---
title: Matthew 6:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-6-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-6-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 6:1
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 6:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Take care not to practice your righteousness in front of men to be noticed by them; otherwise you will have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens."

## JW Usage

JWs read Matthew 6:1 as a warning against showy hypocrisy of the kind seen in nominal Christianity. The verse is rarely applied inward to the Watchtower's own performance-tracked restoration procedures, where comments at meetings function as visible evidence of repentance for elders to assess.

## Protestant Usage

Jesus' direct teaching is precisely the diagnostic the public- reproof comment-restoration system fails. The Watchtower procedure restores a reproved member to full standing through observable acts at meetings — comments raised, assignments accepted, privileges gradually returned — each evaluated by the elders as evidence of inward repentance. The structural purpose of the comment is to verify standing TO BE NOTICED. Jesus does not condemn doing righteousness in public per se (Matthew 5:16 — "let your light shine") — he condemns doing it "to be noticed", with the noticing as the point. When the architecture of a congregational practice transforms fellowship into a probationary performance review, Matthew 6:1 names the pattern. Genuine restoration in scripture is private confession (1 John 1:9; James 5:16), Spirit-empowered mortification (Romans 8:13), and restoration in gentleness (Galatians 6:1) — none of which requires a probation period validated by visible acts.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Public Reproof and Comment Performance — A Yoke of Slavery](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/public-reproof-performance-discipline.md) — Galatians 5:1 — For freedom Christ has set us free [Sanctification]