Matthew 6
1 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before people, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
3 But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does,
4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
5 “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.
6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7 In praying, don’t use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
8 Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him.
9 Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 “Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
18 so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
27 “Which of you by being anxious can add one moment to his lifespan?
28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,
29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
31 Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.
Matthew 6 Commentary
Chapter Overview
Matthew 6 continues the Sermon on the Mount by moving from visible acts of righteousness to the motives that govern them. Giving, prayer, and fasting were respected expressions of devotion, but Jesus warns that good practices become corrupted when performed for an audience. The repeated contrast is between being seen by people and being seen by the Father who is in secret.
The chapter then turns from religious display to material allegiance. Earthly treasure is temporary, the eye reveals what directs life, and no one can serve both God and wealth. Jesus does not condemn responsible work, possessions, or planning. He confronts a divided heart that looks to money for the security, identity, and control that belong to God.
The final section addresses anxiety about food, clothing, and tomorrow. Jesus points to the Father’s care for birds and flowers, then commands his disciples to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness. The themes belong together: the person who trusts the Father does not need public applause, manipulative prayer, hoarded treasure, or anxious control. Hidden faithfulness becomes possible because the Father sees, knows, forgives, provides, and rewards.
Key Themes
Verse 1 introduces the controlling principle for the first half of the chapter. Jesus does not forbid righteousness “before people” in every sense, because Matthew 5 calls disciples to let others see good works and glorify the Father. The difference is purpose. Good works may be visible, but they must not be performed to manufacture admiration for the person doing them.
Jesus assumes that his disciples will give, pray, and fast: he says “when,” not “if.” His criticism is directed at hypocrisy, a word associated with acting a role. A hypocrite may perform a genuinely religious action while seeking a reward unrelated to God. The deed looks faithful, but its inward goal is applause.
The trumpet image may be deliberate exaggeration rather than a description of a regular synagogue custom. Its meaning is clear: do not advertise generosity or turn another person’s need into your public achievement. Those who perform for praise “have received their reward,” because human approval is the payment they selected.
Not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing is vivid language for unselfconscious generosity. Jesus does not require that every gift be literally anonymous, since organized giving may be visible and accountable. The point is to resist both public boasting and private self-congratulation. A disciple gives because love requires it, then entrusts the deed to God.
Private prayer protects the purpose of prayer. Jesus is not banning public or gathered prayer; he prays with others elsewhere, and the model prayer begins with “our Father.” He condemns choosing public settings in order to be noticed. The inner room represents a place where prayer cannot function as a performance because the Father is the intended audience.
“Vain repetitions” does not prohibit repeated requests. Jesus repeats a prayer in Gethsemane, and persistent prayer is commended elsewhere. The warning concerns empty multiplication of words based on the belief that God can be pressured or mechanically controlled. The Father’s prior knowledge does not make prayer pointless; it frees believers to pray simply, honestly, and relationally.
“Our Father in heaven” joins intimacy with reverence. Disciples approach God as children, yet he is not a projection of human wishes. The plural language resists purely individual prayer. To hallow his name is to ask that his revealed character be honored in worship, in the church’s witness, and in the lives of those who bear his name.
“Your kingdom come” asks for God’s reign to advance and for its final completion. “Your will be done” is not passive resignation to fate but a request that earth increasingly reflect heaven’s willing obedience. Those who pray these words place their own preferences under God’s authority and become available to carry out what they request.
Daily bread represents ordinary necessary provision. The request avoids both proud self-sufficiency and endless craving for excess. It also keeps prayer rooted in embodied life: food, shelter, work, health, and practical needs matter to the Father. Asking “give us” should make disciples attentive to neighbors who lack what they need.
Debts are moral obligations created by sin, as verses 14–15 clarify with the language of trespasses. Forgiveness is requested, not earned, yet received mercy creates forgiving people. A settled refusal to forgive contradicts the grace being claimed. Forgiveness renounces personal vengeance; it does not deny the wrong, erase consequences, require immediate trust, or forbid wise boundaries.
“Lead us not into temptation” asks God to preserve his people through testing and keep them from yielding to evil. Scripture does not portray God as enticing people to sin. The familiar closing doxology appears in later manuscript tradition and is footnoted in many modern translations. Its theology is biblical: kingdom, power, and glory belong to God.
Fasting normally meant abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose such as mourning, repentance, focused prayer, or seeking God. Jesus does not command constant fasting, but he assumes it has a place in discipleship. Washing the face and anointing the head describe ordinary grooming, preventing fasting from becoming a costume designed to advertise spiritual seriousness.
Earthly treasures are vulnerable to moth, decay, and theft. Jesus is not denying every form of saving or ownership; Scripture commends prudent preparation and care for dependents. He warns against organizing life around possessions that cannot survive death. Where time, attention, money, and energy are repeatedly invested, the heart’s attachment grows.
The saying about the eye stands between treasure and the two masters. A “sound” or “healthy” eye can carry the sense of singleness and generosity, while an “evil eye” was an image for envy or stinginess. Jesus contrasts a life illuminated by undivided, generous vision with one darkened by greedy perception. What people train themselves to desire directs the whole life.
Mammon refers to wealth or property treated as a ruling power. Money can be a useful servant but a cruel master because it demands loyalty, fear, and sacrifice. Jesus does not say serving two masters is difficult; he says it is impossible. God may govern a disciple’s use of wealth, but wealth cannot share God’s throne.
“Do not be anxious” must not be used to shame people with clinical anxiety or dismiss real danger. Jesus addresses consuming worry that tries to secure life through fearful preoccupation. His remedy is not denial but a larger vision of the Father, human value, the limits of worry, and the priority of the kingdom. Treatment, counsel, planning, and prayer can all express faithful trust.
Birds work for food without controlling harvests, and short-lived flowers receive beauty greater than Solomon’s splendor. Jesus argues from lesser to greater: if the Father sustains creatures of smaller value and clothes grass used for fuel, his children are not forgotten. “Little faith” describes real but inconsistent trust and calls disciples to remember whose children they are.
Gentiles seek material necessities as though no heavenly Father knows their need. Disciples have the same bodily needs, but they place them within a relationship of trust. Seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness means making his rule the governing pursuit under which work, family, money, and plans are ordered. The promise is provision, not guaranteed luxury or immunity from hardship.
Jesus ends by limiting attention to the responsibilities of the present day. Tomorrow will bring real concerns, but borrowing them in advance multiplies suffering without adding strength. This is not opposition to preparation. Planning acts wisely today; anxiety tries to inhabit an imagined future where tomorrow’s grace has not yet been given.
Important Verses
Verse 4 repeats the chapter’s foundational assurance: “your Father who sees in secret” knows hidden faithfulness. Much obedient service will never receive public recognition. The disciple’s security rests in being fully seen by God rather than in successfully managing a reputation.
Verses 9–13 provide a pattern that begins with God’s name, kingdom, and will before moving to provision, forgiveness, and protection. The prayer is brief yet comprehensive. It trains desire as much as it presents requests, teaching disciples what to value when they approach the Father.
Verses 14–15 connect prayer with relationships. A request for forgiveness cannot remain only vertical while the petitioner clings to vengeance. These verses call for a life shaped by mercy while still allowing truth, justice, repentance, consequences, and protective boundaries to be taken seriously.
Verse 21 states that treasure and heart travel together. Financial choices are never merely technical because they reveal and reinforce love. A budget can become a spiritual document, showing whether possessions serve God’s kingdom or whether the pursuit of possessions governs the person.
Verse 24 exposes the deepest issue beneath materialism: mastery. The question is not whether a person has money but whether money has the person. Loyalty to God must determine how wealth is gained, used, shared, saved, and surrendered.
Verses 31–32 contrast anxious questioning with the Father’s knowledge. “What will we eat?” and “What will we wear?” describe a mind circling needs as though no Father were present. Jesus answers worry by directing attention to God’s informed care rather than by pretending needs are unreal.
Verses 33–34 give the chapter’s practical conclusion. Seek God’s kingdom and righteousness as the governing priority, receive today’s responsibilities, and refuse to carry tomorrow before it arrives. Faithfulness is practiced one day at a time under the Father’s care.
Practical Applications
Examine not only what you do but the reward you secretly want. Before giving, serving, posting, praying, or speaking about sacrifice, ask whether the act would still be worthwhile if no one praised it. Build some regular practices of goodness known only to God.
Use the Lord’s Prayer as a framework rather than merely a formula. Begin with God’s holiness, reign, and will; then bring daily needs, confessed sins, damaged relationships, and spiritual dangers before him. Its plural language can widen prayer beyond personal concerns to the church and neighbors.
Take one honest step toward forgiveness where resentment has settled. Name the wrong truthfully, surrender personal revenge to God, and seek wise help when harm is serious. Forgiveness can coexist with consequences, limited contact, and the slow rebuilding of trust.
Review what your time and money are teaching your heart to love. Practice deliberate generosity, simplify an area driven by comparison, and direct resources toward needs and work that endure. Do not wait to feel detached from possessions before acting; faithful action can retrain desire.
Respond to anxiety with both trust and concrete obedience. Identify today’s actual responsibility, take the next wise step, and refuse to rehearse every imagined outcome. Prayer, medical care, counseling, rest, budgeting, and asking others for help may all express reliance on the Father rather than replace faith.
Let the kingdom become the organizing priority of ordinary life. Seek righteousness in work, family, speech, spending, and private thought, not only in explicitly religious moments. Matthew 6 calls disciples to an undivided life in which the Father’s approval, provision, and rule are enough.