Why do many athletes pray before they compete? I’ve noticed with mixed martial arts fights, fighters gather with their trainers and recite the Lord’s prayer before a fight. Those that trash talk before a fight, putting down their opponent, are not the ones that I see praying. But the fighters who pray before their fight seem to have an interesting calm before they step into the octagon. Their prayer doesn’t seem to be for their opponent to be destroyed, or hurt, but that they would perform their best.
None of us can comprehend exactly how prayer functions within the infinite mind and plan of God. On the one hand, prayer is seen simply as a way of lining up with God regarding what He has already determined to do, and on the other it is pleading with God to do what He otherwise would not do.
The Bible is unequivocal about God’s absolute sovereignty. But it is equally unequivocal in declaring that within His sovereignty God calls on His people to seek Him in prayer-to implore His help in guidance, provision, protection, mercy, forgiveness, and countless other needs.
It is neither required nor possible to understand the divine working that makes prayer effective. God simply commands us to obey the principles of prayer that His Word gives. Our Lord’s teaching in Matthew 6:5-15, commonly known as "The Lord’s Prayer" contains some of those principles.
Since God is God why should we pray? Do we need to inform Him of something? Are we seeking to change His mind? Is it just a duty? Do we gain righteousness by doing it?
Jesus continues His contrast of true and false righteousness, in particular the false righteousness typified by the scribes and Pharisees. As Matthew 6:2–4 exposes their hypocritical giving and verses 16–18 their hypocritical fasting, verses 5–8 expose their equally hypocritical praying. Their prayers were defective in 1) Their intended audience and 2) In their content. They give us some much needed guidance in genuinely relating to God in Prayer.
1) The Audience of Prayer. (Matthew 6:5-6)
A) The False Audience: Other People. (Matthew 6:5)
Matthew 6:5 [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 others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (ESV)
The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer. It is not only a prayer for us to repeat; it is a lesson in how to pray and what to pray for. It covers all our needs of body and soul, but it is also concerned about the needs of all our fellow Christians and of all the uncounted millions who do not yet know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. It is an appropriate prayer on every occasion that calls for prayer. It puts first things first, but it leaves nothing out (Albrecht, G. J., & Albrecht, M. J. (1996). Matthew. The People’s Bible (89). Milwaukee, Wis.: Northwestern Pub. House.).
Jesus begins: And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. “And” parallels the exercise of prayer with that of giving; the need of others whom we may be able to relieve with our own need which God is to relieve. Ὅταν with the present subjunctive expects us to be praying regularly (Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (259). Minneapolis, MN.: Augsburg Publishing House.).
Prayer that focuses on self is always hypocritical, because, by definition, the focus of every prayer should be on God. As mentioned last week, the term hypocrite originally referred to actors who used large masks to portray the roles they were playing. Hypocrites are actors, pretenders, persons who play a role. What they say and do does not represent what they themselves feel or believe but only the image they hope to create.
The hypocritical scribes and Pharisees prayed for the same purpose they did everything else-to attract attention and bring honor to themselves. That was the essence of their “righteousness,” which Jesus said had no part in His kingdom (5:20).
The hypocrites of whom Jesus speaks had convinced themselves that by performing certain religious acts, including various types of prayer, they became acceptable to God.
Quote: Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes,
We tend to think of sin as we see it in rags and in the gutters of life. We look at a drunkard, poor fellow, and we say, there is sin. But that is not the essence of sin. To have a real picture and a true understanding of sin, you must look at some great saint, some unusually devout and devoted man, look at him there on his knees in the very presence of God. Even there self is intruding itself, and the temptation is for him to think about himself, to think pleasantly and pleasurably about himself and to really be worshiping himself rather than God. That, not the other, is the true picture of sin. The other is sin, of course, but ..., you do not see it in its essence. Or to put it in another form, if you really want to understand something about the nature of Satan and his activities, the thing to do is not to go to the dregs or the gutters of life. If you really want to know something about Satan, go away to that wilderness where our Lord spent forty days and forty nights. That’s the true picture of Satan, where you see him tempting the very Son of God. (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977], 2:22–23)
From what we know in the scriptural record, Jesus’ two most intense times of spiritual opposition were during His forty days of solitude in the wilderness and during His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed and arrested. On both occasions He was alone praying to His Father. It was in the most private and holy place of communion that Satan presented his strongest temptations before the Son of God.
The hypocrites loved to stand and pray. Standing was a normal position for prayer among the Jews. In the Old Testament we see God’s faithful praying while kneeling, while lying prostrate, and while standing. In New Testament times standing was the most common position and did not necessarily indicate a desire to be noticed.
The synagogues were the most appropriate and likely places for public prayers to be offered.
It was the place where Jews worshiped most often, especially those who lived great distances from the Temple. The synagogue was the local place of assembly, not only for worship but for various civic and social gatherings. If done sincerely, prayer at any of those functions was appropriate.
The street corners were also a normal place for prayer, because devout Jews would stop wherever they were at the appointed hour for prayer, even if they were walking down the street or visiting at the corner. But the word used here for street is not the same as that in verse 2, which refers to a narrow street (rhumē). The word used here (plateia) refers to a wide, major street, and therefore to a major street corner, where a crowd was most likely to be. The implied fault here is that the hypocrites loved to pray where they would have the largest audience. There was nothing wrong with praying at a major intersection if that was where you happened to be at the time for prayer. But something was very much wrong if you planned to be there at prayer time for the specific purpose of praying where the most people could see you.
The real evil of those hypocritical worshipers, whether in the synagogues or on the street corners, was the desire to display themselves that they may be/in order to be seen by others. It was not wrong to pray in those places, but they happened to afford the largest audiences, and were therefore the places where the hypocrites preferred to pray.
Please turn to Luke 18
As always, the sin began in the heart. It was pride, the desire to exalt themselves before their fellow Jews, that was the root of the sin. Like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, those hypocrites ended up praying to themselves (see Luke 18:11) and before other people. God had no part.
Luke 18:9-14 [9]He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: [10]"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11]The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. [12]I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ [13]But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ’God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ [14]I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (ESV)
Some overly reactionary believers have used these warnings of Jesus as a reason to renounce all public prayer. But the Lord taught no such thing. Jesus Himself often prayed in the presence of others including His disciples (Luke 11:1) and in public, as when He blessed food before feeding the multitudes (Matt. 14:19).
The public prayers of the typical scribe or Pharisee were ritualistic, mechanical, inordinately long, repetitious, and above all ostentatious. Like the hypocrites who gave for the sake of men’s praise (Matt. 6:2), those who prayed for the sake of others praise also had their reward in full/ received their reward. They were concerned only about the reward others could give, and that is all the reward they received or would receive.
POEM: In considering the audience of prayer, properly put, it is God, yet, it is the company of others that deserves prayer. William Cowper wrote this entitled: "On Opening a Place for Social Prayer"
Jesus! where’er Thy people meet,
There they behold Thy mercy seat;
Where’er they seek Thee, Thou are found,
And every place is hallow’d ground.
For Thou, within no walls confined
Inhabitest the humble mind;
Such ever bring Thee where they come,
And going, take Thee to their home.
Dear Shepherd of Thy chosen few!
Thy former mercies here renew;
Here to our waiting hearts proclaim
The sweetness of Thy saving name.
Here may we prove the power of prayer,
To strengthen faith, and sweeten care;
To teach our faint desires to rise,
And bring all Heaven before our eyes.
Behold, at Thy commanding word
We stretch the curtain and the cord,
Come Thou, and fill this wider space,
And bless us with a large increase.
Lord, we are few, but Thou are near:
Nor short Thine arm, nor deaf Thine ear;
Oh rend the heavens, come quickly down,
And make a thousand hearts Thine own.
(Olney Hymns, William Cowper, from Cowper’s Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York as recorded in Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.)
For 1) The Audience of Prayer. (Matthew 6:5-6) if A) The False Audience: is Other People. (Matthew 6:5), the true audience must be God
2) The True Audience: God. (Matthew 6:6)
Matthew 6:6 [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. (ESV)
“When you pray” expects each of us to do this regularly, (just like the preceding example of giving) (Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (260). Minneapolis, MN.: Augsburg Publishing House.).
The basic definition of prayer is “communion with God,” and if God is not involved there is only the pretense of prayer. Not only must He be involved, but centrally involved. Prayer is God’s provision; it is God’s idea, not humanity’s. There could be no prayer if God did not condescend to speak with us, and we could not know how to pray had He not chosen to instruct us.
Jesus’ teaching here is simple, in contrast to the complicated and difficult traditions. The phrase when you pray implies great latitude. No prescribed time or occasion is given by the Lord. The tameion (inner) room) could be any sort of small room or chamber, even a storage closet. Such rooms were often secret and used to store valued possessions for protection. The idea is that of going to the most private place available.
The idea is not that there must be a separate prayer room. As was pointed out earlier, the houses of many in the audience had only one room. The sense is this: if there be a private room then use that for your private prayer; otherwise choose the most hidden corner. Do not try to make yourself conspicuous. The main emphasis, however, is not even on the place of prayer but on the attitude of mind and heart. Not the secrecy is the real underlying thought but the sincerity. The reason for mentioning the secret place is that the sincere and humble worshiper, one who is not interested in making a public display for the sake of enhancing his prestige, will find the secluded nook or den to be most appropriate for his devotions. It is there that he can shut out the world and be alone with his God (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Vol. 9: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. New Testament Commentary (323). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.).
As already mentioned, Jesus does not forbid or condemn public prayer as such (cf. 1 Tim. 2:1–4). His purpose here seems to have been to make as great a contrast as possible to the practices of the scribes, Pharisees, and other hypocritical religionists. The primary point Jesus makes does not have to do with location but with attitude. If necessary, Jesus says, go to the most secluded, private place you can find so you will not be tempted to show off. Go there and shut the door. Shut out everything else so that you can concentrate on God and pray to your Father. Do whatever you have to do to get your attention away from yourself and others and on Him and Him alone.
The reference to God as ‘your Father’ sets prayer into the context of God’s existing paternal commitment. Jewish piety was well aware of the omniscience of God, but it did not often play as comforting a role as here (Nolland, J. (2005). The Gospel of Matthew : A commentary on the Greek text (285). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.).
• One of the greatest challenges to understand the intimate relationship with God here is in the term Father. Many have had such distant relationships with their earthly fathers that this statement by Jesus actually puts them off.
• This should be a great caution for we who are fathers of how we can actually contribute to idolatry when not properly fulfilling the role. In our failures, we misrepresent our Heavenly Father to others.
Much of our prayer life should be literally in secret. Jesus regularly went away from His disciples to pray entirely alone. Our family members or friends may know that we are praying, but what we say is not meant for them to hear. Chrysostom commented that in his day (the fourth century A.D.) many Christians prayed so loud in their rooms that everyone down the hall heard what they said.
If people sometimes happen to overhear our private prayers, it should not be by our intention. (Cf. John A. Broadus, Matthew [Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson, 1886], p. 140.)
But the Father being in secret does not mean He is not present when we pray in public, or with our families or other small groups of believers. He is very much present whenever and wherever His children call on Him. Jesus’ point has to do with the singleness of intention. True prayer is always intimate. Even prayer in public, if the heart is right and concentrated on God, will in a real and profound way shut one up alone in the presence of God.
God also sees in secret in the sense that He never betrays a confidence. Many things we share with God in our private prayers are for Him alone to know. Confidences we share even with our dearest loved ones or closest friends may sometimes be betrayed. But we can be sure our secrets with God will forever be just that, and that one believer praying in secret with a pure heart has the full attention of the Father.
Furthermore, when our prayer is as it should be, our Father who sees in secret will reward/repay us. The most important secret He sees is not the words we say in the privacy of our room, but the thoughts we have in the privacy of our heart. Those are the secrets about which He is supremely concerned, and about which only He can know with certainty (cf. 1 Cor. 4:3–5).
1 Corinthians 4:5b [5](Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before) the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (ESV)
When God is genuinely the audience of our prayer, we will have the reward only He can give. Jesus gives no idea in this passage as to what God’s reward, or repayment, will be. The important truth is that God will faithfully and unfailingly bless those who come to Him in sincerity. Without question, the Lord will reward/repay. Those who pray insincerely and hypocritically will receive the world’s reward, and those who pray sincerely and humbly will receive God’s reward.
Quote: Leonard Ravenhill said: "The self-sufficient do not pray, the self-satisfied will not pray, the self-righteous cannot pray. No man is greater than his prayer life" (Leonard Ravenhill quoted in Barton, B. B. (1996). Matthew. Life application Bible commentary (113). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.)
We have seen: 1) The Audience of Prayer. (Matthew 6:5-6) and now:
2) The Content of Prayer. (Matthew 6:7-8)
A second area in which much prayer of Jesus’ day fell short was that of content. The hypocritical prayers of the scribes and Pharisees not only were given in the wrong spirit but were given in meaningless words. They had no substance, no significant content. To be acceptable to God, Jesus declared, prayers must be genuine expressions of worship and of heartfelt requests and petitions.
A) False Content: Meaningless Repetition. (Matthew 6:7)
Matthew 6:7 [7]"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. (ESV)
The particular fault Jesus singles out here is the action to heap up empty phrases/ meaningless repetition. The phrase occurs only here in the New Testament, and apparently there is only one known occurrence of its usage in Greek literature outside the New Testament. Yet, this practice was common in many pagan religions of that day, as it is in many religions today, including some branches of Christendom (Newman, B. M., & Stine, P. C. (1992). A handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. UBS helps for translators; UBS handbook series (166). New York: United Bible Societies).
It is ironic that this prohibition against meaningless repetition is issued immediately before the Lord’s Prayer. This passage is, without doubt, the most-often-repeated-without-meaning passage in the Bible. Of course, this is actually the Disciples’ Prayer as the Lord never prayed for forgiveness of his sin. He was teaching his disciples how to pray (Weber, S. K. (2000). Vol. 1: Matthew. Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (80). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers).
To heap up empty phrases/Use meaningless repetition is one word (from battalogeō) in the Greek and refers to idle, thoughtless chatter. It was probably onomatopoetic, mimicking the sounds of meaningless jabber.
Those who used repetitious prayers were not necessarily hypocrites, at least not of the showy pretentious type. The scribes and Pharisees used a great deal of repetition in their public displays of piety; but many other Jews used it even in private prayers. Some may have used repetition because their leaders had taught them to use it. Others, however, resorted to repetition because it was easy and demanded little concentration. To such people, prayer was simply a matter of required religious ceremony, and they could be entirely indifferent to its content.
Although this problem did not always involve hypocrisy, it always involved a wrong attitude, a wrong heart. The proud hypocrites tried to use God to glorify themselves, whereas those who would heap up empty phrases/meaningless repetition were simply indifferent to real communion with God.
The Jews had picked up the practice from the Gentiles, who believed that the value of prayer was largely a matter of quantity. The longer the better. They think/suppose they will be heard for their many words, The terms used do not prohibit the use of liturgical forms as such (after all, a formulated prayer follows in vv. 9–13), nor do they denigrate persistence in prayer, as the unfortunate KJV rendering “vain repetitions” has often been taken to suggest. The issue is not the method or the frequency of prayer (Jesus himself repeated his prayer in 26:44, apparently spent a whole night in prayer in 14:23–25, and taught his disciples to keep on praying in Luke 18:1), but the attitude of faith which underlies and inspires it (France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (240). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co.)).
Many of the most striking and fervent prayers recorded in Scripture are brief and pithy; such as that of: Moses (Exod. 32:31, 32), Solomon (for an understanding heart, I Kings 3:6–9), Elijah (I Kings 18:36, 37), Hezekiah (II Kings 19:14–19), Jabez (I Chron. 4:10), Agur (Prov. 30:7–9), the publican (Luke 18:13), the dying thief (Luke 23:42), Stephen (Acts 7:60), and Paul (for the Ephesians, Eph. 3:14–19). To this class belong also the many sentence prayers ... of Nehemiah (Neh. 4:4, 5; 5:19; 6:9; 13:14, 29, 31). Christ’s highpriestly or intercessory prayer, too, can hardly be called lengthy (John 17), and the Lord’s Prayer, which he taught his disciples to pray, is certainly marked by brevity (Matt. 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4) (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Vol. 9: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. New Testament Commentary (324). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.).
The term for “Gentiles” is the same as that used in 5:47 (on which see below on 18:17) to denote the world outside the disciple community. The emphasis here is not so much on their not being Jewish as on their being religious outsiders, people who do not understand what it means to know God as a heavenly Father. So instead of trusting a Father to fulfill their needs, they think they must badger a reluctant Deity into taking notice of them (France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (240). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co.)
Those who prayed to pagan gods thought their deities first had to be aroused, then convinced, intimidated, and badgered into listening and answering-just as the prophets of Baal did on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:26–29). In the New Testament we see a similar practice. Aroused against Paul and his companions by Demetrius and other silversmiths of Ephesus, a great crowd began chanting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” and continued incessantly for two hours (Acts 19:24–34).
Worshipers of these pagan gods also believed that the words they used carried some kind of magical power. Thus, the more often these words were used, the more powerful the magic. It is possible that some well-meaning modern believers may fall into this same trap—as though repeating certain “power words” somehow induces the Lord to act in their behalf (Weber, S. K. (2000). Vol. 1: Matthew. Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (80). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.).
Many Buddhists spin wheels containing written prayers, believing that each turn of the wheel sends that prayer to their god. Some Roman Catholics light prayer candles in the belief that their requests will continue to ascend repetitiously to God as long as the candle is lit. Rosaries are used to count off repeated prayers of Hail Mary and Our Father, the rosary itself coming to Catholicism from Buddhism by way of the Spanish Muslims during the Middle Ages. Certain charismatic groups in our own day repeat the same words or phrases over and over until the speaking degenerates to unintelligible confusion (John A. Broadus, Matthew [Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson, 1886], p. 130).
• All of us, of course, have been guilty of repeating the same prayers meal after meal and prayer meeting after prayer meeting-with little or no thought of what we are saying or of the One to whom we are supposedly speaking. Prayer that is thoughtless and indifferent is offensive to God, and should also be offensive to us.
Please turn to Luke 18
Again we must not jump to wrong conclusions. Jesus did not forbid the repetition of genuine requests. Paul “entreated the Lord three times” that the thorn in his flesh might be removed (2 Cor. 12:7–8). In the Garden of Gethsemane, as He faced the agony of the cross, Jesus cried out, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” After rebuking the disciples for their sleep, He prayed the prayer again, and then, after a short while, He “prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more” (Matt. 26:39–44).
Luke 18:1-7 [18:1]And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. [2]He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. [3]And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ’Give me justice against my adversary.’ [4]For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ’Though I neither fear God nor respect man, [5]yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’" [6]And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. [7]And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? [8]I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (ESV)
• Luke explains the intent of the parable in verse one. The parable consists of a "lesser to greater" argument. Since A (the lesser) is true, then how much more B (the greater) must be true.
• God is not like the unrighteous judge that needs to be convinced through repetition, but desires that we genuinely keep coming to Him in Faith.
Honest, properly motivated repetition of needs or praise before God is righteous. It is mindless, indifferent recital of spiritual-sounding incantations or magical formulas over and over that is sinful and dishonoring to God.
Illustration: "Morning Prayer"
Here is a simple prayer of reality:
Dear God,
So far today I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or over-indulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot of help. Amen
(Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.)
Since A) False Content: involves Meaningless Repetition
b) True Content: involves Sincere Requests. (Matthew 6:8)
Matthew 6:8 [8]Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (ESV)
God does not have to be badgered and convinced. Our Father knows what [we] need, before [we] ask Him.
Many have questioned the meaning of the statement your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. “Then why should we pray?” they ask. Prayer is not man’s attempt to change the will of God. God’s method of changing our will is to bring it into conformity with His will. More than changing things, prayer changes people. Prayer is not conquering God’s reluctance to answer, but laying hold of His willingness to help! Prayer, in the life of the true believer, is an act of total confidence and assurance in the plan and purpose of God.
Quote: Martin Luther said, “By our praying … we are instructing ourselves more than we are him.” The purpose of prayer is not to inform or persuade God, but to come before Him sincerely, purposely, consciously, and devotedly (John Stott, Christian Counter-Culture: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1978], p. 145).
Prayer is sharing the needs, burdens, and hunger of our hearts before our heavenly Father, who already knows what [we] need but who wants us to ask Him. He wants to hear us, He wants to commune with us, more than we could ever want to commune with Him-because His love for us is so much greater than our love for Him. Prayer is our giving God the opportunity to manifest His power, majesty, love, and providence.
John 14:13 [13]Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (ESV)
• A person’s name in the ancient word represented what the person was like.
• Coming to the Father in Jesus’ name means praying in a way consistent with His character and His will. It also means coming to God in the authority of Jesus.
To pray rightly is to pray with a devout heart and with pure motives. It is to pray with single attention to God rather than to other people. And it is to pray with sincere confidence that our heavenly Father both hears and answers every request made to Him in faith. He always repays our sincere devotion with gracious response. If our request is sincere but not according to His will, He will answer in a way better than we want or expect. But He will always answer.
(Format Note: outline & some base commentary from MacArthur, J. (1989). Matthew (361–371). Chicago: Moody Press.)
