Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 6:2
There are 18 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 435, footnote 1 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter XXI.—Description of the Perfect Man, or Gnostic. (HTML)
Such an one is no longer continent, but has reached a state of passionlessness, waiting to put on the divine image. “If thou doest alms,” it is said, “let no one know it; and if thou fastest, anoint thyself, that God alone may know,”[Matthew 6:2] and not a single human being. Not even he himself who shows mercy ought to know that he does show mercy; for in this way he will be sometimes merciful, sometimes not. And when he shall do good by habit, he will imitate the nature of good, and his disposition will be his nature and his practice. There is no necessity for removing those who are raised on high, but there is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 35, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On the Veiling of Virgins. (HTML)
If Unveiling Be Proper, Why Not Practise It Always, Out of the Church as Well as in It? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 321 (In-Text, Margin)
... among the heathens withal. Identity of nature abroad as at home, identity of custom in the presence of men as of the Lord, consists in identity of liberty. To what purpose, then, do they thrust their glory out of sight abroad, but expose it in the church? I demand a reason. Is it to please the brethren, or God Himself? If God Himself, He is as capable of beholding whatever is done in secret, as He is just to remunerate what is done for His sole honour. In fine, He enjoins us not to trumpet forth[Matthew 6:2] any one of those things which will merit reward in His sight, nor get compensation for them from men. But if we are prohibited from letting “our left hand know” when we bestow the gift of a single halfpenny, or any eleemosynary bounty whatever, how ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 46, footnote 11 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
To His Wife. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Of Sin and Danger Incurred Even with a “Tolerant” Husband. (HTML)
... endure our (practices), and not annoy us.” Here, therefore, there is a sin; in that Gentiles know our (practices); in that we are subject to the privity of the unjust; in that it is thanks to them that we do any (good) work. He who “endures” (a thing) cannot be ignorant of it; or else, if he is kept in ignorance because he does not endure (it), he is feared. But since Scripture commands each of two things—namely, that we work for the Lord without the privity of any second person,[Matthew 6:1-4] and without pressure upon ourselves, it matters not in which quarter you sin; whether in regard to your husband’s privity, if he be tolerant, or else in regard of your own affliction in avoiding his in tolerance. “Cast not,” saith He, “your ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 545, footnote 9 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
In the Gospel according to Matthew: “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall render to thee.” Also in the same place: “When thou doest an alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the streets and in the synagogues, that they may be glorified of men. Verily I say unto you, They have fulfilled their reward.”[Matthew 6:2]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 58, footnote 15 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
The Diatessaron of Tatian. (HTML)
The Diatessaron. (HTML)
Section IX. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 718 (In-Text, Margin)
[22] Consider your alms; do them not before men to let them see you: and if it be not [23] so, ye have no reward before your Father which is in the heavens.[Matthew 6:2] When then thou givest an alms now, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as do the people of hypocrisy, [Arabic, p. 36] in the synagogues and the marketplaces, that men may praise them. And [24] verily say I unto you, They have received their reward. But thou, when [25] thou doest alms, let thy left hand not know what thy right hand doeth; that thine alms may be concealed: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 444, footnote 5 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)
Book XI. (HTML)
Eating with Unwashed Heart Defiles the Man. (HTML)
... the thoughts of men meanwhile accusing or else excusing them,” “when their own devices have beset them about.” But of such a nature are the evil thoughts that sometimes they make worthy of censure even those things which seem good, and which, so far as the judgment of the masses is concerned, are worthy of praise. Accordingly, if we do alms before men, having in our thoughts the design of appearing to men philanthropic, and of being honoured because of philanthropy, we receive the reward from men;[Matthew 6:1-2] and, universally, everything that is done with the consciousness in the doer that he will be glorified by men, has no reward from Him who beholds in secret, and renders the reward to those who are pure, in secret. So, too, therefore, is it with ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 160, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
He is Forcibly Goaded on by the Love of Praise. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 960 (In-Text, Margin)
62. Behold, O Truth, in Thee do I see that I ought not to be moved at my own praises for my own sake, but for my neighbour’s good. And whether it be so, in truth I know not. For concerning this I know less of myself than dost Thou. I beseech Thee now, O my God, to reveal to me myself also, that I may confess unto my brethren, who are to pray for me, what I find in myself weak. Once again let me more diligently examine myself.[Matthew 6:2] If, in mine own praise, I am moved with consideration for my neighbour, why am I less moved if some other man be unjustly dispraised than if it be myself? Why am I more irritated at that reproach which is cast upon myself, than at that which is with equal injustice cast upon another ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 97, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Of fate, freewill, and God’s prescience, and of the source of the virtues of the ancient Romans. (HTML)
Concerning the Temporal Reward Which God Granted to the Virtues of the Romans. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 216 (In-Text, Margin)
... the service of religion, which the Greeks call λατρεία, to any save the true God conducts, if He had also withheld from them the terrestrial glory of that most excellent empire, a reward would not have been rendered to their good arts,—that is, their virtues,—by which they sought to attain so great glory. For as to those who seem to do some good that they may receive glory from men, the Lord also says, “Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward.”[Matthew 6:2] So also these despised their own private affairs for the sake of the republic, and for its treasury resisted avarice, consulted for the good of their country with a spirit of freedom, addicted neither to what their laws pronounced to be crime nor to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 521, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
The tenth chapter of the Gospel of John. Of the shepherd, and the hireling, and the thief. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4110 (In-Text, Margin)
... things which are Jesus Christ’s;” that is, “I have wished to send unto you a shepherd; for there are many hirelings; but it were not meet for an hireling to be sent.” An hireling is sent for the transaction of other affairs and business; but for those which Paul then desired, a shepherd was necessary. And he scarcely found one shepherd among many hirelings; for the shepherds are few, the hirelings many. But what is said of the hirelings? “Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward.”[Matthew 6:2] Of the shepherd, what saith the Apostle? “But whosoever shall cleanse himself from such as these shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and useful to the Lord, prepared always unto every good work.” Not unto certain things prepared, and unto ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 523, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, John x. 14, ‘I am the good shepherd,’ etc. Against the Donatists. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4126 (In-Text, Margin)
... shepherd, seeth the wolf coming, and fleeth; because he careth not for the sheep, for he is an hireling.” Christ then is the good Shepherd. What was Peter? was he not a good shepherd? Did not he too lay down his life for the sheep? What was Paul? what the rest of the Apostles? what the blessed Bishops, Martyrs, who followed close upon their times? What again our holy Cyprian? Were they not all good shepherds, not hirelings, of whom it is said, “Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward”?[Matthew 6:2] All these then were good shepherds, not simply for that they shed their blood, but that they shed it for the sheep. For not in pride, but in charity they shed it.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 494, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. (HTML)
1 John III. 19–IV. 3. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2298 (In-Text, Margin)
3. This it is then that he enforces here. “In this we know that we are of the truth, when in deed and in truth” we love, “not only in words and in tongue: and assure our heart before Him.” What meaneth, “before Him?” Where He seeth. Whence the Lord Himself in the Gospel saith: “Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven.”[Matthew 6:1-3] And what meaneth, “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:” except that the right hand means a pure conscience, the left hand the lust of the world? Many through lust of the world do many wonderful things: the left hand worketh, not the right. The right hand ought to work, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 199, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1905 (In-Text, Margin)
“But He shall remove thee from thy dwelling.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, they have received their reward.”[Matthew 6:2] “And thy root from the land of the living.” Therefore in the land of the living we ought to have root. Be our root there. Out of sight is the root: fruits may be seen, root cannot be seen. Our root is our love, our fruits are our works: it is needful that thy works proceed from love, then is thy root in the land of the living. Then shall be rooted up that Doeg, nor any wise shall he be able there to abide, because neither more deeply there ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 274, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2585 (In-Text, Margin)
... “playing” let His name be blessed. But what it is to “play”? To play is also to take up an instrument which is called a psaltery, and by the striking and action of the hands to accompany voices. If therefore ye jubilate so that God may hear; play also something that men may both see and hear: but not to your own name.…For if for the sake of yourselves being glorified ye do good works, we make the same reply as He made to certain of such men, “Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward:”[Matthew 6:2] and again, “Otherwise no reward ye will have with your Father that is in Heaven.” Thou wilt say, ought I, then, to hide my works, that I do them not before men? No. But what saith He? “Let your works shine before men.” In doubt then I shall remain. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 266, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (HTML)
Homily XLIII on Acts xx. 1. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1013 (In-Text, Margin)
... suffering wrong, and avenged him; he despised royal luxury, and for the sake of those who were afflicted he became a fugitive, a wanderer, lonely and deserted; he passed his days in a foreign land; and yet he blamed not himself, nor said, “What is this? I despised royalty, with all that honor and glory: I chose to avenge those who were wronged, and God hath overlooked me: and not only hath He not brought me back to my former honor, but even forty years am I passing in a foreign land. Truly, handsomely[Matthew 6:2] have I received my wages, have I not!” But nothing of the kind did he say or think. So also do thou: be it that thou suffer any evil for doing good, be it that (thou have to wait) a long time, be not thou offended, be not discomposed: God will of a ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 518, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans (HTML)
Homily XXIV on Rom. xiii. 11. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1578 (In-Text, Margin)
“Let us walk becomingly,” (A.V. honestly, in this sense) “as in the day.” For day it already is. And what most people insist upon very much in their exhortations, that he also uses to draw them on, the sense of the becoming. For they had a great regard to the esteem of the multitude.[Matthew 6:2] And he does not say, walk ye, but let us walk, so making the exhortation free from anything grating, and the reproof gentle.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 36, footnote 12 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 590 (In-Text, Margin)
32. To-day you may see women cramming their wardrobes with dresses, changing their gowns from day to day, and for all that unable to vanquish the moths. Now and then one more scrupulous wears out a single dress; yet, while she appears in rags, her boxes are full. Parchments are dyed purple, gold is melted into lettering, manuscripts are decked with jewels, while Christ lies at the door naked and dying. When they hold out a hand to the needy they sound a trumpet;[Matthew 6:2] when they invite to a love-feast they engage a crier. I lately saw the noblest lady in Rome—I suppress her name, for I am no satirist—with a band of eunuchs before her in the basilica of the blessed Peter. She was giving money to the poor, a coin apiece; and this ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 42, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Marcella. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 689 (In-Text, Margin)
... passed sleepless nights in prayer, and instructed her companions even more by example than by precept. So great was her humility that she, who had once been the mistress of many, was accounted the servant of all; and certainly, the less she was reckoned an earthly mistress the more she became a servant of Christ. She was careless of her dress, neglected her hair, and ate only the coarsest food. Still, in all that she did, she avoided ostentation that she might not have her reward in this world.[Matthew 6:2]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 43, footnote 8 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
Chapter I. Happiness in life is to be gained by living virtuously, inasmuch as thus a Christian, whilst despising glory and the favour of men, desires to please God alone in what he does. (HTML)
... is not valued at the estimation of outsiders, but is known, as judge of itself, by its own inner feelings. It needs no popular opinion as its reward in any way; nor has it any fear of punishments. Thus the less it strives for glory, the more it rises above it. For to those who seek for glory, that reward in the shape of present things is but a shadow of future ones, and is a hindrance to eternal life, as it is written in the Scriptures: “Verily, I say unto you, they have received their reward.”[Matthew 6:2] This is said of those who, as it were, with the sound of a trumpet desire to make known to all the world the liberality they exercise towards the poor. It is the same, too, in the case of fasting, which is done but for outward show. “They have,” he ...