Why does Jesus contradict himself in Matthew 5:15-16 and Matthew 6:5-6?

[Bohm_Bawerk]

In Matthew 5:15, Jesus says: “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16). What Jesus is saying in these verses is that believers should practice good deeds in public, in the hope that it may be seen by men and give glory to god. It has parallels to St. Francis of Assisi’s advice: “Preach the gospel at all times - use words when necessary”.

But Jesus proceeds to go on to criticize: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6). This, however, is a contradiction of Jesus’ earlier advice for his followers to practice their deeds out in open so that their good works may give glory to god. What we find here is that in a rapid turn of events, Jesus is now telling his followers to pray in secret so that they may receive all of the alleged rewards in an afterlife by his “Heavenly Father” rather than receiving an earthly, temporal reward of applause by men.

Can anyone care to explain the contradiction? Please don’t give me, "oh, that’s sola scriptura, the Church says XYZ [insert long passage from Catechism]. That’s circular logic - “the Bible is correct because the Church says so”. That’s tantamount to, “the Quran is correct because a Muslim scholar says so” or “The God Delusion is correct because Richard Dawkins says so”. It’s also important to note that I’m not “nitpicking” verses so to speak. I’ve clearly understood the context, and I think I’m proposing this question in an atmosphere that’s just.

 

[Road2Damascus]

In Matthew 5:15, Jesus says: “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16). What Jesus is saying in these verses is that believers should practice good deeds in public, in the hope that it may be seen by men and give glory to god. It has parallels to St. Francis of Assisi’s advice: “Preach the gospel at all times - use words when necessary”.

But Jesus proceeds to go on to criticize: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6). This, however, is a contradiction of Jesus’ earlier advice for his followers to practice their deeds out in open so that their good works may give glory to god. What we find here is that in a rapid turn of events, Jesus is now telling his followers to pray in secret so that they may receive all of the alleged rewards in an afterlife by his “Heavenly Father” rather than receiving an earthly, temporal reward of applause by men.

Can anyone care to explain the contradiction? Please don’t give me, "oh, that’s sola scriptura, the Church says XYZ [insert long passage from Catechism]. That’s circular logic - “the Bible is correct because the Church says so”. That’s tantamount to, “the Quran is correct because a Muslim scholar says so” or “The God Delusion is correct because Richard Dawkins says so”. It’s also important to note that I’m not “nitpicking” verses so to speak. I’ve clearly understood the context, and I think I’m proposing this question in an atmosphere that’s just.

And how is your logic that the first refers to deeds and the second one refers to prayers. One can look “pious” praying. You could say prayer is a deed but not all deeds are prayers.

 

[CaptCrunch73]

I don’t understand how this is a contradiction at all.

In Matthew 5:15-16 Jesus is telling people be the salt of the earth and light of world i.e. bear witness to Jesus and his message. Both salt and light have links to the Old Testament, I’ll leave the exercise of understanding the links to salt and light to you.

In Matthew 6:5-6 Jesus is discussing the traditional works of mercy almsgiving, prayer and fasting and warning his followers not to preform these in public for esteem of display piety. Basically, give alms, pray and fast but for the right reasons.

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

And how is your logic that the first refers to deeds and the second one refers to prayers. One can look “pious” praying. You could say prayer is a deed but not all deeds are prayers.

You can also look “pious” giving to charity (deed). For example, I sometimes find it a little bit unsettling when ultra-rich celebrities announce they are giving £/$ millions to some village in Africa, and the media immediately paints them to be a saint.

Yes, I consider prayer to be a deed. Or in more applicable words, an act. It’s something that you do.

 

[Road2Damascus]

You can also look “pious” giving to charity (deed). For example, I sometimes find it a little bit unsettling when ultra-rich celebrities announce they are giving £/$ millions to some village in Africa, and the media immediately paints them to be a saint.

Yes, I consider prayer to be a deed. Or in more applicable words, an act. It’s something that you do.

I see what you are getting at some, in a way it is “appearances” in both.

If others were to see someone professing to be a “Christian”, it would be better to do a deed such as forgiving someone vs. holding a grudge. It is hard to forgive, it is not that difficult to try to look holy in front of everyone by piously praying.

I think CaptCrunch73 has a proper response.

 

[ProspectCard]

I agree with previous posters, no contradiction at all here. This was another failed attempt to discredit scripture as you are comparing apples and oranges. :tsktsk:

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

I don’t understand how this is a contradiction at all.

In Matthew 5:15-16 Jesus is telling people be the salt of the earth and light of world i.e. bear witness to Jesus and his message. Both salt and light have links to the Old Testament, I’ll leave the exercise of understanding the links to salt and light to you.

In Matthew 6:5-6 Jesus is discussing the traditional works of mercy almsgiving, prayer and fasting and warning his followers not to preform these in public for esteem of display piety. Basically, give alms, pray and fast but for the right reasons.

Bearing witness to Jesus and his message is essentially mercy, almsgiving, prayer and fasting. You can’t divorce the two nor create an arbitrary dichotomy. Hence why the two passages are innately connected together, and at the same time, are contradictory.

Your claim that one should give alms, pray and fast for the “right reasons” is interesting, but Jesus doesn’t explicitly mention that it’s the intention that is important. Jesus seems more interested on the effect of our actions rather than the cause.

“. . .]In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16)
“. . .]But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6).

Little mention of any causal factors such as “right reasons”. Jesus seems more interested in the consequences of our actions. But how can one do good deeds in public and give praise to the “Father” and at the same time doing good deeds in private and give praise to the “Father”, when Jesus seems to condemn one and recommend the other?

 

[revert_jen]

“. . .]In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16)
“. . .]But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6).

I am just guessing, but I think it means that we are to show God’s love openly to non-believers, but not to show off before other believers. When dealing with non-believers, we might first be seen as Christians, and second as individuals. When dealing with other Christians, we wouldn’t be representing specifically Christianity to them, because they are a part of it themselves. In the same way, I’m not a representative of the US when I’m at home, but if I go to Europe, people will judge the US (to a limited extent, granted) by what I do.

The basic idea is, perform actions in such a way that they glorify God, not yourself. Although it might be possible to argue about this for a long time from a theoretical standpoint, I think most of us know the difference in practice.

–Jen

 

[TimothyH]

Both citations are from the Sermon on the Mount which was Jesus’ redefinition for Jews of what it means to be holy.

The lamp under a bushel basket and city on a hill teaching - “Let your light shine among men” - follows a list of good works which had nothing to do with the mosaic law.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit
• Blessed are they who mourn
• Blessed are the meek
• Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness
• Blessed are the merciful
• Blessed are the clean of heart
• Blessed are the peacemakers
• Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness
• Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me

Again, none of these behaviors were prescribed in the mosaic law. The law of Moses, specifically the “Holiness Code” from Leviticus 17 - 22 was something that every Jew was intimately familiar with, having learned it from earliest childhood. Adherance to the Holiness Code was what Jews thought would hasten the coming of the Messiah and they believed that disobeying the Holiness Code of Leviticus 17-22 was actually delaying or preventing the coming of the Messiah. It was adheance to the Holiness Code - a bunch of rules and regulartion on what not to do - which made one holy. Part of those rules which made you holy was seperation from others, from sinners and foreigners and sick people and dead bodies and types of food. Seperation made you holy.

The beatitudes change that. The beatitueds tell us that it is your love for God and how that love manifests itself in how you treat other people which makes you holy, not seperation. The passage about praying in secret and giving alms in secret was in reference to how “The hypocrites” do it. Both praying and giving alms were prescribed in the Holiness Code of Levitucis 17-21 and the hypocrites did it only to prove to others how holy they were and only insofar as they fulfilled the absolute minimum obligation under the law of Moses.

In redefining holiness, Jesus the Rabbi uses the rabbinic teaching formula, “You have heard that it was said… But I say to you…”

*You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
(Matthew 5:38-3)

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,
(Matthew 5:43-44)*

In using this rabinnical teaching technique (used by Paul as well), Jesus was making references (You have heard that it was said) to very specific regulations required by the Mosaic law; regulations with which his audience would have been intimately familiar. And each time, he contrasted the requirements of the old law with the new law (But I say to you) of his new covenant; laws which far suprpassed and even contained all of the old laws.

Holiness was no longer what regulations you fulfilled or how you seperated yourself from foreigners and sinners and how you proved that to your fellow man and to the Pharisees. Holiness was now how much you love God and how that love was manifest in how you treat others with love - peace, humility, deference, forgivness, bearing with one another’s faults, and even sacrificing your life for them if required. That’s the whole point.

There is no contradiction once we look at the verses through first century Jewish eyes and the lense of the mosaic law.

-Tim-

 

[ProVobis]

But Jesus proceeds to go on to criticize: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6). This, however, is a contradiction of Jesus’ earlier advice for his followers to practice their deeds out in open so that their good works may give glory to god. What we find here is that in a rapid turn of events, Jesus is now telling his followers to pray in secret so that they may receive all of the alleged rewards in an afterlife by his “Heavenly Father” rather than receiving an earthly, temporal reward of applause by men.

Thanks for bringing up the passage. I myself have used it. I think what it means is that we aren’t to pray ONLY to be seen by others. Our true prayer is from ourselves, whether alone or in groups. But I could be wrong in my interpretation.

I don’t however understand how the hypocrites have their rewards.

 

[JRKH]

In Matthew 5:15, Jesus says: “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16). What Jesus is saying in these verses is that believers should practice good deeds in public, in the hope that it may be seen by men and give glory to god. It has parallels to St. Francis of Assisi’s advice: “Preach the gospel at all times - use words when necessary”.

But Jesus proceeds to go on to criticize: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6). This, however, is a contradiction of Jesus’ earlier advice for his followers to practice their deeds out in open so that their good works may give glory to god. What we find here is that in a rapid turn of events, Jesus is now telling his followers to pray in secret so that they may receive all of the alleged rewards in an afterlife by his “Heavenly Father” rather than receiving an earthly, temporal reward of applause by men.

Can anyone care to explain the contradiction? Please don’t give me, "oh, that’s sola scriptura, the Church says XYZ [insert long passage from Catechism]. That’s circular logic - “the Bible is correct because the Church says so”. That’s tantamount to, “the Quran is correct because a Muslim scholar says so” or “The God Delusion is correct because Richard Dawkins says so”. It’s also important to note that I’m not “nitpicking” verses so to speak. I’ve clearly understood the context, and I think I’m proposing this question in an atmosphere that’s just.

I think you ask a very interesting question and one worthy of consideration.
Having only briefly skimmed some of the answers forgive me if I repeat anything.

In my view the big issue is one of intent which should be seen in the context of the passages. In the second Jesus is warning his disciples of doing things for show.
In the first he is telling them to free give of themselves.

A “Light” does not shine for the benefit of others. It shines because it MUST shine. That is what a light does. The fact that others benefit from the light, and are thankful for the light, in no way makes the light brighter or dimmer.
So when Jesus says we are to be the light of the world, He is talking about our state of being. If we “be” light we do things because we “are” light and whether others see it or not does not effect what we are.
In addition, being “light”, we expect no recompense, no applause, no reward from whoever might see or benefit from our actions.
Of course others will see us and will benefit and (hopefully) praise God - and note here that Jesus says to do these things so that others will “Praise God” (not you)
Humility - True humility is a big part of this.

The second example is, speaking to a fairly specific issue - prayer. Prayer is fine, even public prayer. But not the sort of “empty spectacle” that is part of the context of Gospel passage.

The bottom line is that we need to have the “inner light” of salvation. As a consequence our actions flow whether they are witnessed or not.

Peace
James

 

[Sherry_G]

Showing up at a public church service can be done “strictly for show”. It is all in intention as others have said. Jesus doesn’t contradict Himself at all. The rabbis were esteemed by the Israelites just because of their title and robes, the same as our priests are given respect today. some individuals do not fulfill their roles properly and so may be reaping rewards just because of their standing in the community. The rabbi’s that were hypocrites may have been esteemed due to their standing only. As for “shining a light”, Jesus is not referring to making a show of our behavior. He’s talking about living our faith, day and night. Being one with the Body of Christ in all our actions and thoughts. Of course, we are all sinners and fail on a daily basis, but He loves us all anyway.
So sorry you are lost and consider yourself an atheist, but glad you are still here on CAF with us. peace be with you.

 

[JRKH]

Bearing witness to Jesus and his message is essentially mercy, almsgiving, prayer and fasting. You can’t divorce the two nor create an arbitrary dichotomy. Hence why the two passages are innately connected together, and at the same time, are contradictory.

Your claim that one should give alms, pray and fast for the “right reasons” is interesting, but Jesus doesn’t explicitly mention that it’s the intention that is important. Jesus seems more interested on the effect of our actions rather than the cause.

“. . .]In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16)
“. . .]But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6).

Just a quick note relating to the last paragraph.
Note that in Matthew 5:15-16, you are doing “good deeds” so that others might see them and praise God. The attention is not focused on you.

Peace
James

 

[Road2Damascus]

Both citations are from the Sermon on the Mount which was Jesus’ redefinition for Jews of what it means to be holy.

The lamp under a bushel basket and city on a hill teaching - “Let your light shine among men” - follows a list of good works which had nothing to do with the mosaic law.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit
• Blessed are they who mourn
• Blessed are the meek
• Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness
• Blessed are the merciful
• Blessed are the clean of heart
• Blessed are the peacemakers
• Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness
• Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me

Again, none of these behaviors were prescribed in the mosaic law. The law of Moses, specifically the “Holiness Code” from Leviticus 17 - 22 was something that every Jew was intimately familiar with, having learned it from earliest childhood. Adherance to the Holiness Code was what Jews thought would hasten the coming of the Messiah and they believed that disobeying the Holiness Code of Leviticus 17-22 was actually delaying or preventing the coming of the Messiah. It was adheance to the Holiness Code - a bunch of rules and regulartion on what not to do - which made one holy. Part of those rules which made you holy was seperation from others, from sinners and foreigners and sick people and dead bodies and types of food. Seperation made you holy.

The beatitudes change that. The beatitueds tell us that it is your love for God and how that love manifests itself in how you treat other people which makes you holy, not seperation. The passage about praying in secret and giving alms in secret was in reference to how “The hypocrites” do it. Both praying and giving alms were prescribed in the Holiness Code of Levitucis 17-21 and the hypocrites did it only to prove to others how holy they were and only insofar as they fulfilled the absolute minimum obligation under the law of Moses.

In redefining holiness, Jesus the Rabbi uses the rabbinic teaching formula, “You have heard that it was said… But I say to you…”

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
(Matthew 5:38-3)

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,
(Matthew 5:43-44)

In using this rabinnical teaching technique (used by Paul as well), Jesus was making references (You have heard that it was said) to very specific regulations required by the Mosaic law; regulations with which his audience would have been intimately familiar. And each time, he contrasted the requirements of the old law with the new law (But I say to you) of his new covenant; laws which far suprpassed and even contained all of the old laws.

Holiness was no longer what regulations you fulfilled or how you seperated yourself from foreigners and sinners and how you proved that to your fellow man and to the Pharisees. Holiness was now how much you love God and how that love was manifest in how you treat others with love - peace, humility, deference, forgivness, bearing with one another’s faults, and even sacrificing your life for them if required. That’s the whole point.

There is no contradiction once we look at the verses through first century Jewish eyes and the lense of the mosaic law.

-Tim-

Yes, I was on a similar point the other day but your presentation is very learned, not to flatter, well said.

Take John 7:24 which again, shows something of the Mosaic Law and whatever the proper terminology is, Code of Leviticus:

Do not keep judging according to appearances; let your judgment be according to what is right.

So, this is about what is right, it also could seem to call to mind not to rule out simple common sense. Of course, read all of John for context.

TimH’s post to me calls to mind how I have been wrestling a bit with the meanings of Galatians 5. I try to figure out how Paul wants us to treat the law of the Old Testament as well.

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

I think you ask a very interesting question and one worthy of consideration.
Having only briefly skimmed some of the answers forgive me if I repeat anything.

In my view the big issue is one of intent which should be seen in the context of the passages. In the second Jesus is warning his disciples of doing things for show.
In the first he is telling them to free give of themselves.

A “Light” does not shine for the benefit of others. It shines because it MUST shine. That is what a light does. The fact that others benefit from the light, and are thankful for the light, in no way makes the light brighter or dimmer.
So when Jesus says we are to be the light of the world, He is talking about our state of being. If we “be” light we do things because we “are” light and whether others see it or not does not effect what we are.
In addition, being “light”, we expect no recompense, no applause, no reward from whoever might see or benefit from our actions.
Of course others will see us and will benefit and (hopefully) praise God - and note here that Jesus says to do these things so that others will “Praise God” (not you)
Humility - True humility is a big part of this.

The second example is, speaking to a fairly specific issue - prayer. Prayer is fine, even public prayer. But not the sort of “empty spectacle” that is part of the context of Gospel passage.

The bottom line is that we need to have the “inner light” of salvation. As a consequence our actions flow whether they are witnessed or not.

Peace
James

This is the answer. Thank you . Wish you all the best for you and your wife; have a great day.

 

[CaptCrunch73]

Bearing witness to Jesus and his message is essentially mercy, almsgiving, prayer and fasting. You can’t divorce the two nor create an arbitrary dichotomy. Hence why the two passages are innately connected together, and at the same time, are contradictory.

Your claim that one should give alms, pray and fast for the “right reasons” is interesting, but Jesus doesn’t explicitly mention that it’s the intention that is important. Jesus seems more interested on the effect of our actions rather than the cause.

“. . .]In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16)
“. . .]But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6).

Nonsense, if you read the scripture in context then the “right reasons” are clearly discussed. You conveniently picked out Matthew 6:5-6, try adding verse 7… although I’d argue verse 5 is sufficient enough to make my point.

Matthew 6:5-7 (Revised Standard Version)

5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. **7 "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. **

 

[EricFilmer]

There is no contradiction between these gospel passages.

Matthew 5:15-16 ties into the theme in the gospels of being charitable. Our love of God and neighbor should motivate Christians to help those in need. If I help build a soup kitchen, and/or volunteer to work in one, then this can hardly be done in secret or in a closed room. Many other acts of charity are also public by their very nature.

Matthew 6:5-6 is presented as the “treatment” for pride and hypocrisy. In the ancient world, being considered a very religious person was an admirable quality in the eyes of society. Therefore, some desired to put on public shows of spirituality in order to gain respect and admiration from others, but this was their motive rather than love of God and neighbor. Jesus challenges such people to pray in secret to help overcome the desire for public recognition.

It should be noted that Jesus could not have been stating this as an absolute rule because Judeo-Christianity at times requires public acts or worship. Jesus’ statements, therefore, would have been addressing aspects of someone’s prayer life that can be done in a closed room as well as, say, the temple or other public location.

Rather than contradicting the first gospel passage cited (Matthew 5:15-16), Matthew 6:5-6 challenges people doing good deeds in public to make sure that their motive is love for God and neighbor rather than the admiration and praise of people. Therefore, these two gospel teachings go hand in hand. We are to do good deeds (whether in public or in private) for the praise of God, not for the desire to be praised ourselves.