In the Fulness of Time/Part 24

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Sincerity in Prayer. Matthew 6:5-15

Perhaps few other biblical subjects have had more books written about them than the doctrine of prayer. Correlated with this, perhaps no other spiritual obligation has been neglected more than the practice of prayer. Self-sufficiency has a great deal to do with such neglect, so it makes good sense to discover just what Jesus taught about prayer.

General Principles for Prayer. 6:5-8

Pray sincerely, not hypocritically. Mt. 6:5

“And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.”

As we indicated in last month’s article, the word hupokrites has had a number of mean­ings, ranging from interpreter, to play-actor, to a profane, godless person. Here in Matthew Christ gives clear descriptions of what He means by a hypocrite. A few examples will suf­fice and others will be seen in the discussion of later chapters. In 6:2, 5, 16 it is insincerity and pomposity; in 7:5 it is unjust criticism of others; in 15:7 as Jesus quotes from Isaiah 29:13 it is outward piety of the lips with inward perversity of the heart. Matthew 6:5 is simi­lar to 6:2. The result of this kind of praying is purely temporal, “to be seen by men,” and has only temporal reward.

Pray secretly, not conspicuously. Mt. 6:6

“But thou, when thou prayest enter thy room, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”

As in almsgiving (6:1-4) so in praying, sincerity is linked with secrecy, if our heavenly Father is to be pleased rather than men. Yet, here again, this does not rule out public prayer, but it does rule out hypocritical public prayer! Often in the Old Testament public prayer was offered, as many Psalms attest (cf. Psalms 8, 44, 60, 67, 74, 79). In the New Testament from its beginning, the Church made public prayer (cf. Acts 2:42; 4:24; 12:5). When it is personal prayer it should be secret. As to the reward, this could refer to answers to prayer requests or to future reward as indicated in 6:4.

Pray spontaneously not ritually. Mt. 6:7-8

“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the pagans do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye, therefore, like unto them; for your Father knoweth what ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

Here Christ attacks hypocrisy in prayer from the standpoint of its ritualism. Long prayers, as such, are not wrong, since Christ spent whole nights in prayer; and repeated prayers were offered by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. What He is speaking against are the battalogia, or babblings of the pagans, and He calls it “much speaking” from polulogia, “many words.” Rosary beads and prayer wheels are examples of this, counting off how many times the same prayers are invoked by the number of beads passing through the fingers, or by the number of times the prayer wheels, which have prayers inscribed on them, are spun. These practices originated in Buddhism, and the rosary was passed down through Spanish Muslims to Roman Catholicism during the Middle Ages. True communica­tion with God can last as long and as often as one wishes, but the motive as well as the manner must be spiritual and spontaneous, not ceremonial and repetitious, merely for the sake of piling up vain words.

So Jesus warns us not to be like such hypocrites. However, the fact that He closes the eighth verse by reminding us that our Father knows our needs before we ask is not meant to deter the “asking, seeking and knocking” of Matthew 7:7. It is meant as an assurance that God knows our needs without our using pagan methods in order to get His attention. The classic illustration of the paganistic approach is in I Kings 18:26-29 when the prophets of Baal prayed from morning till noon with no answer: “Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is talking, or pursuing, or he is in a journey, or perhaps, he sleepeth, and must be wakened.” Not so with our Heavenly Father! He never slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4). He knows our needs and He cares; so we can cast all our care upon Him! (I Peter 5:7). He will answer in His own way, “in the fulness of time.”

Read Part 25