Matthew 6:1 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 6:1 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.”

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Chapter 6 turns from the content of kingdom righteousness (chapter 5's antitheses) to the motive from which it is practiced. The same actions — giving, praying, fasting — can be performed either for the audience of the Father or for the audience of other people. The beware communicates that the danger is not obvious: the acts themselves are identical; the difference is entirely internal. John 12:43 describes people who loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God — the human-approval motive infects the whole range of religious practice without the external observer being able to detect it.

Church Fathers on Matthew 6:1

Christ having now fulfilled the Law in respect of commandments, begins to fulfil it in respect of promises, that we may do God’s commandments for heavenly wages, not for the earthly which the Law held out. All earthly things are reduced to two main heads, viz. human glory, and abundance of earthly goods, both of which seem to be promised in the Law. Concerning the first is that spoken in Deuteronomy, 'The Lord shall make thee higher than all the nations who dwell on the face…
Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation · non occ.

Yet be it known that the desire of fame is near a kin to virtue.
Chrysostom · 4th century · Hom. xix

For when any thing truly glorious is done, there ostentation has its readiest occasion; so the Lord first shuts out all intention of seeking glory; as He knows that this is of all fleshly vices the most dangerous to man. The servants of the Devil are tormented by all kinds of vices; but it is the desire of empty glory that torments the servants of the Lord more than the servants of the Devil.
Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

Read all 11 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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