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The Teachers Message

Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name

Context

Luke 1:1

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

² So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
³ Give us day by day our daily bread.
⁴ And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”

Matthew 6:5-8

⁵ “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. ⁷ And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

⁸ “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 

Teaching: Acknowledging God’s Holiness and Sovereignty.

Explanation: In this opening line, Jesus teaches His disciples to begin their prayers by recognizing God’s holy and sovereign nature. The term “Father” signifies a personal relationship with God, while “hallowed” means to honor as holy.

Original Testament reference:

Isaiah 64:8  ⁸ But now, O Lord, You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.

Psalm 105  ³ Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!

Names of God and Their Meaning (Click Here)

The Legalistic Perspective

Commentary: Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

This passage contains the Lord’s prayer, a composition unequalled for comprehensiveness and for beauty. It is supposed that some of these petitions were taken from those in common use among the Jews. Indeed some of them are still to be found in Jewish writings, but they did not exist in this beautiful combination. This prayer is given as a “model.” It is designed to express the “manner” in which we are to pray, evidently not the precise words or petitions which we are to use. The substance of the prayer is recorded by Luke, Luke 11:2-4. In Luke, however, it varies from the form given in Matthew, showing that he intended not to prescribe this as a form of prayer to be used always, but to express the substance of our petitions, or to show what petitions it would be proper to present to God. That he did not intend to prescribe this as a form to be invariably used is further evident from the fact that there is no proof that either he or his disciples ever used exactly this form of prayer, but clear evidence that they prayed often in other language. See Matthew 26:39-42, Matthew 26:44; Luke 22:42; John 17; Acts 1:24.

Matthew 6:9

Our Father – God is called a Father,

1. as he is the Creator and the Great Parent of all;

2. the Preserver of the human family and the Provider for their wants, Matthew 5:45; Matthew 6:32;

3. in a special sense he is the Father of those who are adopted into his family; who put confidence in him; who are the true followers of Christ, and made heirs of life, Romans 8:14-17.

Hallowed be thy name – The word “hallowed” means to render or pronounce holy. God’s name is essentially holy; and the meaning of this petition is, “Let thy name be celebrated, venerated, and esteemed as holy everywhere, and receive from all people proper honor.” It is thus the expression of a wish or desire, on the part of the worshipper, that the name of God, or that God himself, should be held everywhere in proper veneration. THIS ENDS BARNES COMMENTARY

A GRACE PERSPECTIVE

Through out the Old Testament, God has already pronounced His name as being holy, separate, unique, set aside for a special purpose belonging only to Him. Paul’s writing provide us with an Indepth understanding of God’s grace and the proper response to His grace. As we reflect on God’s names and realize we are observing the very nature of God, something will stir in the heart and soul of the believer. First we gain an understanding of who our God is. A sense of awe should begin to set in. The a desire to praise, glorify and ultimately, worship Him grows within us.. The words in Matthew should resonate within us. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

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Thy Kingdom Come

Context

Teaching: Seeking the Establishment of God’s Kingdom.

Commentary: Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Thy kingdom come – The word “kingdom” here means “reign.” Note, Matthew 3:2. The petition is the expression of a wish that God may “reign” everywhere; that his laws may be obeyed; and especially that the gospel of Christ may be advanced everywhere, until the world shall be filled with his glory.

Original Testament reference:

Daniel 2:44   And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

Legalistic Perspective

Grace Perspective

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Your Will be Done on Earth as It is in Heaven

Context

Teaching: Submission to God’s Will.

Explanation: Jesus emphasizes the importance of aligning one’s desires and actions with God’s will, demonstrating a commitment to living according to divine purposes.

Original Testament reference:

• Daniel 4:35   All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;
  He does according to His will in the army of heaven
  And among the inhabitants of the earth.
  No one can restrain His hand
  Or say to Him, “What have You done?”

Legalistic Perspective

Commentary: Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Thy will be done – The will of God is that people should obey his commands, and be holy. The word will, has reference to his sovereignty, and to what would be “acceptable” to him. To pray that his will may be done on earth as in heaven, is to pray that his revealed will, is to be obeyed and loved. His will is perfectly obeyed in heaven, and his true children desire and pray that His will is obeyed on earth.

The object of these first three petitions is that God’s name should be glorified and his kingdom established; and by being placed first, we learn that his glory and kingdom are superior to our wants, and that these should be first in our hearts and petitions before a throne of grace.

For a more comprehensive understanding of the will of God, please visit the bible study titled “God’s Will”. To go to this study now just click here.

Grace Perspective

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Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Context

Teaching: Dependence on God for Daily Provisions.

Explanation: Here, Jesus teaches reliance on God for the provision of daily necessities, reinforcing the concept of God as the provider of all needs.

Original Testament referencce:

Psalm 34:10   The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing

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Legalistic Perspective

Commentary: Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Give us this day … – The word “bread,” here, denotes everything necessary to sustain body and soul. See the notes at Matthew 4:4. Compare Deuteronomy 8:3. This petition implies our dependence on God for the supply of our wants. As we are dependent on him one day as much as another, it was evidently the intention of the Saviour that prayer should be offered every day. The petition is expressed in the plural number – give us – and it is intended to be used by more than one, or by some community of people.

Grace Perspective

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And Forgive Us Our Debts, as We Also Have Forgiven Our Debtors

Context

Teaching: The Necessity of Forgiveness.

Explanation: This part of the prayer highlights the importance of seeking God’s forgiveness while also emphasizing the need to forgive others, reflecting a heart of mercy and grace.

Original Testament references:

• Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
  Whose sin is covered.

Legalistic Perspective

Commentary: Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

And forgive us our debts,…. Nothing is more frequent in the Jewish writings than to call sins “debts”; and the phrase, of forgiving, is used both of God and men. Thus the prayer of Solomon is paraphrased (y) by the Targumist:

“and hear thou the petition of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make before this place; and do thou receive it from the place of the house of thy Shekinah, from heaven; and do thou accept their prayer , “and forgive their debts”.”

So Joseph’s brethren signify to him, that it was their father’s orders to say unto him, “forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin”; which is rendered by the Chaldee paraphrasts (z) , “forgive the debts” of thy brethren, and their sins. Accordingly, by “debts” are meant sins here, as appears from Luke 11:4 where it is read, “and forgive us our sin”. These are called “debts”; not because they are so in themselves, for then it would be right to do them; debts should be paid; they are not debts we owe to God, but are so called, because on account of them we owe satisfaction to the law and justice of God: the proper debts we owe to God are love, obedience, and gratitude; and in default of these, we owe the debt of punishment. Now these debts are numerous, and we are incapable of paying, nor can any mere creature pay them for us; wherefore, we are directed to pray, that God would forgive them, or remit the obligation to punishment we lie under, on account of sin. This petition supposes a sense, acknowledgment, and confession of sin, and of inability to make satisfaction for it; and that God only can forgive it, who does, for Christ’s sake, and on account of his blood, sacrifice, and satisfaction: what is here requested is a manifestation and application of pardon to the conscience of a sensible sinner; which, as it is daily needed, is daily to be asked for.

Grace Perspective

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And Lead Us Not into Temptation, But Deliver Us from the Evil One

Context

Teaching: Seeking God’s Protection and Guidance.

Explanation: Jesus instructs His disciples to seek God’s protection from temptation and evil, acknowledging human vulnerability and the need for divine guidance and strength.

Original Testament references:

• Proverbs 16:4  The Lord has made all for Himself,
  Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.

Legalistic Perspective

Commentary: Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

And lead us not into temptation,…. Such a petition as this is often to be observed in the prayers of the Jews (a),

, “do not lead me” neither into sin, nor into transgression and iniquity, , “nor into temptation”, or “into the hands of temptation”;”

that is, into the power of it, so as to be overcome by it, and sink under it; in which sense the phrase is to be understood here. We are not here taught to pray against temptations at all, or in any sense, for they are sometimes needful and useful; but that they may not have the power over us, and destroy us. There are various sorts of temptations. There are the temptations of God; who may be said to tempt, not by infusing anything that is sinful, or by soliciting to it; but by enjoining things hard and disagreeable to nature, as in the case of Abraham; by afflicting, either in body or estate, of which Job is an instance; by permitting and letting loose the reins to Satan, and a man’s own corruptions; by withdrawing his presence, and withholding the communications of his grace; and sometimes by suffering false prophets to arise among his people: his ends in them are on his own account, the display of his power; grace, wisdom, and faithfulness; on account of his Son, that his saints might be like him, and he might have an opportunity of exercising his power and pity: and on his people’s account, that they might be humbled; their faith and patience tried; might see their weakness, and need of Christ, and be excited to prayer and watchfulness. There are also the temptations of Satan; which lie in soliciting to evil, suggesting hard and blasphemous thoughts of God, and filling with doubts and fears; which are cunningly formed by him, and are very afflictive. There are moreover the temptations of the world, which arise from poverty and riches, from the men of the world, the lusts of it, and from both its frowns and flatteries: add to all this, that there are temptations arising from a man’s own heart. Now, in this petition, the children of God pray, that they may be kept from every occasion and object of sinning; from those sins they are most inclined to; that God would not leave them to Satan, and their own corrupt hearts; nor suffer them to sink under the weight of temptations of any sort; but that, in the issue, they might have a way to escape, and be victorious over all.

And most, if not all of these things, may be very well thought to be comprised in the word “evil” here: particularly Satan may be meant, by “evil”, or “the evil one”, as the word may be rendered; who is eminently, originally, and immutably evil; his whole work and employment is nothing else but evil: and to be delivered from him, is to be rescued out of his hands, preserved from his snares, and delivered from his temptations. Evil men may also be intended: all men are naturally evil, and unalterably so, without the grace of God; and some are notoriously wicked; from whose company, sinful lusts, and pleasures, to which they are addicted, as well as from their rage and persecution, good men cannot but desire deliverance; as also from the evil of afflictions, and especially from the evil of sin; as that they may be kept from the commission of it; have the guilt of it removed; be preserved from its power and dominion; and, at last, be freed from the very being of it.

Grace Perspective

The gospel of grace provides a different perspective. When you consider the words “lead us not” one must consider the operation of the law verses the operation of grace. Under the gospel of grace, Paul shows us that God will lead us through various trials and temptations. When we examine the work of the indwelling spirit, we see that God’s grace is sufficient to lead us through any and all trials and temptations the world will throw at us. Even David was aware of this despite living in the age of legalism. Just read Psalm 23 and see how God is with him as he walks through the shadow of death. The law was the one casting the shadow of death.

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For Thine Is The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory Forever AMEN

Context

Teaching: Jesus is worthy of the kingdom, the power and the glory.

Original Testament references:

• 1 Chronicles 29:11-13  Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
  The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty;
  For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.

A Universal Perspective

Commentary: Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever, Amen. This conclusion is left out in the Arabic and Vulgate Latin versions, as it is in Luke 11:4. It stands thus in the Jewish prayers (d),

, “for the kingdom is thine”, and thou shalt reign in glory for ever and ever.”

The usual response at the close of prayers, and reading the Shema, instead of “Amen”, was (e) this:

“Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom, for ever and ever.”

Which bears some resemblance to this concluding expression, which ascribes everlasting kingdom, power, and glory, to God: which may be considered either as a doxology, or an ascription of glory to God, which is his due; and ought be given him in all our prayers to him; or as so many reasons strengthening our faith in prayer; or as many arguments with God, with respect to the petitions made; since the kingdom of nature, providence, grace, and glory, is his: he is omnipotent, he has power to give us our daily bread; to forgive our sins; to preserve from, support under, and deliver out of temptation; to keep from all evil, and preserve from a total and final falling away: whose glory is concerned in all, to whom the glory of all is, and to whom it must, and shall be given; and all this for ever: and the whole is concluded with the word “Amen”; which is a note of asseveration, of the truth herein contained; is added by way of assent to every petition made; is expressive of an hearty wish, and desire to have all fulfilled; and also of faith and confidence, that they will be answered. And this word being retained, and kept the same in all languages, signifies the unity of the spirit, and faith in prayer, in all the saints, in all ages. I leave this prayer with one observation, and that is, whereas it has been so long, and so often said, that this is the Lord’s prayer, it can never be proved that he ever made use of it; and it is certain that he did not make it, as appears from what has been cited out of the Jewish records: the several petitions in it were in being and use before he directed to them; and not only the petitions, but even the very preface and conclusion, are manifestly of Jewish original: what our Lord did was, he took the most proper and pertinent petitions, that had been used by good men among that people; which, with some alterations much for the better, he put together in this order, and gave his approbation of; and that with this view, to point out to his disciples some of the best and most suitable petitions to be made; and to give them a pattern of brevity and conciseness in prayer; and teach them to pray after such a manner, or in some such like words and expressions. This I observe, not to lessen the usefulness of this excellent pattern of sound words; the whole, and every part of it, being exceedingly instructive, and worthy of imitation; but to rectify a vulgar mistake, and to abate the formal and superstitious observance of it.

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Conclusion

The Lord’s Prayer is a model of how to approach God with reverence, submission, and trust. By analyzing each teaching and supporting it with additional verses from Scripture, we gain a deeper understanding of the principles that Jesus intended to impart to His disciples. Jesus responds to the disciples request by referencing the wisdom of the Original Testament in a way that unites multiple principles in a single united format that empowers His disciples to approach the father in a consistent way. This comprehensive approach not only enriches our spiritual knowledge but also enhances our personal practice of prayer.

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