“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 1. Your justice; [1] in the common Greek copies, your alms, which seems to be the sense in this place. Witham.—Hereby it is plain that good works are justice, and that man doing them doth justice, and is thereby just and justified, and not by faith only. All which justice of a christian man, our Saviour here compriseth in the three eminent good works, alms deeds, prayer, and fasting. Aug. l. perf. just. c. viii. So that to give alms is to do justice, and the works of mercy are justice. Aug. in ps. xlix, verse 5. B.—Saint Gregory says, that the man who by his virtuous actions would gain the applause of men, quits at an easy rate a treasure of immense value; for, with what he might purchase the kingdom of heaven, he only seeks to acquire the transitory applause of mortals. This precept of Christ, says S. Chrysostom, beautifully evinces the solicitude and unspeakable goodness of God, lest we should have the labour of performing good works, and on account of evil motives be deprived of our reward. Hom. xix. “Shut up alms in the heart of the poor.” Eccles. 29:15.
NU reads “acts of righteousness” instead of “charitable giving”