He Described Reward as 'of Your Father' Not 'From God'
When Jesus promised heavenly reward in the Sermon on the Mount, he never said 'God will reward you' — he said 'your Father' will.
In the three parallel reward sayings of Matthew 6 — concerning almsgiving, prayer, and fasting — Jesus structures each promise identically: the practice done 'in secret' will be rewarded by 'thy Father which seeth in secret' (Matthew 6:4, 6:6, 6:18). The rewarder is never called 'God' (theos), never 'the Lord,' never 'heaven' in the abstract — it is always 'thy Father.' This is not incidental repetition. The threefold structure is deliberate, each unit built as a contrast between performing for human audiences versus performing for a Father who sees what is hidden. The word 'Father' in each case is possessive and personal — 'thy Father,' not 'the Father' or 'a Father.' What makes this textually striking is that the same chapter contains the Lord's Prayer, which opens 'Our Father' (Matthew 6:9), extending the same relational term into communal address. The reward-giver and the prayer-recipient share the same title. Across the entire Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses 'your Father' or 'thy Father' as his preferred address for God in contexts of private practice, reward, and provision — a pattern that does not appear with 'God' in parallel constructions. The structural triad of Matthew 6:4, 6:6, and 6:18 is the densest concentration of this reward-as-Father language anywhere in Jesus's speech.
Red Letter Sources
Matthew 6:4Matthew 6:6Matthew 6:18Matthew 6:9
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly .
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly .
That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly .
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Evidence Notes
Matthew 6:4, 6:6, and 6:18 each use the identical phrase 'thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly' (or near-identical in some manuscript traditions). In each case the rewarder is 'thy Father,' not 'God' or 'the Lord.' Matthew 6:9 uses 'Our Father' at the opening of the Lord's Prayer in the same chapter. No parallel reward promise in the Sermon on the Mount uses 'God' as the subject of reward.
Greek Note
The Greek in each of the three verses uses 'ho patēr sou' (ὁ πατήρ σου) — 'thy Father' with the definite article and second-person singular possessive. This is distinct from 'ho theos' (ὁ θεός), which Jesus does not use as the grammatical subject of reward in these sayings. The possessive construction makes the relationship personal rather than generic or institutional.