Matthew 6:9

Matthew 6:9-13. THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Matthew 6:9. After this manner therefore. Because vain repetitions are forbidden, a pattern or specimen of the true form of Christian prayer is given. Hence other prayers are not only allowed but required. Two forms of this prayer exist; see Luke 11:2-4. Hence it is very unlikely that it was in liturgical use when the Gospels were written. ‘It must be supplemented for the same reason that the whole Sermon on the Mount requires supplementary teaching.' Yet opposition to the use of it in public prayer may be as really a species of formalism as too frequent liturgical repetition of it. It is a form, to be devoutly used on proper occasions, and a perfect pattern which could only proceed from the lips of the Son of God. There is little to prove that it was taken from forms of prayer already in use among the Jews. ‘Lightfoot produces only the most general commonplace parallels from the Rabbinical books.' But the beauty of the Lord's Prayer is in its unity, symmetry, completeness, and pervading spirit.

As regards its contents in general, ‘it embodies all essential desires of a praying heart. Yet in the simplest form, resembling in this respect a pearl on which the light of heaven plays. It expresses and combines in the best order, every Divine promise, every human sorrow and want, and every Christian aspiration for the good of others.' It is generally arranged into three parts: the preface (address), the petitions (seven, according to Augustine, Luther, and others; six, according to Chrysostom, and the Reformed catechisms; ‘deliver us from evil' being regarded as a distinct petition in the former enumeration), and the conclusion (doxology). The address puts us into the proper attitude of prayer the filial relation to God as our ‘Father' (a word of faith), the fraternal relation to our fellow men (‘our,' a word of love), and our destination for ‘heaven' (a word of hope). Every true prayer, an ascension of the soul to heaven, where God dwells in glory with all saints and where is our final home. The petitions are naturally divided into two parts: the first, respecting the glory of God; the second, the wants of men. Hence ‘thy' in the first, ‘our' in the second. The first part presents a descending scale from God's name to the doing of His will; the second, an ascending scale from ‘daily bread' to final deliverance in glory. Meyer thus analyzes it: ‘ Having risen to what forms the highest and holiest object of believers, the soul is engrossed with its character (first petition), its grand purpose (second petition), and its moral condition (third petition); in the fourth petition the children of God humble themselves under the consciousness of their dependence upon Divine mercy even in temporal matters, but much more in spiritual things, since that which according to the first portion of this prayer, constituted the burden of desire, can only be realized by forgiveness (fifth petition), by gracious guidance (sixth petition), and deliverance from the power of the devil (seventh petition).' Tholuck remarks: ‘The attentive reader, who has otherwise learned the doctrine of the Trinity, will find a distinct reference to it in the arrangement of this prayer. The first petition, in each of the first and second portions of the prayer, refers to God as the Creator and Preserver; the second, to God the Redeemer, and the third to God the Holy Spirit.' To which Lange adds: ‘ Devotion to God, and acceptance of His gifts are contrasted in the Lord's Prayer. 1. Devotion to His name, to His kingdom, and to His will. 2. Acceptance of His gifts in reference to the present, the past, and the future.' See Lange, Matthew, pp. 123 - 129

Our Father who art in heaven, lit., ‘Our Father, the (one) in the heavens.' A form of address almost unknown and to a certain extent unwarranted before Christ came. He had repeatedly called God by this name in this discourse, now He teaches this disciples to call Him thus. A recognition of the new filial relation concerning which the Apostles have so much to say, and which is formed through and on Christ, who teaches this form of address. The added phrase, ‘in the heavens,' shows ‘the infinite difference between this and every other human relationship of a, imilar kind: He is no weak, helpless earthly parent' The word ‘our' implies at once our fellowship with Christ and with one another. The very preface to the Lord's Prayer is a denial of Atheism, Pantheism, and Deism, since it recognizes a God, a Personal God, who is our Father through Christ

Hallowed be thy name (first petition). ‘Hallowed' means made holy; in this case it can only mean recognized, treated as sacred, and thus glorified. ‘Thy name' is referred by many to the actual name of God, Jehovah, as including His self-existent and eternal being together with his covenant relation. By others to all by which He makes Himself known. In either view, the hallowing can be accomplished only through Christ. God's glory comes first in this model of prayer; the proper order. We in our weakness and need often put our desires first.