Matthew 6:16 Study Bible: "Moreover when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by people to be fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

◄ Matthew 6:16 ►

When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

Study Bible

When you fast
The phrase "When you fast" implies an expectation that fasting is a regular practice among believers. The Greek word for fast, "nēsteuō," means to abstain from food for spiritual purposes. Fasting is a discipline that has been practiced throughout biblical history, from Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28) to Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2). It is a time for believers to humble themselves before God, seeking His presence and guidance.

do not be somber
The instruction "do not be somber" suggests that fasting should not be accompanied by a display of sadness or gloom. The Greek word "skythrōpos" conveys a sense of a gloomy or sullen appearance. Jesus is teaching that fasting should be a joyful and sincere act of devotion, not a performance to gain the admiration of others.

like the hypocrites
The term "hypocrites" comes from the Greek "hypokritēs," originally referring to actors who wore masks. In a religious context, it denotes those who put on a false appearance of piety. Jesus frequently criticized the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, as they often performed religious acts for public recognition rather than genuine devotion (Matthew 23:5).

for they disfigure their faces
The phrase "for they disfigure their faces" indicates a deliberate act to appear more pious. The Greek word "aphanizō" means to make unrecognizable or to mar. This act of disfiguring was a way to draw attention to their fasting, turning a private act of worship into a public spectacle.

to show men they are fasting
The motivation "to show men they are fasting" reveals the heart issue Jesus addresses. The Greek word "phanerō" means to make visible or manifest. The hypocrites' fasting was not for God but for human approval. Jesus warns against practicing righteousness for the sake of being seen by others (Matthew 6:1).

Truly I tell you
The phrase "Truly I tell you" is a solemn affirmation used by Jesus to emphasize the truth of His statement. The Greek "amēn legō hymin" underscores the certainty and importance of what follows. It is a call to listen carefully and take His words to heart.

they already have their reward
The conclusion "they already have their reward" highlights the temporary and shallow nature of human praise. The Greek word "misthos" refers to wages or payment. Those who fast for public recognition receive their "reward" in the form of fleeting human admiration, but they forfeit the eternal reward that comes from God. Jesus encourages His followers to seek the approval of the Father, who sees what is done in secret and rewards accordingly (Matthew 6:18).

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jesus Christ
The speaker of this passage, delivering the Sermon on the Mount, which includes teachings on various aspects of righteous living.

2. Hypocrites
A term used by Jesus to describe those who perform religious acts for outward show rather than genuine devotion. In this context, they are those who fast to gain human admiration.

3. The Disciples
The primary audience of Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, representing all followers of Christ who seek to live according to His teachings.

4. The Sermon on the Mount
A significant teaching event in the New Testament where Jesus outlines the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven.

5. Fasting
A spiritual discipline involving abstaining from food (or other things) for a period of time to focus on prayer and spiritual growth.

Teaching Points

Sincerity in Worship
Fasting should be a genuine act of devotion to God, not a performance for others. Our focus should be on God, not on gaining human approval.

Inner Transformation
The purpose of fasting is to draw closer to God and seek spiritual growth, not merely to fulfill a religious obligation.

Guarding Against Hypocrisy
We must examine our motives in all spiritual practices, ensuring they are rooted in a desire to honor God rather than impress others.

Reward from God
True spiritual disciplines, done in secret and with the right heart, are rewarded by God, contrasting with the temporary and shallow rewards of human praise.

Humility in Practice
Fasting is a way to humble ourselves before God, acknowledging our dependence on Him and seeking His guidance and strength.

Bible Study Questions

1. What are some modern-day examples of how Christians might fall into the trap of performing religious acts for show, similar to the hypocrites in Matthew 6:16?

2. How can we ensure that our fasting and other spiritual disciplines are done with the right motives and not for the approval of others?

3. In what ways can fasting help us grow closer to God and deepen our spiritual lives?

4. How does the teaching in Matthew 6:16 relate to the broader theme of the Sermon on the Mount regarding the heart's condition in worship?

5. Reflect on a time when you practiced a spiritual discipline. How did it impact your relationship with God, and what did you learn about your motives?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Isaiah 58
This chapter discusses true fasting, emphasizing that it should be accompanied by acts of justice and mercy rather than mere ritual.

Matthew 23:5
Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for their outward displays of piety, similar to the hypocrites in Matthew 6:16.

1 Samuel 16:7
God looks at the heart rather than outward appearances, aligning with the teaching that fasting should be sincere and not for show.

Joel 2:12-13
Calls for genuine repentance and fasting, emphasizing a return to God with all one's heart.

James 4:8-10
Encourages believers to draw near to God with sincere hearts, which can include fasting as a form of humbling oneself before the Lord.

Sermons

Fasting	J. Benson.	Matthew 6:16
Fasting	Alexander Maclaren	Matthew 6:16
The Moral Influence of Fasting	R. Tuck	Matthew 6:16
Sermon on the Mount: 4. Ostentatious Religion	Marcus Dods	Matthew 6:1-18
Fasting	J.A. Macdonald	Matthew 6:16-18
The Manner of Fasting	P.C. Barker	Matthew 6:16-18

People

Jesus, Solomon

Places

Galilee

Topics

Already, Appear, Appearance, Assume, Certainly, Changed, Countenance, Countenances, Disfigure, Dismal, Downcast, Evident, Face, Faces, False-hearted, Fast, Fasting, Full, Gloomy, Hypocrites, Looks, Moreover, Neglect, Noticed, Order, Received, Reward, Sad, Sad-faced, Solemnly, Somber, Sour, Truly, Truth, Verily, Whenever

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Matthew 6:16

     5173   outward appearance
     5554   status
     5773   abstinence, discipline
     5920   pretence
     8767   hypocrisy
     8774   legalism
     8804   pride, examples

Matthew 6:1-18

5909 motives, importance

Matthew 6:1-21

1660 Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 6:16-18

     5794   asceticism
     5856   extravagance
     5941   secrecy
     7342   cleanliness
     8332   reputation
     8432   fasting, practice

Library

The Distracted Mind
Eversley. 1871. Matthew vi. 34. "Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Scholars will tell you that the words "take no thought" do not exactly express our Lord's meaning in this text. That they should rather stand, "Be not anxious about to-morrow." And doubtless they are right on the whole. But the truth is, that we have no word in English which exactly expresses the Greek word which St Matthew …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

The Lord's Prayer
Windsor Castle, 1867. Chester Cathedral, 1870. Matthew vi. 9, 10. "After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Let us think for a while on these great words. Let us remember that some day or other they will certainly be fulfilled. Let us remember that Christ would not have bidden us use them, unless He intended that they should be fulfilled. And let us remember, likewise, that …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

June 16. "Ye Cannot Serve God and Mammon" (Matt. vi. 24).
"Ye cannot serve God and Mammon" (Matt. vi. 24). He does not say ye cannot very well serve God and mammon, but ye cannot serve two masters at all. Ye shall be sure to end by serving one. The man who thinks he is serving God a little is deceived; he is not serving God. God will not have his service. The devil will monopolize him before he gets through. A divided heart loses both worlds. Saul tried it. Balaam tried it. Judas tried it, and they all made a desperate failure. Mary had but one choice. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

August 27. "Take no Thought for Your Life" (Matt. vi. 25).
"Take no thought for your life" (Matt. vi. 25). Still the Lord is using the things that are despised. The very names of Nazarene and Christian were once epithets of contempt. No man can have God's highest thought and be popular with his immediate generation. The most abused men are often most used. There are far greater calamities than to be unpopular and misunderstood. There are far worse things than to be found in the minority. Many of God's greatest blessings are lying behind the devil's scarecrows …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 21. "Consider the Lilies How they Grow" (Matt. vi. 28).
"Consider the lilies how they grow" (Matt. vi. 28). It is said that a little fellow was found one day by his mother, standing by a tall sunflower, with his feet stuck in the ground. When asked by her, "What in the world are you doing there?" he naively answered, "Why, I am trying to grow to be a man." His mother laughed heartily at the idea of his getting planted in the ground in order to grow, like the sunflower, and then, patting him gently on the head, "Why, Harry, that is not the way to grow. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

June 10. "Your Heavenly Father Knoweth Ye have Need" (Matt. vi. 32).
"Your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need" (Matt. vi. 32). Christ makes no less of our trust for temporal things than He does for spiritual things. He places a good deal of emphasis upon it. Why? Simply because it is harder to trust God for them. In spiritual matters we can fool ourselves, and think that we are trusting when we are not; but we cannot do so about rent and food, and the needs of our body. They must come or our faith fails. It is easy to say that we trust Him in things that are a long …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 12. "But Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness, and all These Things Shall be Added unto You" (Matt. vi. 33).
"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. vi. 33). For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate you from the Lord, or at least from the singleness of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit it to Him, and not cease to believe for …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Consider the Lilies of the Field
(Preached on Easter Day, 1867.) MATTHEW vi. 26, 28, 29. 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? . . . 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. What has this text to do with Easter-day? Let us think …
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons

'Thy Kingdom Come'
'Thy kingdom come.--MATT. vi. 10. 'The Lord reigneth, let the earth be glad'; 'The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble,' was the burden of Jewish psalmist and prophet from the first to the last. They have no doubt of His present dominion. Neither man's forgetfulness and man's rebellion, nor all the dark crosses and woes of the world, can disturb their conviction that He is then and for ever the sole Lord. The kingdom is come, then. Yet John the Baptist broke the slumbers of that degenerate people …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Thy Will be Done'
'Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 10. It makes all the difference whether the thought of the name, or that of the will, of God be the prominent one. If men begin with the will, then their religion will be slavish, a dull, sullen resignation, or a painful, weary round of unwelcome duties and reluctant abstainings. The will of an unknown God will be in their thoughts a dark and tyrannous necessity, a mysterious, inscrutable force, which rules by virtue of being stronger, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Cry for Bread
'Give us this day our daily bread.'--MATT. vi. 11. What a contrast there is between the two consecutive petitions, Thy will be done, and Give us this day! The one is so comprehensive, the other so narrow; the one loses self in the wide prospect of an obedient world, the other is engrossed with personal wants; the one rises to such a lofty, ideal height, the other is dragged down to the lowest animal wants. And yet this apparent bathos is apparent only, and the fact that so narrow and earthly a petition …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Forgive us Our Debts'
'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.'--MATT. vi. 12. The sequence of the petitions in the second half of the Lord's Prayer suggests that every man who needs to pray for daily bread needs also to pray for daily forgiveness. The supplication for the supply of our bodily needs precedes the others, because it deals with a need which is fundamental indeed, but of less importance than those which prompt the subsequent petitions. God made us to need bread, we have made ourselves to need pardon. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Lead us not into Temptation'
'And lead us not into temptation.'--MATT. vi. 13. The petition of the previous clause has to do with the past, this with the future; the one is the confession of sin, the other the supplication which comes from the consciousness of weakness. The best man needs both. Forgiveness does not break the bonds of evil by which we are held. But forgiveness increases our consciousness of weakness, and in the new desire which comes from it to walk in holiness, we are first rightly aware of the strength and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Deliver us from Evil'
'But deliver us from evil.'--MATT. vi. 13. The two halves of this prayer are like a calm sky with stars shining silently in its steadfast blue, and a troubled earth beneath, where storms sweep, and changes come, and tears are ever being shed. The one is so tranquil, the other so full of woe and want. What a dark picture of human conditions lies beneath the petitions of this second half! Hunger and sin and temptation, and wider still, that tragic word which includes them all--evil. Forgiveness and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Thine is the Kingdom'
'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.' MATT. vi. 13. There is no reason to suppose that this doxology was spoken by Christ. It does not occur in any of the oldest and most authoritative manuscripts of Matthew's Gospel. It does not seem to have been known to the earliest Christian writers. Long association has for us intertwined the words inextricably with our Lord's Prayer, and it is a wound to reverential feeling to strike out what so many generations have used in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Hearts and Treasures
'For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.'--MATT. vi. 21. 'Your treasure' is probably not the same as your neighbour's. It is yours, whether you possess it or not, because you love it. For what our Lord means here by 'treasure' is not merely money, or material good, but whatever each man thinks best, that which he most eagerly strives to attain, that which he most dreads to lose, that which, if he has, he thinks he will be blessed, that which, if he has it not, he knows he is discontented. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Solitary Prayer
'Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret,'--MATT. vi. 6. An old heathen who had come to a certain extent under the influence of Christ, called prayer 'the flight of the solitary to the Solitary.' There is a deep truth in that, though not all the truth. Prayer is not only the most intensely individual act that a man can perform, but it is also the highest social act. Christ came not to carry solitary souls by a solitary pathway to heaven, but …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Structure of the Lord's Prayer
'After this manner therefore pray ye.'--MATT. vi. 9. 'After this manner' may or may not imply that Christ meant this prayer to be a form, but He certainly meant it for a model. And they who drink in its spirit, and pray, seeking God's glory before their own satisfaction, and, while trustfully asking from His hand their daily bread, rise quickly to implore the supply of their spiritual hunger, do pray after this manner,' whether they use these words or no. All begins with the recognition of the Fatherhood …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Our Father'
'Our Father which art in heaven.'--Matt. vi. 9. The words of Christ, like the works of God, are inexhaustible. Their depth is concealed beneath an apparent simplicity which the child and the savage can understand. But as we gaze upon them and try to fathom all their meaning, they open as the skies above us do when we look steadily into their blue chambers, or as the sea at our feet does when we bend over to pierce its clear obscure. The poorest and weakest learns from them the lesson of divine love …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Hallowed be Thy Name'
'Hallowed be Thy name.'--Matt. vi. 9. Name is character so far as revealed. I. What is meaning of Petition? Hallowed means to make holy; or to show as holy; or to regard as holy. The second of these is God's hallowing of His Name. The third is men's. The prayer asks that God would so act as to show the holiness of His character, and that men, one and all, may see the holiness of His character. i.e. Hallowed by divine self-revelation. Hallowed by human recognition. Hallowed by human adoration and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Trumpets and Street Corners
'Take heed that ye do nob your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; 4. That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Fasting
'Moreover, when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18. That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.'--MATT. vi. 16-18. Fasting has gone out of fashion now, but in Christ's time it went along …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Two Kinds of Treasure
'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 19-20. The connection with the previous part is twofold. The warning against hypocritical fastings and formalism leads to the warning against worldly-mindedness and avarice. For what worldly-mindedness is greater than that which prostitutes even religious acts to worldly advantage, and is laying up treasure of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Anxious Care
'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. 25. Therefore I say unto you. Take no thought for your life.'--Matt. vi. 24-25. Foresight and foreboding are two very different things. It is not that the one is the exaggeration of the other, but the one is opposed to the other. The more a man looks forward in the exercise of foresight, the less he does so in the exercise of foreboding. And the more he is tortured by anxious thoughts about a possible future, the less clear vision has he of a likely future, and the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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