Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 6:25
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
25. Therefore ] i. e. because this double service is impossible there must be no distraction of thought.
Take no thought ] “Do not be anxious,” which was the meaning of “take no thought,” when the E. V. was made. The same word occurs Php 4:6, “Be careful for nothing.” Cp. 1Pe 5:7, “Casting all your care [or anxiety] upon him.” See Prof. Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revision of the New Testament, &c., p. 171.
The argument in the verse is: such anxiety is unnecessary; God gave the life and the body; will He not give the smaller gifts of food and clothing?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
25 34. The parallel passage (Luk 12:22-31) follows immediately the parable of the “Rich Fool.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought … – The general design of this paragraph, which closes the chapter, is to warn his disciples against avarice, and, at the same time, against anxiety about the supply of their needs. This he does by four arguments or considerations, expressing by unequalled beauty and force the duty of depending for the things which we need on the providence of God. The first is stated in Mat 6:25; Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? In the beginning of the verse he charged his disciples to take no thought – that is, not to be anxious about the supply of their wants. In illustration of this he says that God has given life, a far greater blessing than meat; that he has created the body, of far more consequence than raiment. Shall not he who has conferred the greater blessing be willing to confer the less? Shall not he who has formed the body so curiously, and made in its formation such a display of power and goodness, see that it is properly protected and clothed? He who has displayed so great goodness as to form the body, and breathe into it the breath of life, will surely follow up the blessing, and confer the smaller favor of providing that that body shall be clothed, and that life preserved.
No thought – The word thought, when the Bible was translated, meant anxiety, and is so used frequently in Old English authors. Thus, Bacon says, Haweis died with thought and anguish before his business came to an end. As such it is used here by our translators, and it answers exactly to the meaning of the original. Like many other words, it has since somewhat changed its signification, and would convey to most readers an improper idea. The word anxiety would now exactly express the sense, and is precisely the thing against which the Saviour would guard us. See Luk 8:14; Luk 21:34; Phi 4:6. Thought about the future is right; anxiety, solicitude, trouble is wrong. There is a degree of thinking about the things of this life which is proper. See 1Ti 5:8; 2Th 3:10; Rom 12:11. But it should not be our supreme concern; it should not lead to anxiety; it should not take time that ought to be devoted to religion.
For your life – For what will support your life.
Meat – This word here means food in general, as it does commonly in the Bible. We confine it now to animal food. When the Bible was translated, it denoted all kinds of food, and is so used in the old English writers. It is one of the words which has changed its meaning since the translation of the Bible was made.
Raiment – Clothing.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 6:25
Take no thought.
Take no thought for the morrow
1. The question arises, Is not the Christian character a provident one?
2. All this is done to drive us to live by the day: to let the days affairs fill the days thoughts. See the benefit of this.
(1) As respects our pleasures. How can a man enjoy pleasure when he has his mind disturbed about the future? We must dwell on it undistractedly.
(2) As respects your pains. That which makes pain painful is the thought that it will continue.
(3) As respects duties. The secret of doing anything well is concentration.
3. We should have only to do with the sins of the current day. As with our sins so with our cares.
4. The trouble which comes is very often not the trouble which we expected. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
No thought for the morrow
1. The Christian should live in quiet confidence in God.
2. This quiet dependence upon God is our happiness, usefulness, strength, security.
3. If this were wrought in our hearts as a principle, how energetic we should be in the exercise of faith in God.
4. The secret of getting through work is to take the work of the day and leave all that does not belong to it.
5. Although a man leaves all to God, and is happy in Christ, he is not therefore exempt from evil. (J. W. Reeve.)
Undue anxiety reproved
I. The prohibition. If the text prohibits anxiety about gaining sustenance itself, it must much more condemn such a disposition of mind in reference to the luxuries or show of life, what a world of uneasiness is created by inordinate desire about trifles.
II. The reasons or motives for doing so.
1. The first is derived from a view of the conduct of the Gentiles.
2. Another lesson for avoiding anxiety is this, that our heavenly Father knoweth we have need of these things.
3. There is no advantage in excessive carefulness.
Learn:
1. Christianity is calculated to make men happy.
2. Let Christians guard against a distrustful spirit. (R. Robinson.)
The word thought is here used in the antiquated sense of anxiety. In this sense it occurs in Bacon and Shakespeare, Queen Catherine Parr died of thought. The pale cast of thought.
Evils of anxious forethought
1. From the intrinsic superiority of the spirit or the soul to its material surroundings.
2. It is needless, as all men stand in an order of nature that they are sure to be supplied by a moderate exertion of their powers. A man ought to be ashamed if a bird can get a living and he cannot.
3. Anxiety does no good. The mind works more wisely when it works pleasantly. Anxiety distorts the future.
4. It brings men under the power of the imagination and phantoms, which they fight without pause, and upon which they spend their strength for nothing.
5. If a man is constantly looking to the future in despondency, where is faith in his God? (Beecher.)
Anxious thought incapacitates for a wise ordering of life
The whole success of life depends upon the wholesomeness of a mans mind. The ship-master that navigates the sea beyond the sight of land is dependent upon the correctness of his chronometer and his compass. If the instruments of navigation fail him, everything fails him. And what these are to navigation on the sea and in a ship, the human mind is to our navigation of life. And anything that disturbs the balance of the mind so far invalidates the whole voyage of life. (Beecher.)
Anxiety for the Future often arises from some unholy passion
Fear still sits in the window. What seest thou? says Vanity. Whisperings are abroad, says Fear. Men are pointing at you-or they will, as soon as you come to a point of observation. O my good name! says a man. All that I have done; all that I have laid up-what will become of that? Where is my reputation going? What will become of me when I lose it, and when folks turn away from me? O trouble I trouble fit is coming! What is it? Fear is sitting in the window of the soul, and looking into the future, and interpreting the signs thereof to the love of approbation in its coarsest and lowest condition. Fear still sits looking into the future, and pride, coming up, says, What is it that you see? I see, says Fear, your castle robbed. I see you toppled down from your eminence. I see you under base mens feet. I see you weakened. I see you disesteemed. I see your power scattered and gone. O Lord; what a world is this! says Pride. Now, that man has not had a particle of trouble. Fear sat in the window and lied. And Pride cried, and Vanity cried, and Avarice cried-and ought to cry. Fear sat and told lies to them all. For there was not one of those things, probably, done there. Did Fear see them? Yes. But Fear has a kaleidoscope in his eye, and every time it turns it takes a new form. It is filled with broken glass, and it gives false pictures continually. Fear does not see right. It is for ever seeing wrong. And it is stimulated by other feelings. Pride stimulates it; and Vanity stimulates it; and Lust stimulates it; and Love itself finds, sometimes, no better business than to send Fear on its bad errands. For love cries at the cradle, Oh, the child will die! It will not die. It will get well. And then you will not be ashamed that you prophesied that it would die. You put on mourning in advance. (Beecher.)
A dissuasive from anxiety
I. The evil which we are directed to avoid.
II. The powerful considerations by which the saviour enforces the precept.
1. The power of God as displayed in our creation and preservation.
2. The care of Divine providence.
3. The futility of excessive anxiety.
4. The beauty of nature.
III. There reflections.
1. The connection of Divine agency with the existence of all things.
2. This subject reminds us of Him through whom we have access to the Father.
3. Let us learn lessons of spiritual wisdom from everything around us. (J. E. Good.)
Appears to use a variety of arguments against over-anxiety.
I. He that gave the lesser gift will surely give the greater.
II. God cares for the lower creation.
III. Over-anxiety is useless.
IV. To be over-anxious is to arraign the Divine foresight.
V. To be over-anxious is to sink from the level of the Christian disciple to that of the heathen. (Gordon Calthrop, M. A.)
Fretfulness
Arguments against an unquiet spirit.
1. The general course of nature is in favour of men.
2. That there is a Divine providence which employs the course of nature and gives it direction.
3. Fretting does no good, but uses up the nerve force needlessly.
4. It begets a habit of looking at the dark side of things.
5. The things we fear seldom happen.
(1) A tranquil soul is indispensably necessary to anything like a true Christian atmosphere.
(2) The chief ends of life are sacrificed to the unnecessary dust which our feet raise in the way of life.
(3) What disagreeable company we make of ourselves for God.
(4) This way of life, devoid of cheer, is bearing false witness against your Master. (Beecher.)
The folly of looking only at the ills of life
Now, what if a man should go round searching for a more familiar acquaintance with thistles and nettles and thorns, and everything sharp, up and down the highways, over the hills, and through the fields, and insist on putting his hand on everything that could give him a scratch? What if a man should insist upon finding out whatever was sour and bitter, and should go about tasting, and tasting, and tasting for that purpose. What if a man should insist upon smelling every disagreeable odour, and should see no gaspipe open that he did not go and look at it? When doves fly in the heavens, and go swinging round in their flight, we know what they see the grassy field, the luxuriant grain, or the inviting perch where they may rest; but when buzzards fly through the air they see no green fields, no pleasant gardens, but carrion, if there be any in sight; and if there is none to be seen, there is discontent in the buzzard heart. (Beecher.)
One fretful person a pleasure spoiler
It does not take more than one smoky chimney in a room to make it intolerable. (Beecher.)
Over-anxiety forbidden
I. Anxiety is useless about things not under our own control. Duration of life, etc.
II. Anxiety is useless in matters under our own management. Anxiety will not furnish the opportunity of earning bread, or arm us with power-but the reverse.
III. Anxiety does not attract us to the notice of God. He cares for us irrespective of our carefulness. No promise is made to anxiety, etc.
IV. Anxiety is useless because Jesus bids you get rid of it. Trust Him and let the spirit rest, and be strong and glad. (S. Martin.)
I. There is no wise man who will lay out his time and thoughts about things he cannot bring to pass; no one debates but of things possible and probable, lying within the sphere of his activity.
II. That our food and maintenance nourishes us, and augments and enlarges the proportion of every limb, is not the product of our own care, but of Gods blessing.
III. So it is with all outward concerns. From the Divine benediction which accompanies them, they prove good and useful to us. Not from our own care. (Adam Littleton, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. Therefore] , on this account; viz., that ye may not serve mammon, but have unshaken confidence in God, I say unto you,-
Take no thought] Be not anxiously careful, ; this is the proper meaning of the word. anxious solicitude, from dividing or distracting the mind. My old MS. Bible renders it, be not bysy to your life. Prudent care is never forbidden by our Lord, but only that anxious distracting solicitude, which, by dividing the mind, and drawing it different ways, renders it utterly incapable of attending to any solemn or important concern. To be anxiously careful concerning the means of subsistence is to lose all satisfaction and comfort in the things which God gives, and to act as a mere infidel. On the other hand, to rely so much upon providence as not to use the very powers and faculties with which the Divine Being has endowed us, is to tempt God. If we labour without placing our confidence in our labour, but expect all from the blessing of God, we obey his will, co-operate with his providence, set the springs of it a-going on our behalf, and thus imitate Christ and his followers by a sedate care and an industrious confidence.
In this and the following verses, our Lord lays down several reasons why men should not disquiet themselves about the wants of life, or concerning the future.
The first is, the experience of greater benefits already received. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Can he who gave us our body, and breathed into it the breath of life, before we could ask them from him, refuse us that which is necessary to preserve both, and when we ask it in humble confidence?
The clause what ye must eat, is omitted by two MSS., most of the ancient versions, and by many of the primitive fathers. Griesbach has left it in the text with a note of doubtfulness. It occurs again in Mt 6:31, and there is no variation in any of the MSS. in that place. Instead of, Is not the life more than, c., we should read, Of more value so the word is used in Nu 22:15, and by the best Greek writers; and in the same sense it is used in Mt 21:37. See the note there.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This text must not be interpreted in a sense contradictory to those many other texts, which forbid an idle life, an command us in the sweat of our face to eat our bread, or to provide for our families, 2Th 3:10,11; 1Ti 5:8; nor did Christ himself live such a life; he went about doing good, finishing the work which his Father had given him to do. It must be therefore understood:
1. Of no such thoughts as are inconsistent with the service of God, mentioned in the last words.
2. Of no anxious and distracting thoughts.
3. Of no such thoughts as should show any distrust and diffidence in Gods providing for us.
God hath given us our lives and our bodies, without our care for the existence of them; why should we, in a lawful and moderate use of means, distrust God for a subsistence for them? He hath given us the greater, will he not (think you) give us the less?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. Therefore I say unto you, Takeno thought“Be not solicitous.” The English word”thought,” when our version was made, expressed this ideaof “solicitude,” “anxious concern”as may beseen in any old English classic; and in the same sense it is used in1Sa 9:5, c. But this sense of theword has now nearly gone out, and so the mere English reader is aptto be perplexed. Thought or forethought, for temporalthingsin the sense of reflection, considerationis requiredalike by Scripture and common sense. It is that anxious solicitude,that oppressive care, which springs from unbelieving doubts andmisgivings, which alone is here condemned. (See Php4:6).
for your life, what ye shalleat, or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body, what ye shall putonIn Luke (Lu 12:29)our Lord adds, “neither be ye unsettled”not “ofdoubtful mind,” as in our version. When “careful (or ‘fullof care’) about nothing,” but committing all in prayer andsupplication with thanksgiving unto God, the apostle assures us that”the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keepour hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phi 4:6;Phi 4:7); that is, shall guardboth our feelings and our thoughts from undue agitation, and keepthem in a holy calm. But when we commit our whole temporal conditionto the wit of our own minds, we get into that “unsettled”state against which our Lord exhorts His disciples.
Is not the life more thanmeatfood.
and the body than raiment?IfGod, then, gives and keeps up the greaterthe life, the bodywillHe withhold the less, food to sustain life and raiment to clothe thebody?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life,…. Since ye cannot serve both God and “mammon”, obey one, and neglect the other. Christ does not forbid labour to maintain, support, and preserve, this animal life; nor does he forbid all thought and care about it, but all anxious, immoderate, perplexing, and distressing thoughts and cares; such as arise from diffidence and unbelief, and tend to despair; which are dishonourable to God, as the God of nature and providence, and uncomfortable to men:
what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. The several and the only things, which are necessary for the support and comfort of human life, are mentioned; as meat, drink, and clothing; Eating and drinking are necessary to preserve life; and raiment, to cover and defend the body, from the injuries of the heavens: and having these, men have everything necessary, and ought herewith to be content; nor should they be anxiously thoughtful about these: for
is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? And yet, God has given these without man’s thought: and since these are better, and much more excellent, than food and raiment, as all must and will acknowledge; and God has given these the greater gifts, it may be depended upon, that he will give the lesser; that he will give meat and drink; to uphold that valuable life, which he is the author of; and raiment to clothe that body, which he, with so much wisdom and power, has accurately and wonderfully made.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Sermon on the Mount. |
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25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
There is scarcely any one sin against which our Lord Jesus more largely and earnestly warns his disciples, or against which he arms them with more variety of arguments, than the sin of disquieting, distracting, distrustful cares about the things of life, which are a bad sign that both the treasure and the heart are on the earth; and therefore he thus largely insists upon it. Here is,
I. The prohibition laid down. It is the counsel and command of the Lord Jesus, that we take no thought about the things of this world; I say unto you. He says it as our Lawgiver, and the Sovereign of our hearts; he says it as our Comforter, and the Helper of our joy. What is it that he says? It is this, and he that hath ears to hear, let him hear it. Take no thought for your life, nor yet for your body (v. 25). Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? (v. 31) and again (v. 34), Take no thought, me merimnate—Be not in care. As against hypocrisy, so against worldly cares, the caution is thrice repeated, and yet no vain repetition: precept must be upon precept, and line upon line, to the same purport, and all little enough; it is a sin which doth so easily beset us. It intimates how pleasing it is to Christ, and of how much concern it is to ourselves, that we should live without carefulness. It is the repeated command of the Lord Jesus to his disciples, that they should not divide and pull in pieces their own minds with care about the world. There is a thought concerning the things of this life, which is not only lawful, but duty, such as is commended in the virtuous woman. See Prov. xxvii. 23. The word is used concerning Paul’s care of the churches, and Timothy’s care for the state of souls, 2Co 11:28; Phi 2:20.
But the thought here forbidden is, 1. A disquieting, tormenting thought, which hurries the mind hither and thither, and hangs it in suspense; which disturbs our joy in God, and is a damp upon our hope in him; which breaks the sleep, and hinders our enjoyment of ourselves, of our friends, and of what God has given us. 2. A distrustful, unbelieving thought. God has promised to provide for those that are his all things needful for life as well as godliness, the life that now is, food and a covering: not dainties, but necessaries. He never said, “They shall be feasted,” but, “Verily, they shall be fed.” Now an inordinate care for time to come, and fear of wanting those supplies, spring from a disbelief of these promises, and of the wisdom and goodness of Divine Providence; and that is the evil of it. As to present sustenance, we may and must use lawful means to get it, else we tempt God; we must be diligent in our callings, and prudent in proportioning our expenses to what we have, and we must pray for daily bread; and if all other means fail, we may and must ask relief of those that are able to give it. He was none of the best of men that said, To beg I am ashamed (Luke xvi. 3); as he was, who (v. 21) desired to be fed with the crumbs; but for the future, we must cast our care upon God, and take no thought, because it looks like a jealousy of God, who knows how to give what we want when we know not now to get it. Let our souls dwell at ease in him! This gracious carelessness is the same with that sleep which God gives to his beloved, in opposition to the worldling’s toil, Ps. cxxvii. 2. Observe the cautions here,
(1.) Take no thought for your life. Life is our greatest concern for this world; All that a man has will he give for his life; yet take no thought about it. [1.] Not about the continuance of it; refer it to God to lengthen or shorten it as he pleases; my times are in thy hand, and they are in a good hand. [2.] Not about the comforts of this life; refer it to God to embitter or sweeten it as he pleases. We must not be solicitous, no not about the necessary support of this life, food and raiment; these God has promised, and therefore we may more confidently expect; say not, What shall we eat? It is the language of one at a loss, and almost despairing; whereas, though many good people have the prospect of little, yet there are few but have present support.
(2.) Take no thought for the morrow, for the time to come. Be not solicitous for the future, how you shall live next year, or when you are old, or what you shall leave behind you. As we must not boast of to-morrow, so we must not care for to-morrow, or the events of it.
II. The reasons and arguments to enforce this prohibition. One would think the command of Christ was enough to restrain us from this foolish sin of disquieting, distrustful care, independently of the comfort of our own souls, which is so nearly concerned; but to show how much the heart of Christ is upon it, and what pleasures he takes in those that hope in his mercy, the command is backed with the most powerful arguments. If reason may but rule us, surely we shall ease ourselves of these thorns. To free us from anxious thoughts, and to expel them, Christ here suggests to us comforting thoughts, that we may be filled with them. It will be worth while to take pains with our own hearts, to argue them out of their disquieting cares, and to make ourselves ashamed of them. They may be weakened by right reason, but it is by an active faith only that they can be overcome. Consider then,
1. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? v. 25. Yes, no doubt it is; so he says who had reason to understand the true value of present things, for he made them, he supports them, and supports us by them; and the thing speaks for itself. Note, (1.) Our life is a greater blessing than our livelihood. It is true, life cannot subsist without a livelihood; but the meat and raiment which are here represented as inferior to the life and body are such as are for ornament and delight; for about such as are for ornament ad delight; for about such we are apt to be solicitous. Meat and raiment are in order to life, and the end is more noble and excellent than the means. The daintiest food and finest raiment are from the earth, but life from the breath of God. Life is the light of men; meat is but the oil that feeds that light: so that the difference between rich and poor is very inconsiderable, since, in the greatest things, they stand on the same level, and differ only in the less. (2.) This is an encouragement to us to trust God for food and raiment, and so to ease ourselves of all perplexing cares about them. God has given us life, and given us the body; it was an act of power, it was an act of favour, it was done without our care: what cannot he do for us, who did that?–what will he not? If we take care about our souls and eternity, which are more than the body, and its life, we may leave it to God to provide for us food and raiment, which are less. God has maintained our lives hitherto; if sometimes with pulse and water, that has answered the end; he has protected us and kept us alive. He that guards us against the evils we are exposed to, will supply us with the good things we are in need of. If he had been pleased to kill us, to starve us, he would not so often have given his angels a charge concerning us to keep us.
2. Behold the fowls of the air, and consider the lilies of the field. Here is an argument taken from God’s common providence toward the inferior creatures, and their dependence, according to their capacities, upon that providence. A fine pass fallen man has come to, that he must be sent to school to the fowls of the air, and that they must teach him!Job 12:7; Job 12:8.
(1.) Look upon the fowls, and learn to trust God for food (v. 26), and disquiet not yourselves with thoughts what you shall eat.
[1.] Observe the providence of God concerning them. Look upon them, and receive instruction. There are various sorts of fowls; they are numerous, some of them ravenous, but they are all fed, and fed with food convenient for them; it is rare that any of them perish for want of food, even in winter, and there goes no little to feed them all the year round. The fowls, as they are least serviceable to man, so they are least within his care; men often feed upon them, but seldom feed them; yet they are fed, we know not how, and some of them fed best in the hardest weather; and it is your heavenly Father that feeds them; he knows all the wild fowls of the mountains, better than you know the tame ones at your own barn-door, Ps. l. 11. Not a sparrow lights to the ground, to pick up a grain of corn, but by the providence of God, which extends itself to the meanest creatures. But that which is especially observed here is, that they are fed without any care or project of their own; they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. The ant indeed does, and the bee, and they are set before us as examples of prudence and industry; but the fowls of the air do not; they make no provision for the future themselves, and yet every day, as duly as the day comes, provision is made for them, and their eyes wait on God, that great and good Housekeeper, who provides food for all flesh.
[2.] Improve this for your encouragement to trust in God. Are ye not much better than they? Yes, certainly you are. Note, The heirs of heaven are much better than the fowls of heaven; nobler and more excellent beings, and, by faith, they soar higher; they are of a better nature and nurture, wiser than the fowls of heaven (Job xxxv. 11): though the children of this world, that know not the judgment of the Lord, are not so wise as the stork, and the crane, and the swallow (Jer. viii. 7), you are dearer to God, and nearer, though they fly in the open firmament of heaven. He is their Master and Lord, their Owner and Master; but besides all this, he is your Father, and in his account ye are of more value than many sparrows; you are his children, his first-born; now he that feeds his birds surely will not starve his babes. They trust your Father’s providence, and will not you trust it? In dependence upon that, they are careless for the morrow; and being so, they live the merriest lives of all creatures; they sing among the branches (Ps. civ. 12), and, to the best of their power, they praise their Creator. If we were, by faith, as unconcerned about the morrow as they are, we should sing as cheerfully as they do; for it is worldly care that mars our mirth and damps our joy, and silences our praise, as much as any thing.
(2.) Look upon the lilies, and learn to trust God for raiment. That is another part of our care, what we shall put on; for decency, to cover us; for defence, to keep us warm; yea, and, with many, for dignity and ornament, to make them look great and fine; and so much concerned are they for gaiety and variety in their clothing, that this care returns almost as often as that for their daily bread. Now to ease us of this care, let us consider the lilies of the field; not only look upon them (every eyes does that with pleasure), but consider them. Note, There is a great deal of good to be learned from what we see every day, if we would but consider it, Pro 6:6; Pro 24:32.
[1.] Consider how frail the lilies are; they are the grass of the field. Lilies, though distinguished by their colours, are still but grass. Thus all flesh is grass: though some in the endowments of body and mind are as lilies, much admired, still they are grass; the grass of the field in nature and constitution; they stand upon the same level with others. Man’s days, at best, are as grass, as the flower of the grass 1 Pet. i. 24. This grass to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; in a little while the place that knows us will know us no more. The grave is the oven into which we shall be cast, and in which we shall be consumed as grass in the fire, Ps. xlix. 14. This intimates a reason why we should not take thought for the morrow, what we shall put on, because perhaps, by to-morrow, we may have occasion for our grave-clothes.
[2.] Consider how free from care the lilies are: they toil not as men do, to earn clothing; as servants, to earn their liveries; neither do they spin, as women do, to make clothing. It does not follow that we must therefore neglect, or do carelessly, the proper business of this life; it is the praise of the virtuous woman, that she lays her hand to the spindle, makes fine linen and sells it,Pro 31:19; Pro 31:24. Idleness tempts God, instead of trusting him; but he that provides for inferior creatures, without their labour, will much more provide for us, by blessing our labour, which he has made our duty. And if we should, through sickness, be unable to toil and spin, God can furnish us with what is necessary for us.
[3.] Consider how fair, how fine the lilies are; how they grow; what they grow from. The root of the lily or tulip, as other bulbous roots, is, in winter, lost and buried under ground, yet, when spring returns, it appears, and starts up in a little time; hence it is promised to God’s Israel, that they should grow as the lily, Hos. xiv. 5. Consider what they grow to. Out of that obscurity in a few weeks they come to be so very gay, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. The array of Solomon was very splendid and magnificent: he that had the peculiar treasure of kings and provinces, and studiously affected pomp and gallantry, doubtless had the richest clothing, and the best made up, that could be got; especially when he appeared in his glory on high days. And yet, let him dress himself as fine as he could, he comes far short of the beauty of the lilies, and a bed of tulips outshines him. Let us, therefore, be ambitious of the wisdom of Solomon, in which he was outdone by none (wisdom to do our duty in our places), rather than the glory of Solomon, in which he was outdone by the lilies. Knowledge and grace are the perfection of man, not beauty, much less fine clothes. Now God is here said thus to clothe the grass of the field. Note, All the excellences of the creature flow from God, the Fountain and spring of them. It was he that gave the horse his strength, and the lily its beauty; every creature is in itself, as well as to us, what he makes it to be.
[4.] Consider how instructive all this is to us, v. 30.
First, As to fine clothing, this teaches us not to care for it at all, not to covet it, nor to be proud of it, not to make the putting on of apparel our adorning, for after all our care in this the lilies will far outdo us; we cannot dress so fine as they do, why then should we attempt to vie with them? Their adorning will soon perish, and so will ours; they fade–are to-day, and to-morrow are cast, as other rubbish, into the oven; and the clothes we are proud of are wearing out, the gloss is soon gone, the color fades, the shape goes out of fashion, or in awhile the garment itself is worn out; such is man in all his pomp (Isa 40:6; Isa 40:7), especially rich men (Jam. i. 10); they fade away in their ways.
Secondly, As to necessary clothing; this teaches us to cast the care of it upon God–Jehovah-jireh; trust him that clothes the lilies, to provide for you what you shall put on. If he give such fine clothes to the grass, much more will he give fitting clothes to his own children; clothes that shall be warm upon them, not only when he quieteth the earth with the south wind, but when he disquiets it with the north wind, Job xxxvii. 17. He shall much more clothe you: for you are nobler creatures, of a more excellent being; if so he clothe the short-lived grass, much more will he clothe you that are made for immortality. Even the children of Nineveh are preferred before the gourd (Jon 4:10; Jon 4:11), much more the sons of Zion, that are in covenant with God. Observe the title he gives them (v. 30), O ye of little faith. This may be taken, 1. As an encouragement to truth faith, though it be but weak; it entitles us to the divine care, and a promise of suitable supply. Great faith shall be commended, and shall procure great things, but little faith shall not be rejected, even that shall procure food and raiment. Sound believers shall be provided for, though they be not strong believers. The babes in the family are fed and clothed, as well as those that are grown up, and with a special care and tenderness; say not, I am but a child, but a dry tree (Isa 56:3; Isa 56:5), for though poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh on thee. Or, 2. It is rather a rebuke to weak faith, though it be true, ch. xiv. 31. It intimates what is at the bottom of all our inordinate care and thoughtfulness; it is owing to the weakness of our faith, and the remains of unbelief in us. If we had but more faith, we should have less care.
3. Which of you, the wisest, the strongest of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature? (v. 27) to his age, so some; but the measure of a cubit denotes it to be meant of the stature, and the age at longest is but a span, Ps. xxxix. 5. Let us consider, (1.) We did not arrive at the stature we are of by our own care and thought, but by the providence of God. An infant of a span long has grown up to be a man of six feet, and how was one cubit after another added to his stature? not by his own forecast or contrivance; he grew he knew not how, by the power and goodness of God. Now he that made our bodies, and made them of such size, surely will take care to provide for them. Note, God is to be acknowledged in the increase of our bodily strength and stature, and to be trusted for all needful supplies, because he has made it to appear, that he is mindful for the body. The growing age is the thoughtless, careless age, yet we grow; and shall not he who reared us to this, provide for us now we are reared? (2.) We cannot alter the stature we are of, if we would: what a foolish and ridiculous thing would it be for a man of low stature to perplex himself, to break his sleep, and beat his brains, about it, and to be continually taking thought how he might be a cubit higher; when, after all, he knows he cannot effect it, and therefore he had better be content and take it as it is! We are not all of a size, yet the difference in stature between one and another is not material, nor of any great account; a little man is ready to wish he were as tall as such a one, but he knows it is to no purpose, and therefore does as well as he can with it. Now as we do in reference to our bodily stature, so we should do in reference to our worldly estate. [1.] We should not covet an abundance of the wealth of this world, any more than we would covet the addition of a cubit to one’s stature, which is a great deal in a man’s height; it is enough to grow by inches; such an addition would but make one unwieldy, and a burden to one’s self. [2.] We must reconcile ourselves to our state, as we do to our stature; we must set the conveniences against the inconveniences, and so make a virtue of necessity: what cannot be remedied must be made the best of. We cannot alter the disposals of Providence, and therefore must acquiesce in them, accommodate ourselves to them, and relieve ourselves, as well as we can, against inconveniences, as Zaccheus against the inconvenience of his stature, by climbing into the tree.
4. After all these things do the Gentiles seek, v. 32. Thoughtfulness about the world is a heathenish sin, and unbecoming Christians. The Gentiles seek these things, because they know not better things; they are eager for this world, because they are strangers to a better; they seek these things with care and anxiety, because they are without God in the world, and understand not his providence. They fear and worship their idols, but know not how to trust them for deliverance and supply, and, therefore, are themselves full of care; but it is a shame for Christians, who build upon nobler principles, and profess a religion which teaches them not only that there is a Providence, but that there are promises made to the good of the life that now is, which teaches them a confidence in God and a contempt of the world, and gives such reasons for both; it is a shame for them to walk as Gentiles walk, and to fill their heads and hearts with these things.
5. Your heavenly Father knows ye have need of all these things; these necessary things, food and raiment; he knows our wants better than we do ourselves; though he be in heaven, and his children on earth, he observes what the least and poorest of them has occasion for (Rev. ii. 9), I know thy poverty. You think, if such a good friend did not but know your wants and straits, you would soon have relief: your God knows them; and he is your Father that loves you and pities you, and is ready to help you; your heavenly Father, who has wherewithal to supply all your needs: away, therefore, with all disquieting thoughts and cares; go to thy Father; tell him, he knows that thou has need of such and such things; he asks you, Children, have you any meat? John xxi. 5. Tell him whether you have or have not. Though he knows our wants, he will know them from us; and when we have opened them to him, let us cheerfully refer ourselves to his wisdom, power, and goodness, for our supply. Therefore, we should ease ourselves of the burthen of care, by casting it upon God, because it is he that careth for us (1 Pet. v. 7), and what needs all this ado? If he care, why should be care?
6. Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. v. 33. Here is a double argument against the sin of thoughtfulness; take no thought for your life, the life of the body; for, (1.) You have greater and better things to take thought about, the life of your soul, your eternal happiness; that is the one thing needful (Luke x. 42), about which you should employ your thoughts, and which is commonly neglected in those hearts wherein worldly cares have the ascendant. If we were but more careful to please God, and to work out our own salvation, we should be less solicitous to please ourselves, and work out an estate in the world. Thoughtfulness for our souls in the most effectual cure of thoughtfulness for the world. (2.) You have a surer and easier, a safer and more compendious way to obtain the necessaries of this life, than by carking, and caring, and fretting about them; and that is, by seeking first the kingdom of God, and making religion your business: say not that this is the way to starve, no, it is the way to be well provided for, even in this world. Observe here,
[1.] The great duty required: it is the sum and substance of our whole duty: “Seek first the kingdom of God, mind religion as your great and principle concern.” Our duty is to seek; to desire, pursue, and aim at these things; it is a word that has in it much of the constitution of the new covenant in favour of us; though we have not attained, but in many things fail and come short, sincere seeking (a careful concern and an earnest endeavor) is accepted. Now observe, First, The object of this seeking; The kingdom of God, and his righteousness; we must mind heaven as our end, and holiness as our way. “Seek the comforts of the kingdom of grace and glory as your felicity. Aim at the kingdom of heaven; press towards it; give diligence to make it sure; resolve not to take up short of it; seek for this glory, honour, and immortality; prefer heaven and heavenly blessings far before earth and earthly delights.” We make nothing of our religion, if we do not make heaven of it. And with the happiness of this kingdom, seek the righteousness of it; God’s righteousness, the righteousness which he requires to be wrought in us, and wrought by us, such as exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees; we must follow peace and holiness, Heb. xii. 14. Secondly, The order of it. Seek first the kingdom of God. Let your care for your souls and another world take the place of all other cares: and let all the concerns of this life be made subordinate to those of the life to come: we must seek the things of Christ more than our own things; and if every they come in competition, we must remember to which we are to give the preference. “Seek these things first; first in thy days: let the morning of thy youth be dedicated to God. Wisdom must be sought early; it is good beginning betimes to be religious. Seek the first every day; let waking thoughts be of God.” Let this be our principle, to do that first which is most needful, and let him that is the First, have the first.
[2.] The gracious promise annexed; all these things, the necessary supports of life, shall be added unto you; shall be given over and above; so it is in the margin. You shall have what you seek, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, for never any sought in vain, that sought in earnest; and besides that, you shall have food and raiment, by way of overplus; as he that buys goods has paper and packthread given him in the bargain. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, 1 Tim. iv. 8. Solomon asked wisdom, and had that and other things added to him, 2Ch 1:11; 2Ch 1:12. O what a blessed change would it make in our hearts and lives, did we but firmly believe this truth, that the best way to be comfortably provided for in this world, is to be most intent upon another world! We then begin at the right end of our work, when we begin with God. If we give diligence to make sure to ourselves the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, as to all the things of this life, Jehovah-jireh–the Lord will provide as much of them as he sees good for us, and more we would not wish for. Have we trusted in him for the portion of our inheritance at our end, and shall we not trust him for the portion of our cup, in the way to it? God’s Israel were not only brought to Canaan at last, but had their charges borne through the wilderness. O that we were more thoughtful about the things that are not seen, that are eternal, and then the less thoughtful we should be, and the less thoughtful we should need to be, about the things that are seen, that are temporal! Also regard not your stuff,Gen 45:20; Gen 45:23.
7. The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, v. 34. We must not perplex ourselves inordinately about future events, because every day brings along with it its own burthen of cares and grievances, as, if we look about us, and suffer not our fears to betray the succours which grace and reason offer, it brings along with it its own strength and supply too. So that we are here told,
(1.) That thoughtfulness for the morrow is needless; Let the morrow take thought for the things of itself. If wants and troubles be renewed with the day, there are aids and provisions renewed likewise; compassions, that are new every morning,Lam 3:22; Lam 3:23. The saints have a Friend that is their arm every morning, and gives out fresh supplies daily (Isa. xxxiii. 2), according as the business of every day requires (Ezra iii. 4), and so he keeps his people in constant dependence upon him. Let us refer it therefore to the morrow’s strength, to do the morrow’s work, and bear the morrow’s burthen. To-morrow, and the things of it, will be provided for without us; why need we anxiously care for that which is so wisely cared for already? This does not forbid a prudent foresight, and preparation accordingly, but a perplexing solicitude, and a prepossession of difficulties and calamities, which may perhaps never come, or if they do, may be easily borne, and the evil of them guarded against. The meaning is, let us mind present duty, and then leave events to God; do the work of the day in its day, and then let to-morrow bring its work along with it.
(2.) That thoughtfulness for the morrow is one of those foolish and hurtful lusts, which those that will be rich fall into, and one of the many sorrows, wherewith they pierce themselves through. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. This present day has trouble enough attending it, we need not accumulate burthens by anticipating our trouble, nor borrow perplexities from to-morrow’s evils to add to those of this day. It is uncertain what to-morrow’s evils may be, but whatever they be, it is time enough to take thought about them when they come. What a folly it is to take that trouble upon ourselves this day by care and fear, which belongs to another day, and will be never the lighter when it comes? Let us not pull that upon ourselves all together at once, which Providence has wisely ordered to be borne by parcels. The conclusion of this whole matter then is, that it is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that his disciples should not be their own tormentors, nor make their passage through this world more dark and unpleasant, by their apprehension of troubles, than God has made it by the troubles themselves. By our daily prayers we may procure strength to bear us up under our daily troubles, and to arm us against the temptations that attend them, and then let none of these things move us.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Be not anxious for your life ( ). 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.”
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 is from , , because care or anxiety distracts and divides. It occurs in Christ’s rebuke to Martha for her excessive solicitude about something to eat (Lu 10:41). The notion of proper care and forethought appears in 1Cor 7:32; 1Cor 12:25; Phil 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 (, , ). 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 (, fling round ourselves in 31, , put on yourselves in 25).
For your life ( ). “Here stands for the life principle common to man and beast, which is embodied in the : the former needs food, the latter clothing” (McNeile). in the Synoptic Gospels occurs in three senses (McNeile): either the life principle in the body as here and which man may kill (Mr 3:4) or the seat of the thoughts and emotions on a par with and (Mt 22:37) and (Lu 1:46; cf. John 12:27; John 13:21) or something higher that makes up the real self (Matt 10:28; Matt 16:26). In Mt 16:25 (Lu 9:25) appears in two senses paradoxical use, saving life and losing it.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Take no thought [ ] . The cognate noun is merimna, care, which was formerly derived from meriv, a part; merixw, to divide; and was explained accordingly as a dividing care, distracting the heart from the true object of life. This has been abandoned, however, and the word is placed in a group which carries the common notion of earnest thoughtfulness. It may include the ideas of worry and anxiety, and may emphasize these, but not necessarily. See, for example, “careth for the things of the Lord” (1Co 7:32). “That the members should have the same care one for another” (1Co 12:25). “Who will care for your state ?” (Phi 2:20). In all these the sense of worry would be entirely out of place. In other cases that idea is prominent, as, “the care of this world,” which chokes the good seed (Mt 13:22, compare Luk 8:14). Of Martha; “Thou are careful” (Luk 10:41). Take thought, in this passage, was a truthful rendering when the A. V. was made, since thought was then used as equivalent to anxiety or solicitude. So Shakespeare (” Hamlet “) :
“The native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought.”
And Bacon (Henry vii) : “Hawis, an alderman of London, was put in trouble, and died with thought and anguish.” Somers’ “Tracts” (in Queen Elizabeth’s reign) : “Queen Catherine Parr died rather of thought.”
The word has entirely lost this meaning. Bishop Lightfoot (” On a Fresh Revision of the New Testament “) says : “I have heard of a political economist alleging this passage 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.” It is uneasiness and worry about the future which our Lord condemns here, and therefore Rev. rightly translates be not anxious. This phase of the word is forcibly brought out in 1Pe 5:7, where the A. V. ignores the distinction between the two kinds of care. “Casting all your care (merimnan, Rev., anxiety) upon Him, for He careth [ ] for you,” with a fatherly, tender, and provident care. ”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Therefore I say unto you,” (dia touto lego humin) Therefore I instruct you all;” In the light of what has been said, about the vanity of laying up riches and making an idol or mammon of materialism, since pursuit of such is hypocrisy, leads to perpetual astigmatism, (blindness) – or delimited vision of spiritual things, Mat 6:19-24.
2) “Take no thought for your life,” (me merimnate te psuche humon) “Do not be anxious for your life, Mat 6:31, all the time caring or concerned about material provisions to the point of distracting your mind from God, the Giver and sustainer of life, in whose Grace and mercies we live, move, and have our daily being, La 3:22, 23; Act 17:28. Do not be emotionally distraught or upset about food, raiment, and shelter, the three necessities of life, 1Sa 9:5; Php_4:6.
3) “What ye shall eat or what ye shall drink:” (ti phagete he ti piete) “What you may eat or what you may drink,” though both are day by day needs. For “casting all our cares upon Him,” He cares for us; He has pledged to supply every daily need. Faith in God and His Word should drive anxious cares from any controlling dominance of the believer’s life, 1Pe 5:7; Heb 13:5-6.
4) “Nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.” (mede to somati humon ti endusesthe) “Nor for your body what you may wear or put on,” though clothes are necessary, they can not be secured by anxiety or distrust in the Lord, Luk 12:27-29. If God gives life and breath and salvation, will He withhold food?
5) “Is not the life more than meat,” (ouchi he psuche pleion estin ts trophes) “Is not the life (that you have) more than food,” or the life is more than food, isn’t it? This is in the nature of a rhetoric question, suggesting a yes or affirmative answer.
6) “And the body than raiment?” (kai to soma endumatos) “And is not the body that you have more than the raiment?” or the clothes that you wear? Life is more than just what you wear as clothes, isn’t it? is the idea conveyed. The life, body, spirit and soul belong to the Lord and He will surely take care of His own servants, His own property, 1Co 6:19-20; Psa 37:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Throughout the whole of this discourse, Christ reproves that excessive anxiety, with which men torment themselves, about food and clothing, and, at the same time, applies a remedy for curing this disease. When he forbids them to be anxious, this is not to be taken literally, as if he intended to take away from his people all care. We know that men are born on the condition of having some care; and, indeed, this is not the least portion of the miseries, which the Lord has laid upon us as a punishment, in order to humble us. But immoderate care is condemned for two reasons: either because in so doing men tease and vex themselves to no purpose, by carrying their anxiety farther than is proper or than their calling demands; or because they claim more for themselves than they have a right to do, and place such a reliance on their own industry, that they neglect to call upon God. We ought to remember this promise: though unbelievers shall “rise up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread of sorrows,” yet believers will obtain, through the kindness of God, rest and sleep, (Psa 127:2.) Though the children of God are not free from toil and anxiety, yet, properly speaking, we do not say that they are anxious about life: because, through their reliance on the providence of God, they enjoy calm repose.
Hence it is easy to learn, how far we ought to be anxious about food Each of us ought to labor, as far as his calling requires and the Lord commands; and each of us ought to be led by his own wants to call upon God. Such anxiety holds an intermediate place between indolent carelessness and the unnecessary torments by which unbelievers kill themselves. But if we give proper attention to the words of Christ, we shall find, that he does not forbid every kind of care, but only what arises from distrust. Be not anxious, says he, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink That belongs to those who tremble for fear of poverty or hunger, as if they were to be in want of food every moment.
Mat 6:25
. Is not the life of more value than food? He argues from the greater to the less. He had forbidden them to be excessively anxious about the way in which life might be supported; and he now assigns the reason. The Lord, who has given life itself, will not suffer us to want what is necessary for its support. And certainly we do no small dishonor to God, when we fail to trust that he will give us necessary food or clothing; as if he had thrown us on the earth at random. He who is fully convinced, that the Author of our life has an intimate knowledge of our condition, will entertain no doubt that he will make abundant provision for our wants. Whenever we are seized by any fear or anxiety about food, let us remember, that God will take care of the life which he gave us.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat. 6:25. Therefore.Denoting a connection between the service of mammon and taking thought. Take no thought.Be not anxious (R.V.). Life.The Greek word is the same as that commonly rendered soul, and the passage is interesting as an example of its use in the wider sense, which includes the lower as well as the higher life (Plumptre.)
Mat. 6:26. Fowls.Old English for birds.
Mat. 6:27. Stature.The Greek word admits either this meaning (as in Luk. 19:3, and perhaps Luk. 2:52), or that of age (as in Joh. 9:21; Joh. 9:23, and Heb. 11:24). The latter best satisfies the teaching of the context. Men are not anxious about adding to their stature. They are often anxious about prolonging their life (Plumptre).
Mat. 6:28. Lilies of the field.The hill-sides of Galilee are clothed in spring, not only with what we call lilies, but with the crown imperial, and the golden amaryllis, and crimson tulips, and anemones of all shades from scarlet to white, to say nothing of the commoner buttercups and dandelions and daisies; and all these are probably classed roughly together under the generic name of lilies (ibid.). Dr. Thomson (Land and Book, p. 256), thinks the Hleh lily is meant, but Canon Tristram (Natural History of the Bible) claims this honour for the beautiful and varied anemone coronaria.
Mat. 6:30. The grass of the field.The wild flowers which form part of the meadow growth, are counted as belonging to the grass, and are cut down with it. Cut grass which soon withers from the heat, is still used in the East for firing (Alford). The oven.A large round pot of earthen or other materials, two or three feet high, narrow towards the top. This being first heated by a fire made within, the dough or paste was spread upon the sides to bake, thus forming cakes (Abbott).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 6:25-34
The perils of prudence.Covetousness is one thing, prudence is another. The one craves more than enough. The other is satisfied with a competency. Can it ever be wrong for us to labour for this? Especially, can it be so, when our labours are undertaken not so much for ourselves as for others? It may be so, even in that caseso the Saviour teaches us hereif the spirit in which we do so be that of distraction and doubt. Even in being prudent, never be anxious as well. Four times over, in slightly differing forms, this counsel is given us here (Mat. 6:25; Mat. 6:28; Mat. 6:31; Mat. 6:34). The considerations which here support it may be put down as three. Never be anxious because such anxiety is:
I. Wholly uncalled for.Wholly uncalled for, in the first place, by the nature of the case. He who gave the life and made the body can do for both all that is needed. If the original and greater was in His power, much more is the subsequent and the less. It cannot be impossible for Him to provide raiment and food (Mat. 6:25)! Wholly uncalled for, next, by anything taught us from the observation of nature. In the creatures God has made we see living evidence of the non-necessity for such anxiety. The fowls of the air (Mat. 6:26) are not anxious, the lilies of the field (Mat. 6:28) cannot be, yet their wants are supplied. May not those, therefore, who are better than they (Mat. 6:26) look without anxiety for the same? May not they rely on the Fatherly hand which thus reaches beneath them, to reach as low as them too? Not called for, lastly, by the nature of the resources which have been placed in our hands. What can we do with the powers possessed by us, to provide with certainty for ourselves? Will any amount of anxiety suffice to make us certain as to the supply of our needs? Will it add to our stature? Will it lengthen our lives? (so some). Much less can it do for us what we see God do for the flowers, when, without anxiety on their part, and although they are but for a day, He clothes them with a degree of glory which the most favoured of men cannot obtain for themselves. Why, in a word, should we suppose ourselves called to attempt what He has made us unable to do? Rather, why should we suppose, what such anxiety implies, that He has left that task on our hands?
II. Most dishonouring to our Father.Dishonouring, on the one hand, because it reflects on His power. To be anxious is to imply that He cannot do what He has undertaken to do; or, that there are doubts about it at least. It is to regard Him as having done the greater, but as being incompetent for the less. It is to limit the Holy One of Israel (Psa. 78:41), a grievous sin indeed, in regard to His ability to provide. And to be, in a word, like those disciples of Christ at a subsequent date, who, after seeing their Master twice over feed thousands of men by His word, thought He was blaming them for having forgotten to provide for a few (Mat. 16:7). Can He give bread also, or provide flesh for His people? There is more than doubt, there is the spirit of complaint, in that question. Dishonouring, on the other hand, because it reflects on Gods love. Those heathen people (Mat. 6:32) who did not know God as He is, might be almost excused, if not wholly pardoned, for the questions they asked (Mat. 6:31). Not so those professed disciples who are here addressed by the Saviour. These He had taught, only a little before, to address God as their Father in heaven; and, therefore, to ask from Him, as being such, the daily supply of their wants. For Him, therefore, to know their wantsas of course He did, being their Father in heavenwas also, of course, being their Father, to care for and supply them. And for such, therefore, to be anxious about them was to deny both of these truths. What would become of His love, indeed, if He could and knew, yet omitted to do?
III. Most injurious to ourselves.Most injurious because doubly so, and in two different ways. Most injurious, first, because of that of which we deprive ourselves in this way. Putting the kingdom of God first, and leaving all else in His hands, is to obtain that kingdom, and all its happy righteousness, and all these other things too. For God Himself in that case is pleased to add them to us so far as this can be, and is well. On the other hand, to seek these other things first and be anxious therefore about them, is to gain them in appearance only, if to gain them at all; and to miss altogether that kingdom of God which should have been sought by us first. Most injurious, in the next place, because of that which we attain to thereby. For what is it that we are really doing when we are thus anticipating the evils of the future, and when our present thoughts are thus taken up with the possible evils of to-morrow? We are making those possibilities, by so doing, the certain evils of to-day. And we are voluntarily adding them, by so doing, to what are great enough as it is! So exactly opposite, therefore, both in spirit and issue, are the two courses in view. God, in the one case, whilst giving us His chiefest blessing, adds others beside. We, in the other case, whilst keeping our daily troubles, add others beside!
The best application of this teaching is that of the Saviour Himself. Seek His kingdomseek it firstseek it just as it is. This seems the special significance of the word righteousness in this case. For what in fact, and in strict essence, is the kingdom of God? The Apostle shall tell us: It is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17). So also the psalmist has spoken (Psa. 85:10), so the prophet averred (Isa. 32:17). There is a seeking of the kingdom in which these things are forgotten. That is no seeking at all, or rather it is seeking a kingdom which cannot exist. Only where we are seeking peace through the blood of the cross; only where, as a proof of this, we are led by the Spirit, are our feet really on the way to that kingdom which can never be moved (Heb. 12:28).
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat. 6:25-34. Distrustful anxiety.This distrustful anxiety for food and raiment in time to come, which is a branch of covetousness, covered with the appearance of necessity, our Lord refutes by eight reasons.
1. God, who hath given life, which is more than food, will take care to provide food for maintenance of life, so long as He hath appointed life to continue; and God, who hath framed the body, which is more worth than the raiment, will also provide a garment.
2. God, who provides food for birds and fowls, will certainly provide for His own children.
3. Anxious care about the success of means cannot produce any good effect; therefore it should not be entertained, for even when a man hath eaten, he cannot make himself stronger or more tall than it shall please God to dispose.
4. God doth clothe the grass and flowers of the field with more colours than all the glory which Solomons garments had; therefore anxiety in Gods children for food and raiment (as if God were not careful for them) is unlawful.
5. Anxious seeking of the things of this earth is the fault of the Gentiles, who are destitute of the knowledge of God and ignorant of these heavenly things prepared for His children; therefore Christians, who are better instructed, should eschew this godless anxiety.
6. Christians are not fatherless, nor is their Father ignorant, unable or careless about them.
7. You have the kingdom of God and His righteousness whereupon to bestow your first and chiefest cares, which, if you seek after earnestly, ye shall not need to be anxious for food or raiment, or any other needful thing on earth, for all these things shall be superadded unto the grant of your chief desires.
8. The morrow shall bring with it troublesome cares of its own; and the day, or the time present, hath sufficient trouble by itself; therefore neither time present nor time to come should be rendered more miserable by anxious anticipating of troublesome cares before they come.David Dickson.
Undue anxiety reproved, and the chief good urged, in the kingdom of God.Therefore introduces the winding up of the argument respecting the unity of aim, of purpose, of object, of life, which Jesus Christ has been earnestly urging in the previous verses.
I. A prohibition.Take no thought, etc. The Bible teaches us, and the instinct of self-preservation binds us, and self-respect constrains us to the wisdom of foresight. We are made to look forward. We are naturally anticipative. But Jesus Christ speaks of a very common evilan undue anxiety and care. To be careful is good, but to be full of care is ruinous. Take no excessive or harassing thought for the morrow, because:
1. It is injurious to yourselves.It makes you unhappy; it confuses your mind; it clouds your perceptions; it ages you; it breaks you down; it is inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity.
2. It incapacitates you for lifes success.Success in life depends upon the wholesome restfulness of the mind.
3. It is a sin against God.It is a sign of distrust; it ignores His fatherly care; and it gives the lie to His precious promises.
II. The reasons adduced for such a prohibition.
III. The divine command enforced.But seek ye first the kingdom of God, etc. This is the positive side of duty. We are taught
1. That seeking the kingdom must be our chief concern.
2. That this search shall be rewarded.All these things shall be added unto you. Providence will be your mighty partner and helper in the business. Other things being equal, says Livermore, the good man prospers better in worldly affairs than the bad man. All vices are expensive and losing, as all the virtues are gainful and thrifty. Godliness is profitable unto all things, etc.J. Harries.
Mat. 6:26-30. Nature and natures God.Perhaps the first thought that occurs as one recalls these words, is the unbounded admiration which our Lord manifested for the world of nature. Of Tauler, the mystic, it is recorded that his constant custom was to wander in the convent garden with his monks hood well drawn over his face and his eyes partially closed, lest the sight of the flowers might disturb his meditation. But, though Tauler was a true Christian and one to whom the fifteenth century owed a great debt of gratitude, for the seeds of the reformation were already sown in his heart, he was in this respect utterly unlike his Master. If, then, we give ourselves up to the thoughtful admiration of the world in which we live; if we open our eyes to see its beauty, and, from the more or less sordid and belittling enterprises in which we are called to take part, let our hearts go out with wistful gladness to the good and beautiful works of God, we are following in the footsteps of the Master Himself; and as He pleased God in this as in all respects, so do we please Him when we admire the works of His hands. More than this, we train our spirits to rise above the common circumstances of our lot into thoughts of illimitable freedom and range. I think one great value of these beautiful words consists in this, that they show us very clearly the two vital characteristics which distinguished Christs delight in nature from that of most men.
I. He saw Gods hand in the visible creation.In everything around Him He saw tokens which told Him God had been at work, making all things beautiful in their season.
II. He saw how infinitely more precious in Gods sight is the human soul than all these works of His hands.If God so clothe the grass, etc.G. E. Troup, M.A.
Mat. 6:26. Gods children and the fowls.
I. We excel the fowls of the air in regard of the better circumstances we are in to provide for our wants than they: for that we can and are allowed to sow, and reap, and gather into barns, which they cannot do.
II. But these words, Are ye not much better than they? signify likewise the greater dignity of men above fowls, and that upon that account likewise they may expect to be more immediately taken care of by Gods providence.Jas. Blair, M.A.
Mat. 6:27. Anxiety hurtful to life and youth.The word which we translate stature signifies likewise age, and especially the most flourishing time of ones age, when we are in the prime of our youth and strength. The bare adding a cubit to the stature seems uncouth, and a thing which the anxious man would not desire, whereas the adding to life, especially the youthful and prosperous time of it, is a thing which most men would desire.
I. Anxiety, as to the world is needless, as neither adding to life, nor to the comfortable part of it, but is rather hurtful to both. Example, 1Sa. 25:37.
II. A cheerfulness and resignation, which are quite contrary to anxiety, are of great use in all the parts of life (Pro. 17:22.)
1. Whatsoever troubles beset us, they are either things within our power to remedy or not. If they are within cur power to remedy, there is no temper of mind so fit to apply those remedies, as the cheerful, resigned temper. But that it may more distinctly be apprehended what advantage this temper has above the solicitous and anxious one, to wrestle with the difficulties of life, I shall instance some particulars which unfit the anxious man for going cheerfully through the business of life, but are easily overcome by the cheerful man who puts his trust in Gods providence.
(1) He who believes a concurrence of divine providence with his own endeavours, acts with another sort of life and vigour than the man that goes only upon his own skill and strength (see 1Sa. 17:45).
(2) As the man, who is free from anxiety goes upon his business with more courage, so he takes much more pleasure and satisfaction in it.
(3) If difficulties and troubles occur in business, the anxious man, instead of bearing them with patience, magnifies and multiplies them in his own mind, by his disturbed imagination and illboding fears; whereas the man, who is clear from anxiety, has a great deal of reason still to hope for the best; and though he cannot see through all the intricacy and difficulty in his affairs, yet being conscious to himself of the honesty and goodness of his designs, and having a firm, implicit faith in God, he is not discomposed in his thoughts, knowing that God, if He sees it best for him, will bring to pass whatever he is about; or if He sees it will prove to his hurt will disappoint him in that particular, but will answer his expectation in general, and make all things co-operate for his good (Psa. 37:3, etc.).
2. There are a great many other troubles which are altogether out of our reach, and which we can no way think of removing, and must therefore be patiently endured, if we intend any peace and quiet with respect to them. Now as to all these, the man who is free from anxious and solicitous thoughts has much the advantage, from the temper of his mind, to live easy and quiet under them.Jas. Blair, M.A.
Mat. 6:28. The lessons of the lilies.I. Consider the liliesand identify little things with Gods care.Can you make a lily? You cannot make a sun; can you make one drop of dew? God writes minutely as well as largely. He writes the great letters of the stars; He writes also the small letters of the violets and daisies.
II. Consider the liliesand see the superiority of the natural over the artificial.Let the glorious dress of the king represent the artificial. God makes the original; man makes the copy. For all originalitymental and moral, as well as physicalwe must go to the Father.
III. Consider the liliesand look on things beneath, as well as on things above.Look for God when thou lookest at the dust. The dust is alive with the life of God.
IV. Consider the liliesand have faith in your Father.Think of God clothing the grass and forgetting the child! It is impossible. Let a lily detach itself from its root, and it must perish. So with man. Let him cut himself off from God, and he will become as a withered and driven leaf.J. Parker, D.D.
Flowers.We are now at school. Surrounded by educational agencies and influences. Chief lesson-book the Bible. But we have another of Gods lesson-books in nature. Nature a book of illustrations of biblical truth. Christ used it freely. Would have us use it too. The seasons replete with instruction and suggestiveness. Summer, the season of flowers. Not only do they adorn our gardens, but make a variegated embroidery on the green mantle of our meadows and commons. Whether we will or not they influence us. But our will is to be brought into action. We are to consider the lilies. It was evidently to wild flowers that Christ called the attention of His discipleslilies of the field. Palestine a land of flowers. We may regard Christ as directing attention to all the floral world, using the specific for the generic.
Your voiceless lips, O Flowers, are living preachers,
Each cup a pulpit, and each leaf a book.
I. Flowers manifest Gods love of beauty.They are embodiments of divine ideas and sentiments. We manifest a God-like quality when we admire what is really beautiful in nature or art. God delights in the beauty of holiness. In His beloved Son He was well-pleased because He was perfect in this respect. And He delights in us in proportion as we resemble Him.
II. Flowers exhibit Gods exceeding generosityHis bountifulness.Mary Howitt has said:
God might have made the earth bring forth
Enough for great and small,
The oak tree and the cedar tree,
Without a flower at all.
He might have made things grow enough
For every want of ours,
For luxury, medicine, and toil,
And yet have made no flowers.
William Wilberforce used to call flowers, the smiles of Gods goodness, and a poet has described them as Gods thoughts of beauty taking form, to gladden mortal gaze. They testify to the happiness of the ever-blessed God and to His desire that we should participate in it.
III. Flowers teach Gods loving care of all His creaturesthe small as well as the great.This is the lesson which our Lord specially enforced. We are despondent; we should be trustful and contented.
IV. Flowers speak to us of resurrection and immortality.Though the flowers pass away with the summer, the next summer will see the face of the earth enamelled and adorned again. And there will be an important connection between the life and beauty of the next year and the decay and death of this. Thus, the flowers are
Emblems of our own great resurrection,
Emblems of the bright and better land.
H. M. Booth.
Mat. 6:33. Geography, arithmetic and grammar. (To boys.)
I. Geography tells us where to find places. Where is the kingdom of God? Heaven is only the capital of the kingdom of God; the Bible is the guide-book to it; the church is the weekly parade of those who belong to it. The kingdom of God is within you. Every kingdom has its exports, its products. What comes from the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy.
II. Arithmetic.Are there any arithmetic words in the text? First, added.
1. You see at once why Christ tells us to seek these firstbecause they are the best worth seeking. Do you know anything better than these three things, anything happier, purer, nobler? If you do, seek them first. But if you do not, seek first the kingdom of God. It is not worth seeking the kingdom of God unless you seek it first. Suppose you take the helm out of a ship and hang it over the bows, and send that ship to sea, will it ever reach the other side? Certainly not. It will drift about anyhow. Keep religion in its place, and it will take you straight through life, and straight to your Father in heaven when life is over. But if you do not put it in its place you may just as well have nothing to do with it. There was a boy in Glasgow apprenticed to a gentleman who made telegraphs. The gentleman told me this himself. One day this boy was up on the top of a four-story house with a number of men fixing up a telegraph wire. The work was all but done. It was getting late, and the men said they were going away home, and the boy was to nip off the ends of the wire himself. Before going down they told him to be sure to go back to the workshop, when he was finished, with his masters tools. Do not leave any of them lying about, whatever you do, said the foreman. The boy climbed up the pole and began to nip off the ends of the wire. It was a very cold winter night, and the dusk was gathering. He lost his hold and fell upon the slates, slid down, and then over into the air, down almost to the ground. A clothes rope stretched across the green on to which he was just about to fall, caught him on the chest and broke his fall; but the shock was terrible, and he lay unconscious amongst some clothes upon the green. An old woman came out; seeing her rope broken and the clothes all soiled, thought the boy was drunk, shook him, scolded him, and went for the policeman. And the boy with the shaking came back to consciousness, rubbed his eyes, got upon his feet. What do you think he did? He staggered, half blind, away up the stairs. He climbed the ladder. He got on to the roof of the house. He gathered up his tools, put them into his basket, took them down, and when he got to the ground again fainted dead away. Just then the policeman came, saw there was something seriously wrong, and carried him away to the infirmary, where he recovered after some time, and is now doing well. What was his first thought at that terrible moment? His duty! He was not thinking of himself; he was thinking about his master. First the kingdom of God.
2. But there is another arithmetic word, added. Very few people know the difference between addition and subtraction when they begin to talk about religion. They always tell boys that if they seek the kingdom of God everything else is to be subtracted from them. I do not mean by added that if you become religious you are all going to become rich. God pays in better coin.
III. Grammar.What is the verb? Seek. What mood is it in? The imperative mood. It is a thing that must be done, because we are commanded to do it by our Captain.Prof. H. Drummond.
The righteousness of the kingdom.Our Lord carries His principle (ch. Mat. 5:17-18) all round the practical life of man, and points out how in every part of conduct He heightens obligation. But this is all summed up under two more general characteristics which are to mark all righteousness of His kingdom.
I. The first of these characteristics is that so far from being lax it was to exceed the righteousness of the most exemplary of their contemporaries, the scribes and Pharisees. Notice the prominence given in Mat. 5:20 to the word . Except your righteousness exceed that of those whom you regard as irreproachable, ye shall in no case, etc.
1. The externality of Pharisaic righteousness is in Christs kingdom to be exchanged for inwardness (Mat. 5:21, etc., Mat. 6:15, etc.). The Pharisee may have the right outward appearance; but, after all, this may be only the fleece laid on, not produced from the animals nature, the fruit artificially adhering where it never grew.
2. The righteousness of the kingdom of God is to exceed that of the Pharisees in spontaneity. What the Pharisee did he did on compulsion. Our Lord lays His finger on this damning blot in Mat. 6:2, etc., (hypocrites). Delitzsch, in one of his little tracts, draws a picture of a Jerusalem Pharisee contriving that he should be surprised by the hour of prayer in the open street, and straightway girding on his ponderous phylacteries, and making his prostrations. What is done through fear or compulsion, or with a selfish end in view, rises no higher than its source.
II. The righteousness of Christs kingdom was also to exceed the righteousness currently required among men (Mat. 5:46-47). Christians are not to be content with rivalling natural and everyday virtues. There must be a principle in virtue which applies to the whole of man and to the whole of life; which creates virtues where before there were none, which touches human nature at its roots, and radically purifies and ennobles it.Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D).
The chief object of pursuit.
I. There is an order and relative value in the objects of our human pursuit.Very much of the confusion and mistake of life comes from the inversion of the true order. We are placed at grave disadvantage in deciding the relative merit of the claims made on our thought and time by the disturbing influence of sin. The pleasant rules us rather than the right. But in our text our Lord says: There is one great end and purpose in your being, and that you must put the very first of all. There may be intermediate ends and objects which rightly call for your attention, but there is one which must never be forgotten. You were made for God, to love Him, to serve Him, to praise Him, to live in fellowship with Him, to do and to bear His holy will. Seek ye first His kingdom and righteousness. The true order then of our human pursuits is: first, God; second, others; third, self. Or to express it in another form: first, righteousness; second, duty; third, pleasure. Confuse or misplace these, and your life can never unfold into its perfect beauty. The kingdom of God is this: The rule of God over every part of our being, and over every aspect of our relationship. When, therefore, our Lord urges us to seek first the kingdom, we may express His meaning in words of our own and say: Seek to do everything thou doest as unto God. Nay, more, in everything strive to be like God. Seek His righteousness as well as His kingdom.
II. That which is worthy to be the first object of human pursuit ought to be always in its first place.The rudder sways to either side by the movement of the waves; it needs a firm hand ever upon the wheel, to hold it so that the prow shall point for the harbour. Firm, constantly renewed resolve is needed in order to hold our soul, steadily and continuously moving amid the winds and waves and currents of life, towards righteousness and God. The psalmist says, I have set the Lord alway before me. Can we then estimate some of these hindering influences against which we need to be on our guard, and against which we should anxiously and persistently strive? Three things claim our notice:
1. The intensity of business may repress the endeavour to live an earnest life for God.
2. The fulness of living in our times makes it hard to live our life really setting God and righteousness first.
3. The current of public opinion is often against setting the kingdom of God first. He who would follow the Lord fully must dare to be singular.Weekly Pulpit.
Mat. 6:34. Crossing the bridge before you come to it.The sin of borrowing trouble. Such a habit of mind and heart is wrong:
I. Because it puts one into a despondency that ill fits him for duty.Our dispositions, like our plants, need sunshine.
II. Because it has a tendency to make us overlook present blessing.
III. Because the present is sufficiently taxed with trial.God sees that we all need a certain amount of trouble, and so He apportions it for all the days and years of our life.
IV. Because it unfits us for misfortune when it actually does come.
V. Because it is unbelief.T. De W. Talmage, D.D.
Anxiety for the morrow forbidden.
I. The precept by way of antithesis or opposition to anxiety. Take therefore no thought, etc. There is a certain care for the future which is proper for the present time. The Israelites gathered a double portion of manna on the sixth day, to serve them both for that day and the following Sabbath. This precept I take to be only a prohibition of those cares, which are more proper for the future than for the present time. We are not to think it unlawful, if God gives us opportunity, to lay up for sickness or old age, or for the provision of wife and children, so that it be done without anxiety or carking care.
II. The enforcement of this precept.The reasons are two:
1. That the morrow, or future time, when it comes, will be more proper to take care of its own matters than any time at a distance from it.
(1) It is not certain we shall ever see this future time, for which we are so anxious and solicitous, and in that case all our labour is like to be lost.
(2) It is impossible, supposing we may live to that time, to foresee so long before what circumstances we shall then be in, so as to answer them exactly by all our pre-anxiety.
(3) It is very possible, if we take our aim in the dark, that we may do more hurt than good by the methods we shall lay down.
(4) Our circumstances may chance so much to alter, that when we come to that futurity itself, and to see all the circumstances of it in a true light, we shall then wish that we had taken other measures, and shall begin to pull down what with all our anxiety we had been building up.
2. That the present time has enough to do with its own cares. Sufficient unto the day, etc.Jas. Blair, M.A.
Be not anxious for the morrow.No precept of divine wisdom has found so many echoes in the wisdom of the world. Epicurean self-indulgence, Stoic apathy, practical common-sense, have all preached the same lesson, and bidden men to cease their questionings about the future. That which was new in our Lords teaching was the ground on which the precept rested. It was not simply the carpe diemmake the most of the presentof the seeker after a maximum of enjoyment (Hor., Od., I. xi. 8) nor the acceptance by mans will of an inevitable destiny, nor the vain struggle to rise above that inevitable fate. Men were to look forward to the future calmly, to avoid the temper
Over exquisite
To cast the fashion of uncertain evils,
because they had a Father in heaven who cared for each one of them with a personal and individualising love.E. H. Plumptre, D.D.
The sunset limit.Of all the blessed guards placed by Holy Scripture along the Christians way to keep him from presumption, on the one hand, or despair, on the other, the most divinely helpful is the sunset limit. If we obey with childlike simplicity our Saviours command: Take no [anxious] thought for the morrow, all the intolerable part of the burden is lifted from us. We can bear whatever comes to us between the suns rise and set, for alongside of this command about taking no thought beyond the day stands a starry promiseis there not always a promise waiting upon a command?that as thy days, so shall thy strength be.Christian World Pulpit.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(25) Take no thought.The Greek word some times thus translated, and sometimes by care or be careful (1Co. 7:32-34; Php. 2:20; Php. 4:6), expresses anxiety, literally, the care which distracts us. And this was, in the sixteenth century, the meaning of the English phrase take thought. Of this we have one example in 1Sa. 9:5; other examples of it are found in Shakespeare, take thought, and die for Csar (Julius Csar, ii. 1), or Bacon (Henry the Eighth, p. 220), who speaks of a man dying with thought and anguish before his case was heard. The usage of the time, therefore, probably led the translators of 1611 to choose the phrase, as stronger than the be not careful which in this passage stood in all previous versions. The changing fortune of words has now made it weaker, and it would be better to substitute over-careful or over-anxious. The temper against which our Lord warns His disciples is not that of foresight, which merely provides for the future, but the allowing ourselves to be harassed and vexed with its uncertainties. To take thought in the modern sense is often the most effectual safeguard (next to the higher defence of trust in God) against taking thought in the older.
For your life.The Greek word is the same as that commonly rendered soul, and the passage is interesting as an example of its use in the wider sense which includes the lower as well as the higher life. (Comp. Mat. 10:39; Mat. 16:25; Mar. 3:4, et at.) We note in the form of the precept the homeliness of the cases selected as illustration. We hear the language of One who speaks to peasants with their simple yet pressing wants, not to the wider cares of the covetous or ambitious of a higher grade.
Is not the life more than meat, . . .?The reasoning is fortiori. God has given you the greater, can you not trust Him to give you also the less? In some way or other there will come food to sustain life, and clothing for the body, and men should not so seek for more as to be troubled about them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Therefore Since it is God’s part, like a true master, to care for us. Take no thought This rendering of the Greek, ( , merimna, distraction, distrust,) is in itself too strong. The Greek word is derived from the verb , merizo, to divide, and implies the distraction of mind between different feelings; or rather, between the true God and the world-god of Gentilism. Let there be no half-and-half distraction of your mind between the two masters, by which anxiety for worldly good shall prevent your complete trust in God. Your anxiety is just so much belief that wealth is safer than God, and Mammon a better master than Christ.
What ye shall eat The questions here condemned should be carefully understood. They are not the questions asked by a housewife who has a dinner to provide to-day; nor the questions of an industrious householder who has a family to feed. These provident queries are a rightful duty, and to furnish the solid answer is its proper performance. The prohibited questions ask not properly how shall I be supplied, but shall I be supplied at all. The questions thus prohibited are questions of infidel distrust asked by a Mammon worshipper, who is called upon to become a man of faith, but is afraid he will thereby lose his earthly living. For all these distrusts our Lord is about to furnish the true, magnanimous, consoling answer. Venture the holy investment; trust in God, and do duty. Life meat body raiment Will not he who gave the better, furnish also the inferior? If God gave life and body, will he not give food and raiment?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
a “Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious for your life,
b What you shall eat, or what you shall drink,
b Nor yet for your body, what you shall put on.
b Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the clothing?
c Behold the birds of the heaven,
b That they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
b And your heavenly Father feeds them.
b Are you not of much more value then they?
a And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his measure (of his life or of his stature’)?
There is here a secondary analysis for in ‘a’ being anxious for their lives parallels their inability to increase the length of their lives by being anxious, in ‘b’ concern about food and clothing, followed by a question about the value of life parallels their Father feeding the birds followed by a question about their value, while in ‘c’ interest is centred on the basis of the illustration.
This brings out that the next thing that the disciples have to beware of is being anxious about relatively unimportant matters. They are to consider that there is much more to life than food and clothing, and that their inner life is much more important than both. Thus they should not be clamouring about a seeming shortage of food and clothing (as Israel did in the wilderness), but concentrating on the satisfactory maintenance of their inner life. We can compare here Mat 4:4 where the food that gives life is the word that comes from God’s mouth. Thus they must consider that to some extent this temptation to be concerned about food and clothing is the same as the one He overcame. And He will then go on to explain that just as God fed and clothed His people at the time when those words were said (Deu 2:7), so He will feed His people now. Note the relation of life to eating and the body to clothing. Food sustains the inner life, clothing covers the outer body. But both inward and outward needs physical need can be left to God for provide at the time when He feels suitable. They should rather be concerned about the inward food of the word of God (Mat 4:4), and the outer clothing of righteousness (Mat 6:33). To be consumed with anxiety can only hinder the effects of both
Let them rather then consider the birds of the heaven. They neither sow, nor reap, nor harvest. But the disciples’ heavenly Father feeds them. There may be a play here on the term ‘heaven’. The birds are in a sense ‘of heaven’, but those in the Kingly Rule of Heaven under their ‘Heavenly’ Father are to be seen as even more important than they. They are the true sons of Heaven. But whether that inference is there or not the basic idea is there, for they are certainly seen to be of more value than the birds of heaven. Thus they can be sure that their Heavenly Father Who takes such care of the birds, who do nothing in order to produce their food (most present would no doubt visualise the picture of the birds flying down and picking up the seed as they sowed (Mat 13:4), just like the poor are allowed to do with the grain that results – Deu 23:25. God thus makes provision for all), will equally certainly take good care of them, as they work hard for their daily provision. The emphasis is on ‘not being anxious’ because their Father will provide, not on their working or not working to obtain their food and clothing. It is on the fact that in the end all things come from above, from the One Who gives sun and rain to ripen the Harvest.
Behind these words may also be the thought of how in the Old Testament God fed Elijah by means of the birds of Heaven (1Ki 17:4; 1Ki 17:6), who were thus so well provided for that they could feed Elijah. And also how He twice fed His people in the wilderness by bringing the birds of Heaven to them (Exo 16:13; Num 11:31-32), which demonstrated that His people were of more value than the quails.
And the whole then ends with a reminder to them that they cannot change the length of their lives, for their lives are in His hands (while the implication is that He can). What then is the point of their being anxious about their physical lives?
‘Can add one cubit to his life (or his stature)’? Helikia can refer to either age (e.g. Heb 11:11) or stature (Luk 19:2; compare Luk 2:52 where it can be either). ‘Cubit’ (a length measurement) may seem to suggest the length of an object, but outside sources do in fact speak of a ‘cubit of time’; and we can compare with this Psa 39:5 where ‘a handbreadth’ is used to describe the length of days. So the usage for length of life would not be unique, and this interpretation fits better with the parallel, ‘Do not be anxious for your life’ (Mat 6:25). There may even be the implication behind it of possible martyrdom.
On the other hand growth in stature, which also comes from God, may refer to man’s longings to ‘stand tall’. Perhaps it is even at this stage a reminder that any progress that they make in life comes from the hand of God. But this would then be to introduce a concept which is not followed up, whereas length of life also fits better with what follows as contrasting with the shortness of life of the grass of the field (Mat 6:30).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
We Are Not To be Taken Up With Concern About Our Daily Needs, But Are To Ensure That Our Concern Is Fixed On Seeking God’s Kingly Rule And The Establishment On Earth of His Righteousness (6:25-34).
Having dealt with how His disciples should view their possessions, Jesus now turns to the danger of their being taken up with their needs, bringing out two opposing problems. Some stumble because they enjoy too much, others because they have not enough. We can compare here Pro 30:9; ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the bread of my portion, lest I be full and deny you, and say, “Who is the Lord?”, or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God’. Jesus provides the answer to both these problems, the answer to the first has been to lay up their treasure in Heaven, the answer to the second is now to trust their heavenly Father for His provision. For once they are committed to their Father, and to the Kingly Rule of Heaven, their ‘needs’ are not things that should concern them, for the simple reason that they can be sure that God as their Father in Heaven knows their needs and will provide for them. They must therefore concentrate their attention on seeking to establish His Kingly Rule and the introduction of His righteousness into the world (Mat 6:33).
Analysis.
a
a B What you shall eat, or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on (Mat 6:25 b).
b C Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the clothing? (Mat 6:25 c).
c D Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns (Mat 6:26 a).
c E And your heavenly Father feeds them (Mat 6:26 b).
d F Are you not of much more value then they? (Mat 6:26 c).
e A And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to the measure of his life (or ‘to his stature’)? And why are you anxious about clothing? (Mat 6:27-28 a).
f B Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin (Mat 6:28 b).
f C Yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory, was not ‘robed in splendour’ (arrayed) like one of these (Mat 6:29).
f E But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven (Mat 6:30 a).
f F Shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Mat 6:30 b).
e A Be not therefore anxious, saying (Mat 6:31 a).
e B What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? Or, With what shall we be clothed? (Mat 6:31 b).
d C For after all these things do the Gentiles seek (Mat 6:32 a).
c D For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things (Mat 6:32 b).
b E But seek you first his Kingly Rule, and his righteousness (Mat 6:33 a).
b F And all these things will be added to you (Mat 6:33 b).
a Do not therefore be anxious for the morrow, for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient to the day is its evil (Mat 6:34).
Note that in ‘a’ they are not to be anxious about their future needs, and in the parallel they are not to be anxious about tomorrow. In ‘b’ the life is more than food and the body than clothes, and in the parallel their concentration is to be on the Kingly Rule of God (eternal life) and on His righteousness (the covering of His people (Isa 61:10), the clothing of His bride (Rev 19:8)). In ‘c’ their Heavenly Father knows the needs of His creatures, and in the parallel their Heavenly Father knows the needs of His people. In ‘d’ they are of more value than the creatures (because they are His), while in the parallel the Gentiles seek all these things (because they are not). In ‘e’ they cannot by being anxious add to their length of life, why then be anxious about clothing, and in the parallel they are not to be anxious about what they will eat and wear. Centrally in ‘f’ let them note that the flowers are more gloriously arrayed than Solomon, while in the parallel they can be sure that God who clothes the vegetation, will also clothe them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Counsel against worry about food and clothing:
v. 25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat? and the body than raiment?
The connection of thought is this: Avarice flows out of distrust of God, and this distrust shows itself in anxious care. Avoid the one, and you are more likely to withstand the other. Incidentally, the warnings here given are more suitable to the circumstances of the disciples, whose concern would oftener be regarding the necessaries of life than the amassing of treasures. Take no thought, have no concern about, do not let it worry you. Food, even that necessary to sustain life, and clothing, even that demanded for warmth, shall not be objects for worry. Care divides and distracts the mind, causing that distrust which goes before denial. The argument of Christ is from the more to the less important: The natural life is more than the food which sustains it; and the body containing this life is more than the clothing which protects it. Can He therefore that gave the greater, the more important, not be trusted to give the less? Solicitous concern for food and clothing, then, not only forgets the Giver of all good gifts, but weakens the members of the body, so that they cannot properly perform the work of the daily calling.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 6:25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought, &c. Be not solicitous [and so wherever it occurs]. Is not the life more than food? The Greek , imports such anxietyas causes an intestine strife, by contrary reasonings with opposite hopes and fears. This is so strictly the sense of the original, that a word of the same derivation is used by our Lord, where he says, a kingdom divided against itself, , cannot stand, ch. Mat 12:25. So that this precept only forbids that perplexity and distraction of thought which are inconsistent with the single right intention, and interrupts our resignation to the divine will. St. Luke, in the parallel place, has made use of the Greek word , ch. Mat 12:29 which signifies to have a wavering and doubtful mind, disquieted and tossed about with mistrust and fear. See Mintert on the word. In this view there is no need to say, with Archbishop Tillotson, Dr. Clarke, and some others, that our Lord only addresses this to his Apostles, who were to cast themselves on an extraordinary Providence, without any ways concerning themselves for their support. Mr. Blair has well proved the contrary at large, in his appendix to his fourth Sermon, vol. 1: p. 55, &c. and it is easy to observe, that the arguments urged by our Lord contain nothing peculiar to their case, but are built on considerations applicable to all Christians. Compare Php 4:6 and 1Pe 5:7 as also Luk 22:35-36 and Act 20:34 whence it appears, that the Apostles themselves were not entirely to neglect a prudent care for their own subsistence, in dependence on miraculous provisions. Our Saviour, attentive to his main argument, proceeds in these verses to shew, that all the reasons by which worldly-mindedness is usually justified or palliated are entirely overthrown, by considering the power, perfection, and extent of the PROVIDENCE of God. This grand subject he handles in a manner suitable to its dignity, by proposing a few simple and obvious instances, wherein the provision which God has made for the least and weakest of his creatures shines forth illustriously, and forces on the mind the strongest conviction of that wise fatherly care, which our gracious God takes of all the works of his hands. From what they were at that instant beholding, the birds of the air, the lilies, the grass of the field, he led even the most illiterate of his hearers to form a more elevated and extensive notion of the divine government than the philosophers attained to; who, though they allowed in the general that the world was ruled by God, had but confused conceptions of his providence, which many of them denied to respect every individual creature and action. OurDivine Prophet taught, that the great Father Almighty has every single being in his hand, and that all things are absolutely subjected to his will. This notion of Providence affords a solid ground, with constant dependence also on divine grace, for supporting that rational trust in God, which is one of the highest and best acts of the human mind, and furnishes us at all times with one of the strongest motives to holiness and virtue.
Far be it from me to widen the narrow ways prescribed in the Gospel! but to make them narrower than the literal sense imports, will render them quite unpassable. It is the glorious privilege even of men engaged in business and the tumult of the world (as the best Christians sometimes are), to be delivered from all entanglements of mind in respect to their secular interests, and from all anxiety and disquietude about future events, even where their reputation, or their fortune, or perhaps both, are at stake. This privilege every Christian is bound to look for,and may expect from the almighty grace of God; but it is to be obtained by the means alone of faith and habitual devotion. On the contrary, to say absolutely, Take no thought, is a misrepresentation of our Lord’s doctrine: all his intention here was, to teach the Christian graces and virtues in the most radical manner, by extirpating the remotest tendency to the contraryvices. As under the sixth commandment, which prohibitsmurder, he forbids an angry word or malicious thought; so here, to preserve us from worldly-mindedness, he forbids all painfully solicitous care even for the necessaries of life; and he enforces his prohibition with such cogent arguments, as must convince all who piously attend to them. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing? “He who hath given us the greater, will he deny us the less? He who gave us our being, will he refuse what is necessary for the support of it? If is as absurd as ungrateful to distrust a benefactor, whose goodness we have already so largely experienced, and who takes upon himself the care to provide for us. Consider the birds of the air; they sow not, &c.are ye not of greater value than they? Are ye not the children of God? And when ye see him make so plentiful a provision for his inferior creatures, can you suspect that he will leave you, his children, destitute of necessary subsistence?” See more on Mat 6:34 and the note on Psa 94:19.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 6:25 . ] because this double service is impossible.
, . . .] Chrysostom: (life and body) (food and clothing) ;
The care has been unwarrantably limited to anxious care, a meaning which is no less unjustifiable in Sir 34:1 ; the context would be expected to furnish such a limitation if it were intended. Jesus does not only forbid believers the (Xen. Cyr . viii. 7. 12), or the (Soph. Ant . 850), the (Soph. Phil. 187), or such like, but His desire is that simply giving themselves to the undivided ( curae animum divorse trahunt , Terence) service of God, Mat 6:24 , and trusting to Him with true singleness of heart they should be superior to all care whatsoever as to food, drink, etc. (Phi 4:6 ); nevertheless, to create for themselves such cares would amount to little faith , Mat 6:30 ff., or a half -hearted faith as compared with their duty of entire resignation to that God whose part it is to provide for them. It is only by absolute and perfect faith that the moral height of (Phi 4:11 ff.), and of exemption from earthly care, is to be attained. Comp. A. H. Franke’s example in founding the orphanage.
] Dative of immediate reference: in regard to the soul (as the principle of physical life, Mat 10:39 , Mat 16:25 , Mat 2:20 ), in so far as it is sustained by means of food and drink. In the case of the object ( ) is in the accusative (1Co 7:32-34 ; 1Co 12:25 ; Phi 2:20 ; Phi 4:6 ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1324
AGAINST CAREFULNESS
Mat 6:25-34. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
IF we affirm that men must serve God only and with their whole hearts, we appear to them to require more than is necessary, and to assign them a task which it is impossible to perform. But, whilst they are so averse to hear of what God requires, they do not consider how closely privilege and duty are united: for, whilst we yield up ourselves wholly unto God, he, on the other hand, permits us to look to him for a supply of all our wants. As an earthly master provides for the necessities of his servants, so much more will God, who therefore commands us to leave all our affairs to his disposal, and requires an affiance in him as a very essential part of our duty. Hence our blessed Lord having taught us how inconsistent are the services of God and Mammon, adds, Therefore take no thought for your life; that is, whilst you are serving God with fidelity, commit all your concerns to him with full confidence in his paternal care.
Let us consider,
I.
The caution here given
The evil against which we are cautioned is anxious carefulness
[St. Paul to the Corinthians, says, I would have you without carefulness [Note: 1Co 7:32.]. The word which he uses, is the same as that used by our Lord throughout this whole passage. A thoughtfulness about the future is by no means improper: there is a care and a foresight which Christian prudence requires [Note: Pro 24:27.]: and they who go forward without due deliberation, invariably involve themselves in difficulties [Note: Pro 22:3.]. The Apostles themselves, who under peculiar circumstances were supported without any care of their own, were afterwards commanded to use such means for their support as prudence dictated [Note: Luk 22:35-36.]; and by this rule St. Paul himself walked [Note: 2Th 3:8.]. The ants are proposed to us as examples; and, in truth, we cannot conceive the instinct of animals to be in any thing more worthy of imitation, than theirs is in the particular to which Solomon alludes. They, in the harvest, lay up what will be necessary for their sustenance in winter: and in like manner should we improve all present opportunities with a view to our future good, both temporal and spiritual [Note: Pro 6:6-8; Pro 30:24-25.]. But they know nothing of anxious care. Thus precisely should it be with us. We cannot be too industrious in our respective callings, if only we leave events to God, and rest satisfied with his dispensations.
There are few perhaps who will not acknowledge, that all anxiety about superfluities, or about very distant events, is wrong: but yet they will vindicate it in reference to things which are near at hand, or are of prime and indispensable necessity. But it is respecting these very things that our Lord speaks: he bids us take no thought about food or raiment; no, not even for the morrow: and, because we should be ready to pass over such a caution if it were only once or obscurely given, he repeats it no less than four times in the passage before us, sometimes in a way of plain direction, Take no thought; at other times in a way of expostulation, Why take ye thought? This marks the vast importance of the subject: and it should dispose all our minds to humble submission and cordial acquiescence.]
How much need there is for such a caution, every mans observation and experience will tell him
[Even the rich, who on account of their opulence should be thought most out of the reach of this evil, are as much under the power of it as any. No man indeed is exempt from it, unless he have been delivered from it by the grace of God. The worldly man feels it in reference to the things on which his heart is fixed: and even those who are in pursuit of heavenly things, are too often, through the prevalence of unbelief, still subject to its dominion; insomuch that they are harassed continually with disquieting fears, when they ought rather to be filled with joy and peace in believing. There is therefore no order of men to whom this caution is not proper to be given; since all, from the highest to the lowest, stand in need of it; and it is no less applicable to the people of God than to the ignorant and ungodly world; to those who have a little faith, as well as those who have no faith at all.]
Let us now attend to,
II.
The arguments with which it is enforced
In this beautiful address, (which cannot be too much admired,) our Lord shews in a very convincing manner that anxious carefulness ought on no account to be indulged.
1.
It is unnecessary
[Let us only look around us, and see what God is doing in the animal and vegetable creation; how he feeds the fowls of the air, which make no provision for themselves; and clothes with unrivalled beauty the flowers of the field, which have so short a continuance, and such an ignominious end. Can we conceive that God will take less care of us, who are so much higher in the scale of being, and whom he condescends to call his children?
Let us see also what he is doing in and to ourselves. He has given us a body, exquisitely wrought, and fitted to be a temple of the Holy Ghost. He has endued it not only with animal life, but with a rational and immortal soul. These also he has preserved even to the present hour; and altogether without any aid from us, or any anxiety on our part. If then he has given and upheld these noble faculties and powers, will he not give such provision as shall be necessary for the preservation of them? Can we suppose that He who has bestowed upon us so much, will withhold or grudge the food or raiment that are necessary for us?
Above all, let us see what he has engaged to do for his believing people. They seek the kingdom of God to be established in their hearts: they seek his righteousness and salvation: they seek in the first place, and as their one great object, an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the enjoyment of those blessings he has purchased with his blood: and whilst they do this, God has promised that all earthly comforts, as far as they are necessary, shall be added unto them. Thus, in fact, they have a more secure title to earthly things, and a more certain possession of them, than any other people upon earth. What need is there then for such persons to indulge anxious cares about the world? Both around them and within them they have an evidence of what God is doing; and in the Scriptures of truth they have a pledge of what God will do. Surely, then, it becomes them to suppress every anxious thought, and to commit all their concerns to the disposal and government of a faithful God.]
2.
It is unprofitable
[What good can any man obtain by all his anxious cares? Can he add one cubit to his stature, or one moment to his age [Note: .]? Can he make one hair black or white; or do even the least thing, which would not as easily be done without any solicitude at all [Note: This is certainly the meaning of ver. 27. Compare Luk 12:25-26.]? On the other hand, does not every man who indulges anxiety greatly injure himself by it? Every day brings evils enough along with it: and every man shall find scope enough for the exercise of all his patience, without multiplying sources of discontent. What should we think of a man, who, being doomed every day to carry a burthen which he was but just able to support, should be constantly augmenting his labours by taking on him to-morrows burthen, in addition to that which he was compelled to bear? Yet such is the conduct of those who harbour anxious thoughts about the morrow. And what is a man profited by such folly? What is the effect which he finds invariably produced upon him? Were he to act more wisely, he might pass comfortably through life; but by his own folly he is oppressed and overwhelmed, and his very existence is embittered to him, so that he is almost ready to choose strangling rather than life.
The manner in which our Lord argues this point, deserves to be attentively considered. We are ready to think in general that carefulness is a fruit and evidence of our wisdom; but he again and again appeals to our reason, to convince us of the folly of such a disposition; and defies any human being to give him a satisfactory reason for indulging it. If therefore we will persist in indulging it, let us prepare an answer to that question of his in the text, Why take ye thought for raiment?]
3.
It is atheistical
[After all these things, says our Lord, do the Gentiles seek. That the Gentiles should be making anxious inquiries about the things of this life, we do not wonder, because they know of no higher objects to be pursued, nor of any God who is able and willing to undertake for them. But does such conduct become us?us, who know that there is a God, and have been taught to call him by the endearing name of Father?us, who profess to regard this world but as a passage to a better, and to have our affections set entirely on things above? To what purpose have we been instructed in the knowledge of God, and in the great mystery of redeeming love? To what purpose have the unsearchable riches of Christ been opened to us, and the ineffable glories of heaven revealed, if, after all, we are to live like Heathens; careful about the body, as if we had no soul; and depending on ourselves, as if there were no God? Venial as anxiety may appear, it proceeds from atheism in the heart; it overlooks Gods providence; it usurps his power; it places self upon his throne. If then we would not perish with the Heathen, or rather under a heavier condemnation than they, in proportion to the superior light we have abused, let us guard against this evil disposition, and look to God to supply all our wants according to his own sovereign will and pleasure. Let us cast all our care on him, assured and satisfied that he careth for us.]
Advice
Our Lord traces this evil to a want of faith [Note: ver. 30.]: hence we see what is its proper antidote; and what advice should be given to all who would avoid it. It is that which our Lord himself repeatedly gave to his Disciples, to compose their minds under trials [Note: Joh 14:1.], and to qualify them for every part of their arduous undertaking: Have faith in God [Note: Mar 11:22.]. Believe in him,
1.
As a God of providence
[Men think they honour God when they limit his operations to what they call great things: but, in fact, they dishonour him exceedingly, for they judge of him by themselves; and, because they would be distracted by a multitude of little concerns, they think that He would be also; or, at least, that they are unworthy of his attention. But there is nothing, however minute, which he does not order and overrule with as much care as he does the rise and fall of empires. The very hairs of our head are all numbered. Let this then be a fixed principle in the mind, that there is neither good nor evil in the city, but the Lord himself is the doer of it. As for men and devils, they are all, however unconscious of it, mere agents of his, a sword in his hand, with which he effects his own gracious purposes. Be it so then, that we are destitute both of food and raiment for the morrow, and that we know not where to obtain a supply of either, we need not be anxious: for godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come; and if we call upon him, his word shall be verified, which saith, They who seek the Lord, shall want no manner of thing that is good: yea, the very straits and difficulties which we now feel, are working together for our good, and shall hereafter form a ground of praise and thanksgiving to our God.]
2.
As a God of grace
[It is this view of God that will in a moment silence every doubt and fear. Who can reflect on what he has done, in giving his only dear Son to die for us, and his Holy Spirit to renew and sanctify us, and doubt whether he will overlook our necessities, either of soul or body? Hear St. Pauls opinion of that matter: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? The Apostle seems surprised that such a doubt should enter into the mind of man. Be ashamed then, ye who are filled with such anxiety about the issue of your warfare, and are saying, like David, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul. Be ashamed, I say, and learn rather, like Paul, to say, I know in whom I have believed. You may be reduced to straits in spiritual as well as temporal concerns; but they shall only issue in the fuller manifestation of Gods faithfulness and truth. His promise to you is, that your place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; that bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure [Note: Isa 33:16.]: and He is faithful that hath promised. Trust then in him, and he will keep you in perfect peace; trust in him, and he will give you all things that pertain unto life and godliness; nor shall you ever be ashamed or confounded world without end.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Who can add to the beauties, as well as doctrines of those blessed words of JESUS, by any attempted illustration. I have often read the contents of those sweet verses, and always I hope with increasing delight. Oh! who considers the eternal love of God, in Christ, to his church and people, can pause a moment with any doubt of his everlasting watchfulness and care in all the departments of nature, providence, grace, and glory. Chosen in Christ, blessed in Christ, preserved in Christ, and called! Eph 1:3-5 ; 2Ti 1:9 ; Jud 1:1 . And in his providential mercies, how constant and unremitting, Isa 27:3 ; Job 36:7 , how tender, Isa 66:13 ; Zec 2:8 ; Isa 31:5 , how new and seasonable, Lam 3:25 , and how sure and everlasting. Isa 54:10 . If I detain the Reader one moment longer over these verses I hope he will pardon me. I beg him to observe, if he hath not before, the very great beauty in the images here made use of to express the love contained in those expressions of JESUS. Behold the fowls of the air! Not the fowls of the barn, not the poultry, fed daily by some appointed hand, but the fowls of the air, who have neither store-house nor barn, and whose lodging of tonight may be taken away before the morrow, and they are obliged to seek a new one. Behold the lilies of the field! Not the cultivated and watered plants of the garden, but the lilies of the field, exposed to be trodden down by the feet of the ox or the ass, and plucked up by every traveler. And doth JESUS give beauty to those, and which perhaps hath no eye but his to see their beauty? Doth JESUS watch them and water them and cause his sun to shine upon them? Oh! then, ye redeemed of the LORD, ye that are the purchase of his blood, yea, if possible, more than even this; part of himself and members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones; can he forget you, overlook you, yea, overlook and forget himself! Precious LORD JESUS! I would say, both for myself and everyone of thy children, give us all grace to leave all our concerns with thee, and anxious only to be found of thy kingdom, regenerated by thy Holy Spirit, adopted into the family of Christ and GOD, and justified in thy all-sufficient righteousness, we may take no thought for the morrow, knowing that whether we live we live to the LORD, or whether we die we die to the Lord, so that living or dying we are the Lord’s.
REFLECTIONS
READER! Pause over this part of our REDEEMER’s sermon, as over the preceding portion of it, and let us both look up for grace in the teaching of GOD the HOLY GHOST, to gather the many precious instructions it contains. Jesus presupposeth that his redeemed give alms according to the ability he hath given them. And if you and I have received of the upper springs of the Lord’s grace, shall we not be ready to give, and glad to distribute of the nether springs of the LORD’S bounty? Not dear LORD to be seen of men, no! nor with the most distant view to recommend ourselves to thee, All we have is thine, and of thine own do we give thee, in imparting of what we have to refresh the bowels of our poorer brethren. Oh! for grace that all may be done from thee, and for thee, and from love to thee.
And in our approaches to thy throne in prayer, oh! grant that all may be in and through the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. For if Lord we have found peace in the blood of thy cross, our access to the Father will be by one Spirit through thee. Not to be seen of men, but graciously accepted of GOD in CHRIST, through CHRIST, and both in the words and works of CHRIST.
In the abstinence of the body, and in the humblings of the soul, in dying daily to the world, and crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, oh! for grace from CHRIST to be walking daily with CHRIST, casting all our care upon him who careth for us. And while seeking, above all things, the kingdom of GOD and his righteousness, may we be forever on the look-out for the glorious appearing of the great GOD and our SAVIOR Jesus CHRIST. Even so Lord prepare us for thy corning! Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Ver. 25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no careful thought, &c. ] This life is called in Isaiah “the life of our hands” because it is maintained by the labour of our hands, Isa 57:10 . Nevertheless, let a man labour never so hard, and lay up never so much, his “life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth,” saith our Saviour, and therefore bids, “take heed and beware of covetousness,” Luk 12:15 . There is in every mother’s child of us a false presumption of self-sufficiency in our own courses, as if we by our own diligence could build the house. The devil’s word is proved too true. He said we should be like gods, which as it is false in respect of divine qualities resembling God, so is it true in regard to our sinful usurpation; for we carry the matter, for the most part, as if we were petty gods within ourselves, not needing any higher power. This self-confidence, the daughter of unbelief and mother of carking care and carnal thoughtfulness, our Saviour here by many arguments dissuadeth and decrieth. “Take no thoughtful care for your life, what ye shall eat,” &c. The word here used in the original ( ) signifieth sometimes a commendable and Christian care, as 1Co 7:33-34 “He that is married careth how to please his wife: likewise she careth how to please her husband.” It implieth a dividing of the mind into various thoughts, casting this way and that way and every way bow to give best content. And this should be all the strife that should be between married couples. This is the care of the head, the care of diligence, called by the Greeks , , . But there is another sort of care here spoken against, as unwarrantable and damnable; the care of the heart, the care of diffidence, a doubtful and carking care, joined with a fear of future events, a sinful solicitude, a distracting and distempering care, properly called , because it tortures and tears asunder the mind with anxious in, piety and fretting impatiency. a This maketh a man, when he had done his utmost endeavour, in the use of lawful means, for his own provision or preservation, to sit down, and with a perplexed heart sigh out, -Sure it will never be, sure I shall die a beggar, be utterly destitute, &c. Surely I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul; were it not better for me to shift for myself, and to escape speedily into the land of the Philistines? 1Sa 27:1 . A sinful consultation, for had not God promised him both life and kingdom after Saul? but he said (very wisely) in his hasty fear, All men are liars, prophets and all, Psa 116:11 . And again, “I said in my sudden haste, I am cut off,” Psa 31:22 .
What ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, &c. ] I would have you without carefulness about these things, saith the apostle, that ye may sit close to the Lord without distraction. b And again, “in nothing be careful.” How then? Why, make your requests known to God in prayer, as children make their needs known to their parents, whom if they can please, they know they shall be provided for, Phi 4:6-7 . Little thought do they take where to have the next meal or the next new suit, neither need they.
Oh, but we have prayed, and yet are to seek. Add to your prayer, supplication, saith the apostle there, strong cries out of a deep sense of our pressing necessities, and then see what will come of it. est petitio opis, qua egemus, nam est egere.
I have done so to my poor power; and yet it sticks.
What will follow upon this? What? “The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep” as with a guard ( ) or garrison “your hearts” from cares, “and minds” from fears, “in Christ Jesus.” This shall be the restful success of your prayers and praises. And is it not good that the heart be ballasted with grace ( ), Heb 13:9 , rather than the body stuffed with food? What brave letters and how full of life were written by Luther to Melancthon, afflicting himself with continual cares, what would be the issue of the imperial diet held by Charles V and other states of Germany at Augsburg, about the cause of Christ’s gospel? Ego certe ore pro te, saith he, et dolce re, pertinacissimam curarum hirudinem, meas preces sic irritas facere. “I pray for thee, and am troubled at it, that thou, by troubling thyself with unnecessary cares, makest my prayers of none effect for thee.” And after many sweet consolations, mixed with reprehensions, he concludes, “But I write these things in vain, because thou thinkest to rule these things by reason, and killest thyself with immoderate cares about them; not considering that the cause is Christ’s, who as he needs not thy counsels, so he will bring about his own ends without thy carefulness, thy vexing thoughts, and heart eating fears, whereby thou disquietest thyself above measure.” Sed scribo haec frustra: quia tu secundum Philosophiam vestram has res ratione regere, hoc est, cum ratione insanire pergis et occidis teipsum.
Is not life more than meat? &c. ] And shall he that hath given us that which is greater and better deny unto us that which is less and worse? Shall we believe God’s promises in the main, but not God’s providence in the means: as the disciples when they had forgotten to buy bread, and as Abraham in the case of promise of issue of his body? Gen 16:2 . Excellent is that of the apostle, “he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Rom 8:32 . Whereupon St Bernard, Qui misit Unigenitum, immisit Spiritum, promisit vultum, quid tandem tibi negaturus est? And to like purpose St Jerome: “Never think,” saith he, “that God will deny thee anything, whom he inviteth so freely to feed upon the fatted calf.” Nihil unquam et negasse credendum est quem ad vituli hortalur esum.
a
b , 1Co 7:32 ; 1Co 7:35 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. ] A direct inference from the foregoing verse: the plainer, since (the root being ) is ‘to be distracted,’ ‘to have the mind drawn two ways.’ The E. V., ‘ Take no thought ,’ does not express the sense, but gives rather an exaggeration of the command, and thus makes it unreal and nugatory. Be not anxious, would be far better. In Luk 12:29 we have , where see note. = , dat. commodi. See Mat 6:28 .
. ] . . Euthymius.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 6:25-34 . Counsels against care . More suitable to the circumstances of the disciples than those against amassing treasures. “Why speak of treasures to us who are not even sure of the necessaries of life? It is for bread and clothing we are in torment” (Lutteroth).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 6:25 , : because ye can be unfaithful to God through care as well as through covetousness. : from , , because care divides and distracts the mind. The verb is used in N. T. in various constructions and senses; sometimes in a good sense, as in 1Co 7:32 : “The unmarried care for the things of the Lord,” and Mat 12:25 in reference to the members of the body having the same care for each other. But the evil sense predominates. What is here deprecated is not work for bread and raiment, but worry, “Labor exercendus est, solicitudo tollenda,” Jerome. : the life not the soul; the natural life is more than meat , and the body more than the clothing which protects it, yet these greater things are given to you already. Can you not trust Him who gave the greater to give the less? But a saying like this, life is more than meat, in the mouth of Jesus is very pregnant. It tends to lift our thoughts above materialism to a lofty conception of man’s chief end. It is more than an argument against care, it is a far-reaching principle to be associated with that other logion a man is better than a sheep (Mat 12:12 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 6:25-33
25″For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor do they reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’or ‘What will we drink?’or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’32For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Mat 6:25 “For this reason I say to you” This shows the logical connection with Mat 6:19-24.
“do not be worried about your life'” This is another present imperative with a negative particle, which meant to stop an act that is already in progress. For a parallel passage, see Php 4:6. Mat 6:25 states a general principle in light of the previous verses. The KJV translation, “take no thought for,” is unfortunate because it implies, in our day, that any planning about the future is inappropriate. This is surely not the case (cf. 1Ti 5:8). The key thought is “worry” (cf. Mat 6:25; Mat 6:27-28; Mat 6:31; Mat 6:34).
“Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing” Physical life is important but it is not ultimate. This world is simply the training ground for a fuller and more intimate fellowship with God. The biblical truth is that God does care for His children and that He will provide for their basic needs.
Mat 6:26; Mat 6:28 “the birds of the air. . .the lilies of the field” The translation “wild birds” and “wild flowers” is appropriate because the text does not specify a particular kind of bird or flower but simply common ones. Because the setting was the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps Jesus pointed to a flock of wild birds or to the wild flowers nearby. This was a rabbinical hermeneutical argument from the lesser to the greater.
Mat 6:26 “Are you not worth much more than they” This is a rabbinical-type comparison of the lesser to the greater. The Bible is clear that God created and loves animals. But animals cannot fellowship with God as humans made in His image can. Be careful of making the lives of animals more valuable than the lives of humans. Animals were given for food and service after the Fall. They are not eternal, humans are! Evangelism is more important than ” animal rights” ! Most of the animal life which was created has gone out of existence. Some groups care more for animals than people! What a warped worldview. Animal rights groups care more for insects than unborn humans!
Just one more word, cruelty to animals says a lot about an uncaring, unfeeling person. God created animals with pain sensors just like us. Animals were part of the original creation of Genesis 1 and will be part of the new creation (cf. Isa 11:6-9).
Mat 6:27
NASB”can add a single hour to his life”
NKJV”can add one cubit to his stature”
NRSV”add a single hour to your span of life”
TEV”live a bit longer”
NJB”add a single cubit to his span of life”
This is literally the Hebrew term “cubit.” Cubit referred to the length between a man’s elbow and his longest finger. It was an OT measurement used in construction and was normally about eighteen inches. However, there was a royal cubit used in the Temple which measured twenty-one inches. In the New Testament it was used either for height or time: of height in Luk 19:3 (also LXX of Eze 13:18) and of time in Joh 9:21; Joh 9:23 and Heb 11:11. Because it is ridiculous for a person to be able to physically grow over a foot taller, it is either (1) a metaphor for aging or (2) an oriental overstatement (hyperbole).
Mat 6:30 “But if God” This is a first class conditional sentence, which is assumed to be true from the perspective of the speaker or for his literary purposes. God does provide for His creation.
“which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace” A common use for dry grass was to start the fire in small ovens used for baking bread. This was a metaphor for the transience of life, not an eschatological judgment. Believers are worth much more than beautiful wild grasses.
“You of little faith” This phrase occurs several times in the Gospel of Matthew (cf. Mat 8:26; Mat 14:31; Mat 16:8). Jesus’ teaching was designed to increase believers’faith.
Mat 6:31 “Do not worry then” This is a negative aorist subjunctive, which meant “do not begin worrying” (cf. Php 4:6). An unhealthy emphasis on how one will provide for his basic needs shows a lack of trust in the God who has promised to provide for believers.
Mat 6:32
NASB”For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things”
NKJV”For after all these things the Gentiles seek”
NRSV”For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things”
TEV”These are the things the pagans are always concerned about”
NJB”It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things”
One of the characteristics of fallen mankind is their insatiable desire for things. God knows believers need the things of this world to live. He will provide their needs, not always their wants.
Mat 6:33
NASB, NKJV”But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”
NRSV”But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness”
TEV”Be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God”
NJB”Set your heart on his kingdom first, and on God’s saving justice”
This is a present imperative which speaks of a habitual command. The truth is that God must be the priority in believers’lives. The phrase “His righteousness” was used here in an ethical sense, not in a legal (forensic) sense as in Paul’s writings. This ethical sense can be seen in Mat 5:6; Mat 5:10; Mat 5:20; Mat 6:1, Deu 6:25, Isa 1:27-28, and Dan 4:27. This is not a call to works righteousness; rather, it suggests that once one knows Him, his life will be characterized by good works (cf. Eph 2:10). Positional, imputed righteousness should be reflected in Christlike living. See Special Topics: Kingdom of God at Mat 4:17 and Righteousness at Mat 5:6.
The phrase “His Kingdom” was the concept of God’s current reign in human hearts that will one day be consummated over all the earth (cf. Mat 6:10). It was the central focus of Jesus’ preaching. This kingdom ethic must be the highest priority. The early Greek manuscripts ( & B) do not have the genitive phrase “of God” (cf. NRSV and TEV).
The term “first” is used by Jesus several times to illustrate the radical newness of the “new age” of the Spirit, which He inaugurated.
1. Mat 5:24, be reconciled to your brother before worship
2. Mat 6:33, seek the kingdom of God before personal needs/desires
3. Mat 7:5, before judging others evaluate your own faults
4. Mat 23:26, clean the whole life, inner and outer
“and all these things will be added to you” This referred to the physical and normal needs of life. God will not leave believers stranded. This is a general principle, which cannot always answer the specific questions of why this individual or that individual suffers loss or is in need. Sometimes God will provide a time of need in order for believers to trust Him, turn to Him, or to improve their character. This statement is much like the book of Proverbs in the sense that it states general principles. They are not meant to explain every individual, particular occurrence.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
AS TO CARES, ETC. Therefore = On account of this (Greek. dia. App-104. Mat 6:2).
Take no thought = Be not careful: i.e. full of care, or overanxious. Compare verses: Mat 6:27, Mat 6:28, Mat 6:31, Mat 27:34.
life = soul Greek. psuche.
more = [worth] more.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25. ] A direct inference from the foregoing verse: the plainer, since (the root being ) is to be distracted, to have the mind drawn two ways. The E. V., Take no thought, does not express the sense, but gives rather an exaggeration of the command, and thus makes it unreal and nugatory. Be not anxious, would be far better. In Luk 12:29 we have , where see note. = , dat. commodi. See Mat 6:28.
.] . . Euthymius.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 6:25. , take no care for) The disciples had left all things which could be the source of care to them.- , the soul) The soul is supported by food in the body, which itself lives on food: the body alone is covered by raiment.- , and what ye drink) This has been easily omitted by copyists, or is easily understood (subauditur) by us. The 31st verse requires the express mention of drinking rather than the present, for in it the careful are introduced as themselves speaking, whereas in the present verse our Lord speaks in His own person.[283]- – , the soul-the body) Both of which God gave and cares for. See the latter part of Mat 6:30.[284]
[283] ab Vulg. Hil. Bas. Epiph. Jerome (who says, however, it was added in some MSS.) omit . But BC, Orig. 1,711d Memph. read the words. Rec. Text has instead of , the reading of the oldest authorities.-ED.
[284] There is nothing so small and insignificant, which His omniscience neglects, Mat 6:32.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
I say: Mat 5:22-28, Luk 12:4, Luk 12:5, Luk 12:8, Luk 12:9, Luk 12:22
Take: Mat 6:31, Mat 6:34, Mat 10:19, Mat 13:22, Psa 55:22, Mar 4:19, Mar 13:11, Luk 8:14, Luk 10:40, Luk 10:41, Luk 12:22, Luk 12:23, Luk 12:25, Luk 12:26, Luk 12:29, 1Co 7:32, Phi 4:6, 2Ti 2:4, Heb 13:5, Heb 13:6, 1Pe 5:7
Is not: Luk 12:23, Rom 8:32
Reciprocal: Gen 1:29 – to you Gen 48:15 – fed me Exo 15:24 – What Lev 25:20 – General 1Sa 9:5 – take thought Job 2:4 – all that Job 10:12 – life and favour Psa 37:5 – Commit Pro 16:3 – thy works Ecc 2:22 – and of the Ecc 6:7 – the labour Jer 41:8 – Slay Jer 45:5 – seek Mat 6:28 – why Mat 24:17 – which Luk 4:4 – That Luk 12:15 – for Luk 17:31 – he which Act 27:38 – they lightened Rom 12:16 – condescend to men of low estate Phi 4:5 – your 1Ti 6:8 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LESSONS FROM NATURE
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.
Mat 6:25
Take no thought, be not anxiousstrange exhortation! How many nominal Christians even pretend to follow it? Why is this?
I. The world in the heart.Is it not chiefly because the world is in our hearts? Are we not ever, and almost exclusively, thinking of this world? Are we not mastered, most of us, by scrambling selfishness and the eager greed of our mere animal or earthly instincts? Whence has this blight of unreality fallen so densely over the fair fields of Gospel teaching?
II. The voice of nature.This is partly due to the fact that we have become so dead to Nature; for the voice of Nature is none other than the voice of God. Our Lord Himself tried to teach us that God, Whom we call so far away and so distant from us, is very near, and is speaking to us all day long. Why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies. Very beautiful, you say, very poetical! No, it is not pious extravagance; but if you will take it rightly and understand it wisely, it has for every one of us sweet, homely, practical truth.
III. Confidence in God.You are not bidden, observe, to do nothing for yourselves; but you are bidden, while doing what lies in yourselves, to put your whole trust and confidence in God. You must till the earth, and sow, and reap, and toil; and, in one form or other, with your head or with your hands, you must earn your own bread by the sweat of your brow. That is Gods primary law; yet but for Gods gift, not an ear of corn would grow; and in giving you the corn, God would fain teach you at the same time that the living is more than life, and the body than raiment.
IV. The Divine Law.Here, then, are some of the lessons of this passage: Do your work, but do it in quietness and confidence; do your duty, but do it without this corroding anxiety; and He who even in the desert spreads His table for the birds, He who clothes the flowers in their embroideries of beauty, will feed and clothe you. Let justice, goodness, kindness, purity, be your aim; not the selfish scramble of scheming competition, not the brutal appetencies of sensual desire. Do not let your daily necessities blunt the edge of your ideal aspirations: do not sink into grovelling appetites or money-making machines. Man lives indeed by bread, but he does not live by bread alone.
Dean Farrar.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6:25
Therefore”. If you are going to serve God and not riches, you will not he so concerned about temporal things which do not constitute the object of your chief devotions. Take no thought is from MERIMNAO, which Thayer defines, “to be anxious; to be troubled with cares.” It is the word for be careful in Php 4:6 where the connection shows it means not to be too much concerned but to look to the Lord for help. Hence Jesus does not mean that his disciples were to be indifferent about the needful things of life, but they should not be overanxious about it. The reasoning the Saviour offers is both simple and forceful. The body and the life within it are certainly more valuable than the clothing for the body or the food for the life. But they already possessed the major blessings, then why have any doubts about God’s ability and willingness to give them the minor ones?
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
THESE verses are a striking example of the combined wisdom and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching. He knows the heart of a man. He knows that we are all ready to turn off warnings against worldliness, by the argument that we cannot help being anxious about the things of this life. “Have we not our families to provide for? Must not our bodily wants be supplied? How can we possibly get through life, if we think first of our souls?” The Lord Jesus foresaw such thoughts, and furnished an answer.
He forbids us to keep up an anxious spirit about the things of this world. Four times over He says, “take no thought.” About life,-about food,-about clothing,-about the morrow, “take no thought.” Be not over-careful. Be not over-anxious. Prudent provision for the future is right. Wearing, corroding, self-tormenting anxiety is wrong.
He reminds us of the providential care that God continually takes of everything that He has created. Has He given us “life”? Then He will surely not let us want anything necessary for its maintenance. Has He given us a “body”? Then He will surely not let us die for want of clothing. He that calls us into being, will doubtless find meat to feed us.
He points out the uselessness of over-anxiety. Our life is entirely in God’s hand. All the care in the world will not make us continue a minute beyond the time which God has appointed. We shall not die till our work is done.
He sends us to the birds of the air for instruction. They make no provision for the future. “They sow not, neither do they reap.”-They lay up no stores against time yet to come. They do not “gather into barns.” They literally live from day to day on what they can pick up, by using the instinct God has put in them. They ought to teach us that no man doing his duty in the station to which God has called him, shall ever be allowed to come to poverty.
He bids us observe the flowers of the field. Year after year they are decked with the gayest colors, without the slightest labor or exertion on their part. “They toil not, neither do they spin.” God, by His almighty power, clothes them with beauty every season. The same God is the Father of all believers. Why should they doubt that He is able to provide them with raiment, as well as the lilies “of the field”? He who takes thought for perishable flowers, will surely not neglect the bodies, in which dwell immortal souls.
He suggests to us, that over-carefulness about the things of this world is most unworthy of a Christian. One great feature of heathenism is living for the present. Let the heathen, if he will, be anxious. He knows nothing of a Father in heaven. But let the Christian, who has clearer light and knowledge, give proof of it by his faith and contentment. When bereaved of those whom we love, we are not to “sorrow as those who have no hope.” When tried by anxieties about this life, we are not to be over-careful, as if we had no God, and no Christ.
He offers us a gracious promise, as a remedy against an anxious spirit. He assures us that if we “seek first” and foremost to have a place in the kingdom of grace and glory, every thing that we really want in this world shall be given to us. It shall be “added,” over and above our heavenly inheritance. “All things shall work together for good to them that love God.” “no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Rom 8:28. Psa 84:11.)
Last of all, He seals up all His instruction on this subject, by laying down one of the wisest maxims. “The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.” We are not to carry cares before they come. We are to attend to to-day’s business, and leave to-morrow’s anxieties till to-morrow dawns. We may die before to-morrow. We know not what may happen on the morrow. This only we may be assured of, that if to-morrow brings a cross, He who sends it, can and will send grace to bear it.
In all this passage there is a treasury of golden lessons. Let us seek to use them in our daily life. Let us not only read them, but turn them to practical account. Let us watch and pray against an anxious and over-careful spirit. It deeply concerns our happiness. Half our miseries are caused by fancying things that we think are coming upon us. Half the things that we expect to come upon us, never come at all. Where is our faith? Where is our confidence in our Savior’s words? We may well take shame to ourselves, when we read these verses, and then look into our hearts. But this we may be sure of, that David’s words are true, “I have been young, and now am old, yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” (Psa 37:25.)
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Mat 6:25. Therefore. Because of the precept just given. Anxiety, which is distrust of God, is the source of avarice. Living to God is the proper life, and it relieves from care, because we trust Him for what we need. This thought is expanded in the remainder of the chapter.
Be not anxious. The word means: to be distracted, to have the mind drawn two ways. Ordinary thought or care is not forbidden (comp. 1Ti 5:8; 1Ti 5:8, 2Th 3:10), yet there is little danger of its being understood too literally. When thought about temporal things becomes anxiety, it has become distrust of God.
Your life. The word here used means soul as the seat of physical life. Hence the needs of this life are spoken of, what ye shall eat, etc. The body too has the same needs, but clothing is more properly connected with it here: what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat? The meat, (i.e., food of all kinds), needed to sustain it. Is not He who gave the life able and willing to give what will sustain it, and He who made the body, what will protect it.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The next sin which our Saviour cautions his disciples against, is immoderate care for the things of this life, such a solicitous and vexatious care for food and raiment as is accompanied with diffidence and distrust of God’s fatherly providence over us, and provision for us; and the arguments which our Saviour uses to dissuade from this sin, are many and cogent, laid down in the following verses.
Learn here, 1. That Almighty God will provide for every servant of his, food and raiment, and a competency of the comforts and conveniencies of life.
Learn, 2. That want of faith in God’d promise, and a distrust of his fatherly care, is a God-provoking and wrath-procuring sin.
Learn, 3. That notwithstanding God’s promise to supply our wants, we not only may, but must, use such prudential and provident means as are in our own wants. Dr. Hammond’s Pract. Catech.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 6:25-27. Therefore I say, Take no thought, &c. Our Lord here proceeds to caution his disciples against worldly cares, these being as inconsistent with the true service of God as worldly desires. But the expression used by our translators, Take no thought, is too strong, and not warranted by the original, , which properly signifies, Be not anxious, or, anxiously careful, as is evident from Luk 10:41; Luk 12:11; Luk 21:34; Php 4:6; and almost every other place, where occurs. For we are not to suppose that our Lord here commands us absolutely to take no thought for our life, food, and raiment; because, in other parts of Scripture, diligence in business is inculcated, and men are commanded to labour with their hands, that they may provide for the supply of their own wants, and also those of others, Rom 12:11; Eph 4:28; and that, instead of being useless loads on the earth, they may, at all times, have it in their power to discharge the several duties of life with decency, Tit 3:14. What Christ therefore here forbids is, not that thought, foresight, and care which prudent men use in providing sustenance and needful support for themselves, and those dependant upon them; but it is such an anxious care, as arises from want of faith in the being, perfections, and providence of God, and in the declarations and promises of his word, and therefore such an anxious solicitude as engrosses the thoughts and desires of the soul, so as either utterly to exclude or greatly damp and hinder spiritual affections, pursuits, and labours; or which prevents our receiving or our retaining and increasing in the love of God, and the true religion connected therewith. Is not the life more than the meat, needful to support it? And the body than the raiment, necessary to clothe it? and will not he, who has given the greater blessings, give the less also? Behold the fowls of the air Learn a lesson from the birds that now fly round you. For they sow not, neither do they reap, &c. Without foreseeing their own wants, or making provision for them, they are preserved and nourished by the unwearied benignity of the divine providence. Are ye not much better than they? Are ye not beings of a nobler order, and destined for a higher end than they, and therefore more the objects of the divine care? Moreover, which of you, by taking thought Gr. , by being anxiously careful, can add one cubit unto his stature? Can add one moment to the length of your lives; that is, which of you could profit yourselves at all by anxious thoughts and cares, if you should indulge them? It is evident, as several learned writers have observed, that the word , here rendered stature, ought to have been translated age, because the caution is against anxious care about the preservation of life, and about food, the means of prolonging it; not to mention that Jesus is speaking here to full-grown men, who probably had no solicitude about their stature. Besides, the measure of a cubit agrees much better to a mans age than to his stature, the smallest addition to which would have been better expressed by a hairs breadth, or the like, than by a cubit, which is more than the fourth part of the whole height of most men. This interpretation of the word is confirmed by Luke in the parallel passage, Luk 12:25-26, where he calls the adding of a cubit, that which is least That is the thing in which the interposition of the divine providence least appears, as it really is, if understood of the addition of a single moment to the length of ones life.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 25
Take no thought; be not anxiously solicitous.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
6:25 {9} Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
(9) The perverse burdensome carefulness for things of this life, is corrected in the children of God by an earnest thinking upon the providence of God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"Therefore" draws a conclusion from what has preceded (Mat 6:19-24). Since God has given us life and a body, He will certainly also provide what we need to maintain them (cf. Luk 12:22-31; Php 4:6-7; Heb 13:5; 1Pe 5:7). This argument is a fortiori, or qal wahomer, "How much more . . .?" It is wrong, therefore, for a disciple to fret about such things. We should simply trust and obey God and get on with fulfilling our divinely revealed calling in life.