Matthew 6:2
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Christ forbids making charity a public show to win admiration, as the religious leaders did with conspicuous gifts and prayers in synagogues and streets. Those who give to be praised receive that human praise as their whole reward and receive nothing from the Father in heaven. God weighs the motive behind every deed, so charity must spring from pity and love and be done quietly in humility for His glory, with reward hereafter. This does not forbid good works being seen when they lead others to glorify God, nor excuse doing little, but condemns staging generosity to gain reputation. The instruction belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, which sets out the principles of the kingdom of grace for the heart and exposes the formal, self-righteous religion of the scribes and Pharisees.
Sermon Setting and Purpose
Matthew 6:2 belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, which was spoken especially for the disciples while the multitude also listened. That sermon set forth the principles of the kingdom of divine grace rather than promising earthly glory or political deliverance. It stood against the self-righteous teachings and practices of the scribes and Pharisees and laid bare their misrepresentation of God.
Matthew 6 gives the far-reaching principles of God's law, showing that its claims require its spirit in the heart and that the state of the heart regulates life and character, so these principles must be impressed upon new converts or labor for them is lost. The teaching on the mount explains God's holy law as requiring love for God and for one's neighbor, so that to gain wealth unjustly at another's expense falls short of its standard and calls for cleansing of the heart. There Christ revealed that failure to walk in the light God had given was separating the Jewish people from God, with darkness coming upon them in the same proportion as light had shone upon their pathway. The sermon requires improving God-given responsibility and rendering perfect obedience to the plainly revealed will of God made known through patriarch and prophet, in order to exhibit character and works of an elevated order in harmony with the accumulated light upon the pathway.
The verse stands with Christ's instruction to His disciples alongside His command not to judge and His simple form of prayer, given to encourage genuine trust in Him and loyal endurance through days of peril and real trials without failing or being discouraged. It belongs to teaching in Matthew 6 that turns people away from seeking human honor toward contentment and submission to the Holy Spirit. It is part of instruction on self-denial and the right use of what God entrusts, guiding care for heavenly treasure and use of means to advance God's work rather than acting for self-interest or human approval. The desire for wealth, recognition, or a place above fellow workers leads to pushing others aside, while the proper desire is to serve where God has placed a person and seek His approval.
The verse is one of the lessons in Matthew 6 that have not yet been learned. It teaches to recognize every gift received as coming from God, so that when gratitude for His goodness fills the heart a heavenly atmosphere surrounds the soul. It calls for ordering life by the truth of God as found in His word and for more diligent study of the Scriptures as the truth of the living God and not a make-believe story, as the foundation of faith and the assurance of hope of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.
Hypocrites' Showy Religion
Giving alms to gain public praise is hypocrisy, for the outward act of charity does not make a person righteous when it serves vanity. Such giving receives only human approval as its reward, while the heart remains unmerciful and the display earns admiration from people. The show of religious zeal can conceal greed and exploitation, with outward generosity creating an appearance of goodness while mercy is lacking. Almsgiving becomes hypocrisy when done for human praise rather than from sincere piety, and even actions highly praised by others may spring from selfishness, since God weighs motives and judges every act according to the motive that prompted it.
The chief priests, scribes, and elders made their charitable acts conspicuous in synagogues and streets so people would notice their supposed piety and admire their devotion. They did their charity in the most public manner for the purpose of calling attention to themselves, just as they prayed publicly to be seen and praised. They loved to pray in crowded synagogues, in marketplaces, and in the corners of the streets that they might be seen of men and praised for devotion and piety, with voices heard exalting themselves. They put on the outward semblance of goodness, piety, zeal and devotion and appeared exact in outward forms when observed, in order to give impressions of their importance and cause the people to have exalted ideas of their zeal and devotion to religious duties.
Their religion was formal, consisting of ordinances and purifications, rites and ceremonies, and was not heartfelt. They made broad their phylacteries and uttered long prayers in the marketplaces and public places, making their religious profession very prominent while their hearts were not in the work and they lacked personal piety and virtuous character. They kept the forms and ceremonies of worship while loving the honors of the world. Their show concealed exploitation, for wealth so displayed could be gained by oppressing workers and the poor. They ground the faces of the poor and took advantage of them in every way possible, obtaining money from widows and orphans under religious pretexts and using it for themselves.
They took advantage of the poor, especially the widow and fatherless, exacted heavy sums of money on various pretenses for the Lord's treasury, laid heavy taxes upon widows, and devoured widows' houses. They used dishonestly obtained means for their own advantage and corrupt ambition and self-exaltation, misused offerings, and robbed God by appropriating the offerings of the people to themselves. This was the condition of the Jews at Christ's first coming: they had grown prouder and prouder and boasted of their own righteousness. They loved worldly honors and were ambitious to be exalted through riches and power, and were resentful, unforgiving, proud, haughty, bigoted, and noisy in contention with those who differed in doctrine. This pride blinded them so they would not acknowledge the lowly Nazarene, the carpenter's Son, as the Messiah.
In contrast, Christ shunned such display and human applause. He withdrew from noise and confusion to teach humility, piety and virtue, never raised His voice to exalt Himself or gain applause, and quietly resumed His work of mercy and disinterested benevolence by day. He prayed earnestly with strong cries and tears in solitude on the lonely mountain at night, avoided human applause, and worked quietly in mercy and benevolence. His quiet works of mercy stood against the public displays of charity and piety, and the Pharisees rejected Him because His humble, unassuming life did not match their standard of religion.
Only Human Praise Rewarded
When alms are given to win public praise and human honor, that praise is the entire reward received. Good deeds performed to be lauded by others receive no reward from the Father in heaven and no greater or heavenly reward from God. Those who seek human glory through showy charity have already received the reward they wanted, which is only human approval. Such giving to gain human praise is hypocrisy.
Fame, earthly honor, and being esteemed as wise and religious are the giver's only recognition. Earthly fame and honor are the entire reward, not a lasting or heavenly one. Fame and the approval of people do not bring lasting happiness.
People who seek the esteem and praise of others receive their reward from people. Unless they humble themselves and become genuinely simple as little children, human praise is all the reward they will hear.
Sincere Giving for God
Giving to those in need must be sincere and not performed to display good deeds or to win human praise, for the right motive is pity and love for those who suffer, and Heaven values genuine kindness and wholehearted devotion. Acts of charity are to be done quietly, not for display or to gain praise and honor from people, but for God's glory. Good deeds performed to be lauded by others receive no reward from the Father in heaven, while humble, unpretending service done with a pure motive, in humility and without pretense, has its reward hereafter, and true goodness is practiced humbly without seeking honor.
God weighs the motives behind deeds and judges every act according to the motive that prompted it. People may receive applause for virtues they do not possess, and even actions highly praised by others may spring from selfishness and hypocrisy. Doing charitable works to attract praise is empty religious display, for true righteousness works naturally from love for God and others and does not boast. People who trumpet their goodness and claim sinless attainments deceive themselves, in contrast to quiet works of mercy that stand against public displays of charity and piety, which were rejected by those whose standard of religion required a humble life to match display rather than unassuming lowliness.
The warning condemns charity staged for public admiration, such as announcing generosity at public gatherings to gain a reputation, and publicly celebrated gifts of that kind may conceal selfishness, including wealth gained by oppressing workers and the poor. It does not require charity to be hidden in every case nor excuse doing little, and it does not forbid good works from being seen when they lead people to glorify God. Genuine, self-denying generosity can be visible through its fruits, guided by principle and directed to glorifying God and helping others, and quiet acts of kindness for someone in need reflect the true spirit of sacrifice and are rewarded in Heaven. The same warning calls for modesty and for hiding self in Christ, since a life that follows Christ's teaching can influence others more deeply than eloquent words. Devotion to God is not to be announced for public admiration, and turning from darkness to light does not require proclaiming it to the world, for true religion is daily consecration marked by humility and praise directed to God rather than seeking human notice.
Present Applications and Warnings
The verse warns against seeking praise from one another or giving praise to one another instead of doing the appointed work for Christ. It belongs to teaching that turns people away from seeking human honor and toward contentment and submission to the Holy Spirit. The desire for wealth, recognition, or a place above fellow workers leads to pushing others aside, while the proper desire is to serve where God has placed a person and seek His approval.
Giving must not be used to advertise one's own good works or to exalt oneself while demeaning other workers. The warning applies to decisions and conduct in the church, where justice and fairness toward fellow workers matter. Religious acts such as fasting and prayer are not acceptable to God while injustice and selfishness remain. Talking about self and what one has done in the past, magnifying all the good things done while covering mistakes and undone duties with ingenious excuses, is doing alms to have glory of men. Self must not be the center, the alpha and omega.
Bringing self to the front and exalting self in conversation, in preaching, and in all efforts while Jesus is kept in the background grieves the Spirit until He departs and bars the way to usefulness. Such a course fails to use God-given powers in a way that pleases God. Self-conceit and self-love that sees one's own ways as faultless, with no present Christ and no fresh daily experience of what Jesus is doing now, requires conversion and transforming grace, for without it one will never see the King of heaven. Those who hear such self-talk become tired of hearing it. Those who act for human reward receive only that reward. People who grasp for high wages receive all the reward their money can give, and selfishness leaves them without a burden for saving perishing souls and makes their efforts worthless.
Physicians and other workers in God's institutions who think more of the wages they are to receive than of the work, who are selfish and grasping and eager to take every dollar they can get, bind about the work of God and have their reward in this life. Those who desire to be highly esteemed among men and seek the highest position and demand the highest remuneration they can obtain form selfish characters that continue into the future life, so that all heaven pronounces them unfit for the kingdom and disqualified for any position of trust in the courts above. Instead they are to labor with the mind of Christ in earnest spirit, fervent devotion, purity, love, and self-sacrifice, giving service not merely for wages or honor but for the glory of God and the salvation of the lost. Giving for human praise brings only the reward people can give, and that principle connects to the consequences of how entrusted means are used, as when those who withhold their means from God and entrust them to their sons receive their reward.