a "father" (literally or figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
which seeth
βλέπωνblepōn
G991
to look at (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
secret
κρυπτῷkruptō
G2927
concealed · adjective — dative singular neuter
himself
αὐτόςautós
G846
the reflexive pronoun self
shall reward
ἀποδώσειapodōsei
G591
to give away · verb — future active indicative, 3rd person singular
thee
σοίsoí
G4671
to thee
openly
φανερῷ.¶phanerō
G5318
shining · adjective — dative singular neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee open…
Matthew 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father…
Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Luke 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Psalms 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Matthew 25:34-40 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation…
Psalms 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Jeremiah 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 6:1-4
As we must do better than the scribes and Pharisees in avoiding heart-sins, heart-adultery, and heart-murder, so likewise in maintaining and keeping up heart-religion, doing what we do from an inward, vital principle, that we may be approved of God, not that we may be applauded of men; that is, we must watch against hypocrisy, which was the leaven of the Pharisees, as well as against their doctrine, Luk 12:1. Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, are three great Christian duties - the three foundations of the law, say the Arabians: by them we do homage and service to God with our three principal interests; by prayer with our souls, by fasting with our bodies, by alms-giving with our estates. Thus…
That thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly--The word "Himself" appears to be an unauthorized addition to the text, which the sense no doubt suggested. (See Ti1 5:25; Rom 2:16; Co1 4:5).
Prayer (Mat 6:5-6).
John Gill on Matthew 6:4
That thine alms may be in secret,.... May be done in secret, and be kept a secret. The allusion seems to be to the secret chamber, where money was brought privately for the relief of the poor.
"There were two chambers in the sanctuary, the one was , "the chamber of secrets", and the other the chamber of vessels: the chamber of secrets was that into which pious persons put "in secret", and the poor children of good men were maintained out of it privately (q).''
The Jews say many things in favour of doing alms privately.
"Greater, (say they (r),) is he that gives alms in secret, than Moses our master.''
They tell us (s), that
"R. Jannai seeing a certain man give Zuz (a piece of money)…
Matthew 6:1-4
Matthew 6:1-4
1. Beware lest ye do your alms before men, that you may be seen by them: otherwise you have not a reward with your Father who is in heaven. 2. Therefore, when thou doest alms, let there not be a sound of trumpets before thee, as hypocrites do in synagogues and in streets, that they may be glorified by men. Verily I say to you, They have their reward. 3. But when thou shalt do alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4. That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father, who seeth in secret, will reward thee openly.
1. Beware In this passage, Christ exhorts his people to devote themselves sincerely to good works; that is, to endeavor, with simplic…
The Church Fathers
The intent with which He said all this is shown in that He adds, that your alms may be in secret; that is, in that your good conscience only, which human eye cannot see, nor words discover, though many things are said falsely of many. But your good conscience itself is enough for you towards deserving your reward, if you look for your reward from Him who alone can see your conscience. This is that He adds, And your Father which seeth in secret shall reward you. Many Latin copies have, openly. But in the Greek copies, which are earlier, we have not the word openly.
For it is impossible that God should leave in obscurity any good work of man; but He makes it manifest in this world, and glorifies it in the next world, because it is the glory of God; as likewise the Devil manifests evil, in which is shown the strength of his great wickedness. But God properly makes public every good deed only in that world the goods of which are not common to the righteous and the wicked; therefore to whomsoever God shall there show favour, it will be manifest that it was as reward of his righteousness. But the reward of virtue is not manifested in this world, in which both bad and good are alike in their fortunes.
A hypocrite is one who pretends to be something one is not. This person pretends to be righteous yet shows no evidence of righteousness. All attention is focused on how one is being perceived or praised by others. Even pretenders may receive this praise precisely while they are deceiving those to whom they seem to be good. But they receive no reward from God the searcher of the heart—only reproach for their deceit. They may have a human reward, but from God they hear, "Depart from me, you workers of deceit. You may speak my name, but you do not do my works." So you receive your reward with others, you have received the glory of others—so what? If you do good for the express purpose of having human glory, what good have you? The praise of others need not even be sought by one who acts rightly. We ought to follow one who acts rightly, profiting by imitating what we praise.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Alms — Not found in the Old Testament, but repeatedly in the New. The Mosaic legislation (Lev. 25:35; Deut. 15:7) tended to promote a spirit of charity, and to prevent the occurrence of destitution among…
Father — A name applied (1) to any ancestor (Deut. 1:11; 1 Kings 15:11; Matt. 3:9; 23:30, etc.); and (2) as a title of respect to a chief, ruler, or elder, etc. (Judg. 17:10; 18:19; 1 Sam. 10:12; 2 Kings…
Adoption · Should produce: An avoidance of ostentation — Should produce: An avoidance of ostentation
Alms · 14:28,29;15:7-11; — 14:28,29;15:7-11;
Commandments · DISCOURSE — DISCOURSE
Giving · RULES FOR — RULES FOR
Liberality · 3:10-12; — 3:10-12;
Motive · Right, required — Right, required
Pharisees · .By Jesus — .By Jesus
Religion · TRUE — TRUE
Secret · Alms (charitable donations) to be given in — Alms (charitable donations) to be given in
Works · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Works, Good · Saints: Should avoid ostentation in — Saints: Should avoid ostentation in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
