men
and win glory for God without the artificial aid of public advertisement.
Ostentatious religion may have its reward here, but it receives none from
God."
Christians who judge successful ministries by external statistics such as
attendance figures, membership, baptisms, and offerings should seriously
rethink their criteria in light of Jesus' words
here. God judges the greatness of his servants by searching their hearts,
examining their inner attitudes, and seeing deeds done in secret. Doubtless,
his evaluations of who most honors him will invert a substantial majority of
his people's evaluations.
See
N. J.
McEleney,
"Does the Trumpet Sound or Resound? An Interpretation of Matthew 6:2," ZNW 76 (1985): 43-46.
Cf. Hobbs,
Matthew, 73: "Prayer
is not some battering ram by which we gain entrance to
God's treasury. It is a receptacle by which we receive that which He already
longs to give us." Cf. also the excellent selected comments
on the virtue of Luther's simple, frequent, brief prayers, cited in Bruner, Christbook, 237.
0n
the theology of the Lord's Prayer, see esp. J.
M. Lochman, The
Lord's Prayer (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990). For the
distinctive Matthean form, see esp. B. Gerhards-son,
"The Matthaen Version of the Lord's Prayer (Matt
6:9b-13): Some Observations," in The New Testament Age, ed. W. C.
Weinrich
(Μαcοn, Ga.:
Mercer University Press, 1984), 1:207-20.
For implications for social ethics, see esp. M.
H. Crosby, Thy
Will Be Done (Maryknoll: Orbis,
1977).
See
Allen, Matthew, 60, for the text in translation. On a
comparison of the prayer with Jewish
thought more broadly, see J.
J. Petuchowski
and M. Brocke, eds., The
Lord's Prayer and Jewish Liturgy
(New York: Seabury,
1978).
Sabourin, Matthieu, 78-79.
For
an influential interpretation of the Lord's Prayer as consistently
eschatological in this sense, see J. Jeremias,
The Lord's Prayer (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1964); R. E. Brown, "The Pater Noster as an Eschatological Prayer," TS 22 (1961): 175-208.
See
C. J. Hemer, "ejpiouvsio"" JSNT 22
(1984): 81-94.
For
further helpful background on "daily bread" in the ancient world, see
E. M. Yamauchi, "The `Daily Bread' Motif in Antiquity,"
WTJ
28 (1966): 145-56.
With S. E. Porter ("Mt 6:13 and Lk 11:4: `Lead Us Not into Temptation,"' ExpTim 101 [19901:
359-62) it is undoubtedly valid to distinguish a final sense in which God does
permit and therefore indirectly
cause temptation from a more immediate cause-and-effect relation-ship,
but it is not clear that this distinction solves the problems of the text at
hand.
See
Allison and Davies, Matthew,
1:612-13, who cite b. Ber. 60b:
"Bring me . . . not into the power of temptation." Cf. also E. Moore, "`Lead Us Not into Temptation,"' ExpTim 102 (1991): 171-72.
Contra
C. L.
Blomberg,
"Trial," in ISBE 4:904. A new approach to
translating perasmov" as "test" or "trial"
appears in P. S. Cameron, "`Lead Us Not into Temptation'," ExpTim 101 (1990): 299-301,
namely, "Do not judge us according to our deserts," but the
linguistic basis for this renderiπg
(hsn in Ps 26:2) is
slender.
C.
F. D. Moule, "...As We Forgive ... '
" in Donum Gentilicum, ed. E. Bammel, C. K. Barrett, and W. D.
Davies (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978), 68-77.
Cf.
Gundry (Matthew, 111): "Ironically, the hypocrites
made themselves unrecognizable (ajfanivzousin) in trying to be recognized (fanw'sin)."
A.
Plummer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, (London: E. Stock, 1909), 90.