Matthew 6:21

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) Where your treasure is.—The words imply the truth, afterwards more definitely asserted, that it is impossible to “serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Men may try to persuade themselves that they will have a treasure on earth and a treasure in heaven also, but in the long-run, one or the other will assert its claim to be the treasure, and will claim the no longer divided allegiance of the heart.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:19-24 Worldly-mindedness is a common and fatal symptom of hypocrisy, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a profession of religion. Something the soul will have, which it looks upon as the best thing; in which it has pleasure and confidence above other things. Christ counsels to make our best things the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen which are eternal, and to place our happiness in them. There are treasures in heaven. It is our wisdom to give all diligence to make our title to eternal life sure through Jesus Christ, and to look on all things here below, as not worthy to be compared with it, and to be content with nothing short of it. It is happiness above and beyond the changes and chances of time, an inheritance incorruptible. The worldly man is wrong in his first principle; therefore all his reasonings and actions therefrom must be wrong. It is equally to be applied to false religion; that which is deemed light is thick darkness. This is an awful, but a common case; we should therefore carefully examine our leading principles by the word of God, with earnest prayer for the teaching of his Spirit. A man may do some service to two masters, but he can devote himself to the service of no more than one. God requires the whole heart, and will not share it with the world. When two masters oppose each other, no man can serve both. He who holds to the world and loves it, must despise God; he who loves God, must give up the friendship of the world.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven - That is, have provision made for your eternal felicity. Do not exhaust your strength and spend your days in providing for the life here, but let your chief anxiety be to be prepared for eternity. Compare the notes at Isaiah 55:2. In heaven nothing corrupts; nothing terminates; no enemies plunder or destroy. To have treasure in heaven is to possess evidence that its purity and joys will be ours. It is to be heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 1 Peter 1:4. The heart, or affections, will of course be fixed on the treasure. To regulate the heart, it is therefore important that the treasure, or object of attachment, should be right.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. For where your treasure is—that which ye value most.

there will your heart be also—"Thy treasure—thy heart" is probably the true reading here: "your," in Lu 12:34, from which it seems to have come in here. Obvious though this maxim be, by what multitudes who profess to bow to the teaching of Christ is it practically disregarded! "What a man loves," says Luther, quoted by Tholuck, "that is his God. For he carries it in his heart, he goes about with it night and day, he sleeps and wakes with it; be it what it may—wealth or pelf, pleasure or renown." But because "laying up" is not in itself sinful, nay, in some cases enjoined (2Co 12:14), and honest industry and sagacious enterprise are usually rewarded with prosperity, many flatter themselves that all is right between them and God, while their closest attention, anxiety, zeal, and time are exhausted upon these earthly pursuits. To put this right, our Lord adds what follows, in which there is profound practical wisdom.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 19-21. A treasure (according to the notation of the word) signifieth something laid up for tomorrow, for future time; more largely it signifieth any riches, or what we judge a valuable portion. Make not the things of the earth your riches, or portion, with reference to future time; for all the riches of the earth are perishing, contemptible things; silver and gold is what rust will corrupt, clothes are what moths will spoil, any other things are subject to casualties, and, amongst others, to the violence of unreasonable men, who, though they have no right to them, will ordinarily take them from you. But let your riches, your treasure, be that which is heavenly, those habits of grace which will bring you to heaven, the things which accompany salvation, Hebrews 6:9, which make you meet to be partakers of the saints in light, Colossians 1:12: be rich in good works, laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life, 1 Timothy 6:18,19 Mt 19:21 25:34 Luke 18:22. Those treasures will not be liable to such accidents as all earthly treasures are. Wherever you fix your treasure, your heart will be there also, thinking upon it, delighting in it. &c.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. This seems to be a proverbial expression, and contains in it another reason, dissuading from worldly mindedness; because of the danger the heart is in of being ensnared and ruined thereby: and the sense of it is, if your treasure is on earth, and lies in earthly things, your hearts will be set upon them, and be in them, in your bags, your coffers and storehouses; and so your souls will be in danger of being lost; which loss will be an irreparable one, though you should gain the whole world. But if your treasure is put into the hands of God, your hearts will be with him, and be settled on him; your desires will be after heavenly things; your affections will be set on things above; your conversation will be in heaven, whilst you are on earth; and that will be the place and seat of your happiness, to all eternity.

Geneva Study Bible

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Matthew 6:21. For (deep moral obligation to comply with that exhortation) if the treasure which you have gathered is upon earth, so will your heart, with its feelings, dispositions, and tendencies, be also upon the earth as in the congenial sphere of your inner life, will be ethically bound to the earth, and vice versa. From the treasure, which is the result of effort and the object of love, the heart also cannot be separated. In the ground of obligation just stated it is assumed that the believer’s heart must be in heaven (Php 3:20; Colossians 3:2 ff.; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 1 John 2:15 ff.).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 6:21. ὅπου θησ.… ἐκεῖ καρδία. The reflection goes back on the negative counsel in Matthew 6:19. Do not accumulate earthly treasures, for then your heart will be there, whereas it ought to be in heaven with God and the Kingdom of God.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. where your treasure is] The words gain point if we think of the hoards buried in the earth.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 6:21. Θησαυρὸς ὑμῶν—καρδία ὑμῶν,[273] your treasure—your heart) Others read θησαυρός σου—καρδία σου, thy treasure—thy heart.[274] The objects which are mentioned in Matthew 6:22-23 (consequentia) are in the singular, those which are mentioned in Matthew 6:19-20 (antecedentia), with which this verse is connected, are in the plural number. The plural therefore must stand in this verse. The singular, “thesaurus tuus,” “thy treasure,” easily crept into the Latin Vulgate, and was convenient to the Greeks for ascetic discourses. The treasure which YOU collect is called in Luke 12:34 ὁ θησαυρὸς ὑμῶν, YOUR treasure.—ἔσται, will be) sc. in heaven or in earth respectively.

[273] Thus E. M.—(I. B.)

[274] Θησαυρός σου—καμδία σου is the reading of Babc Vulg. Memph. Theb. Cypr. 239. 303. The change to Sing. from Plur. Matthew 6:20, is perhaps to imply that the heart of each individually is to be given to God.—ED.

Such is the reading supported by Bengel in his German Version, where he writes, “Denn wo dein Schatz ist, da wird auch dein Herz seyn.” “For where THY treasure is, there will THY heart be also.” He explains dein Sehatz (thy treasure) by “Thy possession (dein Gut), on which thy Anxiety is set night and day.” In his App. Crit. he supports the reading of the Received Text, and speaks of σου as having crept in from the next verse.—(I. B.)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - For where. A further reason for laying up treasures in heaven: wherever they are they have a positive effect on the soul. Your treasure; thy (Revised Version). The singular was altered by the copyists so as to correspond with the plural found in the earlier part of the utterance and in the undisputed text of Luke. But our Lord loves to speak to each soul individually. Your heart (Matthew 5:8, note). Matthew 6:21