5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

COMMENTARY: Christians somehow excuse themselves from obeying this command. First, they do not think of themselves as hypocrites because they do not understand hypocrisy. Second, they pridefully think this command applies only to Jews and could never apply to them because they follow Jesus. Third, they think that if they do not pray on literal street corners, the command does not apply to them. Fourth, because they believe that they pray for pure, spiritual reasons, they cannot accept that they might pray so that others may see them doing it. Fifth, they do not understand how all religious activity, including prayer, rewards them with increased pride.

This scripture is covered in detail in Prayer. Also see Tebow’s Broad Phylacteries and Public Prayer. The reward for public prayer, and public religion in general, is the praise of men.

6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

COMMENTARY: The inner room and the secret place are symbolic terms for the heart. The command, therefore, is to pray in your heart which is the place  where all spiritual activity occurs. This command effectively contradicts the common religious practice of praying out loud in public.

This scripture is covered in detail in Prayer. Also see Tebow’s Broad Phylacteries and Public Prayer.

7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

COMMENTARY: Jews and Christians put a high religious value on prayer. The thinking is that the more you pray, the greater the possibility that God will answer any prayer request. The thinking is that if you pray a lot you are closer to God and he listens more to people who pray. This is all wrong thinking. The prayers God hears do not have words. A clean, pure heart is always in an attitude of prayer that is open and receptive to hearing God’s voice and having his laws written on the heart. These attitudes are God’s righteous alternative to religion.

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Also see Tongues for more discussion about meaningless repetitions.

8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

COMMENTARY: This issue will be discussed later in this series of pages.