Matthew 6:1-8 : 1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

COMMENTARY: Religions always have rules about what is right and acceptable to do and not do in order to be respected in that religion. These are, in effect, religious laws made up and enforced by religious leaders.

People who faithfully observe these religious laws maintain a good, right standing with their fellow religionists. People who break these laws will be disrespected, at least, and eventually scorned and rejected if they do not change their ways.

While religious people maintain their good standing with men, they are presumed to also be in a right standing with God because they follow the rules that are based on literal interpretations of the Bible. They are wrongly considered to be faithful and righteous with respect to God as long as they are in good standing with their fellow religionists.

The only way that religious people can make judgments about faithfulness of their coreligionists is if they observe them following the religious laws. People who desire to be included and respected in a religious community must, therefore, practice their religion in places and ways that allow others to see them being religious. If they do not practice their religion so that others can observe them, they will be judged as religious backsliders and eventually rejected by the religious community. Therefore, if they want to be accepted and respected, they must practice their righteousness (i.e. their faithfulness to observe religious laws) in places and ways that they can be seen

In this verse, Jesus could not have made it any clearer that public displays of religion are not right in God’s eyes. If they pray, sing, give tithes, quote the Bible so that others can see and respect them for doing these things, they receive rewards from men for being religious, but they do not receive a reward from God.

Religious people assume that if other people whom they consider to be Godly practice their religion in public, they also will be Godly if they do them. Furthermore, they assume that God approves of all public religious activity and that he rewards religious people who practice religion publicly. This verse clearly says that God does not approve of or reward any religious activity that can be observed by others.

Public displays of religion, therefore, are fake faith.

See PRIDE HAS IT REWARDS for more about the rewards of being religious. Also see this link for types of pride that people receive when they practice their religion in public.

2. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

COMMENTARY: These verses appear to be about giving money to poor people, but they are really about religious hypocrisy in general. This link about hypocrisy reveals that all religion is hypocrisy because all religion is acted out on a very public stage in which anyone can observe it.

The purpose of this acting is to receive praise and honor (i.e. glory) from other religious people who do the same kinds of religious activity. What religious people receive from their coreligionists feeds pride which is discussed in detail in this link.

The caution to keep faith private is expressed graphically in the statement to not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing. Confirmation that these verses are not about giving money is found in the command to give in secret. Biblical references to the secret place are to the heart which is the exclusive focus of God’s attention.

Despite the commentary above, it must be said that God is not opposed to giving money to the poor. What he is opposed to is any kind of giving done in a way that can be observed by others — especially religious people who will praise them for giving. In God’s view, any giving, whether of money, or service, that does not emerge from a pure heart is fake faith because the motive for giving is pride. What God wants is giving that focuses exclusively on the interests of others with no benefit to the giver.

5. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

COMMENTARY: The meaning of this verse comes clear only when we understand the meaning of hypocrisy as acting. Anyone who prays in public, therefore, is a hypocrite. Even those who pray to God and Jesus with all sincerity are hypocrites. Praying in public, therefore, is fake faith because the kind of prayer that God wants and  that Jesus practiced is in secret (i.e. in the heart).

See this link for understanding of what prayer really is.

6. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

COMMENTARY: The command to pray to Father God who is unseen is also a command to not pray in the presence of people who can be seen and who see you praying. Prayer that can be seen by others, therefore, is fake faith because it does not agree with Jesus’ instructions.

What God sees and rewards is what happens in the heart — not what man does with his physical body or even in his intellectual mind. This is very different from religion, of course, which rewards people who pray in public. People who pray in public are considered to be Godly, righteous and faithful, and are warmly welcomed into the religious community.

STUDY TIP: See The Heart is the Place for understanding of what God looks at when considering giving a reward or not.

It is worth noting that Jesus’ instructions are to pray to Father God. He does not say to pray to him, or the holy spirit, or to saints. God is the only one to pray to. Prayer to anyone else, living or dead, is fake faith.

7. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

COMMENTARY: Public prayer was a common feature of the religions of Egypt and Babylon. Here Jesus equates the public prayer of Jews and Christians with the religious practices of pagan religions.

In the NASB, babbling is translated as “meaningless repetitions of many words.” Therefore, all public prayer, no matter how sincerely and earnestly it may be expressed, is inconsistent with Jesus’ teachings. Repetition includes praying for an issue/need in many different ways by many people in a prayer meeting, or it can mean multiple prayers by many people over a period of time. Repetition also includes praying in tongues whether alone or with others. In God’s view, all such prayer is meaningless repetition of many words. 

There is a common belief among Jews and Christians that if they pray the same prayer many times God is more likely to hear and answer their prayer. This belief is inconsistent with Jesus’ teachings which basically say that God does not hear public prayer or repetitious prayers. The only prayer that God accepts is prayer of the heart that is consistent with the Lord’s Prayer.

See Prayer,  Approaching God, When God Does Hear Prayer, and General Conditions for Prayer, and The Lord’s Prayer for more about God’s attitude about prayer.

 8. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

COMMENTARY: This is another command that Jesus’ followers should not practice public prayer like the pagans who will pray for any issue for which they lack trust that it will be resolved well. This verse also says that God already knows what people need before people ask him to satisfy those needs.

The act of praying for specific needs indicates lack of trust that God knows what those needs are and that he will give us what we need unless we pray for them. There is an assumption in prayers for needs to be fulfilled that prayer is the incentive, or trigger, that will move God to do something. This is fake faith.

Repeated prayers for an issue or need indicate increased anxiety for a need to be fulfilled and worry that it will not be fulfilled unless we pray often and hard. This attitude effectively puts trust in the act of prayer — not in God. This attitude presumes that anyone who prays has credibility and influence with God — regardless of the condition of their hearts.

In church and synagogue meetings, religious leaders instruct congregations to pray. People who follow these instructions essentially make the religious leader an idol. They set the instructions of the religious leader to pray above God’s instructions (given through Jesus) about what to pray about and when and how to pray. Religious leaders, therefore, instruct people to participate in fake faith.

Matthew 23:1-5 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;

COMMENTARY: Christians ignore these scriptures because they do not understand that their religious leaders are teachers of the law (i.e. religious laws).

Not understanding that they are under the law when they obey religious laws taught by their religious leaders, they are proud to display their religious self-righteousness before anyone who might be watching them practice their religion. They go to church, carry their bibles, pray, give money, speak religious words, and so on. They do all their religious activities so that they can be seen doing them. This is fake faith. They receive rewards from their religious friends for doing religious activity but they receive no rewards from God who rewards people who pray in secret.

STUDY TIP: See Tebow’s Broad Phylacteries:  for more about rewards for public prayer. Also see Religious Pride,  Making a Name for Yourself, Prayer, and Praise of Men.