(Matt Koerber)
Matthew 6:9-13 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
————————————
This brief instruction on prayer has become one of the most famous prayers in human history. Known as the “Lord’s Prayer” it is treasured by Christians of all denominations. It is frequently used as a prayer that large groups of people can say together. It also forms a basis for constructing a theology of prayer. For example, it is the outline for the theology of prayer in Reformed documents such as the Westminster Catechisms, the Heidelberg Catechism, and John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. It is also used in Lutheran, Baptist and Roman Catholic catechisms. When I conduct funeral services for people who are not regular church attenders, I usually find that the Lord’s Prayer is one of the few things that most people know about Christianity.
Like the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount, there is a similar, but divergent form of this prayer presented in the Gospel of Luke. It is possible that Luke abbreviated his teaching on this topic. I believe it is more likely that Jesus talked about prayer on numerous occasions and they just recorded different things. Given how often in the four Gospels Jesus was noted for having a vibrant prayer life, it would be expected that people wanted to talk to him about prayer. When we consider the differences between the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew vs. Luke, it highlights the fact that the primary purpose of this prayer was not to give us the perfect words to say, but rather to model the simplicity of true prayer. It is a reasonable thing to recite the words of this prayer with other people – it is a celebration of our common Christian heritage. But, the more important application is for us to pray for the types of things which Jesus highlights here.
The following are brief observations about this famous prayer:
- The prayer begins with a reference to Our Father, and continues to use plural language throughout. The prayer reminds us that we are meant to pray together and share our concerns with one another.
- We can recognize six different requests in the prayer. Typically, these are called “petitions.”
- The first three petitions focus on big picture things: God’s name to be set apart (“hallowed”), his kingdom to come, and his will to be done. This stirs us to turn our attention away from ourselves to God’s purposes. If we begin our prayer by focusing on God, we are more likely to continue in the right direction.
- The second three petitions turn our attention to more personal things: daily needs (“bread”), forgiveness, and protection from temptation/tempter. It is helpful to start with a big, Godward focus in our prayers, but we are invited to bring our personal needs to God. There are no prayers too small for our Heavenly Father.
- The King James Version of the Bible includes a final statement, “For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” This was likely a later addition to the text*, as it is not found in the earliest Greek manuscripts. For this reason, the ESV Bible does not include that verse as part of the Lord’s Prayer. However, the sentiment is certainly a biblical idea and praying for God’s kingdom/power/glory is found in many Bible verses such as 1 Chronicles 29:11, Psalm 45:11, and Daniel 2:37. When we say the Lord’s prayer at Church we usually just call this the “traditional ending.”
- Finally, the long standing importance of the Lord’s prayer can be seen in the way many people intuitively use the older English forms of this prayer when they say it. Even though my home church never used the King James Bible, I was still taught to say this prayer in the KJV English of, “Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed by Thy Name…” There is nothing wrong with praying this way – again it honors our heritage. But we should remember that Jesus did not speak King James English, nor did Matthew write this way. Furthermore, the ESV also favors the language of “debts and debtors” as the subject of forgiveness, while many Christians prefer to speak of “trespasses.” There are shades of meaning that are not insignificant, but it would be a shame if disagreement about words clouded our ability to say this prayer with others.
In conclusion, the greatest response to this part of the sermon on the mount, is that it would draw us to pray to our Father in Heaven in ways that are simple, honest and direct.
*It can sometimes by challenging to determine which text is closest to the original version of the Bible as written by the author. The study of this process is called, “Text Criticism.” That doesn’t mean that a person is being critical or unfair, that is just the technical name for the process. It is is legitimate activity when comparing two ancient manuscripts and trying to determine which is the correct reading when they differ. By contrast, some more secular scholars have launched their Biblical reconstruction far beyond the scope of actual documents. They are not bound by actual texts, but theorize about what they “think the text should be.” As you can imagine there is no end to the speculations generated by this fruitless endeavor. To bring us back to the matter at hand. We do not have the actual manuscript that Matthew (or any ancient author) first wrote. What we do have are a vast multitudes of copies of each book of the Bible. Some of the copies were made not far from the time Matthew was written. While there are some differences in wording, they usually deal with small issues. In some cases, perhaps like this passage today, words were accidentally added by scribes in the process of making new copies. It is possible that the traditional ending was used by churches as they brought the Lord’s Prayer into their worship services. It is also possible that something that was first intended to be a note for the margins, was accidentally included in the text. The process of helping determine the closest text to the original is not always easy, and different translations can draw different conclusions. Most seminary students are trained enough in the process that they can look at the footnotes in their Greek New Testament and at least understand why scholars make the choices that they do as they refine the text. While this can initially feel disconcerting, the process is one that Christians are open about discussing. It would be tempting to try to hide this, or burn the copies that don’t agree. Instead, Christian scholars have chosen the path of transparency. In so doing, they have compiled Bible translations which offer the highest degree of reliability.