Take No Thought

Take No Thought; A Short Essay on the Sermon on the Mount

The above phrase, “take no thought,” occurs five times in a King James Bible, all in what are commonly called “the gospels.” It shows up three times in Matthew’s gospel, once in Mark’s, and once in Luke’s:

Matt 6:25

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Matt 6:31

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Matt 10:19

But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

Mark 13:11

But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

Luke 12:22

And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you,Take no thoughtfor your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

The Greek word translated “thought,” in all five passages, is “Merimnao.”¹ This same Greek word is translated in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, “careful:”

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Phil 4:6

Why do the King James translators render this Greek word differently in these two sections of the new testament? Did they make a mistake rendering it the way they did in the gospels?² Does “take no thought” carry the same meaning as “be careful”? Or could it be that it was rendered differently because it actually does carry two different meanings?

If we attend to the following advice from 16^th century Bible translator/scholar, Miles Coverdale, I believe we will conclude that it is for the the last of these reasons:

It shall greatly help thee to understand Scripture, if thou mark, not only what is spoken or written, but of whom, and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeth after.³

All these things, the “what, when, who, where, and why”, are what is known as “context,” and this is what Coverdale is saying we should consider if we wish to come to the right application of any passage.

The Sermon on the Mount

The context within which the commandment to “take no thought” for the various worldly things most people would normally think about, is what is commonly referred to as “the sermon on the mount.” The speaker is the Lord himself, as he conducted his ministry in his first earthly advent. His audience is his twelve disciples.⁴ The purpose of the sermon is to, primarily, establish the requirements for discipleship, and for getting into the kingdom of heaven.⁵ It not only sets forth demands concerning behavior but also goes to the extent of demanding a certain way of thinking.

In determining any meaning from scripture, before we proceed any further with this examination, one premise must be agreed upon: That the scripture⁶, unless it is obviously a metaphor, means exactly what it says—literally.

Therefore, when the Lord said to his disciples to “take no thought” about the everyday concerns of people in the world, e.g., what you’re going to wear today, what you’re going to eat, or even where you’re going to sleep tonight, he did not mean, “don’t worry”, or be too concerned about these things, as the NIV (and most Christian teaching) attempts to convey. He meant DON’T THINK ABOUT THIS STUFF AT ALL!

“Huh? Of course, we have to think about these things. I mean, how are we gonna live if we don’t make plans for this kind of stuff? This can’t mean what it says in a literal way, it has to be taken symbolically.”

The problem with this statement, which would be the typical thinking in the average Christian mind, is the use of the pronoun “we.” Why do Christians think the Lord is speaking to them in these passages?

“Well”, the typical response would be, “the gospels are the primary books of instruction for the new testament church, aren’t they?”

Herein lies the reason why most Christian teachers force a spiritual meaning onto this section of the Bible (or resort to a version that spiritualizes the passages by changing the wording, as the NIV does); They know, full well, that nobody can comply with any of it, if “it” is taken literally, so they present the entire thing as a figure of speech.

I think they would see how unnecessary this practice is if they would simply recognize the place of the gospels in the canon of scripture, and why such a severe code of conduct is demanded of followers there.

First, the purpose of the gospels is to document the fulfillment of the prophetic first earthly advent of our Lord, the establishment of his deity and kingship, the calling out of the new nation (Israel) from the old apostate nation, and to record for history his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. His ministry begins with His baptism (to identify him with Israel, to whom, according to Matt. 15:23, he was sent) by John (the baptist), His anointing (by the Holy Spirit), and the calling out of His 12 disciples, who constituted the beginning of this new nation.

Second, His demand upon them to “take no thought”, or cast from their thought life anything pertaining to this life should not be perplexing, because He had only three years to ready them for the task before them; to go forth and “teach all nations…” They were also being prepared to go through “great tribulation” in this mission. Therefore, to ask them for their complete and undivided attention for that three-year period was not at all unreasonable.

The question is, are those of us who are now a part of God’s holy family, the body of Christ, under these severe requirements? The answer is an emphatic NO! Not in any way, form or fashion. Our marching orders are found in the thirteen epistles of the Apostle Paul, rightly divided. Therein we find some very different commandments that stand, in some cases, in complete contradiction to the orders of the day in the gospels. Let’s examine a few of them.

• The disciples were called to separate themselves from the world they lived in, and to disavow themselves of all worldly attachments and associations (Matt. 19:27); The body of Christ is called to be in and among the world we inhabit:

I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 1 Cor 5:9-10

• The disciples were told to forsake all and drop everything they were doing, including working. (Matt. 4:18-22; 6:26-28; 19:27) The body of Christ is told to do the exact opposite:

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel…and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and work with your own hands, as we commanded you…That if any would not work, neither should he eat. 1 Tim. 5:8; 1 Thess. 4:1; 2 Thess. 3:10

• The disciples were told to “take no thought” for what they were to say. (Matt. 10:19). The Apostle Paul says we, who are members of the body of Christ, are absolutely to prepare ourselves for what we shall speak (concerning spiritual things):

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth…. comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Cor 2:13

None of this is to say that we, who are members of Christ’s spiritual body, are to live licentiously. Indeed, it says we are not to trust in the “uncertain riches” (1 Tim. 6:17) the world clamors after, but rather to live in a state of moderation (Philippians 4:5). But this, by no means, equates to the conditions and requirements in the Sermon on the Mount.

Conclusion

For years I stood in church services and mindlessly prayed the prayer the Lord Jesus gave his disciples in Matthew 6:9-13, never giving a moment’s thought to what I was saying, asking God to bring in the kingdom, to provide me my daily bread, and to forgive my sins (“debts”). In doing this, I was following centuries of church tradition, not knowing that what I was doing qualified as a “vain repetition” (vs7), because, a.) the kingdom isn’t promised to anyone in the world today; b.) we are charged with providing our own “daily bread” by engaging in honest “toil”; c.) It is an insult to God’s grace to ask Him to “forgive us our debts” when He’s already done this. (ref. 2 Cor. 5:19; Col. 2:13)

The fact is, no one can be saved in the present dispensation (Ref. Eph. 3:2) under the conditions laid out in the Sermon on the Mount. The good news is, no one is required to live in this way or to follow these commands. What was required of those followers of the Lord then (and in a future time, yet to come) was for a specific purpose, of which has been put in abeyance until “the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Rom. 11:25)

In fact, there is now no requirement at all to be saved, save for simply believing something, which is, “that Christ died for our sins…was buried…and was raised again…for our justification.” (1 Cor. 15:3,4; Rom. 4:25) As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:19, (…not imputing the world’s sins unto them) God is not holding anyone’s sins against them because his Son, “who knew no sin”, was “made to be sin for us.”(vs 21)

Therefore, there is no sin that you have committed or will commit that can separate you from God. However, what will separate you from God eternally is to refuse to believe this, for it is offered to all, but possessed only by “them that believe.” (Rom. 3:22; 10:9)

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved….sealed…and bound for heaven!⁷

Mike Schroeder

December 12, 2010

All Scripture references are taken from the King James Bible. Feel free to distribute this and any other article on this site.