6:6 When thou prayest, enter into thy closet. Private devotions are meant, nor is this designed to prohibit prayers in public assemblies. The Lord himself both prayed in the mountain alone (Mt 14:23), in the night alone (Lu 6:12), and in public in the presence of his disciples. We have records of many prayers offered by the apostles in public assemblies. Thy closet may mean any secret place. Peter's closet was on the house-top; the Savior's on a mountain alone.
6:6 Enter into thy closet - That is, do it with as much secrecy as thou canst.
6:5-8 It is taken for granted that all who are disciples of Christ pray. You may as soon find a living man that does not breathe, as a living Christian that does not pray. If prayerless, then graceless. The Scribes and Pharisees were guilty of two great faults in prayer, vain-glory and vain repetitions. Verily they have their reward; if in so great a matter as is between us and God, when we are at prayer, we can look to so poor a thing as the praise of men, it is just that it should be all our reward. Yet there is not a secret, sudden breathing after God, but he observes it. It is called a reward, but it is of grace, not of debt; what merit can there be in begging? If he does not give his people what they ask, it is because he knows they do not need it, and that it is not for their good. So far is God from being wrought upon by the length or words of our prayers, that the most powerful intercessions are those which are made with groanings that cannot be uttered. Let us well study what is shown of the frame of mind in which our prayers should be offered, and learn daily from Christ how to pray.
