Book
Chapter
Verse
Bible Translation
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33 comes at the climax of the Lord's teaching on earthly anxiety in the Sermon on the Mount (vv. 25–34). J. McBroom places the verse in the broader architecture of the chapter:
J. McBroom"The chapter divides at verse 18, the first half falling into three paragraphs which treat of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; the second, 19-34, practical exhortations relating to earthly treasures and single-mindedness and anxiety about the future."
The second half of Matthew 6 unfolds three interconnected themes — laying up treasure in heaven (vv. 19–21), the single eye (vv. 22–23), and the impossibility of serving two masters (v. 24) — all leading to the exhortation against anxious care and the climactic call in verse 33.
"Seek ye first" — The Priority of the Kingdom
McBroom writes directly on verse 33:
"Verses 25-34 connect with the middle clause of the prayer — 'Give us this day our daily bread,' showing that the strength expended in the cares and distractions of distrust means positive loss. What a gain it is when the energy of the soul finds expression in faith! The relative bearing of the natural and spiritual spheres upon each other is touched in verse 33, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [the things that all the fretting is about] shall be added unto you.' This seeking depends upon the single eye of verse 22, which again connects with secret intercourse with God and the state produced by it. It was the saying of a dying saint: 'Had I trusted the Lord better my life would have been different.' To this the writer can feelingly subscribe and doubtless many another. 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee.'"
McBroom makes a vital structural connection: the command to "seek first" is not an isolated imperative but links backward to the "single eye" of verse 22 and to the prayer "give us this day our daily bread" (v. 11). The soul formed by secret intercourse with the Father in prayer (v. 6) is the soul that can seek His kingdom first. The energy spent in fretting is energy lost; where it finds expression in faith, there is gain.
"The Kingdom of God" — Why Not "Kingdom of Heaven"?
A striking feature of Matthew 6:33 is that it uses the expression "kingdom of God" rather than "kingdom of heaven" — remarkable in a Gospel where "kingdom of heaven" appears thirty-two times and "kingdom of God" only four.
W. Kelly notes the significance in the Bible Treasury:
W. Kelly"In commencing it may be said that sometimes the terms are equivalent, or apparently so. Compare Matthew 3:2 with Mark 1:15; again Matthew 5:3 with Luke 6:20; Matthew 6:33 with Luke 12:31; and Matthew 13:11 with Luke 8:10, with many other examples."
He explains the deeper distinction:
"Whilst then, the two phrases 'kingdom of God' and 'kingdom of heaven,' were in a certain sense identical in the beginning, yet 'kingdom of heaven' is rarely, if ever, spoken of as a thing of power as to a man's own conversion... The details of failure and apostasy pertain more to the latter; as well as descriptions of its future success."
F. B. P. Trench makes this even more explicit:
F. B. P. Trench"The title is peculiar to Matthew, and gives the dispensational character of the kingdom; and this is so distinctly marked, that when the instruction goes deeper, and involves what is moral, rather than its form in God's dispensation, the 'kingdom of God' is used, as in Matt. 6:33; Matt. 12:28; Matt. 19:24; and Matt. 21:31, 43."
J. Davison quotes J. N. Darby on this very point:
J. Davison"'Matthew only uses the expression "kingdom of heaven!" It is often, in a general sense, capable of being interchanged with the "kingdom of God" as we see by comparing Luke. Notwithstanding, the two phrases cannot always replace each other, and Matthew uses the "kingdom of God" in a few passages where the "kingdom of heaven" could not be used. (Matt. 6:33; Matt. 12:38; Matt. 21:43). Thus the "kingdom of God" was there when Christ the King was there; the "kingdom of heaven" began with Christ going to heaven.'"
The Lord uses "kingdom of God" in Matthew 6:33 because He is speaking of something moral and inward — the soul's actual relationship to God's authority and character — not of the dispensational outward form of the kingdom. The phrase has, as Kelly observes, a "moral force which the kingdom of heaven has not."
"And His Righteousness"
The expression "His righteousness" points to the righteousness that belongs to and flows from God — not the legal righteousness of the law, not man's own efforts. McBroom frames this in the context of the whole chapter:
"He puts His finger upon the tendency which is inherent in every human heart to seek greatness in the eyes of others, and shows how the works of charity and devotion done in this world must be done before the Father and His world. Happy are they who are delivered from the mere appearance of things, and from the value that fellow-mortals may put upon their works, and who value only the approval of Him who sees in secret."
The Pharisees sought their own righteousness before men. The Lord contrasts this with God's righteousness — the character and moral order that flows from the Father Himself.
"All These Things Shall Be Added Unto You"
The practical outworking of this promise is applied in a Bible Treasury article on Christian giving:
"God has promised food and raiment to His children (Matt. 6:24-34), with the caution, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. The words, 'Are ye not much better than the fowls? How much more shall he not clothe you, oh ye of little faith?' come in with unmistakable truth to faith wherever it is. Again, Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things... Again, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have, for He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we can boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do unto me. (Heb. 13:5-6.) All these sure promises ought to give confidence to the saints in the care of the Father."
The Dispensational Setting
McBroom also draws attention to the context of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole, noting that its instruction was given before Christ's definite rejection by His people and describes a state of things connected with His early ministry:
"It was His early ministry given before His definite rejection by His people, the Jews, and it gives those to whom it is addressed association with Himself in that rejection... Christianity proper, which gives a much higher range of blessing, and opens out the truth of part with Christ in the glory, could not be given yet."
Even so, the moral principles of verse 33 remain permanently valid. The call to seek God's kingdom and righteousness first is a principle that transcends dispensational boundaries — it reaches the heart.
Matthew 6:33 is the pivot of the entire second half of the chapter. The Lord draws a sharp line: the energy that the natural heart pours into anxiety over food, clothing, and the future is energy lost. But where the soul's eye is single — fixed on God, formed in the secret place of prayer — there faith finds its expression. To "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" is to give God's moral authority and character the supreme place in the heart. The use of "kingdom of God" rather than "kingdom of heaven" tells us this is not a dispensational matter but a moral one: the inward reality of a soul under God's rule. And the promise is absolute — the very things that produced all the fretting will be added by a Father who already knows every need before it is spoken.