Matthew 6:1 - Meaning and Application

As we must do better than the scribes and Pharisees in avoiding heart sins like heart adultery and heart murder, so we must also do better in keeping heart religion. We should do what we do from an inward, living principle, so that God approves us, not so people praise us. For that reason, we must watch against hypocrisy, which was the leaven of the Pharisees, as well as against their teaching (Luke 12:1).

Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting are three great Christian duties, the three foundations of the law, as the Arabians said. Through them we honor and serve God with our three main interests, prayer with our souls, fasting with our bodies, and almsgiving with our estates. So we must not only turn from evil, but also do good, do it well, and so dwell forevermore. In these verses, we are warned against hypocrisy in giving alms. We are told to take heed because it is sin.

We are in great danger from it, because it is a subtle sin. Pride slips into what we do before we notice it. The disciples would especially be tempted by the power they had to do many amazing works, and by living with some who admired them and others who despised them. Both of these temptations can make a person want to make a show of religion. We are also in great danger because hypocrisy can ruin us if it rules us. It is like a dead fly that spoils a whole box of precious ointment.

Two things are assumed here. First, giving alms is a great duty, and all Christ’s disciples, according to their ability, must do it often. Both the law of nature and the law of Moses require it, and the prophets place great weight on it. Some old copies here read “your righteousness” instead of “your alms,” because alms are a form of righteousness, as in (Psalm 112:9) and (Proverbs 10:2). The Jews called the poor box the box of righteousness. What is given to the poor is said to be their due (Proverbs 3:27).

This duty is no less necessary and excellent because hypocrites abuse it to feed their pride. If superstitious Roman Catholics have placed merit in works of charity, that is no excuse for covetous Protestants who are barren in such good works. Our alms do not earn heaven, but it is also true that we cannot go to heaven without them. This is pure religion (James 1:27), and it will be tested on the great day. Christ takes it for granted that his disciples give alms, and he will not own those who do not.

Second, this duty has a great reward, and that reward is lost if the deed is done in hypocrisy. Sometimes it is rewarded in earthly things with plenty (Proverbs 11:24, Proverbs 11:25; Proverbs 19:17), safety from want (Proverbs 28:27; Psalm 37:21, Psalm 37:25), help in trouble (Psalm 41:1, Psalm 41:2), and honor and a good name, which usually follow those who care least about them (Psalm 112:9). Even so, it will be repaid in the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14), in eternal riches. The wealth you give away is the only wealth you will always keep.

With that assumed, notice the practice of hypocrites in this duty. They did give alms, but not from obedience to God or love to people. They gave from pride and self-display, not compassion for the poor. They wanted to be praised as good people and to gain a place in public approval, which they knew how to use for their own advantage and get much more back than they gave. So they chose to give their alms in synagogues and in the streets, where the biggest crowd could see them. People praised their generosity because they shared in it, but they were too blind to see their ugly pride.

They probably gave when offerings for the poor were collected in the synagogues, and when common beggars gathered in the streets and highways. It is not wrong to give alms where people can see us, but we must not do it so that people will see us. We should even prefer opportunities for charity that are less noticed. The hypocrites, if they gave alms at their own houses, sounded a trumpet, pretending they were calling the poor together to help them, but really to announce their charity and draw attention to it.

Christ’s judgment on this is very striking: “They have their reward.” At first glance this sounds like a promise, as if having the reward were enough. But two words make it a warning. It is a reward, but it is their reward, not the reward God promises to those who do good. It is only the reward they promised themselves, and it is a poor one. They did it to be seen by men, and men saw them. They chose their own lies and cheated themselves with them, and they will have what they chose.

Carnal professors bargain with God for advancement, honor, and wealth, and they will have their fill of those things (Psalm 17:14). But they should expect no more. Those things are their comfort now (Luke 6:24), their good things (Luke 16:25), and they will be sent away with those alone. They agreed on a penny, and that is likely the whole bargain they will receive. It is a reward, but it is a present reward, because they have it now, and nothing is laid up for them in the future state. The word means a receipt in full. The rewards godly people receive in this life are only part payment, with much more still ahead, but hypocrites get all theirs in this world. So their judgment is settled by their own choice.

The world is for provision to the saints, like spending money. But to hypocrites, it is pay, and it is their whole portion. Then Christ gives his own command about this: “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” This may refer to the poor box, or chest for freewill offerings, being placed on the right side of the path into the temple, so gifts were put in with the right hand. Or it may mean that giving with the right hand shows readiness and purpose, doing it skillfully, not awkwardly or with a false aim.

The right hand may be used in many ways to help the poor, lifting them up, writing for them, dressing their sores, and more than just handing over money. But whatever kindness your right hand does for the poor, let your left hand not know it. Hide it as much as possible, and keep it private with care.

Do it because it is a good work, not because it will win you a good name. In all our actions, we should be moved by the value of the act itself, not by who is watching.

This suggests two things. First, we must not let other people know what we do, not even those who are very close to us, as if they were at our left hand. Rather than telling them, we should keep it from them if we can. At the least, we should act as if we want to keep it private, so that, out of respect, they may seem not to notice and may let it go no further.

Second, we must not dwell on it too much ourselves. The left hand is part of us, so this means we should not keep looking back on our good deeds inside our own minds. We must not praise ourselves or admire ourselves for them. Self-satisfaction and pride in our own goodness are just as dangerous as wanting praise from other people. The people who had their good works remembered to their honor were those who had forgotten them themselves, like those who said, “When did we see you hungry, or thirsty?”

What is the promise to those who give alms, that is, money or help to the poor, with this kind of sincerity and humility? “Let your alms be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” When we notice our good deeds least, God notices them most. Just as God hears the wrongs done to us when we do not hear them (Psa 38:14, Psa 38:15), so he sees the good done by us when we do not see it.

That is a warning to hypocrites, but it is a comfort to sincere Christians: God sees what is done in secret. And that is not all. The praise is from God, and the reward is from God too. He himself will reward you openly. Those who try to please God in their giving are really putting themselves into his hands as their paymaster. The hypocrite grabs for a shadow, but the upright person secures the real thing.

Notice how strongly this is said: “himself shall reward.” He will personally be the one who rewards, as Hebrews 11:6 says. Leave it to him to make up for it in kind or in kindness. More than that, he himself will be the reward, as in Genesis 15:1, “your very great reward.” He will reward you as a father, not merely as a master who gives a servant exactly what he has earned, but as a father who gives generously and without limit to his child who serves him.

He will reward you openly. If that does not happen in this life, it will happen on the great day. Then everyone will receive praise from God, open praise, and you will be acknowledged before men. If the work is not seen, the reward will be, and that is better.