And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
All Commentaries on Matthew 6:5 Go To Matthew 6
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
And here also it is not the being seen of men that is wrong, but doing these things for the purpose of being seen of men; and it is superfluous to make the same remark so often, since there is just one rule to be kept, from which we learn that what we should dread and avoid is not that men know these things, but that they be done with this intent, that the fruit of pleasing men should be sought after in them. Our Lord Himself, too, preserves the same words, when He adds similarly, Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward; hereby showing that He forbids this—the striving after that reward in which fools delight when they are praised by men.
