Some interpreters say it is a model prayer, so we should not repeat it rote. In my view, you can pray this short prayer word for word, or you can use it as a prayer guide.
The translation is mine. If you would like to see other translations, please click here: biblegateway.com. I include Greek in the left column, so Greek readers can check my translation. But you can ignore the left column if you wish.
By the way, I consider this prayer and the one in Matthew 6:5-15 to be different lessons because of the different contexts. A teacher is allowed to repeat himself, whether in long or short form. Matthew’s prayer lesson is long, while Luke’s is short.
Here is Matthew’s prayer model:
The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew’s Gospel
Links are provided throughout the commentary for further study.
This prayer is the short version because editors of the Greek NT believe the longer version comes from weak manuscript support. The lines have been inserted by copyists. At the end of this study, I quote the later version, but without commentary, since the lines have been exegeted in Matthew’s version.
Let’s begin.
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The Lord’s (Model) Prayer (Luke 11:1-4) |
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| 1 Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ προσευχόμενον, ὡς ἐπαύσατο, εἶπέν τις τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξεν τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ. 2 εἶπεν δὲ αὐτοῖς· ὅταν προσεύχησθε λέγετε·
Πάτερ, |
1 And so it happened that while he was in a certain place praying, when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘Father, may your name be treated as holy; |
Comments:
This is a model prayer. But what is wrong with repeating it word by word? Is it a sin? Of course not. But you must have an understanding of what the words and lines mean. See v. 2 for why the prayer is not a formula.
It is also a communal prayer, though I don’t wish to be churlish and claim it can be prayed only in a community and not alone.
Now let’s go verse by verse.
1:
“certain place”: you have to find your place of prayer, alone with God. Take a walk and pray. Get in your prayer closet, literally a closet, if you have to. Wherever your place of prayer may be, find a private place of prayer.
“praying”: Now let’s take an expansive look at the verb (and noun). As noted in Luke 1:10, and elsewhere throughout this commentary series, it is the very common verb proseuchomai (pronounced pros-yew-khoh-my) and appears 85 times. The noun proseuchē (pronounced pros-yew-khay) is used 36 times, so they are the most common words for prayer or pray in the NT. They are combined with the preposition pros, which means, among other things, “towards,” and euchē, which means a prayer, vow and even a mere wish. But Christians took over the word and directed it towards the living God; they leaned in toward him and prayed their requests fully expecting an answer. It is not a mere wish to a pagan deity.
Prayer flows out of confidence before God that he will answer because we no longer have an uncondemned heart (1 John 3:19-24); and we know him so intimately that we find out from him what is his will is and then we pray according to it (1 John 5:14-15); we pray with our Spirit-inspired languages (1 Cor. 14:15-16). Pray!
What Is Biblical Intercession?
“finished”: His disciples did not interrupt him. They waited until he stopped praying.
“disciples”: the noun is mathētēs (pronounced mah-they-tayss), and it is used 261 times in the NT, though many of them are duplicates in the three synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative Greek lexicon of the NT, and it says of the noun (1) “one who engages in learning through instruction from another, pupil, apprentice”; (2) “one who is rather constantly associated with someone who has a pedagogical reputation or a particular set of views, disciple, adherent.” Here they are the twelve, the seventy-two (Luke 10:1-24) and the women followers (Luke 8:1-3).
“teach”: It is the verb didaskō (pronounced dee-dahs-koh, and our word didactic is related to it). The verb means to instruct or tell or teach (BDAG), some times in a formal setting like a classroom or another confined setting, other times in a casual setting. Here it is casual, but no doubt he gathered his disciples around him, including the seventy-two (Luke 10:1-24) and the women followers (Luke 8:1-3). He spoke with authority, unlike the teachers of the law and Pharisees (Luke 4:32; Matt. 7:28-29). It was his habit and custom to enter their synagogues and teach the people (see 4:15, 31). His insight into Scripture was profound. This is what the Spirit does through a surrendered heart and mind. Some Renewalists of the fiery variety don’t teach, but evangelize and shriek and freak, after they read one verse or two, and put on a show. How much time do they put in to study the Word? Jesus had a full ministry: teaching, healing, miracles, and deliverances.
“John”: this is John the Baptist.
2:
As noted, Luke’s version is briefer than Matthew’s (Matt. 6:9-13). Here is the expanded version:
9 Therefore, pray in this way:
Our Father who is in heaven,
Let your name be made holy.
10 Let your kingdom come,
Let your will be done,
As in heaven, also on earth.
11 Give us today our bread for living.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we have forgiven our debtors.
13 Do not bring us into temptation;
Instead, deliver us from evil. (Matt. 6:9-13)
I have nicknamed Matthew the Trimmer, but the above model prayer is an exception to the rule. He expands it.
“when”: this form of the Greek word and sentence structure indicates that it is not a routine or formulaic prayer. “Whenever you pray.”
“pray”: see v. 1 for more comments.
“Father”: “The term ‘Father’ for God appears twenty-one times in the Old Testament, while it appears 255 times in the New Testament” (Garland, p. 471). The New Testament is much shorter than the Old. (A Bible nerd, who seems to be well trained, says that the OT makes up 70% of the Bible.) This term is the most wonderful relational word that exists for God. Yes, he is our Savior and our Rock and our Deliverer (and so on), but he is deepest of all our Father. This means we are his children. We can approach our Father whenever we want. If you had a mean earthly father, don’t project your bad experience or feelings on to God your Father. That’s not fair. He is not like your earthly father. He is wholly different and loving.
“may your name be treated as holy”: or “let your name be made holy” in the eyes of the people or “let your name be sanctified” in the eyes of the people. Or it could be translated as “let your name be reverenced” in the eyes of the people. Or it could be “made holy” or “sanctified” or “reverenced” in the human heart, but it is in community. You must treat God as holy or wholly other than any being, whether angel or the most holy man or sacred space (e.g. a temple). There is no one like him (“I am God; there is no one like me,” says Is. 46:9), so see him in that light.
It is written in the passive (“name be treated”). So it could be the divine passive, which is an understated way of saying that God does it behind the scenes. So God does what God alone can do—make his name holy. However, it could mean that people treat his name as holy (Lev. 22:32; Jer. 34:16; Amos 2:7). I say it is both a divine passive and God graciously allows us to make his name holy in his kingdom communities. “And you shall not profane my holy name that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you” (Lev. 22:32). Mutual declaration of holiness. Wonderful!
“name”: this noun stands in for the person—a living, real person. You carry your earthly father’s name. If he is dysfunctional, his name is a disadvantage. If he is functional and impacting society for the better, then his name is an advantage. The Father has the highest status in the universe, before and above the entire universe, which he created. His character is perfection itself. Now down here on earth you walk and live as an ambassador in his name, in his stead, for he is no longer living on earth through his Son, so you have to represent him down here. We are his ambassadors who stand in for his name (2 Cor. 5:20). The good news is that he did not leave you without power and authority. He gave you the power and authority of his Son Jesus. Now you represent him in his name—his person, power and authority. Therefore under his authority we have his full authority to preach the gospel and set people free from bondages and satanic spirits and heal them of diseases.
“holy”: William Mounce in his Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words says the Hebrew adjective for holy is qadosh and is used 117 times. “It describes that which is by nature sacred or that which has been admitted to the sphere of the sacred by divine rite. It describes, therefore, that which is distinct or separate from the common or profane” (p. 337).
Renewal theologian J. Rodman Williams teaches that the basic connotation of holy and holiness in the Old Testament is that of separation / apartness from the common, mundane, and profane things of everyday life. This true of God in His total otherness, also of persons and things set apart for Him and His service (vol. 1, p. 60, note 41).
God’s majesty speaks of God’s awesomeness and majesty. “At the heart of divine majesty is the white and brilliant light of His utter purity. There is in God utterly no taint of anything unclean and impure” (p. 61).
In simple English, it means God is completely different and separate from earthbound things. But this does not mean that he is so far up in heaven that he ignores us. As our holy Father, he is involved in our lives. So we have a perfect balance of God’s unique holiness and his fatherhood. Further, he likewise calls us to be holy or separate from the world’s pollution, but involved in the world. Be in the world, but not of it.
Word Study on Holiness and Sanctification
Bible Basics on Sanctification and Holiness
“kingdom of God”: What is the kingdom? As noted in other verses that mention the kingdom in this commentary, the kingdom is God’s power, authority, rule, reign and sovereignty. He exerts all those things over all the universe but more specifically over the lives of people. It is his invisible realm, and throughout the Gospels Jesus is explaining and demonstrating what it looks like before their very eyes and ears. It is gradually being manifested from the realm of faith to the visible realm, but it is not political in the human sense. It is a secret kingdom because it does not enter humanity with trumpets blaring and full power and glory. This grand display will happen when Jesus comes back. In his first coming, it woos people to surrender to it. We can enter God’s kingdom by being born again (John 3:3, 5), by repenting (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:5), by having the faith of children (Matt. 18:4; Mark 10:14-15), by being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son whom God loves (Col. 1:13), and by seeing their own poverty and need for the kingdom (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20; Jas. 2:5).
It also includes the Great Reversal in Luke 1:51-53, where Mary said that Jesus and his kingdom were bringing to the world. The powerful and people of high status are brought low, while the humble and those of low status are raised up. It also fulfills the reversal in 2:34, where Simeon prophesied that Jesus was appointed for the rising and falling of many. It is the right-side-up kingdom, but upside-down from a worldly perspective. Jesus would cause the fall of the mighty and the rise of the needy, and the rich would be lowered, and the poor raised up. It is the down elevator and up elevator. Those at the top will take the down elevator, and those at the bottom will take the up elevator.
Here it is the already and not-yet. The kingdom has already come in part at his First Coming, but not yet with full manifestation and glory and power until his Second Coming.
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Bible Basics about the Kingdom of God
Questions and Answers about Kingdom of God
Basic Definition of Kingdom of God
1 Introducing the Kingdom of God (begin a ten-part series)
“come”: it is a standard verb. Whatever is done in heaven should be done on earth. But some critics suggest that we have no death in heaven, so should we pray realistically that people on earth never die? There is no evangelism in heaven, so no evangelism on earth? There is marriage or sex or raising children properly or money on earth; however, since there is none of those things in heaven, should we pray for them to come down to earth? How can they, if heaven does not have them? And therefore, say the critics, this verse in the Lord’s Model Prayer is not carte blanche to ask for everything in heaven to come down to earth. But the critics miss the point. The kingdom, as we just learned, is not fully manifested, but it will be at the Second Coming.
Once again:
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Commentator Morris:
Thy kingdom comes looks for the bringing in of the kingdom that was the constant subject of Jesus’ teaching. There is a sense in which it is realized here and now, in the hearts and lives of people who subject themselves to God and accept his way for them. But in another sense it will not come until God’s will is perfectly done throughout the world (cf. the addition in Matthew, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”). It is this for which we long. (comments on v. 2).
So it seems that Morris believes that we may call down the kingdom in a general sense, not to answer our specific prayers. But I’m not sure I agree. We can pray for God’s kingdom to come in more specific ways.
Until the kingdom comes in full power and manifestation, we need our daily bread and the forgiveness of sins, both ours and those who have sinned against us. And those two things are just representative samples. We need better marriages and child-rearing skills and wisdom, more evangelism. God has the resources in heaven for us to succeed in those things. As for death, it will end at the Second Coming. But God can empower our mortal bodies to live healthily in the here and now. We live on earth, and we can indeed pray down from heaven the things we need on earth in the current dispensation. We let other Scriptures guide us to pray heavenly things down to earth for us.
However, don’t be disappointed if the partial yet powerful manifestation of heaven and the kingdom does not happen right now, particularly healing. Yes, pray in faith for healing, but the polluted world and our weak bodies may not allow us to be healed at this time. Or God may use (not cause) our illness to take us home.
Why Doesn’t Divine Healing Happen One Hundred Percent of the Time in This Age?
Bottom line: Jesus is telling us to pray for the full manifestation of the kingdom, and it has not happened yet and will not happen until he returns. We see through a mirror dimly and know in part, and the perfect has not yet come (1 Cor. 13:9-12).
Garland: “This petition longs for the reign of the evil one to be overthrown. Jesus’ ministry reveals that the reign of God has drawn nearer, and his healing ministry (with his disciples) reveals Satan’s power over the world is on its last legs (9:11; 10:9)” (comment on 11:12d).
Bock quotes the Kaddish, an eschatological Jewish prayer that ended the ancient synagogue services:
Exalted and hallowed be his great name
In the world which he created according to his will.
May he let his kingdom rule
In your lifetime and in your days and in the lifetime
Of the whole house of Israel, speedily and soon.
The Bock continues: “The picture is of the creator God, enthroned and manifesting his rule. His glory is made evident to all. The disciple opens the prayer with the recognition of the one being addressed, trusting and hoping that God in his greatness will manifest himself” (p. 1052).
3:
These verses encourage people to ask for daily bread.
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God. (Prov. 30:8-9, NIV)
Good message for the hyper-prosperity preachers.
“give”: The verb is in the imperative or command form, but it is only a grammatical point. We must not believe that we can command God, but we can ask with authority. We should have confidence when we ask God for our food and other supplies. The Greek verb tense is present imperative: “keep giving us” (Liefeld and Pao, comment on v. 3)
“bread”: in Greek it is the first word in the sentence, for emphasis. It stands in for all of our need for supplies, like a job or groceries—whatever nourishes us and puts a roof over our head.
We can pray every day for our daily need. Or you can divide it up weekly—“Lord, give my family our weekly need. Promote myself and my husband at my and his job.” Or pray for your daily bread every day.
“for living”: it is the extremely rare adjective that means “necessary for existence”; “for the following day”; “for the future” (Culy, Parsons, and Stigall, p. 374). It is used only here and in the other version of the Lord’s Model Prayer (Matt. 6:11).
“To trust God for sufficient food day by day was important to people in Jesus’ time who were hired only a day at a time (cf. Matt. 20:1-5)” (Liefeld and Pao, comment on v. 3). Let’s appropriate the word to teach us to pray for the necessities of life for the next day and the future. The Greek also has the word daily in it. You can pray for tomorrow’s bread or supplies that exist in the future. No, this does not allow heavy credit card debt, for that is presumptuous. But God’s supply exists in his time, which for us appears like the future because we have a limited perspective (we’re not omniscient). In any case, God sees what we need today, and he is preparing things tomorrow to give us. Today and tomorrow are one for God since he has an eternal perspective.
4:
“Since the petitioner has called God ‘Father,’ he is a believer, already justified and without guilt through the death of Christ; therefore, the forgiveness he must extend to others is not the basis of his salvation but a prerequisite for daily fellowship with the Father in the sense of 1 John 1:5-10. Conversely, one who does not forgive others may actually be revealing that he has not really known God’s forgiveness (cf. Lk 7:47)” (Liefeld and Pao, comments on v. 4).
“forgive”: it comes from the verb aphiēmi (pronounced ah-fee-ay-mee), and BDAG, considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, defines it with the basic meaning of letting go: (1) “dismiss or release someone or something from a place or one’s presence, let go, send away”; (2) “to release from legal or moral obligations or consequence, cancel, remit, pardon”; (3) “to move away with implication of causing a separation, leave, depart”; (4) “to leave something continue or remain in its place … let someone have something” (Matt. 4:20; 5:24; 22:22; Mark 1:18; Luke 10:30; John 14:18); (5) “leave it to someone to do something, let, let go, allow, tolerate.” The Shorter Lexicon adds “forgive.” In sum, God lets go, dismisses, releases, sends away, cancels, pardons, and forgives our sins. His work is full and final. Don’t go backwards or dwell on it. Clearly the most significant definition in this context is the second one and the Shorter Lexicon’s. It means to forgive.
Please read these verses for how forgiving God is:
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Ps. 103:10-12)
And these great verses are from Micah:
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea. (Mic. 7:18-19, ESV)
“A forgiven person is to be a forgiving person” (Bock, p. 1055).
Garland:
This petition reflects a spiritual axiom that if one is not forgiving, one cannot receive forgiveness. A forgiving spirit is the outstretched hand by which we grasp God’s forgiveness. When that hand is close tightly into a fist, it can receive nothing. Being forgiving is “not the ground on which God bestows forgiveness but the ground on which man can receive it.” The petitions for bread and forgiveness open up disciples to the future. They are not to be weighed down by anxiety about bread for tomorrow or by the burden of the past. (comment on 14:ab, citing in part Manson, Luke, p. 135).
“sins”: it comes from the noun hamartia (pronounced hah-mar-tee-ah). A deep study reveals that it means a “departure from either human or divine standards of uprightness” (BDAG, p. 50). It can also mean a “destructive evil power” (ibid., p. 51). In other words, sin has a life of its own. Be careful! In the older Greek of the classical world, it originally meant to “miss the mark” or target. Sin destroys, and that’s why God hates it, and so should we. The good news: God promises us forgiveness when we repent.
“everyone”: it means everyone, not just the likeable.
“sins”: it could be translated literally as “morally indebted” to us, because the word is not hamartia (the standard word for sin). Rather, it is the verb opheilō (pronounced oh-fay-loh). BDAG says it is (1) a “financial debt”; (2) “to be under obligation to meet certain social or moral expectations, owe.” The Shorter Lexicon adds: “commit a sin.” Here it is sin that put the person in a moral debt or obligation to you. So someone wrongs you, and you believe he owes you an apology, but what if he is unwilling to give it or is even unaware that he has wronged you? You still need to forgive his moral debt to you. Unforgiveness is poison in your soul, not his. Forgive the other person, and God will purge out the poison.
Bible Basics about Sin: Word Studies
Human Sin: Original and Our Committed Sin
“temptation”: it is the noun peirasmos (pronounced pay-rahss-moss), and it can be translated in one context as “test, trial” (to see what is in a person) and in another context as “temptation, enticement” (to sin) in another context. Since it does not seem possible that God would lead people into temptation, it may be better to translate the word as a “time of trial.” On the other hand, God does not do the tempting (Jas. 1:13-14), but he may allow the devil to attack our frail, sinful human nature, to see what is in us. Do we have the power to resist? I pray nearly every day something like this, “Lord, I pray over my heart and soul the inner strength and power and anointing to stand and not to fold or flag during satanic or broken-human attacks.” It works. I have become stronger.
Bock (p. 1056) cites a line from the Babylonian Talmud: “Bring me not into the power of sin, nor into the power of guilt, nor into the power of temptation” (b. Ber. 60b).
“do not bring us”: The phrase is a Hebraic way of praying the positive; that is, when a Hebrew prays against the negative, he prays for the positive. Maybe therefore we could say: “Lead us to victory over temptation.” Marshall: The sense is not “do not cause us to succumb to temptation”; rather it is: “cause us not to succumb to temptation.”
It could also translated as “do not carry us into” because of the verb eispherō behind eisenegkēs. But we better stick with what the lexicon says: “do not bring into” or “do not lead into.”
Jesus asks his followers to pray similarly.
GrowApp for Luke 11:1-4
A.. Study Phil. 4:19. How would describe the generosity of God?
B.. Study Matt. 6:14-15. How does God give you grace to forgive? What are the consequences if you do not forgive?
LUKE’S LONGER VBERSION (NKJV)
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Our[a] Father [b]in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
[c]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,
[d]But deliver us from the evil one.”
SOURCES
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