Matthew:6:14-15

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rwp @Matthew:6:14 @{Trespasses } (\parapt “mata \). This is no part of the Model Prayer . The word "trespass " is literally "falling to one side ," a lapse or deviation from truth or uprightness . The ancients sometimes used it of intentional falling or attack upon one 's enemy , but "slip " or "fault " (Galatians:6:1 |) is the common New Testament idea . \Parabasis \ (Romans:5:14 |) is a positive violation , a transgression , conscious stepping aside or across . rwp @Matthew:6:16 @{Of a sad countenance } (\skuthr “poi \). Only here and strkjv @Luke:24:17 | in the N .T . It is a compound of \skuthros \ (sullen ) and \ops \ (countenance ). These actors or hypocrites "put on a gloomy look " (Goodspeed ) and , if necessary , even "disfigure their faces " (\aphanizousin ta pros “pa aut “n \), that they may look like they are fasting . It is this pretence of piety that Jesus so sharply ridicules . There is a play on the Greek words \aphanizousi \ (disfigure ) and \phan “sin \ (figure ). They conceal their real looks that they may seem to be fasting , conscious and pretentious hypocrisy . rwp @Matthew:6:18 @{In secret } (\en t “i kruphai “i \). Here as in strkjv @6:4 ,6 | the Textus Receptus adds \en t “i phaner “i \ (openly ), but it is not genuine . The word \kruphaios \ is here alone in the New Testament , but occurs four times in the Septuagint . rwp @Matthew:6:19 @{Lay not up for yourselves treasures } (\m ˆ th ˆsaurizete humin th ˆsaurous \). Do not have this habit (\m ˆ\ and the present imperative ). See on ¯Matthew:2:11 | for the word "treasure ." Here there is a play on the word , "treasure not for yourselves treasures ." Same play in verse 20 | with the cognate accusative . In both verses \humin \ is dative of personal interest and is not reflexive , but the ordinary personal pronoun . Wycliff has it : "Do not treasure to you treasures ." rwp @Matthew:6:19 @{Break through } (\diorussousin \). Literally "dig through ." Easy to do through the mud walls or sun-dried bricks . Today they can pierce steel safes that are no longer safe even if a foot thick . The Greeks called a burglar a "mud-digger " (\toichoruchos \). rwp @Matthew:6:20 @{Rust } (\br “sis \). Something that "eats " (\bibr “sk “\) or "gnaws " or "corrodes ." rwp @Matthew:6:22 @{Single } (\haplous \). Used of a marriage contract when the husband is to repay the dowry "pure and simple " (\t ˆn phern ˆn hapl ˆn \), if she is set free ; but in case he does not do so promptly , he is to add interest also (Moulton and Milligan 's _Vocabulary_ , etc .). There are various other instances of such usage . Here and in strkjv @Luke:11:34 | the eye is called "single " in a moral sense . The word means "without folds " like a piece of cloth unfolded , _simplex_ in Latin . Bruce considers this parable of the eye difficult . "The figure and the ethical meaning seem to be mixed up , moral attributes ascribed to the physical eye which with them still gives light to the body . This confusion may be due to the fact that the eye , besides being the organ of vision , is the seat of expression , revealing inward dispositions ." The "evil " eye (\pon ˆros \) may be diseased and is used of stinginess in the LXX and so \haplous \ may refer to liberality as Hatch argues ( _Essays in Biblical Greek_ , p . 80 ). The passage may be elliptical with something to be supplied . If our eyes are healthy we see clearly and with a single focus (without astigmatism ). If the eyes are diseased (bad , evil ), they may even be cross-eyed or cock-eyed . We see double and confuse our vision . We keep one eye on the hoarded treasures of earth and roll the other proudly up to heaven . Seeing double is double-mindedness as is shown in verse 24 |. rwp @Matthew:6:24 @{No man can serve two masters } (\oudeis dunatai dusi kuriois douleuein \). Many try it , but failure awaits them all . Men even try "to be slaves to God and mammon " (\The “i douleuein kai mam “n ƒi \). Mammon is a Chaldee , Syriac , and Punic word like _Plutus_ for the money-god (or devil ). The slave of mammon will obey mammon while pretending to obey God . The United States has had a terrible revelation of the power of the money-god in public life in the Sinclair-Fall-Teapot-Air-Dome-Oil case . When the guide is blind and leads the blind , both fall into the ditch . The man who cannot tell road from ditch sees falsely as Ruskin shows in _Modern Painters_ . He will hold to one (\henos anthexetai \). The word means to line up face to face (\anti \) with one man and so against the other . rwp @Matthew:6:25 @{Be not anxious for your life } (\m ˆ merimnate t ˆi psuch ˆi h –m “n \). This is as good a translation as the Authorized Version was poor ; "Take no thought for your life ." The old English word "thought " meant anxiety or worry as Shakespeare says : * "The native hue of resolution Is sicklied o 'er with the pale cast of thought ." rwp @Matthew:6:25 @Vincent quotes Bacon (Henry VII ): "Harris , an alderman of London , was put in trouble and died with thought and anguish ." But words change with time and now this passage is actually quoted (Lightfoot ) "as an objection to the moral teaching of the Sermon on the Mount , on the ground that it encouraged , nay , commanded , a reckless neglect of the future ." We have narrowed the word to mere planning without any notion of anxiety which is in the Greek word . The verb \merimna “\ is from \meris , meriz “\, because care or anxiety distracts and divides . It occurs in Christ 's rebuke to Martha for her excessive solicitude about something to eat (Luke:10:41 |). The notion of proper care and forethought appears in strkjv @1Corinthians:7:32 ; strkjv @12:25 ; strkjv @Phillipians:2:20 |. It is here the present imperative with the negative , a command not to have the habit of petulant worry about food and clothing , a source of anxiety to many housewives , a word for women especially as the command not to worship mammon may be called a word for men . The command can mean that they must stop such worry if already indulging in it . In verse 31 | Jesus repeats the prohibition with the ingressive aorist subjunctive : "Do not become anxious ," "Do not grow anxious ." Here the direct question with the deliberative subjunctive occurs with each verb (\phag “men , pi “men , peribal “metha \). This deliberative subjunctive of the direct question is retained in the indirect question employed in verse 25 |. A different verb for clothing occurs , both in the indirect middle (\peribal “metha \, fling round ourselves in 31 |, \endus ˆsthe \, put on yourselves in 25 |). rwp @Matthew:6:25 @{For your life } (\t ˆi psuch ˆi \). "Here \psuch ˆi \ stands for the life principle common to man and beast , which is embodied in the \s “ma \: the former needs food , the latter clothing " (McNeile ). \Psuch ˆ\ in the Synoptic Gospels occurs in three senses (McNeile ): either the life principle in the body as here and which man may kill (Mark:3:4 |) or the seat of the thoughts and emotions on a par with \kardia \ and \dianoia \ (Matthew:22:37 |) and \pneuma \ (Luke:1:46 |; cf . strkjv @John:12:27 ; strkjv @13:21 |) or something higher that makes up the real self (Matthew:10:28 ; strkjv @16:26 |). In strkjv @Matthew:16:25 | (Luke:9:25 |) \psuch ˆ\ appears in two senses paradoxical use , saving life and losing it . rwp @Matthew:6:27 @{Unto his stature } (\epi t ˆn h ˆlikian autou \). The word \h ˆlikian \ is used either of height (stature ) or length of life (age ). Either makes good sense here , though probably "stature " suits the context best . Certainly anxiety will not help either kind of growth , but rather hinder by auto-intoxication if nothing more . This is no plea for idleness , for even the birds are diligent and the flowers grow . rwp @Matthew:6:28 @{The lilies of the field } (\ta krina tou agrou \). The word may include other wild flowers besides lilies , blossoms like anemones , poppies , gladioli , irises (McNeile ). rwp @Matthew:6:29 @{Was not arrayed } (\oude periebaleto \). Middle voice and so "did not clothe himself ," "did not put around himself ." rwp @Matthew:6:30 @{The grass of the field } (\ton chorton tou agrou \). The common grass of the field . This heightens the comparison . rwp @Matthew:6:33 @{First his kingdom } (\pr “ton t ˆn basileian \). This in answer to those who see in the Sermon on the Mount only ethical comments . Jesus in the Beatitudes drew the picture of the man with the new heart . Here he places the Kingdom of God and his righteousness before temporal blessings (food and clothing ). rwp @Matthew:6:34 @{For the morrow } (\eis ten aurion \). The last resort of the anxious soul when all other fears are allayed . The ghost of tomorrow stalks out with all its hobgoblins of doubt and distrust .

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