BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Matthew 6: Righteousness, the Lord's Prayer, and Anxiety
Matthew 6 continues the Sermon on the Mount by addressing three acts of piety—giving, praying, fasting—then provides the Lord's Prayer, warns against two masters, and forbids anxiety.
Scripture
1Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
2When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.
3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.
5And when ye pray, ye 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 of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.
6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.
7And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9After this manner therefore pray ye. Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen of men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.
17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face;
18that thou be not seen of men to fast, but of thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall recompense thee.
19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal:
20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.
22The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!
24No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?
26Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they?
27And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?
28And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
What this passage means
Verses 1–18 form a tightly constructed triplet on three central Jewish practices: almsgiving (2–4), prayer (5–15), and fasting (16–18). Each section follows the same rhetorical shape: a warning against the 'hypocrites' (ὑποκριταί) who perform the act publicly for human praise, the solemn formula 'they have received their reward,' and then a positive instruction that the act be done in secret before the Father 'who seeth in secret.' The repetition drives home that divine reward and human reward are mutually exclusive—once the audience's applause is taken, God's compensation is forfeit.
The Lord's Prayer (9–13) is bracketed by two notes on forgiveness (12, 14–15) and sandwiched inside the prayer section, so it functions both as the model prayer and as the content of the disciples' plea. The prayer moves from God-ward ('hallowed be thy name,' 'thy kingdom come') to human-ward needs ('daily bread,' 'forgive us,' 'deliver us from evil'), modeling the ordering of devotion and petition. The bracketing verses on forgiveness turn the petition 'forgive us our debts' into a moral requirement: human forgiveness is the measure of expected divine forgiveness.
Verses 19–34 shift from religious acts to daily existence. Two foundational metaphors drive the argument: 'where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also' (21), and 'no man can serve two masters' (24). From these Jesus derives the prohibition of anxiety (25–34). The argument is theological rather than economic: anxiety assumes the Father is withholding what He already knows is needed (8, 32). The chapter's closing imperative, 'seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness,' ties the two halves together—the 'righteousness' of verse 1 is now specified as God's kingdom-righteousness, with material needs added as a secondary benefit.
Context
Matthew 5–7 is the Sermon on the Mount, and chapter 6 is its central panel. The chapter assumes the audience already practices almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; Jesus does not introduce these disciplines but addresses their inner orientation. Matthew also has a parallel passion for hidden righteousness in chapter 5:16 ('let your light so shine before men'), and chapter 6 qualifies that by distinguishing visibility-for-glory from visibility-as-natural-consequence. The chapter ends the Sermon on the Mount's pivot from religious externals to inward trust, which prepares for chapters 7–9 on judgment, fruitfulness, and mission.
Within the Gospel, the Lord's Prayer appears here in its most complete Matthean form; Luke 11:2–4 gives a shorter version in a different setting (disciples requesting instruction on prayer). The differences between the two versions—Matthewn expansions such as 'which art in heaven' and the doxology—have generated extensive textual and source-critical discussion (Markan priority, Q, Matthean redaction). The placement here is catechetical, gathering disciples around a shared prayer to memorize and recite.
Key words in the original
- G1343 δικαιοσύνην (dikaiosynē): 'righteousness' or 'justice,' used in 6:1 of the full range of religious duties (giving, praying, fasting). It is the same word the chapter ends with in 6:33 ('his righteousness'), forming an inclusio that re-defines righteousness as kingdom-orientation rather than visible performance.
- G5273 ὑποκριταὶ (hypokritai): 'hypocrites'—literally 'stage-actors' or 'players under a mask.' Jesus borrows the term from the Greek theater to describe those whose religious persona is a performed role aimed at an audience, contrasting theatrical display with the sincerity of secret prayer and giving.
- G1654 ἐλεημοσύνην (eleēmosynē): 'alms' or 'charitable giving.' Originally meaning 'compassion' or 'mercifulness,' it came to refer concretely to gifts given to the poor. In 6:2–4 Jesus assumes almsgiving is a regular practice of his hearers and focuses on its motive rather than its existence.
Related verses
- Luke 12:31 The Lukan twin of Matthew 6:33 ('seek first his kingdom'), placed in a different setting (disciples told to sell possessions). Together the two versions confirm 'seeking the kingdom' as a core saying of Jesus, with Matthew adding 'and his righteousness' as the defining content.
- Matthew 5:6 The fourth Beatitude: 'hunger and thirst after righteousness.' Matthew 6:33 echoes this beatitude by replacing visible 'righteousness' (6:1) with 'his righteousness'—God's kingdom-righteousness—showing that the hunger promised in 5:6 is met by seeking what God gives, not by human display.
- Psalms 34:10 'They that seek Jehovah shall not want any good thing.' This OT promise underwrites Jesus' argument against anxiety in Matthew 6:25–34: the creatures of the field (birds, lilies) are evidence that seeking God and lacking good things are incompatible states, since the God who feeds them is the God his disciples call 'Father.'
Common questions
Does Matthew 6:1 mean all public Christian works are wrong?
No. The verse forbids righteousness done 'to be seen of them'—i.e., performance whose motive is human praise. Matthew 5:16 itself commands letting light shine before men. The distinction is motive (glory from God vs. glory from people), not visibility. The chapter's logic assumes the acts themselves—almsgiving, prayer, fasting—continue to be practiced.
Why does Jesus call the hypocrites' reward 'received'?
Because their audience's applause settles the account. The verb ἀπέχουσιν ('they have received') is commercial language: payment in full. The chapter assumes a system of competing rewards—one from the watching crowd, one from the Father in secret—and a single act can only draw from one. Taking human glory now forecloses divine compensation later.
How does the Lord's Prayer relate to the surrounding teaching?
The prayer is framed by the warning against hypocrisy (5–8) and the teaching on forgiveness (14–15). Its placement shows that true prayer is the opposite of theatrical display (6), and the bracketing forgiveness logion turns the petition 'forgive us our debts' into a demand: disciples must extend the same mercy they request. The prayer thus contains both the pattern of authentic prayer and the ethics that authentic prayer produces.