Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

“Did it consist only of hints or directions for prayer, it could only be used as a directory; but seeing it is an actual prayer--designed, indeed, to show how much real prayer could be compressed into the fewest words, but still, as a prayer, only…”

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

“Thy kingdom come--The kingdom of God is that moral and spiritual kingdom which the God of grace is setting up in this fallen world, whose subjects consist of as many as have been brought into hearty subjection to His gracious scepter, and of which His…”

Give us this day our daily bread.

“But as this is quite unnatural, so it deprives the Christian of one of the sweetest of his privileges--to cast his bodily wants in this short prayer, by one simple petition, upon his heavenly Father.”

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

“But by embodying it in this brief model of acceptable prayer, and as the first of three petitions more or less bearing upon sin, our Lord teaches us, in the most emphatic manner conceivable, to regard this view of sin as the primary and fundamental…”

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

“For what can we desire which this does not carry with it? For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.”

But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.

“But if ye forgive not, &c.--See on Mt 6:12. Having concluded His supplementary directions on the subject of prayer with this Divine Pattern, our Lord now returns to the subject of Unostentatiousness in our deeds of righteousness, in order to give one more illustration of…”

When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.

“And are the exhausting fasts of the Church of Rome, and of Romanizing Protestants, free from this taint? Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

“But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face--as the Jews did, except when mourning (Da 10:3); so that the meaning is, "Appear as usual"--appear so as to attract no notice.”

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

“In Jas 5:2 there is an evident reference to our Lord's words here. and rust--any "eating into" or "consuming"; here, probably, "wear and tear." doth corrupt--cause to disappear. By this reference to moth and rust our Lord would teach how perishable are such earthly treasures.”

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“For where your treasure is--that which ye value most. there will your heart be also--"Thy treasure--thy heart" is probably the true reading here: "your," in Lu 12:34, from which it seems to have come in here.”

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.

“The light--rather, "the lamp." of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single--simple, clear. As applied to the outward eye, this means general soundness; particularly, not looking two ways.”

But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“But if thine eye be evil--distempered, or, as we should say, If we have got a bad eye. thy whole body shall be full of darkness--darkened.”

No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

“The service of this god and the true God together is here, with a kind of indignant curtness, pronounced impossible.”

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.

“When "careful (or 'full of care') about nothing," but committing all in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving unto God, the apostle assures us that "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Php 4:6, 7); that…”

Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

“Are ye not much better than they?--nobler in yourselves and dearer to God. The argument here is from the greater to the less; but how rich in detail!”

Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

“Will He see, then, His own children using all the means which reason dictates for procuring the things needful for the body--looking up to Himself at every step--and yet leave them to starve?”

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O…

“It is His way of gently chiding the spirit of unbelief, so natural even to the best, who are surrounded by a world of sense, and of kindling a generous desire to shake it off.”

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O…

“Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass--the "herbage." of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven--wild flowers cut with the grass, withering by the heat, and used for fuel. (See Jas 1:11).”

For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

“Food and raiment are pronounced needful to God's children; and He who could say, "No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" (Mt 11:27), says with an authority which none but Himself could claim, "Your heavenly…”

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

“This is the great summing up. Strictly speaking, it has to do only with the subject of the present section--the right state of the heart with reference to heavenly and earthly things; but being couched in the form of a brief general directory, it is…”

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof--An admirable practical maxim, and better rendered in our version than in almost any other, not excepting the preceding English ones. Every day brings its own cares; and to anticipate is only to double them.”

You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

“He only is fit to be a reprover of others who jealously and severely judges himself. Such persons will not only be slow to undertake the office of censor on their neighbors, but, when constrained in faithfulness to deal with them, will make it evident…”

Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine.

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs--savage or snarling haters of truth and righteousness. neither cast ye your pearls before swine--the impure or coarse, who are incapable of appreciating the priceless jewels of Christianity.”

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

“Answering to this threefold representation is the triple assurance of success to our believing efforts. "But ah!" might some humble disciple say, "I cannot persuade myself that I have any interest with God."”

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?

“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread--a loaf. will he give him a stone?--round and smooth like such a loaf or cake as was much in use, but only to mock him.”