The disciple’s relationship to wealth 6:19-34 (cf. Luke 12:13-34)Having made several references to treasure in heaven, Jesus now turned to focus on wealth. In the first part of chapter 6 His main emphasis was on sincerity. In this part of the chapter it is on single-mindedness. read more
The choice between two masters is behind the choice between two treasures and the choice between two visions. "Mammon" is the transliteration of the emphatic form of the Aramaic word mamona meaning wealth or property. The root word mn in both Hebrew and Aramaic indicates something in which one places confidence. Here Jesus personified it and set it over against God as a competing object of confidence. Jesus presented God and Mammon as two slave owners, masters.". . . single ownership and... read more
6:24 serve (f-4) serve (f-32) Douleuo , serve as a slave. read more
The Sermon on the Mount (continued)1. God’s approval, not man’s, to be sought in all our actions. Jesus does not say that we are to do good expecting no reward of any kind, but that we are to look for our reward to God alone: see on Matthew 6:4. That ye do not your alms] RV ’your righteousness.’ The same Heb. word (tsedakah) means both righteousness in general and almsgiving in particular. Our Lord probably used it in the former sense in Matthew 6:1, and in the latter sense in Matthew 6:2 hence... read more
(24) No man can serve two masters.—Literally, can be the slave of two masters. The clauses that follow describe two distinct results of the attempt to combine the two forms of service which are really incompatible. In most cases, there will be love for the one, and a real hatred for the other. The man who loves God cannot love the evil world, and, so far as it is evil, will learn to hate it. The man who loves the world will, even in the midst of lip-homage, hate the service of God in his inmost... read more
Matthew 6:2 'Practically at present,' Ruskin writes, in Sesame and Lilies, 'advancement in life means, becoming conspicuous in life; obtaining a position which shrill be acknowledged by others to be respectable or honourable. We do not understand by this advancement, in general, the mere making of money, but the being known to have made it; not the accomplishment of any great aim, but the being seen to have accomplished it.' He who sincerely takes life in earnest finds it quite natural and a... read more
Chapter 7The Gospel of the Kingdom("Sermon on the Mount") - Matthew 5:1-48; Matthew 6:1-34; Matthew 7:1-29IT may seem almost heresy to object to the time-honoured title "Sermon on the Mount"; yet, so small has the word "sermon" become, on account of its application to those productions of which there is material for a dozen in single sentences of this great discourse, that there is danger of belittling it by the use of a title which suggests even the remotest relationship to these ephemeral... read more
CHAPTER 6 1. The Better Righteousness.(Matthew 6:1-18 .) 2. Kept in the World; Single-eyed; Trusting God.(Matthew 6:19-34 .) Our Lord said: “For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in nowise enter into the kingdom of the heavens” (Matthew 5:20 ). This righteousness He had taught in His confirmation and expansion of the law, but now He speaks of something higher still. He makes known the motive of this true righteousness, which... read more
6:24 {8} No man can serve {h} two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and {i} mammon.(8) God will be worshipped by the whole man.(h) Who are at odds with one another, for if two agree they are as one.(i) This word is a Syrian word, and signifies all things that belong to money. read more
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Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Matthew 6:24
24. No man can serve—The word means to "belong wholly and be entirely under command to." two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other—Even if the two masters be of one character and have but one object, the servant must take law from one or the other: though he may do what is agreeable to both, he cannot, in the nature of the thing, be servant to more than one. Much less if, as in the present case, their interests are... read more