I have some questions about this passage —
(Mat 6:1-6 ESV) “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “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 others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
(Mat 6:16-18 ESV) “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Notice that Jesus inserts the Lord’s Prayer in the midst of three examples condemning hypocrisy. Why? Well, that’s for post on the Lord’s Prayer.
“Hypocrite” translates the Greek word for actor — someone who plays a part. And he is accusing some Jews of doing their good works to build their reputation in the community. And in an honor culture, this makes consideration sense. If what’s important to you is how you’re perceived rather than how good you are, announce your good deeds as loudly as possible. And we have plenty examples of the Greeks and Romans acting the same way. But, of course, Jesus expects more from us than pagan standards of morality.
In an honor society, Paul’s job would have been to help his readers re-define the community they wish to impress. Is it the city? the city authorities and leaders? the emperor? the church? No, it’s God and God only. Hence, the reward that matters is whether God thinks highly of you.
Of course, we have this same behavior today. We aren’t an honor culture, but we do love the praise of men. For example, how should we react to the following common practices —
* Making a gift to a church or other charity conditioned on naming a room after yourself.
* Making such a gift conditioned on naming a room after someone you wish to honor. (Much different question, I think.)
* The practice of some churches of passing the collection plate with the checks open and facing upward?
* Publishing a list of donors and how much they gave in your para-church newsletter.
* Publishing just the list of donors?
* Is it consistent with the SOTM for a Christian high school to name the football field after a major donor to its construction? So does the outcome change if the donor didn’t request the honor?
* I once had an oak tree named after me for something I’d done at church. Should I have insisted that they not do that?
* The tree was later destroyed by a wind storm and turned into firewood. Was God teaching me a lesson?
* Jesus says you won’t be rewarded for such a gift in heaven, but does that mean it’s wrong? While it’s clearly better not to announce your good deeds, is it sin to do so if you’re willing to receive no heavenly credit?
* Businesses routinely make charitable gifts, and they often do so for the sake of improving their reputation in the community. I’m sure they receive little if any heavenly reward for gifts made to make a cash profit, but is it wrong?
* May a church accept donations that violate Jesus’s teaching here?
* Earlier, Jesus said —
(Mat 5:16 ESV) 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
How do you reconcile this teaching with the first six verses of chapter 6? It’s not obvious, is it?
* If the goal is to give God the glory, then is it wrong to label our gifts to the poor as coming from our congregation or denomination? Can we put a “The Churches of Christ salute you!” on the bag we use to give coupons for free meals to people who lost their homes in a storm? Does our congregation or denomination count as “give glory to God”?
I find these questions very challenging. I could go either way on several of them. I’m guilty of one or two myself — although I’d never pass a collection plate with checks facing upward!
And so, I’m very curious to learn what the readers think.
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
NASB
The verse begins with outw, and the NASB takes the meaning below to say “is such a way”
ou%tw
by virtue of its native demonstrative force it refers to what precedes; “in the manner spoken of; in the way described; in the way it was done; in this manner; in such a manner; thus, so”: Matt 6:30; 11:26; 17:12; 19:8; Mark 14:59; Luke 1:25; 2:48; 12:28; Rom 11:5; 1 Cor 8:12; 15:11; Heb 6:9; (2 Peter 3:11 WH Tr marginal reading);
. . . it refers to similitudes and comparisons, and serves to adapt them to the case in hand, Matt 5:16 (even so, i. e. as the lamp on the lampstand);
(from Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, PC Study Bible formatted Electronic Database. Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
As a result, the great challenge to show the result of Ephesians 2:8-10 (For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ) in “such a way” that the attention is toward the master, not the man.
The Greeks (Plutarch) wrote On Praising Oneself Inoffensively. “For while praise from others, as Xenophon16 said, is the most pleasant of recitals, praise of ourselves is for others most distressing. For first we regard self-praisers as shameless, since they should be embarrassed even by praise from others;17second as unfair, as they arrogate to themselves what it is for others to bestow; and in the third place if we listen in silence we appear disgruntled and envious, while if we shy at this we are forced to join in the eulogies and confirm them against our better judgement, thus submitting to a thing more in keeping with unmanly flattery than with the showing of esteem — the praise of a man to his face. Yet in spite of all this there are times when the statesman might venture on self-glorification, as it is called, not for any personal glory or pleasure, but when the occasion and the matter in hand demand that the truth be told about himself, as it might about another — especially when by permitting himself to mention his good accomplishments and character he is enabled to achieve some similar good.”
So I suppose Plutarch might be somewhat instructive. Still, it is difficult to “accept compliments” for some, if not many. We sometimes see at lectureships “Lifetime Service Awards” or something similar. Do these things “achieve some similar good” in (Heb. 10:24) “stimulating one another to good deeds?” I would hope that would be the case.
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? NASB
Walking humbly is at least as difficult as understanding justice and kindness (mercy).
I suppose I should stop here for now before I overwhelm y’all with the brilliance of my reasoning — (Oops, PRIDE ALERT just went off).
I find one major obstacle when we try to apply the lessons within Jay’s post. The object is our own judgement. We tend to judge, negatively, when we see people who are getting what we consider excessive attention (in any of it’s many forms) when they do something good.
I’ll give you a couple of third person examples, and one personal one.
I’ve known Max Lucado since his days at Abilene Christian College (now University). Max has become a wealthy man due to the popularity of his writings. But regardless of that financial success, he has also spread a great message of hope to literally millions of people. Some may say Max does it for the money … I don’t, because I know Max. And frankly, in our economy, writing books has become a very effective way to communicate a substantive message. And book distribution is costly.
I’ve known Landon Saunders, since the early 1970’s. Even worked for him for a while. Landon has devoted himself to reaching the unchurched populations of the US (and the world) for most of his life. In contrast with Max, Landon never entered the commercial channel with his message. But as a result, he has reached few people. No one could accuse Landon of going after the money, because he never had much. But was his message muted because of it?
Finally, my own example. My wife and I are pretty deeply involved in working with marriages. We counsel individual couples and we lead marriage classes at the congregation where we worship.
I’ve noticed that the more attention we get, the more people we are able to help. So, I make both live and video announcements. I do things to be visible to the congregation and the community. Am I doing it to get attention for myself, or to increase the opportunities my wife and I have to help couples.
So, the problem is that just because others GET recognition, attention or honor, does not mean that is their objective. Those things are often necessary to accomplish more important goals.
And we are not able to knowledgeably judge the motives of those to get that attention or are so honored.
So, I say rejoice in the good that is done … and let God judge motives. We are pretty poor judges.
David, I would ponder that the Pharisees were drawing attention to themselves as a way of promoting themselves and lifting themselves up in the eyes of the people and perhaps God. Jesus himself caused quite a stir and drew attention with miracles and feeding others and yet He directed the glory to God and taught others and helped others, which the Pharisees didn’t do. Often we make snap judgments based on our bias of what we think we see, before we see the fruits and the person themselves and then even sometimes we can’t see past our bias.
“Make sure you don’t practice your righteousness before others. To be seen by men“.
The bolded phrase is from a Greek term loosely based on a word from whence we get “theatrical”. The term had a literal as well as a moral definition as here(an egotistical got-to-be-seen mentality). What’s more? There is an infinitive Greek proposition that goes before it(pros). According to Thayer “pros” can convey the idea of purpose with an end result. Also “Theaomai” can be taken in the middle voice. Meaning to make oneself an ostentatious spectacle with personal interest.
In other words, Jesus is only against going out of your way to seek honor and praise. Showing-off arrogantly is what’s in view here. Not receiving a well-deserved academy award. The Pharisees were notorious for feigning righteous acts in order to score high on reputation.
RJ. So does that mean I have to get rid of the Pope mobile I just bought?