By Rev. Hugh Macmillan, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E.
MATTHEW 6:9-13 and LUKE 11:1-3
The Lord's Prayer is the true model of prayer "After this manner," etc.; "When ye pray, say," etc. It lays down the lines on which we should frame our petitions; removes the distance and ceremoniousness of our approch to God; counteracts the selfishness of our desire and enlarges our horizon so as to comprehend the welfare of the whole world. It was given by Christ to his disciples on two different occasions: the first in connection with the Sermon on the Mount; the second after two years, when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. It is the Ten Commandments turned into prayer, the commandments to keep God's law being converted into prayers to enable us to keep that law. There is a striking correspondence between each clause of the Lord's Prayer and one of the commandments, and the order in which they mutually occur.
It consists, first, of an invocation or mode of address to God. The word "Our" indicates the great change which Christ introduced into the whole conception of worship. There was no social worship in the Jewish temple. The priest went alone into the holy place, while the people stood outside. But in the Christian church the worship of God is for all the people, with one heart and one voice; and in private prayer we cannot be accepted if we come in a selfish and exclusive spirit.
Our "Father." The relation of God as a Father belongs to all men alike by right of creation and providence ; but it is by the grace of God in conversion that we receive the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, "Abba, Father."
The words "which art in heaven" imply that as our Father is in heaven, so our desires and affections should ascend beyond earth.
The order of the petitions is very remarkable. It begins with the recognition of God's rights as Maker, Sovereign, Proprietor, - "thy name," "thy kingdom," "thy will;" and then it goes on to the recognition of man's needs - our bread, our debts, our temptations, and our deliverance. The essence of sin is the inversion of this divine order, putting the creature first and the Creator last, giving precedence to man's need over God's rights.
"Hallowed be thy name" teaches us that as children we are to treat with a holy love and fear the name and relation of Father in which we stand to God.
"Thy kingdom come" is a petition that Gods reign of righteousness and peace and joy may be set up in our hearts, and that we may be enabled to extend it by our character, conduct, and work in the world around.
"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" shows to us that God's will is the highest ultimate good of all his creatures; that all his laws have been devised to bring about this result; and that in proportion as we obey this will is our true welfare promoted. When our will and the Father's are absolutely one, we shall know that all things work together for our good.
"Give us this day our daily bread." At first sight referring to the most urgent want of man, we find that this petition is only one out of several others; not the first as the most important, not the last as the longest remembered, but enclosed among those which refer to spiritual things, to the establishment of God's kingdom and the overthrow of Satan's. If we hallow God's name and submit to his reign and seek to do his will, then we can with confidence ask him for the blessings which our natural life requires for its support and welfare. God gives us that for which we ourselves have to toil; not arbitrarily, but by wise and beneficient law; not all at once, but day by day.
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." The word "forgive," being made up from the preposition "from," means literally, "allow our debts to be put away from us." The word "debt" has a very close remembrance to the word "duty;" and our debtors are therefore our failure in duty. We ask God to take away from us the carelessness and indifference in which such failures originate; not to save us from our obligations or the consequences of our sin, but from our sin itself. Forgive us, not in proportion as, but like as, we forgive others. If we forgive others slowly, grudgingly, coldly, so shall we be treated.
"And lead us not into temptation." It is by temptation that we are tried and educated; yet we are justified in praying to our Father not to lead us into temptation so long as we leave, with childlike submission, to his loving will the means by which our faith is to be strengthened and our spiritual life purified and ennobled. We are not to go willingly into temptation. The temptation itself is not sin, but we fear that we may sin through it. And therefore this petition is linked along with the next, so as to make of the two one petition. Knowing God's power, we ask him to deliver us from the evil that is in the temptation, relying upon his promise that he will not suffer us to be tried above what we are able, but with every temptation will provide a way of escape. The Revised Version has the reading, "deliver us from the evil one;" but the usage of the Greek language requires that the original should be translated, not as a personal word, but as meaning moral evil in its totality.
The doxology, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever," is not found in St. Luke, and is omitted in many manuscripts. But it is an appropriate ending of the Lord's Prayer, giving us good ground of encouragement to pray, and at the same time ascribing all the praise to God. It is for his glory that all worship is carried on, therefore he will hear our prayer, and do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. "Amen."
Let us take a closer look at the two occasions when the Lord Jesus gave us this great prayer:
- Matthew 6:6-13
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.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father
which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen.
This prayer comes as a part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus addresses to His disciples some aspects of true, genuine worship of God. The 6th chapter of Matthew deals with issues like alms, prayer, forgiveness, fasting, and putting God first into our life. In all these areas mankind has failed and perverted the righteous standards of God. Under the religious system of Jesus' days religious worship was done in oder to be "seen of men" - for personal pride and impressing others. Jesus came and restored prayer to its true function - acknowledging our dependence upon God. The Lord's Prayer begins with the affirmation of God as Father. Then it descends down to man's needs - our daily bread - only to arise again to affirm that all is God's for all eternity. Selfish prayers are only concerned about our needs. However, the Lord gives us a model prayer that begins with Him and ends with Him, and in the midst it acknowledges man's dependence upon God for all his needs. This prayer alone is also a type or illustration of Jesus and His finished work of redemption. He was with the Father in Heaven, and descended from that great place in order to give man the bread of life, salvation from sin, and eternal life. The life of Jesus was God's will done on earth, as it is in Heaven. He forgives us our sin debt and delivered us from evil and ascended up into Heaven to be with the Father again.
- Luke 11:1-4
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him,
Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,
Our Father
which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
The disciples probably watched Jesus praying. Many times the Lord withdrew to be alone to pray to the Father. His disciples, however, tried to follow Him to these places and they must have found Him praying in a desert place (see for example Mark 6:31). Jesus gave a prompt answer to the disciples' request. When ye pray, say... The prayer that Jesus gives us here should be memorized by every Christian, and taught to our children. It introduces us to the relationship to a loving God who is our Father. While this prayer can serve as a role model for all our prayers, it should be prayed literally as well. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Just as Jesus quoted scripture when He was tempted in the desert, so ought we to defend ourselves with God's word in times of trial and testing.
Unfortunately, some denominations have a strange aversion toward the Lord's Prayer. They refuse to pray this prayer literally. The claim that since it is merely a model prayer, it ought not to recited literally, but that it should only guide our own prayers. As a result of this refusal to pray this prayer, many followers of these denominations are not able to quote this prayer, nor do they know the meaning of it, nor does this prayer affect their prayer life in any way. Just because the Roman Catholics and some major Protestant denominations make a vain repetition out of this prayer, depriving it of its meaning and using it as a mere chant, this does not mean that all the other denominations should ignore the Lord's Prayer or degrade it to nothingness.
I am glad my mother taught me the Lord's Prayer as a young child. That introduced me to God and to His loving attributes. That also prepared the way for me to trust the Lord and to be saved later in my life. Knowing and reciting this prayer in its literal sense has been extremely fruitful in my life. When I was a young child and a family member died, I prayed this prayer over and over. I was too shocked and too sad to form my own prayer. What a comfort that I could just repeat the words of Jesus in prayer! What a privilege that in situations where we become speechless, we can use the words of Jesus in our prayers! We are taught in Ephesians 6 to use the word of God as the sword of the Spirit. Therefore, I will certainly use the prayer that Jesus gave us as my sword to attack the enemy. I will definitely need a shield of faith as well in order to defend myself against all the attacks of the enemies.
Recently, there is a movement that seeks to unearth a prayer from I. Chronicles 4:10, which is the prayer of Jabez. Let us be very careful about that because this prayer is selfishly misused as a turnkey method to wealth, prosperity, stuff, money in the bank! Now there are deceived believers who have been erroneously taught to stay away from the literal recital of the Lord's Prayer - a specific prayer the Lord gave to man on two different occasions - while at the same time they dig a simple plea out of the Old Testament and recite it over and over in expectation of checks, deposits, raises, and profits. Does this seem perverted and foolish to you? Obviously, there are some who search through the Bible to find something to please their sinful materialism. Here is what Jesus responds: And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. (Luke 12:15) The whole concept that "blessing" always means "material prosperity", as so many popular televangelists parrot, is mistaken. To find out what God's concept of blessing and proper prosperity is, go to Proverbs 30:7-9. What you find there is totally in keeping with New Testament scriptures that teach us to be content with food and raiment, to ask God for our daily bread, to beware of covetousness, and to work with our own hands.
Let us put the focus back on what the Lord Jesus has given us in the Lord's Prayer. The disciples asked Him how to pray. Jesus gave them a specific prayer. When ye pray, say... Let us make ample use of the things which Jesus has given us. The Lord's Prayer puts our life back into the right perspective and connects us to our Father in Heaven. We can come to Him and trust Him.
The correlation between the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer
OUR FATHER:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
There is one God. He is our Father. There is none beside Him. You can't have multiple fathers.
WHICH ART IN HEAVEN:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
God is not a tangible figurine, is not a conception of man, nor is God a product of man's skill or workmanship. There is no man-made likeness of God. He is in Heaven.
HALLOWED BE THY NAME:
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Don't misuse God's name, says the law. Rather, honor and lift up His name, Jesus says. The law says what not to do. Jesus says what we should do.
THY KINGDOM COME:
Remembe the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
The sabbath is blessed and hallowed by the Lord and singled out for His glorification. So is the kingdom of God. On the sabbath day man is commmanded to rest from work and focus on God. The kingdom of God is alike. It is not man's work, and it is a place where every soul that receives Christ will find rest from this world's burdens.
THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN:
Honor thy father and thy mother.
If you honor your Father in Heaven, then God's will is done in earth as it is in Heaven. It is interesting that Jesus equals the relationship between God and man with the relationship of parents to their children. Parents are honored when their children are obedient. This is also true for our relationship with God. The expression, Thy will be done, denotes the role of obedience God wants to see in his children.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD:
Thou shalt not kill.
In the Gospel of John Jesus says that He is the bread of life. Bread itself is very nutritious and is truly a lifegiver. God does not want his children to have a killer instinct mentality to prey for sustenance. Instead, the Lord wants us to depend on Him for our daily bread. Why do people commit murder today? Mostly in order to get other people's wealth. This is true also for many of the wars going on in the world. God, however, wants us to come to Him with all our needs. Cain slew Abel to get what he had, but he never got it.
AND FORGIVE US OUR SINS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS,
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION,
BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL:
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
We all need to stay away from situations, places, or people who could get us entangled into such sin. Thus, we ask God to lead us not into such places, but to deliver us from anything, that could bring shame, sin or reproach upon the children of God. We certainly need the forgiveness of God for our sins, such as mentioned in these commandments. It is significant that the 7th commandment (Thou shalt not commit adultery.) relates to the seventh declaration in the Lord's Prayer (Forgive us our sins, as we forgive our debtors). Married partners are indebted to each other. In 1. John 1:9 it says that God is faithful to forgive us our sins, if we confess them. Faithfulness is a supporting column of a stable marriage. If two people are faithful to each other, they will also forgive each other's shortcomings. Faithfulness is the opposite of an adulterous relationship. I. John 1:9 is a good advice to married people. Be honest to each other. If there are concerns, confess them to each other and then forgive each other, as the Lord expects you to do that, according to His prayer
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOR EVER:
Thou shalt not covet.
Don't covet what your neighbor has. It is all the Lord's anyway. He created everything. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." (Psalm 24:1) "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." (Psalm 50:1) We all will die and leave behind those once coveted things of this world. Those coveted items things will rot away, get recycled, or be auctioned off, or thrown in the trash by the next generation.
