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Commentary on Matthew 6 verses 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 we must not only depart from evil, but do good, and do it well, and so dwell for evermore.
Now in these verses we area cautioned against hypocrisy in giving alms. Take heed of it. Our being bid to take heed of it intimates that it is sin. 1. We are in great danger of; it is a subtle sin; vain-glory insinuates itself into what we do ere we are aware. The disciples would be tempted to it by the power they had to do many wondrous works, and their living with some that admired them and others that despised them, both which are temptations to covet to make a fair show in the flesh. 2. It is a sin we are in great danger by. Take heed of hypocrisy, for if it reign in you, it will ruin you. It is the dead fly that spoils the whole box of precious ointment.
Two things are here supposed,
I. The giving of alms is a great duty, and a duty which all the disciples of Christ, according to their ability, must abound in. It is prescribed by the law of nature and of Moses, and great stress is laid upon it by the prophets. Divers ancient copies here for tēn eleēmosunēn - your alms, read tēn dikaiosunēn - your righteousness, for alms are righteousness, Psa 112:9; Pro 10:2. The Jews called the poor's box the box of righteousness. That which is given to the poor is said to be their due, Pro 3:27. The duty is not the less necessary and excellent for its being abused by hypocrites to serve their pride. If superstitious papists have placed a merit in works of charity, that will not be an excuse for covetous protestants that are barren in such good works. It is true, our alms-deeds do not deserve heaven; but it is as true that we cannot go to heaven without them. It is pure religion (Jam 1:27), and will be the test at the great day; Christ here takes it for granted that his disciples give alms, nor will he own those that do not.
II. That it is such a duty as has a great reward attending it, which is lost if it be done in hypocrisy. It is sometimes rewarded in temporal things with plenty (Pro 11:24, Pro 11:25; Pro 19:17); security from want (Pro 28:27; Psa 37:21, Psa 37:25); succour in distress (Psa 41:1, Psa 41:2); honour and a good name, which follow those most that least covet them, Psa 112:9. However, it shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the just (Luk 14:14), in eternal riches.
Quas dederis, solas semper habebis, opes.
The riches you impart form the only wealth you will always retain.
- Martial.
This being supposed, observe now,
1.What was the practice of the hypocrites about this duty. They did it indeed, but not from any principle of obedience to God, or love to man, but in pride and vain-glory; not in compassion to the poor, but purely for ostentation, that they might be extolled as good men, and so might gain an interest in the esteem of the people, with which they knew how to serve their own turn, and to get a great deal more than they gave. Pursuant to this intention, they chose to give their alms in the synagogues, and in the streets, where there was the greatest concourse of people to observe them, who applauded their liberality because they shared in it, but were so ignorant as not to discern their abominable pride. Probably they had collections for the poor in the synagogues, and the common beggars haunted the streets and highways, and upon these public occasions they chose to give their alms. Not that it is unlawful to give alms when men see us; we may do it; but not that men may see us; we should rather choose those objects of charity that are less observed. The hypocrites, if they gave alms to their own houses, sounded a trumpet, under pretence of calling the poor together to be served, but really to proclaim their charity, and to have that taken notice of and made the subject of discourse.
Now the doom that Christ passes upon this is very observable; Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. At first view this seems a promise - If they have their reward they have enough, but two words in it make it a threatening.
(1.)It is a reward, but it is their reward; not the reward which God promises to them that do good, but the reward which they promise themselves, and a poor reward it is; they did it to be seen of men, and they are seen of men; they chose their own delusions with which they cheated themselves, and they shall have what they chose. Carnal professors stipulate with God for preferment, honour, wealth, and they shall have their bellies filled with those things (Psa 17:14); but let them expect no more; these are their consolation (Luk 6:24), their good things (Luk 16:25), and they shall be put off with these. "Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? It is the bargain that thou art likely to abide by."
(2.)It is a reward, but it is a present reward, they have it; and there is none reserved for them in the future state. They now have all that they are likely to have from God; they have their reward here, and have none to hope for hereafter. Apechousi ton misthon. It signifies a receipt in full. What rewards the godly have in this life are but in part of payment; there is more behind, much more; but hypocrites have their all in this world, so shall their doom be; themselves have decided it. The world is but for provision to the saints, it is their spending-money; but it is pay to hypocrites, it is their portion.
2.What is the precept of our Lord Jesus about it, Mat 6:3, Mat 6:4. He that was himself such an example of humility, pressed it upon his disciples, as absolutely necessary to the acceptance of their performances. "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth when thou givest alms." Perhaps this alludes to the placing of the Corban, the poor man's box, or the chest into which they cast their free-will offerings, on the right hand of the passage into the temple; so that they put their gifts into it with the right-hand. Or the giving of alms with the right hand, intimates readiness to it and resolution in it; do it dexterously, not awkwardly nor with a sinister intention. The right hand may be used in helping the poor, lifting them up, writing for them, dressing their sores, and other ways besides giving to them; but, "whatever kindness thy right hand doeth to the poor, let not thy left hand know it: conceal it as much as possible; industriously keep it private. Do it because it is a good work, not because it will give thee a good name." In omnibus factis, re, non teste, moveamur - In all our actions, we should be influenced by a regard to the object, not to the observer. Cic. de Fin. It is intimated, (1.) That we must not let others know what we do; no, not those that stand at our left hand, that are very near us. Instead of acquainting them with it, keep it from them if possible; however, appear so desirous to keep it from them, as that in civility they may seem not to take notice of it, and keep it to themselves, and let it go no further. (2.) That we must not observe it too much ourselves: the left hand is a part of ourselves; we must not within ourselves take notice too much of the good we do, must not applaud and admire ourselves. Self-conceit and self-complacency, and an adoring of our own shadow, are branches of pride, as dangerous as vain-glory and ostentation before men. We find those had their good works remembered to their honour, who had themselves forgotten them: When saw we thee an hungered, or athirst?
3.What is the promise to those who are thus sincere and humble in their alms-giving. Let thine alms be in secret, and then thy Father who seeth in secret will observe them. Note, When we take least notice of our good deeds ourselves, God takes most notice of them. 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. As it is a terror to hypocrites, so it is a comfort to sincere Christians, that God sees in secret. But this is not all; not only the observation and praise, but the recompence is of God, himself shall reward thee openly. Note, They who in their alms-giving study to approve themselves to God, only turn themselves over to him as their Paymaster. The hypocrite catches at the shadow, but the upright man makes sure of the substance. Observe how emphatically it is expressed; himself shall reward, he will himself be the Rewarder, Heb 11:6. Let him alone to make it up in kind or kindness; nay, he will himself be the Reward (Gen 15:1), thine exceeding great reward. He will reward thee as thy Father, not as a master who gives his servant just what he earns and no more, but as a father who gives abundantly more, and without stint, to his son that serves him. Nay, he shall reward thee openly, if not in the present day, yet in the great day; then shall every man have praise of God, open praise, thou shall be confessed before men. If the work be not open, the reward shall, and that is better.
And therefore has the Lord said: "Judge not, that you be not judged: for with what judgment you shall judge, you shall be judged." [Matthew 7:1-2] [The meaning is] not certainly that we should not find fault with sinners, nor that we should consent to those who act wickedly; but that we should not pronounce an unfair judgment on the dispensations of God, inasmuch as He has Himself made provision that all things shall turn out for good, in a way consistent with justice. For, because He knew that we would make a good use of our substance which we should possess by receiving it from another, He says, "He that has two coats, let him impart to him that has none; and he that has meat, let him do likewise." [Luke 3:11] And, "For I was an hungered, and you gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was naked and you clothed Me." [Matthew 25:35-36] And, "When you do your alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does." [Matthew 6:3] And we are proved to be righteous by whatsoever else we do well, redeeming, as it were, our property from strange hands.
For this reason we are enjoined to ask what is sufficient for the preservation of the substance of the body: not luxury, but food, which restores what the body loses, and prevents death by hunger; not tables to inflame and drive on to pleasures, nor such things as make the body wax wanton against the soul; but bread, and that, too, not for a great number of years, but what is sufficient for us to-day.
(Comm. in Tim. 4, 8.) The sum of all Christian discipline is comprehended in mercy and piety, for which reason He begins with almsgiving.
Here the Lord is not speaking literally of the hands of the human body. Hands as such cannot know, having the senses neither of seeing nor or language. Rather, “on the right hand” means righteous deeds and “on the left” signifies sinful deeds or persons. Thus we read it written in the book of Kings that “hand” means people when it says, “Do I not have ten hands in Israel?”—that is, ten tribes of Israel. Therefore, there is no doubt that “on the right hand” means “the just” and “on the left” means “sinners,” according to what Solomon related: “The Lord acknowledges the divisions on the right; the perverse are those who are on the left.” The Lord makes very plain the meaning of this “right” and “left” in the Gospel when he declares that the just are to be placed at the right, the sinners on the left. If something is to be accomplished according to the teaching of the Lord, then the right hand of the just must not know what the left is doing. That is, in order to labor religiously and faithfully, we should not boast in the sight of sinners and unfaithful people.
Nor even at this did He stop, but proceeds yet further, by other motives also increasing their disgust. For as above He set forth publicans and heathens, by the quality of the person shaming their imitators, so also in this place the hypocrites.
"Therefore when thou doest thine alms," saith He, "do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do."
Not that they had trumpets, but He means to display the greatness of their frenzy, by the use of this figure of speech, deriding and making a show of them hereby.
And well hath He called them "hypocrites" for the mask was of mercy, but the spirit of cruelty and inhumanity. For they do it, not because they pity their neighbors, but that they themselves may enjoy credit; and this came of the utmost cruelty; while another was perishing with hunger, to be seeking vainglory, and not putting an end to his suffering.
It is not then the giving alms which is required, but the giving as one ought, the giving for such and such an end.
Having then amply derided those men, and having handled them so, that the hearer should be even ashamed of them, He again corrects thoroughly the mind which is so distempered: and having said how we ought not to act, He signifies on the other hand how we ought to act.
"Let not thy left hand know," saith He, "what thy right hand doeth."
Here again His enigmatical meaning is not of the hands, but He hath put the thing hyperbolically. As thus: "If it can be," saith He, "for thyself not to know it, let this be the object of thine endeavor; that, if it were possible, it may be concealed from the very hands that minister." It is not, as some say, that we should hide it from wrong-headed men, for He hath here commanded that it should be concealed from all.
And then the reward too; consider how great it is. For after He had spoken of the punishment from the one, He points out also the honor derived from the other; from either side urging them, and leading them on to high lessons. Yea, for He is persuading them to know that God is everywhere present, and that not by our present life are our interests limited, but a yet more awful tribunal will receive us when we go hence, and the account of all our doings, and honors, and punishments: and that no one will be hid in doing anything either great or small, though he seem to be hid from men. For all this did He darkly signify, when He said,
"Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
Setting for him a great and august assemblage of spectators, and what He desires, that very thing bestowing on him in great abundance. "For what," saith He, "dost thou wish? is it not to have some to be spectators of what is going on? Behold then, thou hast some; not angels, nor archangels, but the God of all." And if thou desire to have men also as spectators, neither of this desire doth He deprive thee at the fitting season, but rather in greater abundance affords it unto thee. For, if thou shouldest now make a display, thou wilt be able to make it to ten only, or twenty, or (we will say) a hundred persons: but if thou take pains to lie hid now, God Himself will then proclaim thee in the presence of the whole universe. Wherefore above all, if thou wilt have men see thy good deeds, hide them now, that then all may look on them with the more honor, God making them manifest, and extolling them, and proclaiming them before all. Again, whereas now they that behold will rather condemn thee as vainglorious; when they see thee crowned, so far from condemning, they will even admire thee, all of them. When therefore by waiting a little, thou mayest both receive a reward, and reap greater admiration; consider what folly it is to cast thyself out of both these; and while thou art seeking thy reward from God, and while God is beholding, to summon men for the display of what is going on. Why, if display must be made of our love, to our Father above all should we make it; and this most especially, when our Father hath the power both to crown and to punish.
And let me add, even were there no penalty, it were not meet for him who desires glory, to let go this our theatre, and take in exchange that of men. For who is there so wretched, as that when the king was hastening to come and see his achievements, he would let him go, and make up his assembly of spectators of poor men and beggars? For this cause then, He not only commands to make no display, but even to take pains to be concealed: it not being at all the same, not to strive for publicity, and to strive for concealment.
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, is said as an extreme expression, as much as to say, If it were possible, that you should not know yourself, and that your very hands should be hid from your sight, that is what you should most strive after.
If therefore you desire spectators of your good deeds, behold you have not merely Angels and Archangels, but the God of the universe.
(Vers. 3, 4.) But when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. Not God's reward, but their own. For they have been praised by men, for whom they have exercised virtues.
He who sounds a trumpet before him when he does alms is a hypocrite. Whence he adds, as the hypocrites do.
A reward not of God, but of themselves, for they receive praise of men, for the sake of which it was that they practised their virtues.
If you should understand unbelievers to be meant by the left hand, then it will seem to be no fault to wish to please believers; while nevertheless we are altogether prohibited from placing the fruit and end of our good deed in the praise of any men whatever. But as regards this point, that those who have been pleased with your good deeds should imitate you, we are to act before the eyes not only of believers, but also of unbelievers, so that by our good works, which are to be praised, they may honour God, and may come to salvation. But if you should be of opinion that the left hand means an enemy, so that your enemy is not to know when you do alms, why did the Lord Himself, when His enemies the Jews were standing round, mercifully heal men? Why did the Apostle Peter, by healing the lame man whom he pitied at the gate Beautiful, bring also the wrath of the enemy upon himself, and upon the other disciples of Christ? Then, further, if it is necessary that the enemy should not know when we do our alms, how shall we do with the enemy himself so as to fulfil that precept, If your enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink?
A third opinion is wont to be held by carnal people, so absurd and ridiculous, that I would not mention it had I not found that not a few are entangled in that error, who say that by the expression left hand a wife is meant; so that, inasmuch as in family affairs women are wont to be more tenacious of money, it is to be kept hidden from them when their husbands compassionately spend anything upon the needy, for fear of domestic quarrels. As if, forsooth, men alone were Christians, and this precept were not addressed to women also! From what left hand, then, is a woman enjoined to conceal her deed of mercy? Is a husband also the left hand of his wife? A statement most absurd. Or if any one thinks that they are left hands to each other; if any part of the family property be expended by the one party in such a way as to be contrary to the will of the other party, such a marriage will not be a Christian one; but whichever of them should choose to do alms according to the command of God, whomsoever he should find opposed, would inevitably be an enemy to the command of God, and therefore reckoned among unbelievers,— the command with respect to such parties being, that a believing husband should win his wife, and a believing wife her husband, by their good conversation and conduct; and therefore they ought not to conceal their good works from each other, by which they are to be mutually attracted, so that the one may be able to attract the other to communion in the Christian faith. Nor are thefts to be perpetrated in order that God may be rendered propitious. But if anything is to be concealed as long as the infirmity of the other party is unable to bear with equanimity what nevertheless is not done unjustly and unlawfully; yet, that the left hand is not meant in such a sense on the present occasion, readily appears from a consideration of the whole section, whereby it will at the same time be discovered what He calls the left hand.
(ubi sup.) But according to this interpretation, it will be no fault to have a respect to pleasing the faithful; and yet we are forbidden to propose as the end of any good work the pleasing of any kind of men. Yet if you would have men to imitate your actions which may be pleasing to them, they must be done before unbelievers as well as believers. If again, according to another interpretation, we take the left hand to mean our enemy, and that our enemy should not know when we do our alms, why did the Lord Himself mercifully heal men when the Jews were standing round Him? And how too must we deal with our enemy himself according to that precept, If thy enemy hunger, feed him. (Prov. 25:21.) A third interpretation is ridiculous; that the left hand signifies the wife, and that because women are wont to be more close in the matter of expense out of the family purse, therefore the charities of the husband should be secret from the wife, for the avoiding of domestic strife. But this command is addressed to women as well as to men, what then is the left hand, from which women are bid to conceal their alms? Is the husband also the left hand of the wife? And when it is commanded such that they enrich each other with good works, it is clear that they ought not to hide their good deeds; nor is a theft to be committed to do God service. But if in any case something must needs be done covertly, from respect to the weakness of the other, though it is not unlawful, yet that we cannot suppose the wife to be intended by the left hand here is clear from the purport of the whole paragraph; no, not even such an one as he might well call left. But that which is blamed in hypocrites, namely, that they seek praise of men, this you are forbid to do; the left hand therefore seems to signify the delight in men's praise; the right hand denotes the purpose of fulfilling the divine commands. Whenever then a desire to gain honour from men mingles itself with the conscience of him that does alms, it is then the left hand knowing what the right hand, the right conscience, does. Let not the left hand know, therefore, what the right hand doeth, means, let not the desire of men's praise mingle with your conscience. But our Lord does yet more strongly forbid the left hand alone to work in us, than its mingling in the works of the right hand.
Another hermit said: ‘Unless the miller blindfolds the donkey in the treadmill, it will turn round and eat the corn. God has mercifully blindfolded us, so that we cannot see the good that we do, for then we should perhaps praise ourselves and lose our reward. That is why we are left for a time with bad thoughts, so that when we see them, we judge and condemn ourselves. Those very thoughts are the cloth that blindfolds us and prevents goodness from being seen. When a man accuses himself, he does not lose his reward.’
A brother said to Poemen, ‘If I give my brother something, for instance a piece of bread, the demons made the gift worthless by making me think that it was done to please men.’ The hermit said to him, ‘Even if it is done to please men, we still ought to give our brothers what they need.’ He told him this parable: ‘In a town there were two farmers. One of them sowed seed, and gathered a poor harvest; the other was idle and did not sow, and had no harvest to gather. If famine came, which of them would survive?’ The brother answered, ‘The one who sowed seed, even if the harvest was poor.’ He said, ‘It is the same for us. We sow a few seeds, and they are poor, but in the time of famine we shall not die.’
What shall you receive from God, who have given God nothing? What is done for God's sake is given to God, and received by Him; but what is done because of men is cast to the winds. But what wisdom is it, to bestow our goods, to reap empty words, and to have despised the reward of God? Nay you deceive the very man for whose good word you look; for he thinks you do it for God's sake, otherwise he would rather reproach than commend you. Yet must we think him only to have done his work because of men, who does it with his whole will and intention governed by the thought of them. But if an idle thought, seeking to be seen of men, mount up in any one's heart, but is resisted by the understanding spirit, he is not thereupon to be condemned of man-pleasing; for that the thought came to him was the passion of the flesh, what he chose was the judgment of his soul.
(Hom. xv.) He opposes three chief virtues, alms, prayer, and fasting, to three evil things against which the Lord undertook the war of temptation. For He fought for us in the wilderness against gluttony; against covetousness on the mount; against false glory on the temple. It is alms that scatter abroad against covetousness which heaps up; fasting against gluttony which is its contrary; prayer against false glory, seeing that all other evil things come out of evil, this alone comes out of good; and therefore it is not overthrown but rather nourished of good, and has no remedy that may avail against it but prayer only.
The trumpet stands for every act or word that tends to a display of our works; for instance, to do alms if we know that some other person is looking on, or at the request of another, or to a person of such condition that he may make us return; and unless in such cases not to do them. Yea, even if in some secret place they are done with intent to be thought praiseworthy, then is the trumpet sounded.
The Apostles in the book of the Constitutions, interpret thus; The right hand is the Christian people which is at Christ's right hand; the left hand is all the people who are on His left hand. He means then, that when a Christian does alms, the unbeliever should not see it.
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.
(Mor. xxxi. 13.) It should be known, that there are some who wear the dress of sanctity, and are not able to work out the merit of perfection, yet who must in no wise be numbered among the hypocrites, because it is one thing to sin from weakness, another from crafty affectation.
(Etym. x. ex Aug. Serm.) The name 'hypocrite' is derived from the appearance of those who in the shows are disguised in masks, variously coloured according to the character they represent, sometimes male, sometimes female, to impose on the spectators while they act in the games.
Using hyperbole of language, the Lord said, "If it is possible, do not even be aware yourself that you are giving alms." Or, in another sense as well, the left hand represents vainglory and the right hand, almsgiving. Let not your vainglory be aware of your almsgiving.
(non occ.) In the words, in the streets and villages, he marks the public places which they selected; and in those, that they may receive honour of men, he marks their motive.
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SUMMARY
Matthew 6:3 presents Jesus' radical instruction on charitable giving, urging believers to practice such acts with profound humility and absolute discretion. This vivid idiom, "let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth," emphasizes that acts of generosity should be so private and free from self-promotion that even the giver is not conscious of seeking praise or recognition, ensuring the purity of motive and that the reward comes from God alone.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: This verse is deeply embedded within Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, specifically in the section addressing true righteousness that transcends outward religious performance. It directly follows Jesus' overarching warning in Matthew 6:1 against performing righteous deeds "to be seen of men." More immediately, it contrasts with the condemned practice of hypocrites who "sound a trumpet" when they give alms in Matthew 6:2. Jesus establishes a clear dichotomy between public, self-glorifying acts that receive only human praise and private, God-honoring acts that receive divine reward, a promise explicitly stated in the subsequent verse, Matthew 6:4. This teaching sets the stage for similar instructions on prayer (Matthew 6:5-6) and fasting (Matthew 6:16-18), forming a cohesive unit on genuine piety.
Historical & Cultural Context: In first-century Judaism, almsgiving (Hebrew: tzedakah) was a highly esteemed religious duty, often performed publicly. It was seen as an act of righteousness and a means of demonstrating piety. Synagogues often had collection boxes, and public announcements of donations were not uncommon, sometimes even accompanied by trumpet blasts, as suggested by Jesus' critique in Matthew 6:2. This public display could lead to a focus on human praise and social status rather than genuine compassion or devotion to God. Jesus' teaching directly challenges this prevailing cultural norm, advocating for a radical shift from external validation to internal purity of motive. His call for absolute secrecy would have been counter-cultural, emphasizing a spiritual revolution where the heart's intent, known only to God, superseded all outward show.
Key Themes: The verse significantly contributes to several overarching themes within the Sermon on the Mount and the broader book of Matthew. A primary theme is True Righteousness vs. Hypocrisy. Jesus consistently contrasts the superficial piety of the religious elite with the authentic, heart-driven righteousness He desires for His followers. This teaching on almsgiving is a prime example, demanding a sincerity of motive that transcends outward performance. Another key theme is God's Omniscience and Reward. The emphasis on secret giving underscores the belief that God "sees in secret" (Matthew 6:4) and will reward those whose actions are motivated by genuine faith and love, not human applause. This highlights the value of Humility in the Kingdom of God, where self-abasement and service are elevated above self-aggrandizement. Finally, it speaks to the Purity of Motive, asserting that the spiritual efficacy of an act is determined not by its visibility or the praise it garners, but by the heart from which it springs.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Matthew 6:3 employs a powerful Idiom and Hyperbole to convey its message. The phrase "let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" is a vivid Hebraic idiom, not to be taken literally, but understood as a figurative expression for extreme secrecy and discretion. It's a form of Anthropomorphism, attributing the human capacity of "knowing" to the hands, to emphasize the profound level of privacy Jesus demands. The use of Hyperbole amplifies this point, suggesting an almost impossible level of unawareness, thereby underscoring the radical nature of the humility required. This exaggerated imagery effectively communicates the absolute necessity of giving without any desire for self-glorification or public recognition, ensuring the purity of the giver's motive.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse profoundly shapes our understanding of Christian giving, moving it from a public display of piety to an intimate act of devotion known only to God. It underscores the theological truth that God values the heart's motive above all outward appearances. True righteousness, as taught by Jesus, is not about human applause but about divine approval. It challenges believers to cultivate a spiritual discipline of radical humility, recognizing that all good deeds are ultimately empowered by God and should be performed for His glory alone. This principle extends beyond financial giving to all acts of service and kindness, calling us to a life lived before an audience of One.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
In an age saturated with social media and the constant temptation to publicize good deeds, Matthew 6:3 serves as a potent and counter-cultural challenge. It calls us to introspect deeply about our motivations for giving, serving, or performing any act of kindness. Are we seeking validation from peers, building our personal brand, or truly aiming to honor God and meet genuine needs? This verse encourages a radical reorientation of our hearts, moving away from outward show towards an internal posture of humility and selfless love. It compels us to find our ultimate satisfaction not in human praise, which is fleeting, but in the quiet assurance of God's approval, which is eternal. Practicing secret charity cultivates a deeper trust in God as our ultimate rewarder and frees us from the burden of performance, allowing us to give with pure joy and genuine compassion.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does this verse mean I can never tell anyone about my charitable giving, even if it's for a good cause or to encourage others?
Answer: Matthew 6:3 is primarily concerned with the motive behind giving, specifically warning against giving in order to be seen by others and receive human praise (Matthew 6:1-2). It's a call to purity of heart and humility. While the core principle is extreme discretion to avoid self-glorification, it doesn't necessarily forbid all forms of sharing about generosity. For example, sharing a testimony of God's provision and prompting to give, or encouraging others to participate in a worthy cause, can be done in a way that directs glory to God and inspires others, rather than drawing attention to oneself. The key is the heart's intent: is it for self-promotion or for God's glory and the good of others? If the latter, with careful attention to humility, it may align with other biblical principles of encouraging good works (Matthew 5:16).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Matthew 6:3, with its radical call for secret and humble giving, finds its ultimate fulfillment and perfect embodiment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself lived a life of profound self-emptying and discreet service, never seeking human praise but always the glory of His Father. His ultimate act of giving was not a public display for accolades, but the quiet, sacrificial offering of His life on the cross, a giving so complete that it was for the sake of others, even His enemies (Romans 5:8). He "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). The divine generosity of God, epitomized in sending His only Son (John 3:16), was not for human applause but out of pure, unadulterated love for a lost world. In Christ, we see the perfect example of humility (Philippians 2:5-8), where the greatest act of giving was done without fanfare, revealing a love that truly "lets not its left hand know what its right hand doeth" in its selfless devotion to the Father's will and humanity's redemption. Our secret acts of charity, motivated by love, are a reflection of the very heart of Christ, who gave all without seeking anything in return.