Matthew 6:24
Matthew 6:24 | |
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← 6:23 6:25 → | |
Book | Gospel of Matthew |
Christian Bible part | New Testament |
Matthew 6:24 is the twenty-fourth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount.
Content
In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:
- No man can serve two masters: for either he
- will hate the one, and love the other; or else
- he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
- Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
The World English Bible translates the passage as:
- “No one can serve two masters, for either he
- will hate the one and love the other; or else
- he will be devoted to one and despise the
- other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
The Novum Testamentum Graece text is:
- Οὐδεὶς δύναται δυσὶ κυρίοις δουλεύειν
- ἢ γὰρ τὸν ἕνα μισήσει καὶ τὸν ἕτερον ἀγαπήσει,
- ἢ ἑνὸς ἀνθέξεται καὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου καταφρονήσει
- οὐ δύνασθε Θεῷ δουλεύειν καὶ μαμωνᾷ.
Translation and interpretation
This famous verse continues the discussion of wealth, and makes explicit what was implied in Matthew 6:21: a person cannot pursue both material goods and spiritual well-being. The two goals are mutually exclusive.
This famous saying also appears at
Leon Morris notes that the Greek: δουλεύειν, douleuein, translated as serve, literally means be a slave to, unlike in Luke where the reference is to servants.[1] The Holman Christian Standard Bible translated the phrase as "No one can be a slave of two masters".[2] David Hill notes that while labourers would frequently have more than one employer, it was impossible for a slave to have two masters and the author of Matthew may have chosen the slave metaphor as the clearer one.[3] However, Morris notes that Acts 16:16 mentions a slave with more than one master. What Jesus is noting is not a legal impossibility, but a psychological one. While the slave might at first believe he can serve both masters equally eventually he will come to prefer one over the other. The slavery metaphor also can mitigate Jesus' warning. One cannot be a slave to both God and money, but it does not mean that one cannot be both a slave to God and also pursue a reasonable interest in money. This verse is not a call for the renunciation of all wealth, merely a warning against the idolization of the pursuit of money.[4]
The word translated as "love" is Greek: αγαπησει agapēsei.
The word
Matthew 6:24 also parallels part of Saying 47 of the noncanonical Gospel of Thomas.
Thomas Aquinas has a homily on this verse, in which he states: "The Lord Jesus Christ shows in these words that God alone is to be served, and that no one is to be obeyed in opposition to God, and that no one is to be hindered from serving God, 'Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,' Matt. 4:10." He then goes on to state fives reasons why we ought to serve God: 1) On the ground of congruity; for all things serve Him, whence it is sufficiently congruous that man also should serve. 2) He alone has in us the right of possession of us. 3) On account of the dignity of serving Him. 4) On account of the necessity of so doing. 5) For the sake of our advantage; for many profitable things flow to man from the service of God.[5]
Commentary from the Church Fathers
Pseudo-Chrysostom: The Lord had said above, that he that has a spiritual mind is able to keep his body free from sin; and that he who has not, is not able. Of this He here gives the reason, saying, No man can serve two masters.[6]
Glossa Ordinaria: Otherwise; it had been declared above, that good things become evil, when done with a worldly purpose. It might therefore have been said by someone, I will do good works from worldly and heavenly motives at once. Against this the Lord says, No man can serve two masters.[6]
Glossa Ordinaria: Or; He seems to allude to two different kinds of servants; one kind who serve freely for love, another who serve servilely from fear. If then one serve two masters of contrary character from love, it must be that he hate the one; if from fear, while he trembles before the one, he must despise the other. But as the world or God predominate in a man's heart, he must be drawn contrary ways; for God draws him who serves Him to things above; the earth draws to things beneath; therefore He concludes, Ye cannot serve God and mammon.[6]
Jerome: Mammon—riches are so termed in Syriac. Let the covetous man who is called by the Christian name, hear this, that he cannot serve both Christ and riches. Yet He said not, he who has riches, but, he who is the servant of riches. For he who is the slave of money, guards his money as a slave; but he who has thrown off the yoke of his slavery, dispenses them as a master.[6]
Glossa Ordinaria: By mammon is meant the Devil, who is the lord of money, not that he can bestow them unless where God wills, but because by means of them he deceives men.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992.
- ^ Holman Christian Standard Bible translation
- ^ Hill, David, The Gospel of Matthew, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
- ^ Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992.
- ^ Aquinas, Thomas (1867). . Ninety-nine Homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas Upon the Epistles and Gospels for Forty-nine Sundays of the Christian Year. Church Press Company.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Catena Aurea: commentary on the four Gospels; collected out of the works of the Fathers. Oxford: Parker, 1874. Thomas Aquinas". This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Preceded by Matthew 6:23 |
Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6 |
Succeeded by Matthew 6:25 |