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Thy Kingdom Come
(A Consideration of the Lord's Prayer).
No.1.
pp. 131 - 135
The New Bible Dictionary opens its article on The Lord's Prayer with these words:
"The prayer which our Lord taught His disciples as the model prayer for believers and
for His Church of all ages."
This view is by no means novel, having been held by believers throughout the ages of
Christendom, and so the prayer is repeated in most churches at least once every Sunday,
to say nothing of its use at other meetings and in private devotions. To question its usage
is to mark oneself with the brand `heretic', although it is quite legitimate apparently to
spiritualize its clauses so that they may be properly understood. "Daily bread", instead of
being a reference to material needs, is to be understood as a spiritual need of some
description, since most people in Christianized countries have no difficulty in obtaining
material `daily bread'. The clause on forgiveness is interpreted in the light of Eph. 4: 32,
in spite of the added explanation of the Lord that, "If ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses". The honest, thinking Christian will not
be satisfied with such handling of the Word of God, but will seek the true meaning of
each of the clauses of the prayer, a task that can only be accomplished by those prepared
to `search the Scriptures' with a view to observing `things that differ' (Phil. 1: 10 margin).
This will be the object of these articles.
The prayer is recorded by two of the Evangelists, Matthew and Luke, and it is evident
from a comparison of the contexts that the two passages are not parallel, so that the Lord
gave the prayer on at least two separate occasions. The following arrangement is
presented with due regard to the best Greek texts and will be found to be more in line
with the R.V. than the A.V., hence the omissions:
Matthew 6: 9 13.
Luke 11: 2 - 4.
Father
Our Father
Who (art) in the heavens
sanctified be Thy Name
sanctified be Thy Name
let come Thy kingdom
let come Thy kingdom
let Thy will be done
as in heaven (so) also upon earth
our bread (the epiousion) give us daily
our bread (the epiousion) give us today
and forgive us our sins, for
and forgive us our debts, as also
we ourselves also forgive everyone
we have forgiven our debtors
indebted to us
and lead us not into temptation
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil