Hypocrites and Gentiles

“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” (Matthew 6:5, NASB).

“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” (Matt. 6:7).

Aren’t you glad that Jesus not only teaches us how to pray but also how not to pray? Before He gives us a model for how to pray in Matthew 6, He first tells us two ways we should not pray. Jesus does not want us to pray like hypocrites (Matt. 6:5) and He doesn’t want us to pray like Gentiles (Matt. 6:7).

Hypocrites and Gentiles

Neither of these terms sounds very good (and other translations for the second word use “pagans” or “unbelievers”). But Jesus is not just saying, “Don’t pray like bad people.”

To most of us, the word “hypocrite” usually has a negative connotation. But really, it just means an “actor.” Of course, actors aren’t bad in and of themselves. There is a time and place for acting. But not when we are praying.

The word translated “Gentile,” “pagan,” or “unbeliever” basically means one who is “not one of us.” In other words, they don’t know what we do. More specifically, here it means they don’t know the one true God.

The first warning has to do with how we see ourselves: Jesus warns us against thinking we are more important than we actually are. The second has to do with how we see God: we are warned against thinking He is less important than He actually is.

How we see ourselves

We should not consider ourselves more important than we actually are. We should not pray so people will see how good a “pray-er” we are. That is not the proper reason for praying. If we pray to be heard or seen by those around us, it is like Jesus says, “They have their reward in full.” We wanted to be seen and we were! That’s all.

How we see God

Likewise, when we pray, we should not think of God as being less than He actually is. We should not think we are praying to an inadequate God. We shouldn’t pray as if God requires a certain formula. (Have you ever ‘meaninglessly repeated’ the Lord’s Prayer? That’s something to think about.) Nor should we pray as if He needs our help to know what He should do, nor as if He needs us to convince Him that our ideas really are the best. This is how those who do not know God pray. Those who know the One, True God can pray differently.

We pray, not to an audience, but to our Father. We don’t have to pray for the ears and approval of others. We have the privilege of praying for the approval of the One whose approval really matters.

We don’t pray to a God who needs us to inform Him, to convince Him, or to help Him. We pray to a God who already knows what we need (Matt. 6:8) and who is already willing and able to meet our needs (Matt. 6:30) … and much, much more (Rom. 8:32).

Why should we pray?

So, when we pray, if we shouldn’t try to impress other people, nor try to inform God nor convince God, then what’s left? Why should we pray?

To put it simply, we should pray to align ourselves with God’s good purposes. To line up everything—our hearts, our spirits, our thinking, our desires, our words, our motives, our attitudes, our actions—with what He wants to do in us and through us. This is what the Scripture means when it calls us to pray according to God’s will. If we do this, there will be no need to pray like the hypocrites or the Gentiles.