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Matt 6:1-5

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 6:1-18 Previous page: Verses 5:13-48                      Next page: Verses 6:19-34 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:2: Trumpet. The reference to a trumpet here might have to do with what some scholars speculate was an ancient practice of sounding trumpets when generous gifts were made. Another view is that this was not an ancient practice, but a bit a faceitious statement that Jesus is making. Another view is that this might simply be an ironic expression to be taken as hyperbole or simply as a metaphor. Also, there may be a reference here to money-chests at the temple that were trumpet-shaped (the narrow neck presumably made it difficult for would-be thieves to steal donations). Matt 6:2: Hypocrites. The Greek word hupokrites means "an actor" and in Jewish religious circles seemed to have the connotation of one who only pretends to do something righteous but is in fact unrighteous. See this blog post for more. Matt 6:3: Let not they left hand know what thy right hand doeth. This seems to advocate not only giving that is not to be seen of others, but a giving that is unself-conscious and non-self-congratulatory. Matt 6:5. There seems to be a fundamental tension between verse 5 and scriptures like D&C 23:6, where Joseph Knight is commanded to pray "vocally before the world" and, in the end, "in all places" (cf. D&C 19:28). This tension is felt only stronger with the following verse, when Jesus commands that prayer be offered only in one's closet and that only when the door has been shut! Perhaps less remotely, though not as directly, there is a tension between this commandment and what Jesus says at the beginning of this same sermon in Matt 5:16: "Let your light so shine before the world." The implication, in that verse, is that one is to perform one's good works before the whole world. In fact, when Jesus was visiting the Nephites, and after He had quoted this verse from Matt 5 exactly, He went on to clarify that the light to be set before the world was precisely prayer: "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—-that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed" (3 Ne 18:24). Quite clearly, prayer is to be offered before the world, as made explicit in at least four passages elsewhere in scripture. These four passages, taken over and against the present passage, suggest that there is some difficulty of interpretation here and not there (and there and there and there: four against one). In other words, there seems to be a sort of consensus that prayer can--and even should--be performed before the world. But this makes it rather difficult to know how to interpret the present passage. But then, perhaps interpretation is not quite so difficult: the tension is felt between the obvious message of the other passages and a rather narrow reading of this one. If the injunction to private prayer here is taken in the broader context of verses 1-18, then it is less a question of how one ought to pray than it is a question of what hypocrisy means (see verses 2, 5, and 16). In other words, these verses (1-18) should be understood first as a discourse on hypocrisy and only thereafter should verses 5-13 be understood as a shorter discourse on prayer. This amounts to saying that verses 5-13 are an application, of sorts, of the broader theme of hypocrisy. Or rather, since Jesus never announces that He desires to speak on the subject of hypocrisy specifically, the theme is only to be approached through a series of applications or instantiations of hypocritical action. The broader passage (verses 1-18) might be taken up, in fact, within a still broader discourse: the theme of the sermon on the mount is the introduction of a radical new logic (what Paul Ricoeur calls a "logic of superabundance"), meant to outstrip the Law. This outstripping is plainly obvious throughout the last half of chapter 5, and it may be that the chapter break (a "late" addition, obviously) too easily disrupts for the reader the thematic continuity between chapters 5 and 6. The continuity, however, is there in the text, and the question of hypocrisy arises precisely as a facet or an aspect of the new and higher logic of the Christian life. The injunction especially to pray only in one's closet, to retreat from the world in speaking with God, is a manifestation of this new and higher logic: as radical and impossible as loving one's enemy, praying only within one's closet and in complete solitude is a sort of "regulative ideal," the spirit--not the letter--of which is the key. In other words, and in short, Jesus is not here laying down rules for prayer, but exploring the spirit--the Spirit--of the logic of Christian love through the task of prayer. Since the present verse is so profoundly negative ("thou shalt not"), the nature of the Spirit of Christian prayer can only be worked out in the commentary on the following verses (see verses 6-13). Matt 6:6. One must explore in this verse especially the radical subjectivity at work in the Spirit of Christian prayer. A counter-text from the Old Testament might well open the possibility of interpreting this radical subjectivity clearly: Ezra 9:5-15. In that passage, Ezra has just learned of the intermarriage of the Judahites returning from captivity with the semi-Israelites who were left behind. In response, "having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God" (verse 5). Preparing to pray in response to the situation, Ezra makes--and according to the Law of Moses--rather a show of things. But the show marks the point: the prayer that follows is not for God but for the listeners. He begins his prayer poetically: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God" (verse 6), after which he uses the language of court flattery, as in verse 8: "And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage." The prayer goes on and on in this same spirit, and Ezra never asks anything of the Lord, and certainly he never praises Him in the words of the Israelite liturgies (only in the language of court flattery--learned in Persia?). By the time Ezra concludes the prayer, all he seems to have accomplished is to make absolutely clear to his listeners that they cannot stand before God in their "sin": "O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this" (verse 15). As one reads this prayer carefully, it becomes quite obvious that the prayer is no prayer, that there is no praying, no petition and no exultation. It is, rather, a tool to accomplish particular "political" ends (inter-human ends). And in fact, recent biblical scholarship has increasingly seen reason to criticize Ezra's political agenda (a topic that can only be discussed at length in the commentary at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). What Jesus commands the people to do in this sermon stands in stark contrast to what Ezra does in his prayer: Jesus teaches the people to pray in a radically secret way: "enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray." It may well be that Jesus had Ezra's prayer (but certainly prayers just like it) in mind when He spoke the words of verse 5. The Spirit of Christian prayer is, over and against Ezra's prayer, one of radical subjectivity, of an incredibly individual relation to God. This individuality is heralded in the word "Father," which appears twice in this verse, and becomes focal at the beginning of the "Pater Noster" Jesus provides a few verses later. Of central significance is this radically subjective and individual relation to the Father in prayer, and it deserves some careful attention. Perhaps what most needs attention is how this radically subjective characterization of prayer, as taught by the Savior, changes all prayers, even those to be offered in public and "before the world" (see commentary at verse 5): if Jesus is not here offering "rules" for prayer, He is offering a radical reinterpretation (or restoring the true interpretation, as it shall be seen) of prayer, one that recasts prayer as a work to be done within the Christian logic of superabundance. Hence, of radical subjectivity: the theme is not unique--and this must be noticed from the very start--to the New Testament. The radical subjectivity of secret prayer is a theme that runs through the texts of the Old Testament prophets. Perhaps it is most explicitly explored in the Book of Jonah, but it is implicitly present in a number of the prophet books (Habakkuk is also a good place to explore the meaning of radically subjective prayer). The starting point, of course, for any question of radical subjectivity is its origin, that is, how it is that a radical subjectivity comes into being in the first place. Two answers immediately present themselves, two answers that are, in the end, closely tied: there must be a naming of the subject, and the subject must be called. The two are closely tied in an obvious way: the naming is the calling, for the subject is called into radical subjectivity by a name. If Christian prayer, then, is marked by a radical subjectivity, it can only be understood as a response to a call, as a counter-naming: precisely because one is to "pray to thy Father which is in secret" (one must notice that He, too, is radically subjective--and that because of His name: Father), one has been called by the name of the Son, has been called as a son in the name of the Son. Obviously these comments are quickly becoming an excursus, and it would be best to locate any further detail in commentary on a verse that more specifically deals with these themes. But it is necessary to recognize the underpinnings of the radical subjectivity which characterizes Christian prayer: as the Son to the Father, and hence, called by the name of the Son, as a son, one prays without hypocrisy. Matt 6:9: Tension with verse 6? There is an obvious difficulty if this verse is read as following verse 6: if one is to pray entirely on one's own, apart from everyone else, and in one's very closet, why on earth is one to begin prayer with the word "Our"? The point should be obvious: prayer is at once a question of radical subjectivity and a question of community. There are at least two undeniable consequences of this juxtaposition: one's prayer, offered at a remove from all other individuals, is a sort of intercessory prayer on behalf of all sons, of all Israel; moreover, prayer is inevitably communal, but communal prayer should be so profoundly subjective, so profoundly personal, that even when it is spoken in community it is spoken as if one were in one's closet. Matt 6:9: Hallowed be thy name. This phrase might be taken as a supplication for God to vindicate his own name (this is the approach Donald Hagner takes in the Word Biblical Commentary), or it might be taken as a supplication that others will reverence God's name (Leon Morris suggests this view in his book The Gospel According to Matthew, 1992). A third reading might be that Jesus is simply praising God's name, more of an acknowledgement that God's name should be hallowed and(/or) that Jesus, in the very act of stating this, is hallowing God's name. The ambiguity between these three readings might highlight the lack of clear separation between them: if God vindicates his own name, it would result in a reverencing of God's name. (See also Ezek 36:20-23]] for the importance of God's name being kept holy.) Matt 6:9: Third person imperatives. The grammar in the first three requests of the Lord's prayer is 3rd person imperative (the requests switch to 2nd person imperative in verse 11). More than a mere supplication to God, it seems this request includes an implicit moral imperative: the realization of these three requests depends, at least in part, on the action of the one praying (Jesus in this case, but remember he is giving an example of how to pray). In this sense, prayer might be seen as not just a matter of requesting something from God, but as a step toward reconciling oneself with God's will, committing onself to the cause of that which is being prayed about. Matt 6:11: Bread. Bread is often symbolic of of both temporal and spiritual needs. This verse seems to mark a shift away from more general, cosmic concerns to needs that are more specific and particular. Matt 6:12. This verse seems to reiterate the notion of mercy mentioned explicitly in Matt 5:7. A more justice-oriented prayer is exemplified by Appollonius of Tyana who prayed: “Oh ye gods, give me the things which are owing to me.” Matt 6:13: Evil. The Greek phrase translated as "deliver us from evil" in verse 13 could also be translated as "deliver us from the evil one" or "deliver us from the evildoer." Primary sources delete the last line of the Lord's Prayer as recorded here, suggesting a later scribe inserted it: "...For thine is the kingdom...Amen." In many Bible translations other than the KJV this line is left out. It is certainly poetic, however, if you read the prayer without this line added, the continuity and power between our receiving the effects of the atonement in our lives and the relationship with our forgiving others is maintained. Matt 6:13: Temptation. Temptation here likely refers not just to sin, but to trials of all kinds. Note the JST alters this to read "And suffer us not to be led into temptation." Matt 6:14: Trespasses. Trespasses here seems parallel to the debts in verse 12. If we want to be forgiven by our Heavenly Father, we should forgive others for the wrongs they do to us. This suggests a link between our relationship with God and our relationship with others (cf. Matt 5:9, Matt 5:21-26). Matt 6:14: Men. The Greek word translated as "men" in verses 14 and 15 is anthropos, which refers to humans in general. Matt 6:14: Trespasses. The Greek word paraptoma, translated as "trespasses" in verses 14 and 15, can refer to any deviation from acceptable behavior, whether intentional or unintentional. Matt 6:17. Usually when fasting, people put ashes on their head and walked shoeless, with torn clothing, and no greeting was given. This was all a consequence of the close connection between fasting and mourning (1 Sam 20:34; 2 Sam 1:12; Dan 10:2-3; Joel 2:12; Zech 7:5). This sort of fasting was so conspicuous that the Romans made it ridiculous by cruelly imitating it in their theaters. On the other hand, putting oil on the head and washing the face were reserved for joyous occasions. Matt 6:18: Openly. Some manuscripts omit this word (cf. NAS, NIV). Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Why does the Book of Mormon not include any of the JST changes made to the Lord's Prayer as indicated in Matthew? And if the last line of the prayer was added by a scribe at a later date, why is it included in the Book of Mormon version? Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:1-3. In General Conference from May 1983 Elder Monson discusses the blessings that come from anonymous giving in relation to verses 1 and 3 (Anonymous). Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 5:13-48                      Next page: Verses 6:19-34

Matt 6:6-10

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 6:1-18 Previous page: Verses 5:13-48                      Next page: Verses 6:19-34 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:2: Trumpet. The reference to a trumpet here might have to do with what some scholars speculate was an ancient practice of sounding trumpets when generous gifts were made. Another view is that this was not an ancient practice, but a bit a faceitious statement that Jesus is making. Another view is that this might simply be an ironic expression to be taken as hyperbole or simply as a metaphor. Also, there may be a reference here to money-chests at the temple that were trumpet-shaped (the narrow neck presumably made it difficult for would-be thieves to steal donations). Matt 6:2: Hypocrites. The Greek word hupokrites means "an actor" and in Jewish religious circles seemed to have the connotation of one who only pretends to do something righteous but is in fact unrighteous. See this blog post for more. Matt 6:3: Let not they left hand know what thy right hand doeth. This seems to advocate not only giving that is not to be seen of others, but a giving that is unself-conscious and non-self-congratulatory. Matt 6:5. There seems to be a fundamental tension between verse 5 and scriptures like D&C 23:6, where Joseph Knight is commanded to pray "vocally before the world" and, in the end, "in all places" (cf. D&C 19:28). This tension is felt only stronger with the following verse, when Jesus commands that prayer be offered only in one's closet and that only when the door has been shut! Perhaps less remotely, though not as directly, there is a tension between this commandment and what Jesus says at the beginning of this same sermon in Matt 5:16: "Let your light so shine before the world." The implication, in that verse, is that one is to perform one's good works before the whole world. In fact, when Jesus was visiting the Nephites, and after He had quoted this verse from Matt 5 exactly, He went on to clarify that the light to be set before the world was precisely prayer: "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—-that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed" (3 Ne 18:24). Quite clearly, prayer is to be offered before the world, as made explicit in at least four passages elsewhere in scripture. These four passages, taken over and against the present passage, suggest that there is some difficulty of interpretation here and not there (and there and there and there: four against one). In other words, there seems to be a sort of consensus that prayer can--and even should--be performed before the world. But this makes it rather difficult to know how to interpret the present passage. But then, perhaps interpretation is not quite so difficult: the tension is felt between the obvious message of the other passages and a rather narrow reading of this one. If the injunction to private prayer here is taken in the broader context of verses 1-18, then it is less a question of how one ought to pray than it is a question of what hypocrisy means (see verses 2, 5, and 16). In other words, these verses (1-18) should be understood first as a discourse on hypocrisy and only thereafter should verses 5-13 be understood as a shorter discourse on prayer. This amounts to saying that verses 5-13 are an application, of sorts, of the broader theme of hypocrisy. Or rather, since Jesus never announces that He desires to speak on the subject of hypocrisy specifically, the theme is only to be approached through a series of applications or instantiations of hypocritical action. The broader passage (verses 1-18) might be taken up, in fact, within a still broader discourse: the theme of the sermon on the mount is the introduction of a radical new logic (what Paul Ricoeur calls a "logic of superabundance"), meant to outstrip the Law. This outstripping is plainly obvious throughout the last half of chapter 5, and it may be that the chapter break (a "late" addition, obviously) too easily disrupts for the reader the thematic continuity between chapters 5 and 6. The continuity, however, is there in the text, and the question of hypocrisy arises precisely as a facet or an aspect of the new and higher logic of the Christian life. The injunction especially to pray only in one's closet, to retreat from the world in speaking with God, is a manifestation of this new and higher logic: as radical and impossible as loving one's enemy, praying only within one's closet and in complete solitude is a sort of "regulative ideal," the spirit--not the letter--of which is the key. In other words, and in short, Jesus is not here laying down rules for prayer, but exploring the spirit--the Spirit--of the logic of Christian love through the task of prayer. Since the present verse is so profoundly negative ("thou shalt not"), the nature of the Spirit of Christian prayer can only be worked out in the commentary on the following verses (see verses 6-13). Matt 6:6. One must explore in this verse especially the radical subjectivity at work in the Spirit of Christian prayer. A counter-text from the Old Testament might well open the possibility of interpreting this radical subjectivity clearly: Ezra 9:5-15. In that passage, Ezra has just learned of the intermarriage of the Judahites returning from captivity with the semi-Israelites who were left behind. In response, "having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God" (verse 5). Preparing to pray in response to the situation, Ezra makes--and according to the Law of Moses--rather a show of things. But the show marks the point: the prayer that follows is not for God but for the listeners. He begins his prayer poetically: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God" (verse 6), after which he uses the language of court flattery, as in verse 8: "And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage." The prayer goes on and on in this same spirit, and Ezra never asks anything of the Lord, and certainly he never praises Him in the words of the Israelite liturgies (only in the language of court flattery--learned in Persia?). By the time Ezra concludes the prayer, all he seems to have accomplished is to make absolutely clear to his listeners that they cannot stand before God in their "sin": "O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this" (verse 15). As one reads this prayer carefully, it becomes quite obvious that the prayer is no prayer, that there is no praying, no petition and no exultation. It is, rather, a tool to accomplish particular "political" ends (inter-human ends). And in fact, recent biblical scholarship has increasingly seen reason to criticize Ezra's political agenda (a topic that can only be discussed at length in the commentary at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). What Jesus commands the people to do in this sermon stands in stark contrast to what Ezra does in his prayer: Jesus teaches the people to pray in a radically secret way: "enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray." It may well be that Jesus had Ezra's prayer (but certainly prayers just like it) in mind when He spoke the words of verse 5. The Spirit of Christian prayer is, over and against Ezra's prayer, one of radical subjectivity, of an incredibly individual relation to God. This individuality is heralded in the word "Father," which appears twice in this verse, and becomes focal at the beginning of the "Pater Noster" Jesus provides a few verses later. Of central significance is this radically subjective and individual relation to the Father in prayer, and it deserves some careful attention. Perhaps what most needs attention is how this radically subjective characterization of prayer, as taught by the Savior, changes all prayers, even those to be offered in public and "before the world" (see commentary at verse 5): if Jesus is not here offering "rules" for prayer, He is offering a radical reinterpretation (or restoring the true interpretation, as it shall be seen) of prayer, one that recasts prayer as a work to be done within the Christian logic of superabundance. Hence, of radical subjectivity: the theme is not unique--and this must be noticed from the very start--to the New Testament. The radical subjectivity of secret prayer is a theme that runs through the texts of the Old Testament prophets. Perhaps it is most explicitly explored in the Book of Jonah, but it is implicitly present in a number of the prophet books (Habakkuk is also a good place to explore the meaning of radically subjective prayer). The starting point, of course, for any question of radical subjectivity is its origin, that is, how it is that a radical subjectivity comes into being in the first place. Two answers immediately present themselves, two answers that are, in the end, closely tied: there must be a naming of the subject, and the subject must be called. The two are closely tied in an obvious way: the naming is the calling, for the subject is called into radical subjectivity by a name. If Christian prayer, then, is marked by a radical subjectivity, it can only be understood as a response to a call, as a counter-naming: precisely because one is to "pray to thy Father which is in secret" (one must notice that He, too, is radically subjective--and that because of His name: Father), one has been called by the name of the Son, has been called as a son in the name of the Son. Obviously these comments are quickly becoming an excursus, and it would be best to locate any further detail in commentary on a verse that more specifically deals with these themes. But it is necessary to recognize the underpinnings of the radical subjectivity which characterizes Christian prayer: as the Son to the Father, and hence, called by the name of the Son, as a son, one prays without hypocrisy. Matt 6:9: Tension with verse 6? There is an obvious difficulty if this verse is read as following verse 6: if one is to pray entirely on one's own, apart from everyone else, and in one's very closet, why on earth is one to begin prayer with the word "Our"? The point should be obvious: prayer is at once a question of radical subjectivity and a question of community. There are at least two undeniable consequences of this juxtaposition: one's prayer, offered at a remove from all other individuals, is a sort of intercessory prayer on behalf of all sons, of all Israel; moreover, prayer is inevitably communal, but communal prayer should be so profoundly subjective, so profoundly personal, that even when it is spoken in community it is spoken as if one were in one's closet. Matt 6:9: Hallowed be thy name. This phrase might be taken as a supplication for God to vindicate his own name (this is the approach Donald Hagner takes in the Word Biblical Commentary), or it might be taken as a supplication that others will reverence God's name (Leon Morris suggests this view in his book The Gospel According to Matthew, 1992). A third reading might be that Jesus is simply praising God's name, more of an acknowledgement that God's name should be hallowed and(/or) that Jesus, in the very act of stating this, is hallowing God's name. The ambiguity between these three readings might highlight the lack of clear separation between them: if God vindicates his own name, it would result in a reverencing of God's name. (See also Ezek 36:20-23]] for the importance of God's name being kept holy.) Matt 6:9: Third person imperatives. The grammar in the first three requests of the Lord's prayer is 3rd person imperative (the requests switch to 2nd person imperative in verse 11). More than a mere supplication to God, it seems this request includes an implicit moral imperative: the realization of these three requests depends, at least in part, on the action of the one praying (Jesus in this case, but remember he is giving an example of how to pray). In this sense, prayer might be seen as not just a matter of requesting something from God, but as a step toward reconciling oneself with God's will, committing onself to the cause of that which is being prayed about. Matt 6:11: Bread. Bread is often symbolic of of both temporal and spiritual needs. This verse seems to mark a shift away from more general, cosmic concerns to needs that are more specific and particular. Matt 6:12. This verse seems to reiterate the notion of mercy mentioned explicitly in Matt 5:7. A more justice-oriented prayer is exemplified by Appollonius of Tyana who prayed: “Oh ye gods, give me the things which are owing to me.” Matt 6:13: Evil. The Greek phrase translated as "deliver us from evil" in verse 13 could also be translated as "deliver us from the evil one" or "deliver us from the evildoer." Primary sources delete the last line of the Lord's Prayer as recorded here, suggesting a later scribe inserted it: "...For thine is the kingdom...Amen." In many Bible translations other than the KJV this line is left out. It is certainly poetic, however, if you read the prayer without this line added, the continuity and power between our receiving the effects of the atonement in our lives and the relationship with our forgiving others is maintained. Matt 6:13: Temptation. Temptation here likely refers not just to sin, but to trials of all kinds. Note the JST alters this to read "And suffer us not to be led into temptation." Matt 6:14: Trespasses. Trespasses here seems parallel to the debts in verse 12. If we want to be forgiven by our Heavenly Father, we should forgive others for the wrongs they do to us. This suggests a link between our relationship with God and our relationship with others (cf. Matt 5:9, Matt 5:21-26). Matt 6:14: Men. The Greek word translated as "men" in verses 14 and 15 is anthropos, which refers to humans in general. Matt 6:14: Trespasses. The Greek word paraptoma, translated as "trespasses" in verses 14 and 15, can refer to any deviation from acceptable behavior, whether intentional or unintentional. Matt 6:17. Usually when fasting, people put ashes on their head and walked shoeless, with torn clothing, and no greeting was given. This was all a consequence of the close connection between fasting and mourning (1 Sam 20:34; 2 Sam 1:12; Dan 10:2-3; Joel 2:12; Zech 7:5). This sort of fasting was so conspicuous that the Romans made it ridiculous by cruelly imitating it in their theaters. On the other hand, putting oil on the head and washing the face were reserved for joyous occasions. Matt 6:18: Openly. Some manuscripts omit this word (cf. NAS, NIV). Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Why does the Book of Mormon not include any of the JST changes made to the Lord's Prayer as indicated in Matthew? And if the last line of the prayer was added by a scribe at a later date, why is it included in the Book of Mormon version? Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:1-3. In General Conference from May 1983 Elder Monson discusses the blessings that come from anonymous giving in relation to verses 1 and 3 (Anonymous). Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 5:13-48                      Next page: Verses 6:19-34

Matt 6:11-15

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 6:1-18 Previous page: Verses 5:13-48                      Next page: Verses 6:19-34 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:2: Trumpet. The reference to a trumpet here might have to do with what some scholars speculate was an ancient practice of sounding trumpets when generous gifts were made. Another view is that this was not an ancient practice, but a bit a faceitious statement that Jesus is making. Another view is that this might simply be an ironic expression to be taken as hyperbole or simply as a metaphor. Also, there may be a reference here to money-chests at the temple that were trumpet-shaped (the narrow neck presumably made it difficult for would-be thieves to steal donations). Matt 6:2: Hypocrites. The Greek word hupokrites means "an actor" and in Jewish religious circles seemed to have the connotation of one who only pretends to do something righteous but is in fact unrighteous. See this blog post for more. Matt 6:3: Let not they left hand know what thy right hand doeth. This seems to advocate not only giving that is not to be seen of others, but a giving that is unself-conscious and non-self-congratulatory. Matt 6:5. There seems to be a fundamental tension between verse 5 and scriptures like D&C 23:6, where Joseph Knight is commanded to pray "vocally before the world" and, in the end, "in all places" (cf. D&C 19:28). This tension is felt only stronger with the following verse, when Jesus commands that prayer be offered only in one's closet and that only when the door has been shut! Perhaps less remotely, though not as directly, there is a tension between this commandment and what Jesus says at the beginning of this same sermon in Matt 5:16: "Let your light so shine before the world." The implication, in that verse, is that one is to perform one's good works before the whole world. In fact, when Jesus was visiting the Nephites, and after He had quoted this verse from Matt 5 exactly, He went on to clarify that the light to be set before the world was precisely prayer: "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—-that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed" (3 Ne 18:24). Quite clearly, prayer is to be offered before the world, as made explicit in at least four passages elsewhere in scripture. These four passages, taken over and against the present passage, suggest that there is some difficulty of interpretation here and not there (and there and there and there: four against one). In other words, there seems to be a sort of consensus that prayer can--and even should--be performed before the world. But this makes it rather difficult to know how to interpret the present passage. But then, perhaps interpretation is not quite so difficult: the tension is felt between the obvious message of the other passages and a rather narrow reading of this one. If the injunction to private prayer here is taken in the broader context of verses 1-18, then it is less a question of how one ought to pray than it is a question of what hypocrisy means (see verses 2, 5, and 16). In other words, these verses (1-18) should be understood first as a discourse on hypocrisy and only thereafter should verses 5-13 be understood as a shorter discourse on prayer. This amounts to saying that verses 5-13 are an application, of sorts, of the broader theme of hypocrisy. Or rather, since Jesus never announces that He desires to speak on the subject of hypocrisy specifically, the theme is only to be approached through a series of applications or instantiations of hypocritical action. The broader passage (verses 1-18) might be taken up, in fact, within a still broader discourse: the theme of the sermon on the mount is the introduction of a radical new logic (what Paul Ricoeur calls a "logic of superabundance"), meant to outstrip the Law. This outstripping is plainly obvious throughout the last half of chapter 5, and it may be that the chapter break (a "late" addition, obviously) too easily disrupts for the reader the thematic continuity between chapters 5 and 6. The continuity, however, is there in the text, and the question of hypocrisy arises precisely as a facet or an aspect of the new and higher logic of the Christian life. The injunction especially to pray only in one's closet, to retreat from the world in speaking with God, is a manifestation of this new and higher logic: as radical and impossible as loving one's enemy, praying only within one's closet and in complete solitude is a sort of "regulative ideal," the spirit--not the letter--of which is the key. In other words, and in short, Jesus is not here laying down rules for prayer, but exploring the spirit--the Spirit--of the logic of Christian love through the task of prayer. Since the present verse is so profoundly negative ("thou shalt not"), the nature of the Spirit of Christian prayer can only be worked out in the commentary on the following verses (see verses 6-13). Matt 6:6. One must explore in this verse especially the radical subjectivity at work in the Spirit of Christian prayer. A counter-text from the Old Testament might well open the possibility of interpreting this radical subjectivity clearly: Ezra 9:5-15. In that passage, Ezra has just learned of the intermarriage of the Judahites returning from captivity with the semi-Israelites who were left behind. In response, "having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God" (verse 5). Preparing to pray in response to the situation, Ezra makes--and according to the Law of Moses--rather a show of things. But the show marks the point: the prayer that follows is not for God but for the listeners. He begins his prayer poetically: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God" (verse 6), after which he uses the language of court flattery, as in verse 8: "And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage." The prayer goes on and on in this same spirit, and Ezra never asks anything of the Lord, and certainly he never praises Him in the words of the Israelite liturgies (only in the language of court flattery--learned in Persia?). By the time Ezra concludes the prayer, all he seems to have accomplished is to make absolutely clear to his listeners that they cannot stand before God in their "sin": "O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this" (verse 15). As one reads this prayer carefully, it becomes quite obvious that the prayer is no prayer, that there is no praying, no petition and no exultation. It is, rather, a tool to accomplish particular "political" ends (inter-human ends). And in fact, recent biblical scholarship has increasingly seen reason to criticize Ezra's political agenda (a topic that can only be discussed at length in the commentary at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). What Jesus commands the people to do in this sermon stands in stark contrast to what Ezra does in his prayer: Jesus teaches the people to pray in a radically secret way: "enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray." It may well be that Jesus had Ezra's prayer (but certainly prayers just like it) in mind when He spoke the words of verse 5. The Spirit of Christian prayer is, over and against Ezra's prayer, one of radical subjectivity, of an incredibly individual relation to God. This individuality is heralded in the word "Father," which appears twice in this verse, and becomes focal at the beginning of the "Pater Noster" Jesus provides a few verses later. Of central significance is this radically subjective and individual relation to the Father in prayer, and it deserves some careful attention. Perhaps what most needs attention is how this radically subjective characterization of prayer, as taught by the Savior, changes all prayers, even those to be offered in public and "before the world" (see commentary at verse 5): if Jesus is not here offering "rules" for prayer, He is offering a radical reinterpretation (or restoring the true interpretation, as it shall be seen) of prayer, one that recasts prayer as a work to be done within the Christian logic of superabundance. Hence, of radical subjectivity: the theme is not unique--and this must be noticed from the very start--to the New Testament. The radical subjectivity of secret prayer is a theme that runs through the texts of the Old Testament prophets. Perhaps it is most explicitly explored in the Book of Jonah, but it is implicitly present in a number of the prophet books (Habakkuk is also a good place to explore the meaning of radically subjective prayer). The starting point, of course, for any question of radical subjectivity is its origin, that is, how it is that a radical subjectivity comes into being in the first place. Two answers immediately present themselves, two answers that are, in the end, closely tied: there must be a naming of the subject, and the subject must be called. The two are closely tied in an obvious way: the naming is the calling, for the subject is called into radical subjectivity by a name. If Christian prayer, then, is marked by a radical subjectivity, it can only be understood as a response to a call, as a counter-naming: precisely because one is to "pray to thy Father which is in secret" (one must notice that He, too, is radically subjective--and that because of His name: Father), one has been called by the name of the Son, has been called as a son in the name of the Son. Obviously these comments are quickly becoming an excursus, and it would be best to locate any further detail in commentary on a verse that more specifically deals with these themes. But it is necessary to recognize the underpinnings of the radical subjectivity which characterizes Christian prayer: as the Son to the Father, and hence, called by the name of the Son, as a son, one prays without hypocrisy. Matt 6:9: Tension with verse 6? There is an obvious difficulty if this verse is read as following verse 6: if one is to pray entirely on one's own, apart from everyone else, and in one's very closet, why on earth is one to begin prayer with the word "Our"? The point should be obvious: prayer is at once a question of radical subjectivity and a question of community. There are at least two undeniable consequences of this juxtaposition: one's prayer, offered at a remove from all other individuals, is a sort of intercessory prayer on behalf of all sons, of all Israel; moreover, prayer is inevitably communal, but communal prayer should be so profoundly subjective, so profoundly personal, that even when it is spoken in community it is spoken as if one were in one's closet. Matt 6:9: Hallowed be thy name. This phrase might be taken as a supplication for God to vindicate his own name (this is the approach Donald Hagner takes in the Word Biblical Commentary), or it might be taken as a supplication that others will reverence God's name (Leon Morris suggests this view in his book The Gospel According to Matthew, 1992). A third reading might be that Jesus is simply praising God's name, more of an acknowledgement that God's name should be hallowed and(/or) that Jesus, in the very act of stating this, is hallowing God's name. The ambiguity between these three readings might highlight the lack of clear separation between them: if God vindicates his own name, it would result in a reverencing of God's name. (See also Ezek 36:20-23]] for the importance of God's name being kept holy.) Matt 6:9: Third person imperatives. The grammar in the first three requests of the Lord's prayer is 3rd person imperative (the requests switch to 2nd person imperative in verse 11). More than a mere supplication to God, it seems this request includes an implicit moral imperative: the realization of these three requests depends, at least in part, on the action of the one praying (Jesus in this case, but remember he is giving an example of how to pray). In this sense, prayer might be seen as not just a matter of requesting something from God, but as a step toward reconciling oneself with God's will, committing onself to the cause of that which is being prayed about. Matt 6:11: Bread. Bread is often symbolic of of both temporal and spiritual needs. This verse seems to mark a shift away from more general, cosmic concerns to needs that are more specific and particular. Matt 6:12. This verse seems to reiterate the notion of mercy mentioned explicitly in Matt 5:7. A more justice-oriented prayer is exemplified by Appollonius of Tyana who prayed: “Oh ye gods, give me the things which are owing to me.” Matt 6:13: Evil. The Greek phrase translated as "deliver us from evil" in verse 13 could also be translated as "deliver us from the evil one" or "deliver us from the evildoer." Primary sources delete the last line of the Lord's Prayer as recorded here, suggesting a later scribe inserted it: "...For thine is the kingdom...Amen." In many Bible translations other than the KJV this line is left out. It is certainly poetic, however, if you read the prayer without this line added, the continuity and power between our receiving the effects of the atonement in our lives and the relationship with our forgiving others is maintained. Matt 6:13: Temptation. Temptation here likely refers not just to sin, but to trials of all kinds. Note the JST alters this to read "And suffer us not to be led into temptation." Matt 6:14: Trespasses. Trespasses here seems parallel to the debts in verse 12. If we want to be forgiven by our Heavenly Father, we should forgive others for the wrongs they do to us. This suggests a link between our relationship with God and our relationship with others (cf. Matt 5:9, Matt 5:21-26). Matt 6:14: Men. The Greek word translated as "men" in verses 14 and 15 is anthropos, which refers to humans in general. Matt 6:14: Trespasses. The Greek word paraptoma, translated as "trespasses" in verses 14 and 15, can refer to any deviation from acceptable behavior, whether intentional or unintentional. Matt 6:17. Usually when fasting, people put ashes on their head and walked shoeless, with torn clothing, and no greeting was given. This was all a consequence of the close connection between fasting and mourning (1 Sam 20:34; 2 Sam 1:12; Dan 10:2-3; Joel 2:12; Zech 7:5). This sort of fasting was so conspicuous that the Romans made it ridiculous by cruelly imitating it in their theaters. On the other hand, putting oil on the head and washing the face were reserved for joyous occasions. Matt 6:18: Openly. Some manuscripts omit this word (cf. NAS, NIV). Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Why does the Book of Mormon not include any of the JST changes made to the Lord's Prayer as indicated in Matthew? And if the last line of the prayer was added by a scribe at a later date, why is it included in the Book of Mormon version? Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:1-3. In General Conference from May 1983 Elder Monson discusses the blessings that come from anonymous giving in relation to verses 1 and 3 (Anonymous). Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 5:13-48                      Next page: Verses 6:19-34

Matt 6:16-20

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 6:1-18 Previous page: Verses 5:13-48                      Next page: Verses 6:19-34 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:2: Trumpet. The reference to a trumpet here might have to do with what some scholars speculate was an ancient practice of sounding trumpets when generous gifts were made. Another view is that this was not an ancient practice, but a bit a faceitious statement that Jesus is making. Another view is that this might simply be an ironic expression to be taken as hyperbole or simply as a metaphor. Also, there may be a reference here to money-chests at the temple that were trumpet-shaped (the narrow neck presumably made it difficult for would-be thieves to steal donations). Matt 6:2: Hypocrites. The Greek word hupokrites means "an actor" and in Jewish religious circles seemed to have the connotation of one who only pretends to do something righteous but is in fact unrighteous. See this blog post for more. Matt 6:3: Let not they left hand know what thy right hand doeth. This seems to advocate not only giving that is not to be seen of others, but a giving that is unself-conscious and non-self-congratulatory. Matt 6:5. There seems to be a fundamental tension between verse 5 and scriptures like D&C 23:6, where Joseph Knight is commanded to pray "vocally before the world" and, in the end, "in all places" (cf. D&C 19:28). This tension is felt only stronger with the following verse, when Jesus commands that prayer be offered only in one's closet and that only when the door has been shut! Perhaps less remotely, though not as directly, there is a tension between this commandment and what Jesus says at the beginning of this same sermon in Matt 5:16: "Let your light so shine before the world." The implication, in that verse, is that one is to perform one's good works before the whole world. In fact, when Jesus was visiting the Nephites, and after He had quoted this verse from Matt 5 exactly, He went on to clarify that the light to be set before the world was precisely prayer: "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—-that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed" (3 Ne 18:24). Quite clearly, prayer is to be offered before the world, as made explicit in at least four passages elsewhere in scripture. These four passages, taken over and against the present passage, suggest that there is some difficulty of interpretation here and not there (and there and there and there: four against one). In other words, there seems to be a sort of consensus that prayer can--and even should--be performed before the world. But this makes it rather difficult to know how to interpret the present passage. But then, perhaps interpretation is not quite so difficult: the tension is felt between the obvious message of the other passages and a rather narrow reading of this one. If the injunction to private prayer here is taken in the broader context of verses 1-18, then it is less a question of how one ought to pray than it is a question of what hypocrisy means (see verses 2, 5, and 16). In other words, these verses (1-18) should be understood first as a discourse on hypocrisy and only thereafter should verses 5-13 be understood as a shorter discourse on prayer. This amounts to saying that verses 5-13 are an application, of sorts, of the broader theme of hypocrisy. Or rather, since Jesus never announces that He desires to speak on the subject of hypocrisy specifically, the theme is only to be approached through a series of applications or instantiations of hypocritical action. The broader passage (verses 1-18) might be taken up, in fact, within a still broader discourse: the theme of the sermon on the mount is the introduction of a radical new logic (what Paul Ricoeur calls a "logic of superabundance"), meant to outstrip the Law. This outstripping is plainly obvious throughout the last half of chapter 5, and it may be that the chapter break (a "late" addition, obviously) too easily disrupts for the reader the thematic continuity between chapters 5 and 6. The continuity, however, is there in the text, and the question of hypocrisy arises precisely as a facet or an aspect of the new and higher logic of the Christian life. The injunction especially to pray only in one's closet, to retreat from the world in speaking with God, is a manifestation of this new and higher logic: as radical and impossible as loving one's enemy, praying only within one's closet and in complete solitude is a sort of "regulative ideal," the spirit--not the letter--of which is the key. In other words, and in short, Jesus is not here laying down rules for prayer, but exploring the spirit--the Spirit--of the logic of Christian love through the task of prayer. Since the present verse is so profoundly negative ("thou shalt not"), the nature of the Spirit of Christian prayer can only be worked out in the commentary on the following verses (see verses 6-13). Matt 6:6. One must explore in this verse especially the radical subjectivity at work in the Spirit of Christian prayer. A counter-text from the Old Testament might well open the possibility of interpreting this radical subjectivity clearly: Ezra 9:5-15. In that passage, Ezra has just learned of the intermarriage of the Judahites returning from captivity with the semi-Israelites who were left behind. In response, "having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God" (verse 5). Preparing to pray in response to the situation, Ezra makes--and according to the Law of Moses--rather a show of things. But the show marks the point: the prayer that follows is not for God but for the listeners. He begins his prayer poetically: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God" (verse 6), after which he uses the language of court flattery, as in verse 8: "And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage." The prayer goes on and on in this same spirit, and Ezra never asks anything of the Lord, and certainly he never praises Him in the words of the Israelite liturgies (only in the language of court flattery--learned in Persia?). By the time Ezra concludes the prayer, all he seems to have accomplished is to make absolutely clear to his listeners that they cannot stand before God in their "sin": "O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this" (verse 15). As one reads this prayer carefully, it becomes quite obvious that the prayer is no prayer, that there is no praying, no petition and no exultation. It is, rather, a tool to accomplish particular "political" ends (inter-human ends). And in fact, recent biblical scholarship has increasingly seen reason to criticize Ezra's political agenda (a topic that can only be discussed at length in the commentary at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). What Jesus commands the people to do in this sermon stands in stark contrast to what Ezra does in his prayer: Jesus teaches the people to pray in a radically secret way: "enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray." It may well be that Jesus had Ezra's prayer (but certainly prayers just like it) in mind when He spoke the words of verse 5. The Spirit of Christian prayer is, over and against Ezra's prayer, one of radical subjectivity, of an incredibly individual relation to God. This individuality is heralded in the word "Father," which appears twice in this verse, and becomes focal at the beginning of the "Pater Noster" Jesus provides a few verses later. Of central significance is this radically subjective and individual relation to the Father in prayer, and it deserves some careful attention. Perhaps what most needs attention is how this radically subjective characterization of prayer, as taught by the Savior, changes all prayers, even those to be offered in public and "before the world" (see commentary at verse 5): if Jesus is not here offering "rules" for prayer, He is offering a radical reinterpretation (or restoring the true interpretation, as it shall be seen) of prayer, one that recasts prayer as a work to be done within the Christian logic of superabundance. Hence, of radical subjectivity: the theme is not unique--and this must be noticed from the very start--to the New Testament. The radical subjectivity of secret prayer is a theme that runs through the texts of the Old Testament prophets. Perhaps it is most explicitly explored in the Book of Jonah, but it is implicitly present in a number of the prophet books (Habakkuk is also a good place to explore the meaning of radically subjective prayer). The starting point, of course, for any question of radical subjectivity is its origin, that is, how it is that a radical subjectivity comes into being in the first place. Two answers immediately present themselves, two answers that are, in the end, closely tied: there must be a naming of the subject, and the subject must be called. The two are closely tied in an obvious way: the naming is the calling, for the subject is called into radical subjectivity by a name. If Christian prayer, then, is marked by a radical subjectivity, it can only be understood as a response to a call, as a counter-naming: precisely because one is to "pray to thy Father which is in secret" (one must notice that He, too, is radically subjective--and that because of His name: Father), one has been called by the name of the Son, has been called as a son in the name of the Son. Obviously these comments are quickly becoming an excursus, and it would be best to locate any further detail in commentary on a verse that more specifically deals with these themes. But it is necessary to recognize the underpinnings of the radical subjectivity which characterizes Christian prayer: as the Son to the Father, and hence, called by the name of the Son, as a son, one prays without hypocrisy. Matt 6:9: Tension with verse 6? There is an obvious difficulty if this verse is read as following verse 6: if one is to pray entirely on one's own, apart from everyone else, and in one's very closet, why on earth is one to begin prayer with the word "Our"? The point should be obvious: prayer is at once a question of radical subjectivity and a question of community. There are at least two undeniable consequences of this juxtaposition: one's prayer, offered at a remove from all other individuals, is a sort of intercessory prayer on behalf of all sons, of all Israel; moreover, prayer is inevitably communal, but communal prayer should be so profoundly subjective, so profoundly personal, that even when it is spoken in community it is spoken as if one were in one's closet. Matt 6:9: Hallowed be thy name. This phrase might be taken as a supplication for God to vindicate his own name (this is the approach Donald Hagner takes in the Word Biblical Commentary), or it might be taken as a supplication that others will reverence God's name (Leon Morris suggests this view in his book The Gospel According to Matthew, 1992). A third reading might be that Jesus is simply praising God's name, more of an acknowledgement that God's name should be hallowed and(/or) that Jesus, in the very act of stating this, is hallowing God's name. The ambiguity between these three readings might highlight the lack of clear separation between them: if God vindicates his own name, it would result in a reverencing of God's name. (See also Ezek 36:20-23]] for the importance of God's name being kept holy.) Matt 6:9: Third person imperatives. The grammar in the first three requests of the Lord's prayer is 3rd person imperative (the requests switch to 2nd person imperative in verse 11). More than a mere supplication to God, it seems this request includes an implicit moral imperative: the realization of these three requests depends, at least in part, on the action of the one praying (Jesus in this case, but remember he is giving an example of how to pray). In this sense, prayer might be seen as not just a matter of requesting something from God, but as a step toward reconciling oneself with God's will, committing onself to the cause of that which is being prayed about. Matt 6:11: Bread. Bread is often symbolic of of both temporal and spiritual needs. This verse seems to mark a shift away from more general, cosmic concerns to needs that are more specific and particular. Matt 6:12. This verse seems to reiterate the notion of mercy mentioned explicitly in Matt 5:7. A more justice-oriented prayer is exemplified by Appollonius of Tyana who prayed: “Oh ye gods, give me the things which are owing to me.” Matt 6:13: Evil. The Greek phrase translated as "deliver us from evil" in verse 13 could also be translated as "deliver us from the evil one" or "deliver us from the evildoer." Primary sources delete the last line of the Lord's Prayer as recorded here, suggesting a later scribe inserted it: "...For thine is the kingdom...Amen." In many Bible translations other than the KJV this line is left out. It is certainly poetic, however, if you read the prayer without this line added, the continuity and power between our receiving the effects of the atonement in our lives and the relationship with our forgiving others is maintained. Matt 6:13: Temptation. Temptation here likely refers not just to sin, but to trials of all kinds. Note the JST alters this to read "And suffer us not to be led into temptation." Matt 6:14: Trespasses. Trespasses here seems parallel to the debts in verse 12. If we want to be forgiven by our Heavenly Father, we should forgive others for the wrongs they do to us. This suggests a link between our relationship with God and our relationship with others (cf. Matt 5:9, Matt 5:21-26). Matt 6:14: Men. The Greek word translated as "men" in verses 14 and 15 is anthropos, which refers to humans in general. Matt 6:14: Trespasses. The Greek word paraptoma, translated as "trespasses" in verses 14 and 15, can refer to any deviation from acceptable behavior, whether intentional or unintentional. Matt 6:17. Usually when fasting, people put ashes on their head and walked shoeless, with torn clothing, and no greeting was given. This was all a consequence of the close connection between fasting and mourning (1 Sam 20:34; 2 Sam 1:12; Dan 10:2-3; Joel 2:12; Zech 7:5). This sort of fasting was so conspicuous that the Romans made it ridiculous by cruelly imitating it in their theaters. On the other hand, putting oil on the head and washing the face were reserved for joyous occasions. Matt 6:18: Openly. Some manuscripts omit this word (cf. NAS, NIV). Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Why does the Book of Mormon not include any of the JST changes made to the Lord's Prayer as indicated in Matthew? And if the last line of the prayer was added by a scribe at a later date, why is it included in the Book of Mormon version? Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:1-3. In General Conference from May 1983 Elder Monson discusses the blessings that come from anonymous giving in relation to verses 1 and 3 (Anonymous). Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 5:13-48                      Next page: Verses 6:19-34

Matt 6:21-25

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 6:19-34 Previous page: Verses 6:1-18                      Next page: Verses 7:1-12 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:19-7:12. This seems to mark a new section discussing applications and insights to the ideas already mentioned in this sermon. Matt 6:19: Treasure. In this verse the Lord tells us not to lay up for ourselves treasures upon the earth. Compare this to Jacob 2:19. At first glance it may appear that these two verses contradict each other. Verse 19 here seems to say that we shouldn't be rich at all; in contrast Verse 19 of Jacob 2 says that if we first have hope in Christ than we can (or should?) seek riches to help the needy. The contrast, though, is superficial if we examine the Lord's words here carefully. Note that verse 19 here prohibits people from "laying up treasure for themselves" (emphasis added). The key point is the intention of the person acquiring wealth. Is the intention to help the needy as in Jacob 2:19? Or, is it to lay up treasure for ourselves? Matt 6:22: Single. The Greek word translated as "single" in verse 22 is haplous, which appears in the New Testament only here and in the parallel passage of Luke 11:34. Its most common literal meaning appears to be "single" in the sense of being simple or uncomplicated (not in the sense of being alone). Biblical scholars have long debated what the word means here, and it has been variously translated as "healthy," "sound," "clear" and "good." Also, there are Hebrew (related to the Aramaic Jesus spoke) idioms of the "good eye" and the "evil eye" (see verse 23) that refer to people who are generous or stingy, so some scholars believe that Jesus could have been talking about generosity of spirit here. The Joseph Smith Translation interprets "single" as meaning "single to the glory of God." Matt 6:22: Evil. The Greek word translated as "evil" in verse 23 is poneros and can also mean "bad" or "unhealthy." Matt 6:22: Light. Cf. Prov 20:27: “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” Matt 6:24: Mammon. Mammon refers to money or possessions. See Col 3:1-2; D&C 93:28. Matt 6:25-32. This seems to mark a new unit of material. Note: in 3 Nephi 13, Christ directed these words only to the 12 Nephite Disciples, still they can apply to all. Matt 6:25: Therefore. The word "therefore" used here seems to link this material to what has just been said, esp. in verse 24. Matt 6:25: Stress. This verse seem to be saying that we should not be uneasy, anxious, or worry about the future. Presumably, these words are addressing a problem where people were indeed uneasy, anxious, and/or worried about the future, a condition we might think about in terms of "stress" today. Matt 6:25: Life more than meat. Notice that this seems to echo Matt 4:4 where Jesus responds to Satan's temptation by quoting Deuteronomy, "man shall not live by bread alone." The gospels seem to repeatedly address the need for spiritual nourishment in addition to physical nourishment. In verse 33 of this chapter, Jesus admonishes us to focus on spiritual needs before physical needs. Matt 6:26-27: God's care. The point of this verse seems to be that God can take care of us, and we should learn from these examples. If we allow God to play his role as Creator, he will take care of us and make our lives beautiful like the world around us. The idea may be building on Old Testament scriptures such as Ps 104:10-18 and Job 12:7-8. Matt 6:27: Cubit. The word translated as "cubit" (pechus) can mean a short period of time as well as a unit of length, and the word translated as "stature" (helikia) can also mean "lifespan." Matt 6:27: Taking thought. The verb (merimnao) translated as "taking thought" in verses 27 and 28, also used in verse 25, has as its most common meaning "to worry" or "to be anxious." Matt 6:27: Raiment. The Greek word enduma, translated as "raiment" in verse 28, refers to a cloak or other outer article of clothing. Matt 6:30: Oh ye of little faith. This expression is used four times: Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8. The phrase is always used in reaction to his disciples showing intense anxiety about a situation where we also would be frightened. Matt 6:31. This verse seems to be summarizing verses 25-30 and repeats the three questions of verse 25. Matt 6:32: Gentiles. The word Gentiles here seems to be referring to those outside the family of faith (cf. verses 7-8 and Matt 7:11). Matt 6:32: All these things. This seems to refer to the things listed in verse 31 (what to eat, drink and be clothed with). Matt 6:32. Jesus seems to be offering a way to live that is challenges the lifestyle of the surrounding society. The many worldly things that can cause worry are juxtaposed against the one thing that should be spiritually sought (the Kingdom of God). This teaching seems to be reinforcing the idea in Matt 6:8 where the "Father knoweth what things ye have need of, befor eye ask him." Note most modern translations do not have the parentheses here as we see in the KJV. Matt 6:34. Other passages that seem to teach that we should be prayerful rather than anxious about things include: Ps 39:5-7; Philip 4:6; D&C 6:6-7; Mosiah 2:41; 3 Ne 13:25; D&C 84:80-84. Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:19: Treasures in heaven. What are the treasures in heaven we need to lay up? Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:26: What about the Son of Man? In Matt 8:20, Jesus says that "the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." What is to prevent us from worrying about being left without shelter like the Son of Man is left without shelter? Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:24, Larry W. Gibbons, "Wherefore, Settle This in Your Hearts," Ensign, Nov 2006, pp. 102–4. Elder Gibbons said: "We cannot keep one foot in the Church and one foot in the world. One reason is the world and the Church are rapidly diverging. We will lose our balance." Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 6:1-18                      Next page: Verses 7:1-12

Matt 6:26-30

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 6:19-34 Previous page: Verses 6:1-18                      Next page: Verses 7:1-12 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:19-7:12. This seems to mark a new section discussing applications and insights to the ideas already mentioned in this sermon. Matt 6:19: Treasure. In this verse the Lord tells us not to lay up for ourselves treasures upon the earth. Compare this to Jacob 2:19. At first glance it may appear that these two verses contradict each other. Verse 19 here seems to say that we shouldn't be rich at all; in contrast Verse 19 of Jacob 2 says that if we first have hope in Christ than we can (or should?) seek riches to help the needy. The contrast, though, is superficial if we examine the Lord's words here carefully. Note that verse 19 here prohibits people from "laying up treasure for themselves" (emphasis added). The key point is the intention of the person acquiring wealth. Is the intention to help the needy as in Jacob 2:19? Or, is it to lay up treasure for ourselves? Matt 6:22: Single. The Greek word translated as "single" in verse 22 is haplous, which appears in the New Testament only here and in the parallel passage of Luke 11:34. Its most common literal meaning appears to be "single" in the sense of being simple or uncomplicated (not in the sense of being alone). Biblical scholars have long debated what the word means here, and it has been variously translated as "healthy," "sound," "clear" and "good." Also, there are Hebrew (related to the Aramaic Jesus spoke) idioms of the "good eye" and the "evil eye" (see verse 23) that refer to people who are generous or stingy, so some scholars believe that Jesus could have been talking about generosity of spirit here. The Joseph Smith Translation interprets "single" as meaning "single to the glory of God." Matt 6:22: Evil. The Greek word translated as "evil" in verse 23 is poneros and can also mean "bad" or "unhealthy." Matt 6:22: Light. Cf. Prov 20:27: “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” Matt 6:24: Mammon. Mammon refers to money or possessions. See Col 3:1-2; D&C 93:28. Matt 6:25-32. This seems to mark a new unit of material. Note: in 3 Nephi 13, Christ directed these words only to the 12 Nephite Disciples, still they can apply to all. Matt 6:25: Therefore. The word "therefore" used here seems to link this material to what has just been said, esp. in verse 24. Matt 6:25: Stress. This verse seem to be saying that we should not be uneasy, anxious, or worry about the future. Presumably, these words are addressing a problem where people were indeed uneasy, anxious, and/or worried about the future, a condition we might think about in terms of "stress" today. Matt 6:25: Life more than meat. Notice that this seems to echo Matt 4:4 where Jesus responds to Satan's temptation by quoting Deuteronomy, "man shall not live by bread alone." The gospels seem to repeatedly address the need for spiritual nourishment in addition to physical nourishment. In verse 33 of this chapter, Jesus admonishes us to focus on spiritual needs before physical needs. Matt 6:26-27: God's care. The point of this verse seems to be that God can take care of us, and we should learn from these examples. If we allow God to play his role as Creator, he will take care of us and make our lives beautiful like the world around us. The idea may be building on Old Testament scriptures such as Ps 104:10-18 and Job 12:7-8. Matt 6:27: Cubit. The word translated as "cubit" (pechus) can mean a short period of time as well as a unit of length, and the word translated as "stature" (helikia) can also mean "lifespan." Matt 6:27: Taking thought. The verb (merimnao) translated as "taking thought" in verses 27 and 28, also used in verse 25, has as its most common meaning "to worry" or "to be anxious." Matt 6:27: Raiment. The Greek word enduma, translated as "raiment" in verse 28, refers to a cloak or other outer article of clothing. Matt 6:30: Oh ye of little faith. This expression is used four times: Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8. The phrase is always used in reaction to his disciples showing intense anxiety about a situation where we also would be frightened. Matt 6:31. This verse seems to be summarizing verses 25-30 and repeats the three questions of verse 25. Matt 6:32: Gentiles. The word Gentiles here seems to be referring to those outside the family of faith (cf. verses 7-8 and Matt 7:11). Matt 6:32: All these things. This seems to refer to the things listed in verse 31 (what to eat, drink and be clothed with). Matt 6:32. Jesus seems to be offering a way to live that is challenges the lifestyle of the surrounding society. The many worldly things that can cause worry are juxtaposed against the one thing that should be spiritually sought (the Kingdom of God). This teaching seems to be reinforcing the idea in Matt 6:8 where the "Father knoweth what things ye have need of, befor eye ask him." Note most modern translations do not have the parentheses here as we see in the KJV. Matt 6:34. Other passages that seem to teach that we should be prayerful rather than anxious about things include: Ps 39:5-7; Philip 4:6; D&C 6:6-7; Mosiah 2:41; 3 Ne 13:25; D&C 84:80-84. Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:19: Treasures in heaven. What are the treasures in heaven we need to lay up? Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:26: What about the Son of Man? In Matt 8:20, Jesus says that "the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." What is to prevent us from worrying about being left without shelter like the Son of Man is left without shelter? Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:24, Larry W. Gibbons, "Wherefore, Settle This in Your Hearts," Ensign, Nov 2006, pp. 102–4. Elder Gibbons said: "We cannot keep one foot in the Church and one foot in the world. One reason is the world and the Church are rapidly diverging. We will lose our balance." Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 6:1-18                      Next page: Verses 7:1-12

Matt 6:31-34

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 6:19-34 Previous page: Verses 6:1-18                      Next page: Verses 7:1-12 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:19-7:12. This seems to mark a new section discussing applications and insights to the ideas already mentioned in this sermon. Matt 6:19: Treasure. In this verse the Lord tells us not to lay up for ourselves treasures upon the earth. Compare this to Jacob 2:19. At first glance it may appear that these two verses contradict each other. Verse 19 here seems to say that we shouldn't be rich at all; in contrast Verse 19 of Jacob 2 says that if we first have hope in Christ than we can (or should?) seek riches to help the needy. The contrast, though, is superficial if we examine the Lord's words here carefully. Note that verse 19 here prohibits people from "laying up treasure for themselves" (emphasis added). The key point is the intention of the person acquiring wealth. Is the intention to help the needy as in Jacob 2:19? Or, is it to lay up treasure for ourselves? Matt 6:22: Single. The Greek word translated as "single" in verse 22 is haplous, which appears in the New Testament only here and in the parallel passage of Luke 11:34. Its most common literal meaning appears to be "single" in the sense of being simple or uncomplicated (not in the sense of being alone). Biblical scholars have long debated what the word means here, and it has been variously translated as "healthy," "sound," "clear" and "good." Also, there are Hebrew (related to the Aramaic Jesus spoke) idioms of the "good eye" and the "evil eye" (see verse 23) that refer to people who are generous or stingy, so some scholars believe that Jesus could have been talking about generosity of spirit here. The Joseph Smith Translation interprets "single" as meaning "single to the glory of God." Matt 6:22: Evil. The Greek word translated as "evil" in verse 23 is poneros and can also mean "bad" or "unhealthy." Matt 6:22: Light. Cf. Prov 20:27: “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” Matt 6:24: Mammon. Mammon refers to money or possessions. See Col 3:1-2; D&C 93:28. Matt 6:25-32. This seems to mark a new unit of material. Note: in 3 Nephi 13, Christ directed these words only to the 12 Nephite Disciples, still they can apply to all. Matt 6:25: Therefore. The word "therefore" used here seems to link this material to what has just been said, esp. in verse 24. Matt 6:25: Stress. This verse seem to be saying that we should not be uneasy, anxious, or worry about the future. Presumably, these words are addressing a problem where people were indeed uneasy, anxious, and/or worried about the future, a condition we might think about in terms of "stress" today. Matt 6:25: Life more than meat. Notice that this seems to echo Matt 4:4 where Jesus responds to Satan's temptation by quoting Deuteronomy, "man shall not live by bread alone." The gospels seem to repeatedly address the need for spiritual nourishment in addition to physical nourishment. In verse 33 of this chapter, Jesus admonishes us to focus on spiritual needs before physical needs. Matt 6:26-27: God's care. The point of this verse seems to be that God can take care of us, and we should learn from these examples. If we allow God to play his role as Creator, he will take care of us and make our lives beautiful like the world around us. The idea may be building on Old Testament scriptures such as Ps 104:10-18 and Job 12:7-8. Matt 6:27: Cubit. The word translated as "cubit" (pechus) can mean a short period of time as well as a unit of length, and the word translated as "stature" (helikia) can also mean "lifespan." Matt 6:27: Taking thought. The verb (merimnao) translated as "taking thought" in verses 27 and 28, also used in verse 25, has as its most common meaning "to worry" or "to be anxious." Matt 6:27: Raiment. The Greek word enduma, translated as "raiment" in verse 28, refers to a cloak or other outer article of clothing. Matt 6:30: Oh ye of little faith. This expression is used four times: Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8. The phrase is always used in reaction to his disciples showing intense anxiety about a situation where we also would be frightened. Matt 6:31. This verse seems to be summarizing verses 25-30 and repeats the three questions of verse 25. Matt 6:32: Gentiles. The word Gentiles here seems to be referring to those outside the family of faith (cf. verses 7-8 and Matt 7:11). Matt 6:32: All these things. This seems to refer to the things listed in verse 31 (what to eat, drink and be clothed with). Matt 6:32. Jesus seems to be offering a way to live that is challenges the lifestyle of the surrounding society. The many worldly things that can cause worry are juxtaposed against the one thing that should be spiritually sought (the Kingdom of God). This teaching seems to be reinforcing the idea in Matt 6:8 where the "Father knoweth what things ye have need of, befor eye ask him." Note most modern translations do not have the parentheses here as we see in the KJV. Matt 6:34. Other passages that seem to teach that we should be prayerful rather than anxious about things include: Ps 39:5-7; Philip 4:6; D&C 6:6-7; Mosiah 2:41; 3 Ne 13:25; D&C 84:80-84. Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:19: Treasures in heaven. What are the treasures in heaven we need to lay up? Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:26: What about the Son of Man? In Matt 8:20, Jesus says that "the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." What is to prevent us from worrying about being left without shelter like the Son of Man is left without shelter? Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 6:24, Larry W. Gibbons, "Wherefore, Settle This in Your Hearts," Ensign, Nov 2006, pp. 102–4. Elder Gibbons said: "We cannot keep one foot in the Church and one foot in the world. One reason is the world and the Church are rapidly diverging. We will lose our balance." Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 6:1-18                      Next page: Verses 7:1-12

Matt 7:1-5

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 7:1-12 Previous page: Verses 6:19-34                      Next page: Verses 7:13-29 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:2. The idea that we will be judged with the same standard which we apply to others would mean that God may judge us with a faulty standard if we judge others with a faulty standard. Since clearly God cannot judge with a faulty standard something else must be going on here. Or to state the problem using a specific example...imagine a person who lives a terrible life doing evil and who, when judges evil in others as good. Obviously the fact that they judge evil as good, is itself a bad thing (see Moro 7:14-18). Would God then judge such a person as good by applying the same principle of judgement they used (i.e. evil is good) to judge them? Surely not. The interpretation that makes more sense of these verses is to read judgment as meaning something more like our word condemnation making the meaning of the verse something like: condemn not others that ye be not condemned. Matt 7:3. Compare the hyperbole of this verse with that in Matt 5:29. Matt 7:7: Ask, seek, knock. It is possible to draw distinctions between asking, seeking, and knocking, and between being given something, finding, or having it opened to you. But in such parallel constructions, it is often the case that the point is to find the similarities between all three, that no one expression of the idea, nor even all three expressions of the idea are complete and definitive, but rather that they all serve as examples of the same principle. This can be analogized to impressionist painting where a painting makes no sense if you look too hard at the details, but makes perfect sense if you step back and pay more attention to the overall picture rather than the details. This concept is one of the most frequent in all of the scriptures, although the phrasing is not always exactly the same. Matt 7:9: Bread and stone. A similarity between bread and a stone is that they are both round, the former is a basic necessity of life that provides sustenance whereas the latter does not. Matt 7:10: Fish and serpent. The serpent referred to here is likely a water snake, making the similarity between a fish and a "serpent" that they both are water-dwelling. Like the pairing of bread and stone, the former provides sustenance whereas the latter does not. (Cf. Luke 11:11.) Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:1: JST. In the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible, this verse contains the phrase "Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment." What is righteous judgment? (Notice however that there is no change in 3 Ne 14:1.) Matt 7:1. Showing mercy and not judging. In the preceding chapter, Jesus has advocated showing mercy and being reconciled to our brother. How does not judging (unrightouesly) relate to these previous teachings? Matt 7:12. Jesus prefaces the golden rule here with "therefore." What is he connecting this with and why? Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:2. See BrianJ's post "The Lord will judge unrighteously?" at the Feast blog. Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 6:19-34                      Next page: Verses 7:13-29

Matt 7:6-10

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 7:1-12 Previous page: Verses 6:19-34                      Next page: Verses 7:13-29 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:2. The idea that we will be judged with the same standard which we apply to others would mean that God may judge us with a faulty standard if we judge others with a faulty standard. Since clearly God cannot judge with a faulty standard something else must be going on here. Or to state the problem using a specific example...imagine a person who lives a terrible life doing evil and who, when judges evil in others as good. Obviously the fact that they judge evil as good, is itself a bad thing (see Moro 7:14-18). Would God then judge such a person as good by applying the same principle of judgement they used (i.e. evil is good) to judge them? Surely not. The interpretation that makes more sense of these verses is to read judgment as meaning something more like our word condemnation making the meaning of the verse something like: condemn not others that ye be not condemned. Matt 7:3. Compare the hyperbole of this verse with that in Matt 5:29. Matt 7:7: Ask, seek, knock. It is possible to draw distinctions between asking, seeking, and knocking, and between being given something, finding, or having it opened to you. But in such parallel constructions, it is often the case that the point is to find the similarities between all three, that no one expression of the idea, nor even all three expressions of the idea are complete and definitive, but rather that they all serve as examples of the same principle. This can be analogized to impressionist painting where a painting makes no sense if you look too hard at the details, but makes perfect sense if you step back and pay more attention to the overall picture rather than the details. This concept is one of the most frequent in all of the scriptures, although the phrasing is not always exactly the same. Matt 7:9: Bread and stone. A similarity between bread and a stone is that they are both round, the former is a basic necessity of life that provides sustenance whereas the latter does not. Matt 7:10: Fish and serpent. The serpent referred to here is likely a water snake, making the similarity between a fish and a "serpent" that they both are water-dwelling. Like the pairing of bread and stone, the former provides sustenance whereas the latter does not. (Cf. Luke 11:11.) Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:1: JST. In the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible, this verse contains the phrase "Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment." What is righteous judgment? (Notice however that there is no change in 3 Ne 14:1.) Matt 7:1. Showing mercy and not judging. In the preceding chapter, Jesus has advocated showing mercy and being reconciled to our brother. How does not judging (unrightouesly) relate to these previous teachings? Matt 7:12. Jesus prefaces the golden rule here with "therefore." What is he connecting this with and why? Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:2. See BrianJ's post "The Lord will judge unrighteously?" at the Feast blog. Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 6:19-34                      Next page: Verses 7:13-29

Matt 7:11-15

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 7:1-12 Previous page: Verses 6:19-34                      Next page: Verses 7:13-29 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:2. The idea that we will be judged with the same standard which we apply to others would mean that God may judge us with a faulty standard if we judge others with a faulty standard. Since clearly God cannot judge with a faulty standard something else must be going on here. Or to state the problem using a specific example...imagine a person who lives a terrible life doing evil and who, when judges evil in others as good. Obviously the fact that they judge evil as good, is itself a bad thing (see Moro 7:14-18). Would God then judge such a person as good by applying the same principle of judgement they used (i.e. evil is good) to judge them? Surely not. The interpretation that makes more sense of these verses is to read judgment as meaning something more like our word condemnation making the meaning of the verse something like: condemn not others that ye be not condemned. Matt 7:3. Compare the hyperbole of this verse with that in Matt 5:29. Matt 7:7: Ask, seek, knock. It is possible to draw distinctions between asking, seeking, and knocking, and between being given something, finding, or having it opened to you. But in such parallel constructions, it is often the case that the point is to find the similarities between all three, that no one expression of the idea, nor even all three expressions of the idea are complete and definitive, but rather that they all serve as examples of the same principle. This can be analogized to impressionist painting where a painting makes no sense if you look too hard at the details, but makes perfect sense if you step back and pay more attention to the overall picture rather than the details. This concept is one of the most frequent in all of the scriptures, although the phrasing is not always exactly the same. Matt 7:9: Bread and stone. A similarity between bread and a stone is that they are both round, the former is a basic necessity of life that provides sustenance whereas the latter does not. Matt 7:10: Fish and serpent. The serpent referred to here is likely a water snake, making the similarity between a fish and a "serpent" that they both are water-dwelling. Like the pairing of bread and stone, the former provides sustenance whereas the latter does not. (Cf. Luke 11:11.) Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:1: JST. In the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible, this verse contains the phrase "Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment." What is righteous judgment? (Notice however that there is no change in 3 Ne 14:1.) Matt 7:1. Showing mercy and not judging. In the preceding chapter, Jesus has advocated showing mercy and being reconciled to our brother. How does not judging (unrightouesly) relate to these previous teachings? Matt 7:12. Jesus prefaces the golden rule here with "therefore." What is he connecting this with and why? Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:2. See BrianJ's post "The Lord will judge unrighteously?" at the Feast blog. Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 6:19-34                      Next page: Verses 7:13-29

Matt 7:16-20

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 7:13-29 Previous page: Verses 7:1-12                      Next page: Chapters 8-9 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:15: False prophets. The term "false prophets" is a translation of the Greek noun pseudoprophetes. It is found 11 times in the New Testament. Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:15: False prophets. What is a "false prophet"? How can we identify a "false prophet"? Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:14: JBL article on eschatological meaning. A. J. Mattill, Jr. argues in the Journal of Biblical Literature (v. 97 n. 4, Dec. 1979, pp. 531-546) that "the meaning of thlibo [narrow] in Matt 7:14b is the same as that of the related word thlipsis in Acts 14:22: 'through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God' (ASV) ... Given this apocalyptic meaning in Acts 14:22, Matt 7:14b would then refer to the end-time tribulations, including persecution, on the way leading to eternal life in the kingdom of God." Matt 7:15-23. (Blog) "I Never Knew You," posted by brianj, April 14 2007. "Two passages in the Sermon on the Mount seem clear when read separately, but read consecutively (as they are written) they appear to be contradictory." Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 7:1-12                      Next page: Chapters 8-9

Matt 7:21-25

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 7:13-29 Previous page: Verses 7:1-12                      Next page: Chapters 8-9 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:15: False prophets. The term "false prophets" is a translation of the Greek noun pseudoprophetes. It is found 11 times in the New Testament. Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:15: False prophets. What is a "false prophet"? How can we identify a "false prophet"? Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:14: JBL article on eschatological meaning. A. J. Mattill, Jr. argues in the Journal of Biblical Literature (v. 97 n. 4, Dec. 1979, pp. 531-546) that "the meaning of thlibo [narrow] in Matt 7:14b is the same as that of the related word thlipsis in Acts 14:22: 'through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God' (ASV) ... Given this apocalyptic meaning in Acts 14:22, Matt 7:14b would then refer to the end-time tribulations, including persecution, on the way leading to eternal life in the kingdom of God." Matt 7:15-23. (Blog) "I Never Knew You," posted by brianj, April 14 2007. "Two passages in the Sermon on the Mount seem clear when read separately, but read consecutively (as they are written) they appear to be contradictory." Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 7:1-12                      Next page: Chapters 8-9

Matt 7:26-29

Home > The New Testament > Matthew > Chapters 5-7 > Verses 7:13-29 Previous page: Verses 7:1-12                      Next page: Chapters 8-9 This page would ideally always be under construction. You are invited to contribute. Summary This section should be very brief. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Discussion This section is for detailed discussion such as the meaning of a symbol, how a doctrinal point is developed throughout a passage, or insights that can be further developed in the future. Contributions may range from polished paragraphs down to a single bullet point. The focus, however, should always be on understanding the scriptural text consistent with LDS doctrine. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:15: False prophets. The term "false prophets" is a translation of the Greek noun pseudoprophetes. It is found 11 times in the New Testament. Unanswered questions This section is for questions along the lines of "I still don't understand ..." Please do not be shy. The point of these questions is to identify things that still need to be addressed on this page. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:15: False prophets. What is a "false prophet"? How can we identify a "false prophet"? Prompts for life application This section is for prompts that suggest ways in which a passage can influence a person's life. Prompts may be appropriate either for private self reflection or for a class discussion. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Prompts for further study This section is for prompts that invite us to think about a passage more deeply or in a new way. These are not necessarily questions that beg for answers, but rather prompts along the lines of "Have you ever thought about ..." Prompts are most helpful when they are developed individually, thoughtfully, and with enough background information to clearly indicate a particular direction for further study or thought. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Resources This section is for listing links and print resources, including those that are also cited elsewhere on this page. A short comment about the particular strengths of a resource can be helpful. Click the link above and to the right to edit or add content to this heading. → Matt 7:14: JBL article on eschatological meaning. A. J. Mattill, Jr. argues in the Journal of Biblical Literature (v. 97 n. 4, Dec. 1979, pp. 531-546) that "the meaning of thlibo [narrow] in Matt 7:14b is the same as that of the related word thlipsis in Acts 14:22: 'through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God' (ASV) ... Given this apocalyptic meaning in Acts 14:22, Matt 7:14b would then refer to the end-time tribulations, including persecution, on the way leading to eternal life in the kingdom of God." Matt 7:15-23. (Blog) "I Never Knew You," posted by brianj, April 14 2007. "Two passages in the Sermon on the Mount seem clear when read separately, but read consecutively (as they are written) they appear to be contradictory." Notes Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves (such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word). In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources (such as Strong's Bible Concordance or the Joseph Smith Papers) are preferable to footnotes. Previous page: Verses 7:1-12                      Next page: Chapters 8-9

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