Matthew 6:9

When Christ had condemned what was amiss, he directs to do better; for his are reproofs of instruction. Because we know not what to pray for as we ought, he here helps our infirmities, by putting words into our mouths; after this manner therefore pray ye, Mat 6:9. So many were the corruptions that had crept into this duty of prayer among the Jews, that Christ saw it needful to give a new directory for prayer, to show his disciples what must ordinarily be the matter and method of their prayer, which he gives in words that may very well be used as a form; as the summary or contents of the several particulars of our prayers. Not that we are tied up to the use of this form only, or of this always, as if this were necessary to the consecrating of our other prayers; we are here bid to pray after this manner, with these words, or to this effect. That in Luke differs from this; we do not find it used by the apostles; we are not here taught to pray in the name of Christ, as we are afterward; we are here taught to pray that the kingdom might come which did come when the Spirit was poured out: yet, without doubt, it is very good to use it as a form, and it is a pledge of the communion of saints, it having been used by the church in all ages, at least (says Dr. Whitby) from the third century. It is our Lord's prayer, it is of his composing, of his appointing; it is very compendious, yet very comprehensive, in compassion to our infirmities in praying. The matter is choice and necessary, the method instructive, and the expression very concise. It has much in a little, and it is requisite that we acquaint ourselves with the sense and meaning of it, for it is used acceptably no further than it is used with understanding and without vain repetition.

The Lord's prayer (as indeed every prayer) is a letter sent from earth to heaven. Here is the inscription of the letter, the person to whom it is directed, our Father; the where, in heaven; the contents of it in several errands of request; the close, for thine is the kingdom; the seal, Amen; and if you will, the date too, this day.

Plainly thus: there are three parts of the prayer.

I. The preface, Our Father who art in heaven. Before we come to our business, there must be a solemn address to him with whom our business lies; Our Father. Intimating, that we must pray, not only alone and for ourselves, but with and for others; for we are members one of another, and are called into fellowship with each other. We are here taught to whom to pray, to God only, and not to saints and angels, for they are ignorant of us, are not to have the high honours we give in prayer, nor can give favours we expect. We are taught how to address ourselves to God, and what title to give him, that which speaks him rather beneficent than magnificent, for we are to come boldly to the throne of grace.

1. We must address ourselves to him as our Father, and must call him so. He is a common Father to all mankind by creation, Mal 2:10; Act 17:28. He is in a special manner a Father to the saints, by adoption and regeneration (Eph 1:5; Gal 4:6); and an unspeakable privilege it is. Thus we must eye him in prayer, keep up good thoughts of him, such as are encouraging and not affrighting; nothing more pleasing to God, nor pleasant to ourselves, than to call God Father. Christ in prayer mostly called God Father. If he be our Father, he will pity us under our weaknesses and infirmities (Psa 103:13), will spare us (Mal 3:17), will make the best of our performances, though very defective, will deny us nothing that is good for us, Luk 11:11-13. We have access with boldness to him, as to a father, and have an advocate with the Father, and the Spirit of adoption. When we come repenting of our sins, we must eye God as a Father, as the prodigal did (Luk 15:18; Jer 3:19); when we come begging for grace, and peace, and the inheritance and blessing of sons, it is an encouragement that we come to God, not as an unreconciled, avenging Judge, but as a loving, gracious, reconciled Father in Christ, Jer 3:4.

2. As our Father in heaven: so in heaven as to be every where else, for the heaven cannot contain him; yet so in heaven as there to manifest his glory, for it is his throne (Psa 103:19), and it is to believers a throne of grace: thitherward we must direct our prayers, for Christ the Mediator is now in heaven, Heb 8:1. Heaven is out of sight, and a world of spirits, therefore our converse with God in prayer must be spiritual; it is on high, therefore in prayer we must be raised above the world, and lift up our hearts, Psa 5:1. Heaven is a place of perfect purity, and we must therefore lift up pure hands, must study to sanctify his name, who is the Holy One, and dwells in that holy place, Lev 10:3. From heaven God beholds the children of men, Psa 33:13, Psa 33:14. And we must in prayer see his eye upon us: thence he has a full and clear view of all our wants and burdens and desires, and all our infirmities. It is the firmament of his power likewise, as well as of his prospect, Psa 150:1. He is not only, as a Father, able to help us, able to do great things for us, more than we can ask or think; he has wherewith to supply our needs, for every good gift is from above. He is a Father, and therefore we may come to him with boldness, but a Father in heaven, and therefore we must come with reverence, Ecc 5:2. Thus all our prayers should correspond with that which is our great aim as Christians, and that is, to be with God in heaven. God and heaven, the end of our whole conversation, must be particularly eyed in every prayer; there is the centre to which we are all tending. By prayer, we send before us thither, where we profess to be going.

II. The petitions, and those are six; the three first relating more immediately to God and his honour, the three last to our own concerns, both temporal and spiritual; as in the ten commandments, the four first teach us our duty toward God, and the last six our duty toward our neighbour. The method of this prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then to hope that other things shall be added.

1. Hallowed be thy name. It is the same word that in other places is translated sanctified. But here the old word hallowed is retained, only because people were used to it in the Lord's prayer. In these words, (1.) We give glory to God; it may be taken not as a petition, but as an adoration; as that, the Lord be magnified, or glorified, for God's holiness is the greatness and glory of all his perfections. We must begin our prayers with praising God, and it is very fit he should be first served, and that we should give glory to God, before we expect to receive mercy and grace from him. Let him have praise of his perfections, and then let us have the benefit of them. (2.) We fix our end, and it is the right end to be aimed at, and ought to be our chief and ultimate end in all our petitions, that God may be glorified; all our other requests must be in subordination to this, and in pursuance of it. "Father, glorify thyself in giving me my daily bread and pardoning my sins," etc. Since all is of him and through him, all must be to him and for him. In prayer our thoughts and affections should be carried out most to the glory of God. The Pharisees made their own name the chief end of their prayers (Mat 6:5, to be seen of men), in opposition to which we are directed to make the name of God our chief end; let all our petitions centre in this and be regulated by it. "Do so and so for me, for the glory of thy name, and as far as is for the glory of it." (3.) We desire and pray that the name of God, that is, God himself, in all that whereby he has made himself known, may be sanctified and glorified both by us and others, and especially by himself. "Father, let thy name be glorified as a Father, and a Father in heaven; glorify thy goodness and thy highness, thy majesty and mercy. Let thy name be sanctified, for it is a holy name; no matter what becomes of our polluted names, but, Lord, what wilt thou do to thy great name?" When we pray that God's name may be glorified, [1.] We make a virtue of necessity; for God will sanctify his own name, whether we desire it or not; I will be exalted among the heathen, Psa 46:10. [2.] We ask for that which we are sure shall be granted; for when our Saviour prayed, Father glorify thy name, it was immediately answered, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.

2. Thy kingdom come. This petition has plainly a reference to the doctrine which Christ preached at this time, which John Baptist had preached before, and which he afterwards sent his apostles out to preach - the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of your Father who is in heaven, the kingdom of the Messiah, this is at hand, pray that it may come. Note, We should turn the word we hear into prayer, our hearts should echo to it; does Christ promise, surely I come quickly? our hearts should answer, Even so, come. Ministers should pray over the word: when they preach, the kingdom of God is at hand, they should pray, Father, thy kingdom come. What God has promised we must pray for; for promises are given, not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage prayer; and when the accomplishment of a promise is near and at the door, when the kingdom of heaven is at hand, we should then pray for it the more earnestly; thy kingdom come; as Daniel set his face to pray for the deliverance of Israel, when he understood that the time of it was at hand, Dan 9:2. See Luk 19:11. It was the Jews' daily prayer to God, Let him make his kingdom reign, let his redemption flourish, and let his Messiah come and deliver his people. Dr. Whitby, ex Vitringa. "Let thy kingdom come, let the gospel be preached to all and embraced by all; let all be brought to subscribe to the record God has given in his word concerning his Son, and to embrace him as their Saviour and Sovereign. Let the bounds of the gospel-church be enlarged, the kingdom of the world be made Christ's kingdom, and all men become subjects to it, and live as becomes their character."

3. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. We pray that God's kingdom being come, we and others may be brought into obedience to all the laws and ordinances of it. By this let it appear that Christ's kingdom is come, let God's will be done; and by this let is appear that it is come as a kingdom of heaven, let it introduce a heaven upon earth. We make Christ but a titular Prince, if we call him King, and do not do his will: having prayed that he may rule us, we pray that we may in every thing be ruled by him. Observe, (1.) The thing prayed for, thy will be done; "Lord, do what thou pleasest with me and mine; Sa1 3:18. I refer myself to thee, and am well satisfied that all thy counsel concerning me should be performed." In this sense Christ prayed, not my will, but thine be done. "Enable me to do what is pleasing to thee; give me that grace that is necessary to the right knowledge of thy will, and an acceptable obedience to it. Let thy will be done conscientiously by me and others, not our own will, the will of the flesh, or the mind, not the will of men (Pe1 4:2), much less Satan's will (Joh 8:44), that we may neither displease God in any thing we do (ut nihil nostrum displiceat Deo), nor be displeased at any thing God does" (ut nihil Dei displiceat nobis). (2.) The pattern of it, that it might be done on earth, in this place of our trial and probation (where our work must be done, or it never will be done), as it is done in heaven, that place of rest and joy. We pray that earth may be made more like heaven by the observance of God's will (this earth, which, through the prevalency of Satan's will, has become so near akin to hell), and that saints may be made more like the holy angels in their devotion and obedience. We are on earth, blessed be God, not yet under the earth; we pray for the living only, not for the dead that have gone down into silence.

4. Give us this day our daily bread. Because our natural being is necessary to our spiritual well-being in this world, therefore, after the things of God's glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the necessary supports and comforts of this present life, which are the gifts of God, and must be asked of him, Ton arton epiousion - Bread for the day approaching, for all the remainder of our lives. Bread for the time to come, or bread for our being and subsistence, that which is agreeable to our condition in the world (Pro 30:8), food convenient for us and our families, according to our rank and station.

Every word here has a lesson in it: (1.) We ask for bread; that teaches us sobriety and temperance; we ask for bread, not dainties, not superfluities; that which is wholesome, though it be not nice. (2.) We ask for our bread; that teaches us honesty and industry: we do not ask for the bread out of other people's mouths, not the bread of deceit (Pro 20:17), not the brad of idleness (Pro 31:27), but the bread honestly gotten. (3.) We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us not to take thought for the morrow (Mat 6:34), but constantly to depend upon divine Providence, as those that live from hand to mouth. (4.) We beg of God to give it us, not sell it us, nor lend it us, but give it. The greatest of men must be beholden to the mercy of God for their daily bread, (5.) We pray, "Give it to us; not to me only, but to others in common with me." This teaches us charity, and a compassionate concern for the poor and needy. It intimates also, that we ought to pray with our families; we and our households eat together, and therefore ought to pray together. (6.) We pray that God would give us this day; which teaches us to renew the desire of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed; as duly as the day comes, we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we could as well go a day without meat, as without prayer.

5. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, This is connected with the former; and forgive, intimating, that unless our sins be pardoned, we can have no comfort in life, or the supports of it. Our daily bread does but feed us as lambs for the slaughter, if our sins be not pardoned. It intimates, likewise, that we must pray for daily pardon, as duly as we pray for daily bread. He that is washed, needeth to wash his feet. Here we have,

(1.) A petition; Father in heaven forgive us our debts, our debts to thee. Note, [1.] Our sins are our debts; there is a debt of duty, which, as creatures, we owe to our Creator; we do not pray to be discharged from that, but upon the non-payment of that there arises a debt of punishment; in default of obedience to the will of God, we become obnoxious to the wrath of God; and for not observing the precept of the law, we stand obliged to the penalty. A debtor is liable to process, so are we; a malefactor is a debtor to the law, so are we. [2.] Our hearts' desire and prayer to our heavenly Father every day should be, that he would forgive us our debts; that the obligation to punishment may be cancelled and vacated, that we may not come into condemnation; that we may be discharged, and have the comfort of it. In suing out the pardon of our sins, the great plea we have to rely upon is the satisfaction that was made to the justice of God for the sin of man, by the dying of the Lord Jesus our Surety, or rather Bail to the action, that undertook our discharge.

(2.) An argument to enforce this petition; as we forgive our debtors. This is not a plea of merit, but a plea of grace. Note, Those that come to God for the forgiveness of their sins against him, must make conscience of forgiving those who have offended them, else they curse themselves when they say the Lord's prayer. Our duty is to forgive our debtors; as to debts of money, we must not be rigorous and severe in exacting them from those that cannot pay them without ruining themselves and their families; but this means debt of injury; our debtors are those that trespass against us, that smite us (Mat 5:39, Mat 5:40), and in strictness of law, might be prosecuted for it; we must forbear, and forgive, and forget the affronts put upon us, and the wrongs done us; and this is a moral qualification for pardon and peace; it encourages to hope, that God will forgive us; for if there be in us this gracious disposition, it is wrought of God, and therefore is a perfection eminently and transcendently in himself; it will be an evidence to us that he has forgiven us, having wrought in us the condition of forgiveness.

6. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. This petition is expressed,

(1.) Negatively: Lead us not into temptation. Having prayed that the guilt of sin may be removed, we pray, as it is fit, that we may never return again to folly, that we may not be tempted to it. It is not as if God tempted any to sin; but, "Lord, do not let Satan loose upon us; chain up that roaring lion, for he is subtle and spiteful; Lord, do not leave us to ourselves (Psa 19:13), for we are very weak; Lord, do not lay stumbling-blocks and snares before us, nor put us into circumstances that may be an occasion of falling." Temptations are to be prayed against, both because of the discomfort and trouble of them, and because of the danger we are in of being overcome by them, and the guilt and grief that then follow.

(2.) Positively: But deliver us from evil; apo tou ponērou - from the evil one, the devil, the tempter; "keep us, that either we may not be assaulted by him, or we may not be overcome by those assaults:" Or from the evil thing, sin, the worst of evils; an evil, an only evil; that evil thing which God hates, and which Satan tempts men to and destroys them by. "Lord, deliver us from the evil of the world, the corruption that is in the world through lust; from the evil of every condition in the world; from the evil of death; from the sting of death, which is sin: deliver us from ourselves, from our own evil hearts: deliver us from evil men, that they may not be a snare to us, nor we a prey to them."

III. The conclusion: For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever. Amen. Some refer this to David's doxology, Ch1 29:11. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness. It is,

1. A form of plea to enforce the foregoing petitions. It is our duty to plead with God in prayer, to fill our mouth with arguments (Job 23:4) not to move God, but to affect ourselves; to encourage the faith, to excite our fervency, and to evidence both. Now the best pleas in prayer are those that are taken from God himself, and from that which he has made known of himself. We must wrestle with God in his own strength, both as to the nature of our pleas and the urging of them. The plea here has special reference to the first three petitions; "Father in heaven, thy kingdom come, for thine is the kingdom; thy will be done, for thine is the power; hallowed be thy name, for thine is the glory." And as to our own particular errands, these are encouraging: "Thine is the kingdom; thou hast the government of the world, and the protection of the saints, thy willing subjects in it;" God gives and saves like a king. "Thine is the power, to maintain and support that kingdom, and to make good all thine engagements to thy people." Thine is the glory, as the end of all that which is given to, and done for, the saints, in answer to their prayers; for their praise waiteth for him. This is matter of comfort and holy confidence in prayer.

2. It is a form of praise and thanksgiving. The best pleading with God is praising of him; it is the way to obtain further mercy, as it qualifies us to receive it. In all our addresses to God, it is fit that praise should have a considerable share, for praise becometh the saints; they are to be our God for a name and for a praise. It is just and equal; we praise God, and give him glory, not because he needs it - he is praised by a world of angels, but because he deserves it; and it is our duty to give him glory, in compliance with his design in revealing himself to us. Praise is the work and happiness of heaven; and all that would go to heaven hereafter, must begin their heaven now. Observe, how full this doxology is, The kingdom, and the power, and the glory, it is all thine. Note, It becomes us to be copious in praising God. A true saint never thinks he can speak honourably enough of God: here there should be a gracious fluency, and this for ever. Ascribing glory to God for ever, intimates an acknowledgement, that it is eternally due, and an earnest desire to be eternally doing it, with angels and saints above, Psa 71:14.

Lastly, To all this we are taught to affix our Amen, so be it. God's Amen is a grant; his fiat is, it shall be so; our Amen is only a summary desire; our fiat is, let it be so: it is in the token of our desire and assurance to be heard, that we say Amen. Amen refers to every petition going before, and thus, in compassion to our infirmities, we are taught to knit up the whole in one word, and so to gather up, in the general, what we have lost and let slip in the particulars. It is good to conclude religious duties with some warmth and vigour, that we may go from them with a sweet savour upon our spirits. It was of old the practice of good people to say, Amen, audibly at the end of every prayer, and it is a commendable practice, provided it be done with understanding, as the apostle directs (Co1 14:16), and uprightly, with life and liveliness, and inward expressions, answerable to that outward expression of desire and confidence.

Most of the petitions in the Lord's prayer had been commonly used by the Jews in their devotions, or words to the same effect: but that clause in the fifth petition, As we forgive our debtors, was perfectly new, and therefore our Saviour here shows for what reason he added it, not with any personal reflection upon the peevishness, litigiousness, and ill nature of the men of that generation, though there was cause enough for it, but only from the necessity and importance of the thing itself. God, in forgiving us, has a peculiar respect to our forgiving those that have injured us; and therefore, when we pray for pardon, we must mention our making conscience of that duty, not only to remind ourselves of it, but to bind ourselves to it. See that parable, Mat 18:23-35. Selfish nature is loth to comply with this, and therefore it is here inculcated, Mat 6:14, Mat 6:15.

1. In a promise. If ye forgive, your heavenly Father will also forgive. Not as if this were the only condition required; there must be repentance and faith, and new obedience; but as where other graces are in truth, there will be this, so this will be a good evidence of the sincerity of our other graces. He that relents toward his brother, thereby shows that he repents toward his God. Those which in the prayer are called debts, are here called trespasses, debts of injury, wrongs done to us in our bodies, goods, or reputation: trespasses is an extenuating term for offences, paraptōmata - stumbles, slips, falls. Note, It is a good evidence, and a good help of our forgiving others, to call the injuries done us by a mollifying, excusing name. Call them not treasons, but trespasses; not wilful injuries, but casual inadvertencies; peradventure it was an oversight (Gen 43:12), therefore make the best of it. We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven; and therefore must not only bear no malice, nor mediate revenge, but must not upbraid our brother with the injuries he has done us, nor rejoice in any hurt that befalls him, but must be ready to help him and do him good, and if he repent and desire to be friends again, we must be free and familiar with him, as before.

2. In a threatening. "But if you forgive not those that have injured you, that is a bad sign you have not the other requisite conditions, but are altogether unqualified for pardon: and therefore your Father, whom you call Father, and who, as a father, offers you his grace upon reasonable terms, will nevertheless not forgive you. And if other grace be sincere, and yet you be defective greatly in forgiving, you cannot expect the comfort of your pardon, but to have your spirit brought down by some affliction or other to comply with this duty." Note, Those who would have found mercy with God must show mercy to their brethren; no can we expect that he should stretch out the hands of his favour to us, unless we lift up to him pure hands, without wrath, Ti1 2:8. If we pray in anger, we have reason to fear God will answer in anger. It has been said, Prayers made in wrath are written in gall. What reason is it that God should forgive us the talents we are indebted to him, if we forgive not our brethren the pence they are indebted to us? Christ came into the world as the great Peace-Maker, and not only to reconcile us to God, but one to another, and in this we must comply with him. It is great presumption and of dangerous consequence, for any to make a light matter of that which Christ here lays such a stress upon. Men's passions shall not frustrate God's word.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

After this manner--more simply "Thus."

therefore pray ye--The "ye" is emphatic here, in contrast with the heathen prayers. That this matchless prayer was given not only as a model, but as a form, might be concluded from its very nature. Did it consist only of hints or directions for prayer, it could only be used as a directory; but seeing it is an actual prayer--designed, indeed, to show how much real prayer could be compressed into the fewest words, but still, as a prayer, only the more incomparable for that--it is strange that there should be a doubt whether we ought to pray that very prayer. Surely the words with which it is introduced, in the second utterance and varied form of it which we have in Luk 11:2, ought to set this at rest: "When ye pray, say, Our Father." Nevertheless, since the second form of it varies considerably from the first, and since no example of its actual use, or express quotation of its phraseology, occurs in the sequel of the New Testament, we are to guard against a superstitious use of it. How early this began to appear in the church services, and to what extent it was afterwards carried, is known to every one versed in Church History. Nor has the spirit which bred this abuse quite departed from some branches of the Protestant Church, though the opposite and equally condemnable extreme is to be found in other branches of it.

Model Prayer (Mat 6:9-13). According to the Latin fathers and the Lutheran Church, the petitions of the Lord's Prayer are seven in number; according to the Greek fathers, the Reformed Church and the Westminster divines, they are only six; the two last being regarded--we think, less correctly--as one. The first three petitions have to do exclusively with God: "Thy name be hallowed"--"Thy kingdom come"--"Thy will be done." And they occur in a descending scale--from Himself down to the manifestation of Himself in His kingdom; and from His kingdom to the entire subjection of its subjects, or the complete doing of His will. The remaining four petitions have to do with OURSELVES: "Give us our daily bread"--"Forgive us our debts"--"Lead us not into temptation"--"Deliver us from evil." But these latter petitions occur in an ascending scale--from the bodily wants of every day up to our final deliverance from all evil.

Invocation:

Our Father which art in heaven--In the former clause we express His nearness to us; in the latter, His distance from us. (See Ecc 5:2; Isa 66:1). Holy, loving familiarity suggests the one; awful reverence the other. In calling Him "Father" we express a relationship we have all known and felt surrounding us even from our infancy; but in calling Him our Father "who art in heaven," we contrast Him with the fathers we all have here below, and so raise our souls to that "heaven" where He dwells, and that Majesty and Glory which are there as in their proper home. These first words of the Lord's Prayer--this invocation with which it opens--what a brightness and warmth does it throw over the whole prayer, and into what a serene region does it introduce the praying believer, the child of God, as he thus approaches Him! It is true that the paternal relationship of God to His people is by no means strange to the Old Testament. (See Deu 32:6; Psa 103:13; Isa 63:16; Jer 3:4, Jer 3:19; Mal 1:6; Mal 2:10). But these are only glimpses--the "back parts" (Exo 33:23), if we may so say, in comparison with the "open face" of our Father revealed in Jesus. (See on Co2 3:18). Nor is it too much to say, that the view which our Lord gives, throughout this His very first lengthened discourse, of "our Father in heaven," beggars all that was ever taught, even in God's own Word, or conceived before by His saints, on this subject.

First Petition:

Hallowed be--that is, "Be held in reverence"; regarded and treated as holy.

thy name--God's name means "Himself as revealed and manifested." Everywhere in Scripture God defines and marks off the faith and love and reverence and obedience He will have from men by the disclosures which He makes to them of what He is; both to shut out false conceptions of Him, and to make all their devotion take the shape and hue of His own teaching. Too much attention cannot be paid to this.

Second Petition:

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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, Luk 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 Mat 26:39-42, Mat 26:44; Luk 22:42; John 17; Act 1:24.

Mat 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, Mat 5:45; Mat 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, Rom 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.

Mat 6:10

Thy kingdom come - The word “kingdom” here means “reign.” Note, Mat 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.

Thy will be done - The will of God is, that people should obey his law, and be holy. The word “will,” here, has reference to his law, and to what would be “acceptable” to him. To pray, then, that his will may be done, on earth as in heaven, is to pray that his “law,” his “revealed will,” may be obeyed and loved. His law is perfectly obeyed in heaven, and his true children most ardently desire and pray that it may also be obeyed on the earth.

The object of these three “first” 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 of more consequence than our wants, and that these should be first in our hearts and petitions before a throne of grace.

Mat 6:11

Give us this day ... - The word “bread,” here, denotes doubtless everything necessary to sustain life. See the notes at Mat 4:4. Compare Deu 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, moreover, is expressed in the plural number - give us - and it is evidently therefore, intended to be used by more than one, or by some community of people. No community or congregation can meet every day for worship but families. It is therefore evident that this prayer contains a strong implied command for daily family prayer. It can nowhere else be used so as fully to come up to the meaning of the original intention; and nowhere else can it be breathed forth with so much propriety and beauty as from the lips of a father, the venerable priest of his household, and the pleader with God for those rich blessings which a parental bosom desires on his beloved offspring.

Mat 6:12

And forgive us our debts ... - The word “debts” is used here figuratively.

It does not mean “literally” that we are “debtors to God,” but that our sins have a resemblance to debts. Debtors are those who are bound to others for some claim in commercial transactions; for something which we have had, and for which we are bound to pay according to contract. “Literally” there can be no such transaction between God and us. It must be used figuratively. We have not met the claims of law. We have violated its obligations. We are exposed to its penalty. We are guilty, and God only can forgive, in the same way as none but a “creditor” can forgive a debtor. The word “debts” here, therefore, means “sins,” or offences against God - offences which none but God can forgive. In the parallel place in Luk 11:4, the word sins is used. The measure by which we may expect forgiveness is that which we use in reference to others See Psa 18:25-26; Mat 18:23; Mar 11:26; Luk 11:4.

This is the invariable rule by which God dispenses pardon He that comes before him unwilling to forgive, harboring dark and revengeful thoughts, how can he expect that God will show him that mercy which he is unwilling to show to others? It is not, however, required that we should forgive “debts” in a pecuniary sense. To them we have a right, though they should not be pushed with an overbearing and oppressive spirit; not so as to sacrifice the feelings of mercy in order to secure the claims of justice. No one has a right to oppress; and when a debt cannot be paid, or when it would greatly distress a debtor’s wife and children, or a widow and an orphan, or when calamity has put it out of the power of an honest man to pay the debt, the spirit of Christianity requires that it should be forgiven. To such cases this petition in the Lord’s prayer doubtless extends. But it was probably intended to refer principally to injuries of character or person which we have received from others. If we cannot from the heart forgive them, we have the assurance that God will never forgive us.

Mat 6:13

And lead us not into temptation - A petition similar to this is offered by David, Psa 141:4; “Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with the workers of iniquity.” God tempts no man. See Jam 1:13. This phrase, then, must be used in the sense of “permitting.” Do not “suffer” us, or “permit” us, to be tempted to sin. In this it is implied that God has such control over the tempter as to save us from his power if we call upon him. The word “temptation,” however (see the note at Mat 4:1), means sometimes “trial, affliction,” anything that “tests” our virtue. If this be the meaning here, as it may be, then the import of the prayer is, “Do not afflict or try us.” It is not wrong to pray that we may be saved from suffering if it be the will of God. See Luk 22:42.

Deliver us from evil - The original in this place has the article - deliver us from the evil - that is, as has been supposed, the Evil One, or Satan. He is elsewhere called, by way of eminence, the “Evil One,” Mat 13:19; 1Jo 2:13-14; 1Jo 3:12. The meaning here is, “deliver us from his power, his snares, his arts, his temptations.” He is supposed to be the great parent of evil, and to be delivered from him is to be safe. Or it may mean, “deliver us from the various evils and trials which beset us, the heavy and oppressive calamities into which we are continually liable to fall.”

Thine is the kingdom - That is, thine is the reign or dominion. Thou hast control over all these things, and canst so order them as to answer these petitions.

Thine is the power - Thou hast power to accomplish what we ask. We are weak, and cannot do it; but thou art Almighty, and all things are possible with thee.

Thine is the glory - That is, thine is the honor or praise. Not for “our honor,” but that thy glory, thy goodness, may be displayed in providing for our wants; thy power exerted in defending us; thy praise be celebrated by causing thy kingdom to spread through the earth.

This “doxology,” or ascription of praise, is connected with the prayer by the word “for,” to signify that all these things - the reign, power, and glory of God - will be manifested by granting these petitions. It is not because we are to be benefited, but that God’s name and perfections may be manifested. His glory is, then, the first and principal thing which we are to seek when we approach him. We are to suffer our concerns to be lost sight of in the superior glory and honor of his name and dominion. We are to seek temporal and eternal life chiefly because the honor of our Maker will be promoted, and his name be more illustriously displayed to his creatures. He is to be “first, last, supremest, best,” in our view; and all selfish and worldly views are to be absorbed in that one great desire of the soul that God may be “all in all.” Approaching him with these feelings, our prayers will be answered; our devotions will ascend like incense, and the lifting up our hands will be like the evening sacrifice.

Amen - This is a word of Hebrew origin, from a verb signifying “to be firm, secure, to be true and faithful.” It is a word expressing consent or strong approbation; a word of strong asseveration. It means “verily, certainly, so be it.” It is probable that this word was used by the people in the synagogue to signify their assent to the prayer that was uttered by the minister, and, to some extent, it was probably so used in the Christian Church. See 1Co 14:16.

It may be proper to remark that this doxology, “for thine is the kingdom,” etc., is missing in many manuscripts, and that its authenticity is doubtful.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Mat_6:9

Our Father which art in heaven.

The Divine Father

I. In what sense God is a father.

1. With relation to Christ, as the Son of God: so the first Person is called the Father, as He is the fountain of the Deity.

2. With respect to us: for the first Person is not only the Father of Christ, but our Father. We share with Christ in all His relations: as God was His God by covenant, so He is our God.

II. By creation God is a Father. To establish the relation of a Father, there must be a communication of life and likeness. A painter that makes an image or picture like himself, he is not the father of it; for though there be likeness, yet no life.

III. What advantage have we in prayer from this common interest, or general respect of Gods being a Father by virtue of creation?

1. This common relation binds us to pray to Him. All things which God hath made, by a secret instinct they are carried to God for their supply.

2. It draweth common benefits after it. Christ saith where God hath given a life, He will give food.

3. It giveth us confidence in the power of God. The Creator who made you out of-nothing can keep and preserve life when you have nothing.

IV. How will God Perform the parts of a father?

1. In allowing us full leave to come to Him in all our necessities.

2. In supplying all our wants (Isa_49:16).

3. In pitying our miseries. Many times we forget the duty of children, but God will not forget the mercy of a Father.

4. In disciplining us, and treating us with much indulgence, wisdom, and care. A father takes a great deal of pains in forming his child, fashioning its manners and behaviour: so God doth with His children.

5. In providing able guardians for His children. None so attended as Gods children are. They have a guard of angels to watch over them.

6. In laying up an inheritance for them. (Thomas Manton, D. D.)

Our Father

I. That we should in our prayers consider and acknowledge the universality of Gods power and goodness.

II. That we should not in our conceit proudly and vainly appropriate or engross the regard of God unto ourselves, but remember that our brethren have an equal share with us therein.

III. That in all our devotions we should be mindful of those common bands which knit us together as men and Christians.

(1) The band of nature and humanity;

(2) The more strict ties of common faith and hope; of

(3) manifold relations unto God that made us, and

(4) our Saviour that redeemed us, and the

(5) Holy Spirit that animateth us and combineth us in spiritual union.

IV. That we should bear such hearty goodwill and charitable affection toward others as not only to seek and desire our own private and particular good, but that of all men.

(1) Especially of all good Christians who, in a peculiar manner, are

(2) Gods children and (b) our brethren. (Isaac Barrow, D. D.)

Lessons of the Paternoster

I. The Divine Fatherhood.

II. Christian sonship.

III. Human brotherhood. What great lessons in such little compass. (T. Spencer.)

Our Father which art in heaven

1. In prayer we address One who sustains the relationship of Father to us.

2. In prayer we direct our thoughts to One who is above us.

3. In prayer we confess that we form members of one family.

4. In prayer we depend upon and confide in God as children. (F. Edwards, B. A.)

God a Father

I. The character in which God is represented as approachable in prayer. The common Parent of all men, the bountiful supplier of their wants, His peoples covenant God and Father in Christ.

II. The privilege which this title imports, Relationship, access, protection, direction, expectations.

III. The duty connected with this privilege. To pray to Him, to glorify Him, reverence, trust, submit, love Him, and look for His coming. (Dr. Cope.)

The Invocation

I. The divine fatherhood.

II. The Fatherhood of God by creation.

III. The Fatherhood of God by redemption.

IV. The blessings involved in the Divine Fatherhood.

1. Love.

2. Sustenance.

3. Protection.

4. Education.

5. Discipline.

6. Consolation.

7. Intercourse.

8. Inheritance.

V. Universal brotherhood in the Divine Fatherhood. We pray for others; we share in the prayers of others. This brotherhood extends to the various conditions of social life. It embraces nations. What a bond to our otherwise dissevered humanity is this word our.

VI. The majesty of the Father. These were added that there may not be anything earthly in our conception of the heavenly majesty of God. In heaven:-

(1) It is suggestive of dignity;

(2) power;

(3) knowledge;

(4) purity;

(5) mystery;

(6) constancy;

(7) nearness.

VII. Practical lessons:

1. Filial confidence.

2. Reverence.

3. Gratitude.

4. Resemblance.

5. Assurance.

6. Hope.

7. Prayerfulness. (Newman Hall, LL. B.)

The Paternity of God

In our nature are quenchless affections. These call for something more than God the Creator, the Ruler.

1. We should recognize that God is our Father, in order that we may have right views of religion.

2. It is important to realize the truth of Gods paternity, because of its consolations.

3. This truth furnishes us with the profoundest motives to obedience. (E. H. Chaplin.)

The invocation

I. From the title father we know that God is a Person.

II. OUR Father belongs to God as the Father of all mankind.

III. God is our Father through Jesus Christ.

IV. In teaching us to pray Our:Father, Jesus would remind us of our brotherhood.

1. The fellowship that knits together Gods elect.

2. It is a word of love that takes in all men.

V. Which art in heaven, means Father in perfection.

1. Perfection of love.

2. Perfection of help.

3. Perfection of nearness and observation.

4. Perfection of homeliness. (Dr. Stanford.)

The doctrine of the invocation

1. God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him the Father of all who believe in the Saviour.

2. Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren, Head of the Church, the centre of union. In Him we say Our Father.

3. Jesus has opened to us heaven; and, risen with Christ, we seek the things which are above, we pray to our Father in heaven.

4. We say Our Father, because the Holy Ghost is given unto us, as the Spirit of adoption. (Dr. Saphir.)

The spirit of the invocation

I. The filial spirit.

1. It rests upon the Fatherhood of God as the source of all blessings.

2. It is a childlike spirit, earnest, unsuspicious, submits to discipline in faith.

3. As a spirit of dignity and perfection.

4. A spirit of separation from the world.

II. The brotherly spirit.

III. The heavenly spirit. All spiritual blessings are treasured up for us in :heaven. Our storehouse can never fail. (Dr. Saphir.)

In heaven

1. Power.

2. Authority.

3. Omnipresence.

4. Wisdom unsearchable.

5. Mercy unspeakable. (Downame.)

Our Father

1. A revelation.

2. When faith says Father, love says Our.

3. Contrast between earth and heaven.

4. We can speak to our Father in heaven, and yet be audible. (Dr. C. J. Vaughan.)

The opening address

I. The views here furnished of the character of God.

1. The title Father belongs to God essentially: as part of His nature He must be the Parent of all being. We are indebted to Him not only for life, but for likeness; He made us partakers of a spiritual nature.

II. The affections and emotions these views of the Divine character are fitted to inspire.

1. Admiring gratitude.

2. Confidence and trust.

3. Submission.

4. Contentment.

5. Reverent awe.

6. Purity and elevation in our desires.

7. We should remember that our inheritance is in heaven. (D. Moore, M. A.)

The filial spirit of the Lords Prayer

1. Christ confirms the fact of Gods Paternity.

2. Christ was also the personal and visible representation of the Father.

3. Christ also reveals the Paternal character of God.

4. Christ also revealed the Paternal heart of God.

Father:-

1. It is the language of the believing heart.

2. It is the language of filial love.

3. It is the language of the spirit of adoption in prayer.

4. The filial spirit exhibited not less in times of trial than in seasons of communion. (Dr. O. Winslow.)

Our Father

The catholic spirit of the Lords Prayer. The Paternal relation involves the fraternal; no engagement so uniting as prayer. Considerations for fraternal union:-

1. The equality of love with which the Father regards all His family.

2. The same spirit of adoption dwells alike in all the children of God.

3. That our Father is bringing us all to one parental and eternal home.

4. This topic belongs essentially to practical Christianity.

5. How uniting this truth upon the family institution. (Dr. O. Winslow.)

Which art in heaven. The celestial spirit of the Lords Prayer

In ascribing locality to God we must not forget that He is everywhere. How appropriate heaven as the dwelling-place of God.

1. Heaven is a glorious place.

2. It is a holy place.

3. It is a happy place.

4. It is a prepared place.

Practical lessons:

1. We are instructed to look up, the whole soul should be in the ascent.

2. To seek heavenly blessings. (Dr. O. Winslow.)

The Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man

Prayer a most exalted privilege-connected with the richest blessings; but is liable to abuse.

1. Christ admonishes His disciples to avoid the ostentatious formalities of the Pharisees.

2. To avoid the vain tautologies of the heathen.

This is to be our model prayer:-

1. Simplicity.

2. Brevity.

I. The fatherhood of God.

1. By an act of creation.

2. By an act of adoption.

3. God is in heaven.

II. The brotherhood of men.

1. The whole human race constitutes one family. They belong to different classes, climes, ages; all sprung from one Father.

2. All Christians constitute one family. (J. Morgan.)

The Paternal relationship of God to us

1. It confers noble privileges (1Jn_3:1; Rom_13:7; Psa_113:5; 1Sa_2:8).

2. Such a name and title we could never have dared to take upon us had not God permitted.

3. This is no barren title (Rom_1:21; Isa_49:14-15; Isa_63:16).

4. This first word of the Lords Prayer is designed to give us access with confidence to God (Eph_3:12; Psa_81:10).

5. This sonship has its duties. (F. C. Blyth, M. A.)

Children worthy of the Divine Father

It is recorded of Alexander the Great that to one who bore his name he gave this admonition, Remember thy name is Alexander; implying that such a remembrance would keep him from doing anything that would stain and tarnish, and so render him unworthy to hold it.

The title of Father enables us to understand God

Luther was one day catechising some country people in a village in Saxony. When one of the men had repeated these words, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Luther asked him what was the meaning of Almighty? The countryman honestly replied, I do not know. Nor do I know, said the catechist, nor do all the learned men in the world know; however, you may safely believe that God is your Father, and that He is both able and willing to save and protect yourself and all your neighbours.

Fatherhood indicative of Personality

You never say Father, to a force; Father, to a law; Father, to a mist; Father, to a mile, nor to infinite millions of miles in a line; Father is not the name for Thought apart from the Thinker, nor for Friendship apart from the Friend; nor for a Link, though the first link in a long chain of grand phenomena. If we mean more than a figurative father, we mean by that word a living Person. (Dr. Stanford.)

The Lords Prayer an intercession for others as well as for ourselves

It was a law among the Romans that no one should approach the Emperors tent at night, under penalty of death. One night, however, a soldier was found near the royal tent, holding in his hand a petition which he meant to present to his master and thereupon he was sentenced to death. But the Emperor, hearing voices, and asking what was amiss, and hearing that a soldier had intruded within the forbidden bounds to present a petition, and that they were about to deal with him according to the law, said-If the petition be for himself, let him die; but if for another, spare his life. It was found that it was for two of his fellow-soldiers that he had come to intercede, who had been taken asleep while they were posted on the watch. The Emperor, well pleased, commanded that he should escape death, and that they also should escape punishment.

The look of the soul ever toward its heavenly home

It is related of Cicero when he was banished from Italy, end of Demosthenes when he was banished from Athens, that they wept every time they looked towards their own country, so great was their love for their fatherland, and so keen their desire to return thither: so should our soul long after our home above.

Which art in heaven

I. The residence of God. Heaven is the seat of His government; the region of holiness and enjoyment; the abode of angels and saints.

II. His stupendous concerns. Arranging all the affairs of the universe; receiving the homage of the celestial inhabitants (Rev_4:2); issuing His commands and executing His threatenings; attending to the supplication of His people; protecting His Church (Zec_2:5).

III. The influence of the subject upon our mind. Humility, reverence, spiritual desires, confidence, expectation, joy. (Dr. Cope.)

Looking up to God

in heaven, showeth us:-

(1) Prayer is an act of the heart, not of the lips. It is not the sound of the voice which can enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, but sighs and groans of the Spirit … The commerce and communion of spirits is not hindered by local distance.

(2) The work of prayer is to lift up the heart to God; to withdraw the heart from all created things, that we may converse with God in heaven. (Thomas Manton, D. D.)

Which art in heaven

I. Our Saviour, to oppose narrowness of opinion, requires us to pray to our Father which art in heaven, showing by this, that our petitions have equal access to Him from all places.

II. This acknowledgment of our Father in heaven, shows His great kindness in suffering us to approach Him. Though distant in station, and unprofitable in our service.

III. By calling God our Father we express the greatness of those blessings we have received; and by professing this our Father to be in heaven, we own the great dignity of the person that hath conferred them upon us; and the sense of both these together will naturally prepare our hope, reverence, and attention, to send up the following prayer. (Thomas Mangey.)

Hallowed be Thy name.-

How and when may Gods name be sanctified?-

(1) Upon us, by the righteous executions and judgments of His providence;

(2) By us, in our thoughts, words, and actions; in our hearts, and life. Not only when we speak of the name of God, but when we think of it;

(3) When in straits, difficulties, and dangers;

(4) When we speak of the Lord with reverence;

(5) In our actions;

(6) In our worship;

(7) In ordinary conversation. Let this be your care, and let these be your directions in hallowing and sanctifying the Lords name.

1. Be holy.

2. Study His name if ye would sanctify it.

3. Submit to His providence without murmuring.

4. Live to public ends. Allure others, and recommend God to them.

5. Be fully sensible when Gods name is dishonoured by yourselves and others; not enduring the least profanation of it. (Thomas Manton, D. D.)

Hallowed be Thy name

As to the substance of this particular, we may consider, that sanctity implying-

I. A Discrimination;

II. A distance;

III. An exaltment in nature or use of the thing which is denominated thereby. (Isaac Barrow, D. D.)

The Sanctification of Jehovahs name

I. The objects of the petition. The name of God denotes His titles, perfections, etc. To hallow His name denotes-A reverential acknowledgment of God; profound veneration for His Being, attributes, ordinances, word, etc.; sanctification of Him in thought, word, and action; the diffusion of His name through the world; removal of the causes which prevent His name from being hallowed.

II. The sins deprecated. A thoughtless and irreverent use of His name; appeals to God in common conversation; perjury.

III. The grounds on which this petition rests. God is jealous of the glory of His name; He has commanded it to be reverenced; punishment is annexed to a violation of that command. (Dr. Cope.)

Hallowed be Thy name

1. This prayer is a confession of our ignorance.

2. It is a supplication for knowledge.

3. It is an acknowledgment of our sin.

4. It is an entreaty for holiness in ourselves.

5. It ought to be increasingly comprehensive. (F. Edwards, B. A.)

The first petition

I. The place of this petition.

II. The meaning of the petition.

III. What is involved in this petition.

1. Honour to Jesus, as revealing the name of the Father.

2. Appropriate thoughts of God.

3. Suitable emotions towards God.

4. Reverential use of the name.

5. Confession of the name.

6. Private and public worship of the name.

7. Observance of special institutions: sacraments.

8. Subjection to the name.

9. Making known the name.

IV. Reasons for offering this petition.

1. The welfare of the world.

2. For the good of ourselves.

3. For the glory of God. (Newman Hall, LL. B.)

The first petition

I. What do we mean by the name of the father.

1. His name is the expression of Himself through the language of nature.

2. It includes the further expression of Himself through the medium of inspired words.

3. His name is perfectly expressed in the language of the Incarnation.

II. How can we hallow it?

1. In the language of the Old Testament to hallow a thing is to set it apart ceremonially, as a thing sacred.

2. Hallowed be Thy name by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in us.

3. By our trust.

4. In the spirit of our prayers.

5. In our lives.

6. In our language.

7. In Thy Church by the ascription to Thee alone of honours due.

8. In the overthrow of idolatry. (Dr. Stanford.)

Hallowed be Thy name

I. In breathing this prayer we ask that God would hallow his own name, or cause it to be hallowed. It is not the tribute which we pay to mere power and magnitude. Nature appears in forms of greatness; we do not reverence her. Nor do we reverence mere kindness. A full knowledge of God is necessary in order to hallow His name. To avoid superstition. Terror is not reverence. Some view the Divine Being as too good-natured to punish; the guilt of sin is not felt. By this theory Gods name is acknowledged, but not hallowed.

II. We can also pray that we and all men may hallow the name of God. We should consecrate His name-

1. On our lips.

2. In our lives.

3. In our hearts. (E. H. Chaplin.)

The fundamental petition

I. What is meant by the name of God? God has revealed His name-

1. In creation.

2. In Israel.

3. In His Law.

4. In the sacrifices.

5. In the names of His servants. Elijah means, Jehovah is my strength.

6. In the face of Jesus.

II. Halllowed be Thy name. All the works of God glorify His name. The petition implies-

(1) The desire to know Gods name;

(2) To treat it as a reality;

(3) To rejoice in it;

(4) To separate it from our corrupt thoughts and desires;

(5) To regard it as inviolable in its unity;

(6) That we be manifestations of God.

(7) This prayer is universal; there is no health for the nation or family but by the knowledge of Gods name. (Dr. Saphir.)

The reverential spirit of the Lords prayer

This petition takes precedence in the Lords prayer: all things must resolve themselves into a manifestation of the Divine glory.

1. Gods name is Holy (Lev_22:2).

2. He is jealous of it (Eze_39:25).

3. God notices the hallowing of His name by His people (Mat_2:5).

4. God has hallowed His own name

(1) in His revealed word;

(2) in the Lord Jesus Christ;

(3) in His dealings with His saints. How is Gods name to be hallowed?

We cannot make it more holy, yet may hallow it

(1) By a deepening sense of its holiness;

(2) By bringing it into the daily exercise of faith;

(3) By a meek, submissive spirit, under the discipline of our Fathers correcting hand;

(4) By a full trust in the name, Person, work of Jesus. (Dr. O. Winslow.)

The first petition

This prayer directory for the matter and order of our desires.

I. What we should include in this prayer.

1. Just and worthy apprehensions of the Divine character and attributes.

2. That fresh accessions of glory may be constantly accruing to that name from the Person and work of Christ.

3. That in everything which pertains to God, due regard may be had to the sanctities of His holy nature.

4. To emphasize the utterance of the sacred name by some act of mental worship.

5. A reverent observance of His ordinances.

II. What we may learn from this petition.

1. That in all our prayers, regard must be had to certain fixed principles of moral government.

2. The law of subordination according to which we are to frame our desires.

3. He may not allow praise to be given to any other name. (D. Moore, M. A.)

The Holy name

I. The name.

II. The holy name. Who so worthy of honour:

(1) He is the God of Nature;

(2) of Providence;

(3) of Grace;

(4) of Glory.

(5) The redeemed saints in glory honour and venerate Him; the angelic host worship Him.

(6) The other Persons in the adorable Trinity honour Him-He shall glorify Me.

III. How can we honour Jesus?

1. By giving Him the first place in our thoughts and affections.

2. By a reverential use of all the appellations by which He is distinguished from all other beings.

3. By solemn and grateful acts of worship.

4. By keeping holy the Sabbath day.

5. By living holily before our fellow men.

6. By praising, and recommending Him to all who dwell around us. (J. Morgan.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 6:9. After this manner pray ye — He who best knew what we ought to pray for, and how we ought to pray; what matter of desire, what manner of address would most please himself, would best become us, has here dictated to us a most perfect and universal form of prayer, comprehending all our real wants, expressing all our lawful desires; a complete directory, and full exercise of our devotions. By the expression ουτως, thus, or after this manner, our Lord could not mean that his disciples were to use the words of this prayer in all their addresses to God, for in the Acts and Epistles we find the apostles praying in terms different from this form; but his meaning is, that we must frame our prayers according to this model, and that in respect both of matter and manner; that we must pray for the things here mentioned, and often in these very words.

This prayer, it must be observed, consists of three parts; the preface, the petitions, and the conclusion. The preface, Our Father, who art in heaven, lays a general foundation for prayer, comprising what we must first know of God, before we can pray in confidence of being heard. It likewise points out to us that faith, humility, and love of God and man, with which we are to approach God in prayer.

Our Father which art in heaven — Almighty God has a peculiar right to the title of Father, as from every creature, so particularly from mankind, being the father of their spirits, Heb 12:9, the maker of their bodies, and the continual preserver of both: and he is in a yet higher sense the father of his believing and obedient people, whom he adopts into his family, regenerates by his grace, and restores to his image: so that, partaking of his nature, they become his genuine children, and can with holy boldness call him their father. Being, in this sense, made his children, we are here directed to call him our father, in the plural number, and that even in secret prayer, to put us in mind that we are all brethren, and that we ought to love one another with pure hearts fervently, praying not for ourselves only, but for others, and especially for our brethren in Christ, that God may give them likewise the blessings requested in this divine prayer. The words, which art in heaven, do not confine God’s presence to heaven, for he exists everywhere; but they contain a comprehensive, though short description of his divine glory, of his majesty, dominion, and power; and distinguish him from those whom we call fathers on earth, and from false gods, who are not in heaven, the region of bliss and happiness; where God, who is essentially present through all the universe, gives more especial manifestations of his presence to such of his creatures as he has exalted to share with him in his eternal felicity. Hallowed be thy name — The name of God is a Hebraism for God himself, his attributes, and his works. To sanctify a thing is to entertain the highest veneration for it, as true, and great, and good, and to manifest that veneration by our dispositions, words, and actions. Thus it is used 1Pe 3:15; Isa 8:13. The meaning of this first petition, therefore, is, May thy existence be universally believed; thy perfections revered, loved, and imitated; thy works admired; thy supremacy over all things acknowledged; thy providence reverenced and confided in. May we, and all men, so think of thy divine majesty, of thy attributes, words, and works, and may we and they so express our veneration of thee, and subjection to thee, that thy glory may be manifested everywhere, to the utter destruction of all idolatry, sin, and misery. “The phraseology of this and other prayers recorded by the inspired writers, wherein the worshippers addressed God in the singular number, saying, thou, and thy, is retained by all Christians among us, with the highest propriety, as it intimates their firm belief that there is but one God, and that there is nothing in the universe equal or second to him, and that no being whatever can share in the worship which they pay him.” — Macknight.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:9-13 The Lord’s Prayer is similar in form to a common Jewish prayer (the qaddish). Jesus gave this prayer to his followers as a succinct expression of their new faith.

6:9 Pray like this: In contrast to the vain repetition of pagan prayers (6:7-8), “the Lord’s Prayer” is a model of simplicity. • Jews rarely addressed God as Father, but Jesus did so in every prayer but one (Mark 15:34). • may your name be kept holy: God’s name is profaned by the sin of his people (Isa 29:22-24; Jer 34:15-16; Ezek 39:7; Amos 2:7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 6:9. Οὕτως, thus) i.e. in these words, with this meaning; sc. with a short invocation of the Father, and a short enumeration of the things which we require. To have truly prayed thus, is sufficient, especially in meaning, one portion being employed at one time, another at another, to express our desires; and thus also in words. For this formula is given in opposition to much speaking, has words best suited to the things which they express, a most perfect arrangement, and a fulness combined with brevity, which is most admirable; so that the whole discourse may be said to be contained in it. The matter of this prayer is the basis of the whole of the first epistle of St Peter; see Gnomon on 1Pe 1:3.—Πάτερ, Father. An appellation by which God is never addressed in the Old Testament: for the examples which Lightfoot has adduced, are either dissimilar or modern, and prove no more than that the Jews spoke of God as their Father in Heaven, a formula to which Christ now gives life. The glory of the faithful in the New Testament is thus to pray. In this place is laid the foundation of praying in the name of Christ: see Joh 16:23. He who is permitted to address God as his Father, may ask all things from Him in prayer.—ἡμῶν, our) The children of God individually pray for all His children collectively: but even their prayers are, by this little word our, declared to be more acceptable when offered in common: see ch. Mat 18:19.—ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, which art in the Heavens) i.e. Maxime et optime[255] (Almighty, and All-good); see ch. Mat 7:11. Shortly afterwards we find in Mat 6:10.—ἐν οὐρανῷ, in Heaven; nor is it without cause that the number[256] (which is elsewhere frequently used promiscuously, as in ch. Mat 22:30, and Mat 24:36), varies in so short a passage as the present: ΟὐΡΑΝῸς (in the singular number), signifies here that place, in which the will of the Father is performed by all, who wait upon Him; ΟὐΡΑΝΟῚ (in the plural) signifies the whole Heavens which surround and contain that one as it were lower and smaller Heaven: cf. note on Luk 2:14.—ἉΓΙΑΣΘΉΤΩ, hallowed be) The petitions are seven in number and may be separated into two divisions, the former containing three petitions which relate to the Father, “THY Name, THY Kingdom, THY Will,” the latter containing four which concern ourselves. In the former we declare our filial affection subscribing to the right, the dignity, and the good pleasure of God, after the manner of the angelic chorus in Luk 2:14: but in the latter we both sow and reap. In both divisions is expressed the struggle of the sons of God from Earth to Heaven, by which they as it were draw down Heaven to Earth. The object of the first petition is the sanctification of our Divine Father s Name. God is holy: i.e. He is God. He is sanctified therefore, when He is acknowledged and worshipped and celebrated as He really is. The mood[257] in ἁγιασθήτω (hallowed be), has the same force as in ἐλθετω, come and γενηθήτω (be done): it is, therefore, a prayer and not an express doxology.

[255] The mode in which the ancients addressed the Supreme God.—(I. B.)

[256] i.e. οὐρανὸς Heaven in the singular—οὐρανοὶ heavens in the plural.—(I. B.)

[257] i.e. all the three verbs are in the same mood, the Imperative, and have the same precatory force. It is scarcely necessary to remind the general reader that the Imperative Mood intreats as well as commands.—(I. B.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_6:9. Having now rebuked and condemned such false and meaningless prayer, Christ goes on to prescribe a short, neat form of His own to show us how we are to pray, and what we are to pray for, Luther.

The emphasis is, in the first place, on οὕτως, and then on ὑμεῖς, the latter in contrast to the heathen, the former to the βαττολογεῖν; while οὖν is equivalent to saying, inasmuch as ye ought not to be like the heathen when they pray. Therefore, judging from the context, Christ intends οὕτως to point to the prayer which follows as an example of one that is free from vain repetitions, as an example of what a prayer ought to be in respect of its form and contents if the fault in question is to be entirely avoided, not as a direct prescribed pattern (comp. Tholuck), excluding other ways of expressing ourselves in prayer. The interpretation, in hunc sensum (Grotius), is at variance with the context; but that of Fritzsche (in some brief way such as this) is not very meaningless (de Wette), but correct, meaning as he does, not brevity in itself, but in its relation to the contents (for comprehensive brevity is the opposite of the vain repetitions).

On the Lords Prayer, which now follows, see Kamphausen, d. Gebet d. Herrn, 1866; J. Hanne, in d. Jahrb. f. D. Th. 1866, p. 507 ff.; and in Schenkels Bibellex. II. p. 346 ff. According to Luk_11:1, the same prayer, though in a somewhat shorter form, was given on a different occasion. In regard to this difference of position, it may be noted: (1) That the prayer cannot have been given on both occasions, and so given twice (as I formerly believed); for if Jesus has taught His disciples the use of it as early as the time of the Sermon on the Mount, it follows that their request in Luk_11:1 is unhistorical; but if, on the contrary, the latter is historical, then it is impossible that the Lords Prayer can have been known in the circle of the disciples from the date of the Sermon on the Mount. (2) That the characteristic brevity of Lukes version, as compared with the fulness of that of Matthew, tells in favour of Lukes originality; but, besides this, there is the fact that the historical basis on which Lukes version is founded leaves no room whatever to suspect that legendary influences have been at work in its formation, while it is perfectly conceivable that the author of our version of Matthew, when he came to that part of the Sermon on the Mount where warnings are directed against meaningless repetitions in prayer, took occasion also to put this existing model prayer into our Lords mouth. Schleiermacher, Baumgarten-Crusius, Sieffert, Olshausen, Neander, de Wette, Ewald, Bleek, Holtzmann, Weiss, Weizsäcker, Schenkel, Hanne, Kamphausen, also rightly declare themselves against the position of the prayer in Matthew as unhistorical. The material superiority of Matthews version (see especially Keim) remains unaffected by this verdict. On the Marcionitic form, especially in the first petition, and on the priority of the same as maintained by Hilgenfeld, Zeller, Volkmar, see the critical notes on Luk_11:2-4.

πάτερ ἡμῶν] This form of address, which rarely occurs in the O. T. (Isa_63:16; Deu_32:6 : in the Apocrypha, in Wis_2:16; Wis_14:3; Sir_23:1; Sir_51:10; Tob_13:4; 3Ma_6:3), but which is constantly employed in the N. T. in accordance with the example of Jesus, who exalted it even into the name for God (Mar_14:36; Weisse, Evangelienfr. p. 200 ff.), brings the petitioner at once into an attitude of perfect confidence in the divine love; God seeks to entice us with it, and so on, Luther.[419] But the consciousness of our standing as children in the full and specially Christian sense (comp. on Mat_5:9), it was not possible perfectly to express in this address till a later time, seeing that the relation in question was only to be re-established by the atoning death.

ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς] distinguishes Him who is adored in the character of Father as the true God, but the symbolical explanations that have been given are of an arbitrary character (Kuinoel, Deus optime maxime, benignissime et potentissime; de Wette, the elevation of God above the world; Baumgarten-Crusius, God who exists for all men; Hanne, Father of all). Surely such a line of interpretation ought to have been precluded by ver.10, as well as by the doctrine which teaches that Christ has come from heaven from the Father, that He has returned to heaven to the right hand of the Father, and that He will return again in majesty from heaven. The only true God, though everywhere present (2Ch_2:6), nevertheless has his special abode in heaven; heaven is specially the place where He dwells in majesty, and where the throne of His glory is set (Isa_66:1; Psa_2:4; Psa_102:19; Psa_115:3; Job_22:12 ff.; Act_7:55-56; 1Ti_6:16), from which, too, the Spirit of God (Mat_3:16; Acts 2), the voice of God (Mat_3:17; Joh_12:28), and the angels of God (Joh_1:51) come down. Upon the idea of Gods dwelling-place is based that very common Jewish invocation אבינו שבשמים (Lightfoot, p. 229), just as it may be affirmed in a general way that (comp. the ΘΕΟῚ ΟὐΡΑΝΊΩΝΕς of Homer) ΠΆΝΤΕς ΤῸΝ ἈΝΩΤΆΤΩ Τῷ ΘΕΊῼ ΤΌΠΟΝ ἈΠΟΔΙΔΌΑΣΙ, Aristot. de Coelo, i. 3. Comp. generally, Ch. F. Fritzsche, nov. Opusc. p. 218 ff. Augustine, Ep. 187. 16, correctly thinks there may be an allusion to the heavenly temple, ubi est populus angelorum, quibus aggregandi et coaequandi sumus, cum finita peregrinatione quod promissum est sumserimus. On heaven as a plural (in answer to Kamphausen), comp. note on 2Co_12:2; Eph_4:10.

ἁγιασθήτω] Chrysost., Euth. Zigabenus, δοξασθήτω; more precisely, let it be kept sacred (Exo_20:8; Isa_29:23). Gods name is, no doubt, holy in itself (Luther), objectively and absolutely so; but this holiness must be asserted and displayed in the whole being and character of believers (ut non existiment aliquid sanctum, quod magis offendere timeant, Augustine), inwardly and outwardly, so that disposition, word, and deed are regulated by the acknowledged perfection of God, and brought into harmony with it. Exactly as in the case of נִקְדַּשׁ, Lev_10:3; Lev_22:2; Lev_22:32; Eze_28:22; Eze_38:23; Num_20:13; Sir_33:4; 1Pe_3:15.

τὸ ὄνομά σου] Everything which, in its distinctive conception, Thy name embraces and expresses, numen tuum, Thy entire perfection, as the object revealed to the believer for his apprehension, confession, and worship. So שֵׁם יְהֹוָה, Psa_5:12; Psa_9:11; Isa_29:23; Eze_36:23; and frequently also in the Apocrypha. Everything impure, repugnant to the nature of God, is a profanation, a ΒΕΒΗΛΟῦΝ ΤῸ ὌΝΟΜΑ ΤῸ ἍΓΙΟΝ (Lev_18:21).

Observe once more that the three imperatives in Mat_6:9-10 are not meant to express the idea of a resolution and a vow (Hanne, comp. Weizsäcker), which is opposed to ΠΡΟΣΕΎΧΕΣΘΕ, but they are ΑἸΤΉΜΑΤΑ (Php_4:6), supplications and desires, as in Mat_26:39; Mat_26:42.

[419] In his translation, Luther renders it here and in Luk_11:2 by unser Vater; in the Catechism and manuals of prayer and baptism, Vater unser, after the Latin Pater noster. See Rienecker in d. Stud. u. Krit. 1837, p. 328 f. Kamphausen, p. 30 f.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 6:9-13 . The Lord’s Prayer . Again, in Luk 11:1-4 vide notes there. Here I remark only that Luke’s form, true reading, is shorter than Matthew’s. On this ground Kamphausen ( Das Gebet des Herrn ) argues for its originality. But surely Matthew’s form is short and elementary enough to satisfy all reasonable requirements! The question as to the original form cannot be settled on such grounds. The prayer, as here given, is, indeed, a model of simplicity. Besides the question as to the original form, there is another as to the originality of the matter. Wetstein says, “tota baec oratio ex formulis Hebraeorum concinnata est”. De Wette, after quoting these words, asserts that, after all the Rabbinical scholars have done their utmost to adduce parallels from Jewish sources, the Lord’s Prayer is by no means shown to be a Cento , and that it contains echoes only of well-known O. T. and Messianic ideas and expressions, and this only in the first two petitions. This may be the actual fact, but there is no need for any zeal in defence of the position. I should be very sorry to think that the model prayer was absolutely original. It would be a melancholy account of the chosen people if, after thousands of years of special training, they did not yet know what to pray for Jesus made a new departure by inaugurating (1) freedom in prayer; (2) trustfulness of spirit; (3) simplicity in manner. The mere making of a new prayer, if only by apt conjunction of a few choice phrases gathered from Scripture or from Jewish forms, was an assertion of liberty. And, of course, the liberty obtains in reference to the new form as well as to the old. We may use the Paternoster, but we are not bound to use it. It is not in turn to become a fetish. Reformers do not arise to break old fetters only in order to forge new ones.

Mat 6:9 . οὕτως , thus, not after the ethnic manner. προσεύχεσθε : present, pray so habitually. ὑμεῖς : as opposed to the Pagans, as men ( i.e. ) who believe in an intelligent, willing God, your Father. The prayer which follows consists of six petitions which have often been elaborately explained, with learned discussions on disputed points, leaving the reader with the feeling that the new form is anything but simple, and wondering how it ever came into universal use. Gospel has been turned into law, spirit into letter, poetry into prose. We had better let this prayer alone if we cannot catch its lyric tone. Πάτερ . In Luke’s form this name stands impressively alone, but the words associated with it in Matthew’s version of the address are every way suitable. Name and epithet together Father, in heaven express reverential trust. Ἁγιασθήτω τ . ο . σου : first petition sanctified, hallowed be Thy name. Fritzsche holds that σου in this and the next two petitions is emphatic, σοῦ not σου enclitic. The suggestion gives a good direction for the expositor = may God the Father-God of Jesus become the one object of worship all the world over. A very natural turn of thought in view of the previous reference to the Pagans. Pagan prayer corresponded to the nature of Pagan deities indifferent, capricious, unrighteous, unloving; much speaking, iteration, dunning was needed to gain their ear. How blessed if the whole pantheon could be swept away or fall into contempt, and the one worshipful Divinity be, in fact, worshipped, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ επὶ γῆς ; for this clause appended to the third petition may be conceived as common to all the first three. The One Name in heaven the One Name on earth, and reverenced on earth as in heaven. Universalism is latent in this opening petition. We cannot imagine Jesus as meaning merely that the national God of Israel may be duly honoured within the bounds of His own people.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A true sum and form of all Christian prayers.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 9. After this manner therefore pray ye] Forms of prayer were frequent among the Jews; and every public teacher gave one to his disciples. Some forms were drawn out to a considerable length, and from these abridgments were made: to the latter sort the following prayer properly belongs, and consequently, besides its own very important use, it is a plan for a more extended devotion. What satisfaction must it be to learn from God himself, with what words, and in what manner, he would have us pray to him, so as not to pray in vain! A king, who draws up the petition which he allows to be presented to himself, has doubtless the fullest determination to grant the request. We do not sufficiently consider the value of this prayer; the respect and attention which it requires; the preference to be given to it; its fulness and perfection: the frequent use we should make of it; and the spirit which we should bring with it. "Lord, teach us how to pray!" is a prayer necessary to prayer; for unless we are divinely instructed in the manner, and influenced by the spirit of true devotion, even the prayer taught us by Jesus Christ may be repeated without profit to our souls.

Our Father] It was a maxim of the Jews, that a man should not pray alone, but join with the Church; by which they particularly meant that he should, whether alone or with the synagogue, use the plural number as comprehending all the followers of God. Hence, they say, Let none pray the short prayer, i.e. as the gloss expounds it, the prayer in the singular, but in the plural number. See Lightfoot on this place.

This prayer was evidently made in a peculiar manner for the children of God. And hence we are taught to say, not MY Father, but OUR Father. The heart, says one, of a child of God, is a brotherly heart, in respect of all other Christians: it asks nothing but in the spirit of unity, fellowship, and Christian charity; desiring that for its brethren which it desires for itself.

The word Father, placed here at the beginning of this prayer, includes two grand ideas, which should serve as a foundation to all our petitions:

1st. That tender and respectful love which we should feel for God, such as that which children feel for their fathers.

2dly. That strong confidence in God's love to us, such as fathers have for their children.

Thus all the petitions in this prayer stand in strictest reference to the word Father; the first three referring to the love we have for God; and the three last, to that confidence which we have in the love he bears to us.

The relation we stand in to this first and best of beings dictates to us reverence for his person, zeal for his honour, obedience to his will, submission to his dispensations and chastisements, and resemblance to his nature.

Which art in heaven] The phrase אבינו שבשמים, abinu sheboshemayim, our Father who art in heaven, was very common among the ancient Jews; and was used by them precisely in the same sense as it is used here by our Lord.

This phrase in the Scriptures seems used to express:

1st. His OMNIPRESENCE. The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. 1Kg 8:27: that is, Thou fillest immensity.

2dly. His MAJESTY and DOMINION over his creatures. Art thou not God in heaven, and rulest thou not over all the kingdoms of the heathen? 2Ch 20:6.

3dly. His POWER and MIGHT. Art thou not God in heaven, and in thy hand is there not power and might, so that no creature is able to withstand thee! 2Ch 20:6. Our God is in heaven, and hath done whatsoever he pleased. Ps 115:3.

4thly. His OMNISCIENCE. The Lord's throne is in heaven, his eyes behold, his eye-lids try the children of men. Ps 11:4. The Lord looketh down from heaven, he beholdeth all the sons of men. Ps 33:13-15.

5thly. His infinite PURITY and HOLINESS. Look down from thy holy habitation, c. De 26:15. Thou art the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. Isa 57:15.

Hallowed] Αγιασθητω. Αγιαζω· from a negative, and γη, the earth, a thing separated from the earth, or from earthly purposes and employments. As the word sanctified, or hallowed, in Scripture, is frequently used for the consecration of a thing or person to a holy use or office, as the Levites, first-born, tabernacle, temple, and their utensils, which were all set apart from every earthly, common, or profane use, and employed wholly in the service of God, so the Divine Majesty may be said to be sanctified by us, in analogy to those things, viz. when, we separate him from, and in our conceptions and desires exalt him above, earth and all things.

Thy name.] That is, GOD himself, with all the attributes of his Divine nature-his power, wisdom, justice, mercy, c.

We hallow God's name,

1st. With our lips, when all our conversation is holy, and we speak of those things which are meet to minister grace to the hearers.

2dly. In our thoughts, when we suppress every rising evil, and have our tempers regulated by his grace and Spirit.

3dly. In our lives, when we begin, continue, and end our works to his glory. If we have an eye to God in all we perform, then every act of our common employment will be an act of religious worship.

4thly. In our families, when we endeavour to bring up our children in the discipline and admonition or the Lord instructing also our servants in the way of righteousness.

5thly. In a particular calling or business, when we separate the falsity, deception, and lying, commonly practised, from it buying and selling as in the sight of the holy and just God.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) After this manner.—Literally, thus. The word sanctions at once the use of the words themselves, and of other prayers—prescribed, or unpremeditated—after the same pattern and in the same spirit. In Luk_11:2 we have the more definite, “When ye pray, say, . . . .”

Our Father.—It is clear that the very word “Abba” (father) uttered by our Lord here, as in Mar_14:36, so impressed itself on the minds of men that, like “Amen” and “Hallelujah” and “Hosanna,” it was used in the prayers even of converts from heathenism and Hellenistic Judaism. From its special association with the work of the Spirit in Rom_8:15, Gal_4:6, it would seem to have belonged to the class of utterances commonly described as the “tongues,” in which apparently words from two or more languages were mingled together according as each best expressed the devout enthusiasm of the worshipper.

The thought of the Fatherhood of God was not altogether new. He had claimed “Israel as His son, even His firstborn” (Exo_4:22), had loved him as His child (Jer_31:9; Hos_11:1). The thought of an outraged Fatherhood underlies the reproaches of Isaiah (Isa_1:2) and Malachi (Mal_1:6). “Thou, O Lord, art our Father” (Isa_64:8) was the refuge of Israel from despair. It had become common in Jewish liturgies and forms of private prayer. As the disciples heard it, it would not at first convey to their minds thoughts beyond those with which they were thus familiar. But it was a word pregnant with a future. Time and the teaching of the Spirit were to develop what was now in germ. That it had its ground in the union with the Eternal Son, which makes us also sons of God; that it was a name that might be used, not by Israelites only, but by every child of man; that of all the names of God that express His being and character, it was the fullest and the truest—this was to be learnt as men were guided into all the truth. Like all such names, it had its inner and its outer circles of application. It was true of all men, true of all members of the Church of Christ, true of those who were led by the Spirit, in different degrees; but all true theology rests on the assumption that the ever-widening circles have the same centre, and that that centre is the Love of the Father.

The words “Our Father” are not a form excluding the use of the more personal “My Father” in solitary prayer, but they are a perpetual witness that even then we should remember that our right to use that name is no peculiar privilege of ours, but is shared by every member of the great family of God.

Which art in heaven.—The phrase, familiar as it is, has a history of special interest. (1.) In the earlier books of the Old Testament the words “Jehovah is God in heaven above and in earth beneath” (Deu_4:39; Jos_2:11), express His universal presence; and this was embodied also in the name of “the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth,” of the earliest patriarchal faith (Gen_14:22). Later on, men began to be more conscious of the infinite distance between themselves and God, and represented the contrast by the thought that He was in heaven and they on earth (Ecc_5:2); and this thought became a liturgical formula in the great dedication prayer of Solomon, “Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place” (l Kings 8:42, 43, et cet.; 2Ch_6:21, etc.). And so, emancipated from over-close identification with the visible firmament, the phrase became current as symbolising the world visible and invisible, which is alike the dwelling-place of God, uttering in the language of poetry that which we vainly attempt to express in the language of metaphysics by such terms as the Infinite, the Absolute, the Unconditioned. (2.) We ought not to forget that the words supply at once (as in the phrase, “God of heaven,” in Ezr_1:2; Dan_2:18-19) a link and a contrast between the heathen and the Jew, the Aryan and Semitic races. Each alike found in the visible heaven the symbol of the invisible forces of the universe of an unseen world; but the one first identified his heaven (the Varuna of the Vedic hymns, the Ouranos of the Greeks) with that world, and then personified each several force in it, the Pantheism of the thinker becoming the Polytheism of the worshipper; whilst to the other heaven was never more than the dwelling-place of God in His undivided unity.

Hallowed be thy name.—The first expression of thought in the pattern prayer is not the utterance of our wants and wishes, but that the Name of God—that which sums up all our thoughts of God—should be “hallowed,” be to us and all men as a consecrated name, not lightly used in trivial speech, or rash assertion, or bitterness of debate, but the object of awe and love and adoration. The words “Jehovah, hallowed be His name,” were familiar enough to all Israelites, and are found in many of their prayers, but here the position of the petition gives a new meaning to it, and makes it the key to all that follows. Still more striking is the fact, that this supplies a link between the teaching of the first three Gospels and that of the fourth. Thus the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray—thus, in Joh_12:28, He prayed Himself, “Father, glorify Thy name.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. Our Father] It is of the essence of Christian prayer that God should be addressed as a Father to whose love we appeal, not as a God whose anger we appease. The analogy removes nearly all the real difficulties on the subject of prayer. A wise earthly father does not grant all requests, but all which are for the good of his children and which are in his power to grant. Again, the child asks without fear, yet no refusal shakes his trust in his father’s love or power.

Hallowed] “held sacred,” “revered.” Each of these petitions implies an obligation to carry out on our own part what we pray God to accomplish.

9–13. The Lord’s Prayer

St Luk_11:2-4, where the prayer is found in a different connection, and is given by our Lord in answer to a request from the disciples to teach them to pray, “even as John taught his disciples.” The text of St Luke as it stands in E. V. has probably been supplemented by additions from St Matthew.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After this manner therefore pray ye,.... That is, in such a concise and short way, without much speaking and vain repetitions; making use of such like words and expressions as the following: not that Christ meant to pin down his disciples to these express words, and no other; for this prayer is not a strict form, but a pattern of prayer, and a directory to it, both as to brevity, order, and matter; for we do not find the disciples ever making use of it in form; and when it is recited by another Evangelist, it is not in the selfsame words as here; which it would have been, had it been designed as an exact form. Besides, Christ does not bid them pray in these very words, but "after this manner"; somewhat like this: not but that it is very lawful to use the very express words of this prayer in any of the petitions here directed to; and which indeed were no other than what good people among the Jews did frequently make use of; and which were collected and singled out by Christ, as what he approved of, in distinction from, and opposition to, other impertinent expressions, and vain repetitions, which some used; as will appear by a particular consideration of them.

Our Father which art in heaven. This may be looked upon as the preface and introduction to the prayer, and regards the object of it, and his character, which is an epithet of God, often to be met with in Jewish writings, and particularly in their prayers; for thus they (k) say,

"Mymvbv wnyba, "our Father which art in heaven", show mercy "to us, because thy great name is called upon us."

Again (l), let the prayers and the requests of all Israel be received by , "their Father, which is in heaven". They seem to have a regard to this prayer, when they apply that passage in Pro 3:35 "shame shall be the promotion of fools", to the nations of the earth, who, they say (m),

"do not consider the glory of the law; and how, say they, "our Father which art in heaven", hear our voice, have mercy on us, and receive our prayer?''

So in confessions, thanksgivings, and sacrifices of praise, they required, and looked upon it, as the main thing, for a man to direct his heart , "to his Father which is in heaven (n)." By "father", our Lord means the first person in the Trinity, who is the Father of all men by creation, and of the saints by adoption; who are to address him in prayer under the character of "our Father", partly to command a reverential fear of him, and partly to secure boldness and liberty of speech before him; and also to express fiducial confidence in him, faith of interest in him, and relation to him; which arises from some experience of his paternal love, and requires the witnessings of the Spirit of adoption; and inasmuch as the direction is not to say "my Father", but "our Father"; it shows that we should pray for others as well as for ourselves, even for all the dear children of God. It is a rule (o) with the Jews,

"that a man ought always to join himself in prayer with the church;''

upon which the gloss says,

"let him not pray the short prayer , "in the singular, but in the plural number", that so his prayer may be heard.''

The object of prayer is further described by the place of his residence, "in heaven"; not that he is included in any place, but that the heaven of heavens is the place where he most eminently displays his glory: and this may teach us to look upwards in prayer, and seek those things which are above; and also, that this earth, on which we dwell, is not our native country, but heaven is, where our Father dwells. Next follows the first petition,

hallowed, or sanctified be thy name; so the Jews (p) in their prayers,

"Kmv vdqty, "let thy name be hallowed", or "sanctified by us", O Lord our God, before the eyes of all living.''

And very often (q),

"let his great name be magnified and sanctified in the world, which he hath created according to his will.''

And again (r),

"let us sanctify thy name in the world, as they sanctify it in the highest heavens.''

By the "name" of God is meant he himself, the perfections of his nature, and the several names by which he is known, and which we are to think and speak of with holy reverence. By sanctifying his name, is not meant a making him holy, but acknowledging, and declaring him to be holy, and a glorifying him, and all his perfections. He is sanctified by himself, by declaring himself to be holy; by glorifying his perfections in his works; by implanting grace and holiness in the hearts of his people; by restoring the purity of his worship; by diffusing the knowledge of himself in the world; and by taking vengeance on the wicked: and he is sanctified by others, when they fear him, believe in him, call upon his name, use it reverently, submit to his will, acknowledge his mercies, regard his commands aud ordinances, and live a holy life and conversation; all which is earnestly desired by truly gracious souls.

(k) Seder Tephillot, fol. 4. 2. Ed. Basil. (l) Ib. fol. 33. 2. (m) Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Lev. fol. 34. 1. (n) T. Bab. Shebuot, fol. 15. 1. (o) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 30. 1. (p) Seder Tephillot, fol. 78. 1. Ed. Amstelod. Zohar in Exod. fol. 43. 4. (q) Seder Tephillot, fol. 17. 2, Ed. Basil. & passim. (r) Seder Tephillot, fol. 22. 1. & passim.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Ver. 9. After this manner therefore pray ye] Forms of wholesome words are profitable. A set form of prayer is held fittest for the public, and for such weak Christians as are not yet able to express their own desires in their own words. The utterance of wisdom is given to some Christians only, 1Co 12:8, yet all are to strive unto it, that the testimony of Christ may be confirmed in them, 1Co 1:5-6. God will take that at first which afterwards will not be accepted. If words be wanting, pray that God who commands thee to take words and come before him, to vouchsafe thee those words, wherewith thou mayest come before him, Hos 14:2. Speak, as the poor man doth, supplications, Pro 18:23: so did the prodigal: forecast also (with him) what thou wilt say; premeditate on the matter, disposing it in due order (as one would do that is to speak to a prince; "God is a great King," Mal 1:14). Some think we must never pray but upon the sudden and extraordinary instinct and motion of the spirit. This is a fancy, and those that practise it cannot but fall into idle repetitions, and be confused; going forward and backward, like hounds at a loss, saith a good divine (Parr’s Abba, Father), and having unadvisedly begun to speak, they know not how wisely to make an end. This to prevent, premeditate and propound to thyself fit heads of prayer: gather catalogues of thy sins and duties by the decalogue; observe the daily straits of mortal condition, consider God’s mercies, your own infirmities, troubles from Satan, pressures from the world, crosses on all hands, &c. And because you cannot lack matter, so neither words of prayer. The Spirit will assist, and God will accept, if there be but an honest heart and lawful petitions. And albeit we cannot vary them as some can: our Saviour in his agony used the self-same words thrice together in prayer, and so may we when there is the same matter and occasion. He also had a set form of giving thanks at meat; which the two disciples at Emmaus hearing, knew him by it, Luk 24:30-31. A form then may be used, we see, when it is gathered out of the Holy Scriptures, and agreeable thereunto. Neither is the spirit limited hereby; for the largeness of the heart stands not so much in the multitude and variety of expressions as in the extent of the affection. Besides, if forms were unlawful, then neither might we sing psalms nor join in prayer with others, nor use the forms prescribed by God.

Our Father which art in heaven] Tertullian calls this prayer a breviary of the gospel, and compend of saving doctrine ( breviarium totius Evangelii, et salutaris doctrinoe compendium). It is framed in form of the decalogue; the three former petitions respecting God, the three latter ourselves and others. Every word therein hath its weight. "Our," there is our charity; "Father," there is our faith; "in heaven," there is our hope. "Father" is taken sometimes personally, as in that of our Saviour, "My Father is greater than I;" sometimes essentially for the whole Deity, so here. Now that God is in heaven, is a notion that heathens also have by nature; and do therefore in distress lift up eyes and hands thitherward. And lest man should not look upward, God hath given to his eyes peculiar nerves, to pull them up towards his habitation, that he might "direct his prayer unto him, and look up," Psa 5:3, that he might feelingly say with David, "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" "Unto thee I lift up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters," &c., Psa 123:1-2. It is reported of Farellus, that he preached so powerfully, that be seemed to thunder, and prayed so earnestly, that he seemed to carry his hearers with him up into heaven ( ut audientes in coelum usque subveheret. Melch. Adam, in Vita.) But how often, alas, do graceless men approach God with their leaden lips; and indeed reproach him in their formal prayers with that appellation, "Our Father which art in heaven?" Those brain sick disciples of Martin Steinbach of Selestad in Germany, who would needs mend magnificat (as they say), correct the Lord’s prayer as not well composed, are not worth mentioning.

Hallowed be thy name] i.e. "Honoured by thy Majesty." "According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise," Psa 48:10. Now God’s name is "holy and reverend," Psa 111:9; "great and terrible," Psa 99:3; "wonderful and worthy," Psa 8:1; Jas 2:7; "high and honourable," Isa 12:4; "dreadful among the heathen," Mal 1:14; and "exalted above all praise," Neh 9:5. His glory is as himself, eternally infinite, and so abideth, not capable of our addition or detraction. The sun would shine though all the world were blind, or did wilfully shut their eyes. Howbeit to try how we prize his glory, and how industrious we will be to promote it, God lets us know that he accounts himself, as it were, to receive a new being by those inward conceptions of his glory, and by those outward honours we do him; when we lift up his name as a standard, saying, "Jehovah Nissi, The Lord is my banner," Exo 17:15; when we bear (נשא) it up aloft (as the word used in the third commandment, whereunto this petition answers, signifieth), as servants do their masters’ badges upon their shoulders: {a} "Being confident" (with St Paul) "of this very thing, that in nothing we shall be ashamed" (while we hallow this holy God, Isa 5:16), "but that with all boldness or freedom of speech, as always, so now, Christ shall be magnified in our bodies, whether it be by life or death," Php 1:20.

{a} Elevavit, evexit: confer Isa 5:26. Elevabit vexillum ad gentes. Iudaeorum massam adhuc ira inficit fermentum Pharisaeorum, ut Messiam, quem tantis hodie exposcunt ululatibus, non ut redemptorem expectant a peccato, sed ex gentium temporali iugo. D. Prid., Lect.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As God is the common Father of all, we pray for all. Let none fear on account of their lowly station here, for all are comprised in the same heavenly nobility. ... By saying, "who art in heaven," he does not mean to insinuate that he is there only, but he wishes to withdraw the humble petitioner from earth, and fix his attention on heaven. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xx.) Other prayers are not forbidden. Jesus Christ prayed in different words (John, chap. viii.), and the apostles; (Acts i, 24,) but this is an example of the simple style to be used in prayer, and is applicable to all occasions. --- Hallowed be thy name, from the word holy, be held and kept holy, be glorified by us, and that not only by our words, but principally by the lives we lead. The honour and glory of God should be the principal subject of our prayers, and the ultimate end of our every action; every other thing must be subordinate to this. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Not always in these words, but always to this sense, and in this manner. None ever thought Christians obliged to use no other words than these in prayer, though none must deny the lawfulness of using those words which Christ hath sanctified.

After this manner; first seeking the kingdom of God, and begging those things which more immediately concern God’s glory, and then those things which more immediately concern yourselves. Or, After this manner, praying only in particular for such things as are more generally couched in the following petitions.

Our Father which art in heaven: a compellation speaking our faith both in the power and in the goodness of God; our eyeing him as in heaven speaketh his power, Psa 115:3, our considering him as our Father speaks our faith in his goodness, Mat 7:11.

Hallowed be they name. God’s name is whatsoever he hath made himself known by: Let the Lord be glorified in every thing whereby he hath made himself known.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. After this manner — Our Lord now proceeds to give an outline model of prayer, in which is not one word of irrational babble or cant repetition; but in which human wants are condensed and expressed, and human devotions shaped in terms so direct, so simple, so pure, that sinner or saint, philosopher or child, may understand and use them.

There is no ground for saying that this formula, called our Lord’s Prayer, was selected by him from Jewish forms. No doubt it embodies petitions used in essence by the Old Testament saints of all ages. But it was cast fully and truly in the mould of his own divine mind. It has a heaven-born originality.

In Luk_11:2, Jesus says: “When ye pray, say, Our Father,” etc. Hence there can be no doubt that this was intended as a fixed form of prayer. As such it formed a model for our prayer in general. It is a recorded summary for the Church in all ages of the permanent objects of prayer. It is the condensation and nucleus of all Christian supplication. It has ever served to limit the range of Christian devotion. It is proper, therefore, to be usually repeated in our public service, though not to the exclusion of all other prayer. And it is delightful to feel that it has served to establish a harmony of prayer among true saints through all the world.

Hence, with propriety our Church does use a ritual of forms of prayers, inasmuch as the essential identity of prayers should be traditionally preserved from generation to generation; but not to the suppression of extemporaneous prayers, lest the free action of the soul in prayer should be hampered and gradually suppressed.

The structure of our Lord’s Prayer may be best presented by the following form:

Our Father which art in heaven,

I.

a. Hallowed be thy name.

b. Thy kingdom come.

c. Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

II.

a. Give us this day our daily bread.

b. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

c. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.

On which we may remark,

1. It begins with an address, and ends with an ascription.

2. Between these are included two sets of threes. The first set is three celestial, and the second three terrestrial petitions. The three celestial petitions pray for the sanctification of God’s name, the coming of his kingdom, and a universal submission to it.

The terrestrial petitions pray for livelihood, pardon of past sin, and deliverance from committing future sin.

3. The ascription attributes to God three excellencies in kingdom, power, and glory. But we are bound to add that the genuineness of this ascription, as a part of the sacred text, is, in the judgment of critics, more than doubtful.

4. It may also be said that the address implies three subjects: God, his abode, and us, his children.

The first three petitions embrace, or imply, all we need pray for apart from ourselves; the last three all that we need pray for ourselves individually and collectively.

The following comparison will show that all its doctrines are contained in the Old Testament.

Our Father which art in heaven: Isa_64:8 : “O Lord, thou art our Father.” Ecc_5:2 : “God is in heaven.”

Hallowed be thy name: Psa_48:10 : “According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth.”

Thy kingdom come: Psa_22:28 : “For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he is the governor among the nations.” Dan_2:44 : “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.”

Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven: Psa_40:8 : “I delight to do thy will, O my God.” Psa_103:20 : “Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”

Give us this day our daily bread: Pro_30:8 : “Feed me with food convenient for me.”

And forgive us our debts: Exo_34:9 : “Pardon our iniquity and our sin.”

As we forgive our debtors: Lev_19:18 : “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”

And lead us not into temptation: Gen_22:1 : “And it came to pass. after these things, that God did tempt Abraham.”

But deliver us from evil: Psa_50:15. “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen: 1Ch_29:11 : “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.”

Our Father — Against Atheism, which teaches that there is no God; against Pantheism, that teaches that God is not a person, but identical with nature; against Epicurism, which teaches that God cares nothing for his creation; against Polytheism, which teaches that there are many gods, our Saviour teaches that our one God is a tender and gracious parent, who knows our wants and listens to our prayers.

Which art in heaven — And so infinitely superior to any father we have on earth. God, though omnipresent, is said to be in heaven. Whether there be a locality in the universe where God is specially and peculiarly resident, is more than we can say. Astronomers do conceive there to be a centre of the system of astronomic worlds: and that centre may be the capitol of the universe, “the third heaven, where God resides.” But at any rate, all human language, and human conception, contemplate God as above and man below. That is, we look from the earth for the Divine; to the earth for the human. Hallowed — Held sacred. Thy very name, and so thy self be most profoundly revered.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 9-13. The pattern of prayer. Parallel passage: Luk_11:2-4. For most suggestive remarks on the Lord"s Prayer, both generally and in its greater difficulties of detail, compare by all means Chase, "The Lord"s Prayer in the Early Church:" (Cambridge Texts and Studies).

Observe:

(1) If the prayer had already been given by the Lord in the sermon on the mount, "one of his disciples" would hardly afterwards have asked him to teach them to pray, as John also taught his disciples. (Luk_11:50) It is much more easy, therefore, to consider that the original occasion of its utterance is recorded by St. Luke, and that it therefore did not belong to the sermon on the mount as that discourse was originally delivered.

(2) A question that admits of a more doubtful answer is whether the more original form of the prayer is found in Matthew or in Luke. It will be remembered that in the true text of his Gospel, the latter does not record the words, "Which art in heaven," "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth," "But deliver us from evil," besides reading "day by day" instead of "this day," "sins" instead of "debts," and "for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us" instead of" as we also have forgiven our debtors." Most writers suppose St. Matthew"s form to be the original, and St. Luke"s to be only a shortened form. In favour of this are the considerations that

(a) St. Matthew"s words, "Forgive us our debts," represent an older, because parabolic, form of expression than the apparently interpretative "Forgive us our sins" in St. Luke.

(b) St. Matthew"s words, "as we also," seem to be expanded into "for we ourselves also," in St. Luke.

(c) St. Luke"s "day by day" occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in his writings, (Luk_19:47 Act_17:11) so that it is likely to be his own phrase, and therefore less original than St. Matthew"s "this day" (cf. Weiss, "Matthiaus-Ev.," and Page, Expositor, III 7:436). On the ether hand, the words, "Which art in heaven," are so characteristic of St. Matthew, (Mat_10:32, Mat_10:33; cf. Mat_12:50 Mat_15:13 Mat_18:10, Mat_18:14, Mat_18:19, 35 23:9) and especially of the sermon on the mount, (Mat_5:16 Mat_6:1 Mat_7:11, 21 5:45, 48 6:14, 26, 32) that it seems more natural to suppose that this clause at least was added by him or by the authors of his sources to the original form, rather than that it was omitted by St. Luke. In connexion with this it may be pointed out how easy it was for our Lord to say only "Father" (Luk_11:2) immediately after his own prayer to him. (Luk_11:1)

Taking everything into consideration, it seems reasonable to arrive at two conclusions. First, that the form in Luke presents, as a whole, the more primitive and original instruction of the Lord, and that that given in Matthew presents the Lord"s words as fully developed, partly perhaps by himself directly, partly by his indirect guidance of Christian usage. St. Matthew"s Gospel would thus at once both show the effect and be the cause of the preference for the longer form in liturgical use. Secondly, and more exactly, that both the evangelists record the prayer after it had passed through some development in different parts of the Church, St. Matthew giving it a generally later stage, but preserving one or two clauses in an earlier and better form.

After this manner therefore. Therefore; in contrast to the heathen practice, and in the full confidence which you have in your almighty Father"s intuitive knowledge of your needs. After this manner (outwv ). Not "in these words;" but he will most closely imitate the manner who most often reminds himself of it by using the words. Pray ye. "Ye" emphatic ye my disciples; ye the children of such a Father. Our Father. In English we just lack the power to keep, with a plural possessive pronoun (contrast "father mine"), the order of Christ"s words (Pater hmwn) which other languages possess (Pater noster; Vater unser). Christ places in the very forefront the primary importance of the recognition of spiritual relationship to God. There is no direct thought here of God as the All-Father in the modern and often deistic sense. Yet it is affirmed elsewhere in Scripture, (Act_17:28; cf. Luk_15:21) and spiritual relationship is perhaps only possible because of the natural relationship. (cf. Mat_5:16, note) Our. Though the prayer is here given with special reference to praying alone (ver. 6), the believer is to be reminded at once that he is joined by spiritual relationship to many others who have the same needs, etc., as himself. Which art in heaven (o en toiv ouranoiv). Added in this fuller form of the prayer (vide supra), on the one hand to definitely exclude the application of the words however mediately to any human teacher, (cf. Mat_23:9) and on the other to remind those who pray of the awful majesty of him whom they address. "They are a Sursum corda; they remind us that now we have lifted up our hearts from earth and things earthly to another and a higher world" (Trench, "Sermon on the Mount"). Hallowed be thy name. The first of the three prayers for the furtherance of God"s cause. Their parallelism is seen much more clearly in the Greek than in the English order of the words. Thy name. We look on a name almost as an accidental appendage by which a person is designated, but in its true idea it is the designation of a person which exactly answers to his nature and qualities. Hence the full Name of God is properly that description of him which embraces all that he really is. As, however, the term "name" implies that it is expressed, it must, when it is used of God, be limited to that portion of his nature and qualities which can be expressed in human terms, because it has been already made known to us. The "name" of God, here and elsewhere in the Bible, therefore, does not mean God in his essence, but rather that manifestation of himself which he has been pleased to give, whether partial and preparatory as under the old covenant, (cf. Gen_4:26 Gen_16:13 Gen_32:29 Exo_6:3 Exo_34:5) or final as under the new; (cf. Joh_17:6) or again (to take another division found in Exell"s "Biblical Illustrator," in loc. ) the manifestation of himself through nature, through inspired words, through the Incarnation. Compared with the Glory (doxa) "the Name expresses the revelation as it is apprehended and used by man. Man is called by the Name, and employs it. The Glory expresses rather the manifestation of the Divine as Divine, as a partial disclosure of the Divine Majesty not directly intelligible by man". (comp. Exo_33:18, ft.) (Bishop Westcott," Add. Note" on 3Jn_1:7) Hallowed be. Agiasyhtw cannot here, as sometimes, (Rev_22:11; cf. Joh_17:17 1Th_5:23) mean "be made holy," for this God"s manifestation of himself already is; but "be counted holy," i.e. in human judgment. The prayer is that God"s manifestation of himself may be acknowledged and revered as the one supreme standard of truth and the one means of knowing God and approaching him; of 1Pe_3:15, where agiazw obviously means "set apart, enshrined as the object of supreme, absolute reverence, as free from all defilement and possessed of all excellence (Johnstone, in loc.); cf. also Isa_29:23. The same thought appears to have been the basis of the early Western alternative petition. (Marcion"s or Tertullian"s, vide Westcott and Herr, "App., Luk_11:2) for the gift of the Holy Spirit; i.e. the address to the Father was followed by a prayer for purification by the Holy Spirit preparatory to the prayer, "Thy kingdom come." A man must accept God"s manifestation of himself before he can take part in the spread of the kingdom. Gregory of Nyssa (vide Westcott and Herr, loc. cit., and Resch, "Agrapha," p. 398) says distinctly, "Let thy Holy Spirit come upon us and purify us;" but he substitutes this prayer for the words, "Thy kingdom come." (For the support afforded by this to the theory that the Lord"s Prayer circulated in a varying form, cf. Chase, loc. cit.) Gregory"s petition, as affecting only humanity, is less comprehensive than that found in our Gospels.

Vers. 9-15. The Lord"s Prayer.

This is the model prayer. It is not simply one form of prayer intended to supersede all others, or to take its place among prayers of a different character. It is the type and pattern of all prayer. "After this manner therefore pray ye." Let us note its leading characteristics.

I IN FORM IT IS BRIEF, CLEAR, AND SIMPLE. This is offered in contrast to the vain repetitions of the heathen. It is not the length of a prayer, but the reality of it, that finds acceptance with God. He does not need to be urged with piteous entreaties, the frantic shrieks, leaping, and gashing with knives that the dervishes of Baal resorted to. He is close at hand; he is always ready to hear; he knows what we need. Some prayers are sermons preached to God. We have neither to inform God as though he were ignorant, nor to persuade him as though he were reluctant to help. We have simply to make him the confidant of our hearts" desires.

II IT IS ADDRESSED TO THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. The "Pater noster" has its key-note struck in its two opening words.

1. God"s fatherly nature. The character of our prayer depends on our conception of God. Christ delighted to set before us the picture of God as our Father. Here is the basis of faith. All confidence is justified by this great face.

2. Our relation to God. He is not merely the "All-Father." He is "our Father;" this personal appropriation of God is necessary for the most real prayer.

III IT HONORS THE HOLINESS OF GOD. God loathes adulation, but he accepts adoration. High-sounding titles and elaborate ascriptions of praise mar the simplicity of genuine worship. It is enough to address God as "our Father." Still we must remember that he is in heaven. The familiarity of love must not forget the reverence due to holiness. The essence of prayer is worship.

IV IT SEEKS THE GLORY OF GOD. Thoughts of God come first that his Name may be treated with reverence; that his kingdom may come, his will be done. Many prayers are too narrow, selfish, and worldly. The model prayer fills our minds and hearts with large thoughts of God and his kingdom. If we have the Christian spirit in us, these thoughts will lie very near to our hearts; if that spirit is developed and enlarged, they will be predominant, so that we shall more eagerly wish for the coming of the kingdom and the doing of God"s will than for the satisfaction of our personal desires. But, alas! few of us have reached that standard.

V IT TRUSTS GOD"S DALLY CARE. Now we come down to the personal prayer. It begins with a most simple, universal want daily bread.

1. Bodily food. This comes from God, who makes the corn grow, and finds us the providential means of a livelihood. Christ recognizes the need of common earthly things; God supplies them.

2. Necessaries. Merely "bread.

3. The moments need. "Daily" bread. We can leave the morrow.

VI IT CONFESSES SIN AND ASKS FORGIVENESS. This is of universal application. The saint must confess sin as well as the sinner. This is of daily necessity. We sin daily. But this recognizes God"s forgiving grace to cover all sin. Yet it is conditioned by our forgiving spirit.

VII IT CRAVES DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL. If possible we would be spared temptation. If we must be tempted, we pray to be saved from the power of the evil one. Our Father is our great Deliverer. in view of darkest dangers we cry for his raving help. W.F.A.

As to the manner of prayer.

The occasion was one in which our Lord knew that the teaching of his lips would be best brought home to the mind by an example to illustrate his meaning. What a sequel that example of prayer has itself had! and what fruitfulness it has had in teaching the "manner of prayer"! This "manner" taught by our Lord gives us first a name, or title, by which to address God in prayer. In this notice

I THE GRACIOUS AUTHORITY IT GIVES TO THE CREATURE, AS SOON AS HE TURNS HIS HEART IN PRAYER TO GOD, TO CLAIM THE RELATIONSHIP OF GOD TO HIM AS THAT OF FATHER. In whatever way this relationship of God to man might be argued from the nature of things, (Psa_103:13) or inferable from indirect permission in the teaching of God"s favoured and chosen people since Abraham, (Isa_63:16) it is certain that, previously to this teaching of Christ himself, we read no direct authorization whatsoever of it. It is the gift of this prayer, therefore, that with this title we come "boldly to the throne of grace.

II THE LOVING AND HOPEFUL TONE OF SUPPLIANCY IT AUSPICIOUSLY AVAILS TO AWAKEN. The spirit of demand, the temper of dictation, the mutterings of discontent, the murmurings of impatience, are all held in willing, sure, sweet abeyance, when on bended knees we say, "Our Father." "How," we say rightly," will he not give to his sons, to whom first he has given this greatest gift, that they should be, and be called, sons!" And, again, how shall not we desire, in practice as in prayer, to comfort ourselves in harmony with our new-given relationship the Divine "adoption of sons"!

III THE HEALTHFUL, INSPIRITING, UNLIMITED, CATHOLICITY WHICH THE TWO WORDS "OUR FATHER" BETOKEN AND AUGUR. It speaks in all innocent trustfulness, instinctive expectation, grateful expanded prospect, of the vast family, of an ever-swelling brotherhood, of the one Father"s many-mansioned house. It strikes the keynote of the music of universal charity.

IV THE ELEVATED LEVEL TO WHICH OUR CONCEPTIONS OF THE DIVINE RELATIONSHIP ARE SO SILENTLY AND, AS IT WERE, SO UNSUSPECTINGLY DRAWN UP THE FATHER IN HEAVEN. HOW helpful to our hope and confidence, how salutary to our modesty and patience, how dignifying to all our spiritual tone and aspiration, to remember that this Father is in heaven, while as yet we are at heaven"s footstool the earth! B.

The first petition.

The sentence in which this is contained cannot mean that God"s own holiness can be added to or its sanctity improved; but that we "give thanks at the remembrance" of it; pause to observe the very highest conceivable rendering of the fifth commandment; and help to teach others to pay all most solemn homage to his Name.

I THE PETITION IS AN INSTANCE AND EXPRESSION OF A MOST SIGNIFICANT ACT OF OUR REGENERATE NATURE, AKIN TO ITS VERY HIGHEST REACHES OF ACHIEVEMENT, WHEN, IRRESPECTIVE OF EVERYTHING ELSE, WE DESIRE THAT FIRST OF ALL GOD"S HOLY NAME BE HELD SACRED AND BE GLORIFIED.

II THE PETITION PURPORTS THE EXALTATION, IN MEN"S REVERENT REGARD, OF THAT NAME, SO GREAT, ADDRESSED AND APPEALED TO IN PRAYER. The petition beautifully embraces the deep wish that that Name may be ever growing in adored sacredness in the silent heart of the individual petitioner first, as well as further in and through all creation.

III THE PETITION MANIFESTLY POSTULATES SUCH SYMPATHY, HOWEVER ELEMENTARY, WITH THE HOLY NATURE OF THE FATHER, THAT ITS FULFILLING CANNOT FAIL TO BE ALSO A SURE FULFILLING OF GOOD TO HIM WHO PRAYS IT. It evidently proceeds on the ready and willing acknowledgment of the fact that the perfect holiness of the Father in heaven is the condition and the essential that lies at the very root of the welfare of the man who is praying, and of the vast universe. B.

Vers. 9, 10. The Lord"s Prayer (part 1).

In the Gospel of Luke this prayer is given in still briefer form. The occasion there was that the disciples, after the Lord had prayed, said to him, "Lord teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say. " Here, however, "After this manner pray ye." The use of forms is sanctioned; so is extemporary prayer. Better a form of sound words" than no family worship. Consider

I THE ADDRESS TO GOD.

1. It is a great truth that God is our.Father.

(1) He is the Creator, not the Father, of his other works. Ethers; minerals; vegetables; animals. No kindredness of nature to God in these.

(2) He is the "Father of spirits." Every attribute of the human spirit is the image of a corresponding Divine attribute. Intellects; affections.

(3) Even the body of man was made after the similitude of the Lord. (cf. Gen_1:26 Gen_2:7) The body is the material image of the soul. When God revealed himself to man, his similitude was the appearance of a man. (see Eze_1:26-28)

2. This Divine title is proper to the gospel dispensation.

(1) It is a notable fact that the title "Father" seldom occurs in Old Testament Scripture. Nowhere is God there invoked as a Father.

(2) There is a reason of propriety. The spirit of the Law was fear. The Law was given amidst horrors and alarms. Its rites imposed an oppressive burden.

(3) It is also a notable fact that the title "Father" is of frequent occurrence in the New Testament. It is the familiar title in Christian invocation. The Lord"s Prayer is the model for all Christian prayer.

(4) There is also a reason of propriety here. The spirit of the gospel is love. It is the spirit of sonship and liberty. This is all embodied in the mystery of the incarnation of the proper Son of God. (see Gal_4:1-7)

3. Note the plural, OUR Father.

(1) The use of the singular is very sweet. It is suited sometimes to the closet. Sometimes to ejaculatory prayer.

(2) The plural recognizes the common Fatherhood of God. So the common brotherhood of man. Its use should cure war, strikes, domestic feuds.

(3) It recognizes brotherhood in Christ. He is every man"s Brother. (cf. Gen_9:5) The family of God is named after him. (cf. Eph_3:14, Eph_3:15)

(4) In its common use all the sons of God pray for each. This is better than each praying exclusively for himself. Better for each, better for all.

4. Note the place of his residence.

(1) God is in the mechanical heavens. He moves the spheres. He give the tides. So the seasons. The elements are his servants. His miracles evince his presence in nature. His providence in nature is constant. So he can make nature respond to prayer.

(2) He is in the supernal heaven. The heaven of heavens. The third heaven. The palace of angels. The place of vision.

(3) He that rules all heavens is our Father! What an honour! How superior should we be to the meanness of sin!

II THE ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE.

1. The Name of God stands for himself.

(1) It; represents his nature. (cf. Exo_33:18, 19 34:5-7)

(2) It is his Word. Christ is the Revealer of the Father. (cf. Exo_23:20, 21 Isa_52:5 Joh_1:18 Joh_8:19 1Ti 6:1Ti 1Ti_2:5)

2. To hallow is to revere Gods Name.

(1) "Father" is a title in which reverence, as well as love, is claimed. So it was understood by the sons of the prophets. So by Joash King of Israel. (cf. 2Ki_2:12 2Ki_6:21 2Ki_13:14)

(2) Cheerful obedience is the true reverence of love. (see Mat_23:9)

(3) To hallow the Name of the Father is to honour the Father in the Son. (cf. Joh_5:22, 23 1Jn_2:23)

3. The Name of the Father should be everywhere revered.

(1) It is revered in heaven. (cf. ver. 10; Isa_6:1-3 Rev_4:8-11)

(2) But is it so revered on earth? In the sanctuary it is revered. The Church is the kingdom of heaven upon earth. But in the world the sacred Name is horribly blasphemed.

(3) The blessed day is coming when the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as now it fills the heavens. Pray for this. Strive for this. J.A.M.

The dualities of the Lord"s Prayer.

Of this prayer Ward Beecher says, "One knows not which most to admire in this form its loftiness of spirit, its comprehensiveness, its brevity, its simplicity, or its union of human and Divine elements. All prayer may be said to have crystallized in this prayer. The Church has worn it for hundreds of years upon her bosom, as the brightest gem of devotion." Forms of devotion seem to have been provided by the ecclesiastical rulers. New forms had been given by John the Baptist. It was quite natural that our Lord"s disciples should ask either selections from existing forms, or new forms, of prayer from him. Teaching them the spirit of prayer, they naturally asked him also to give them a suitable form in which that spirit might find expression. Now notice the Hebraic form in which the prayer is set. It is a series of dual sentences, the second repeating the first, with some amplification, after the familiar style of Hebrew writing.

I THE FATHER-NAME. "Our Father." "Hallowed be thy Father Name." In this new name for God may be found the very essence of the revelation Jesus brought. He taught "good news of God;" right thoughts of God. Everything else follows from that; for to know God is eternal life. How far was the Father-Name a new revelation? Certainly, as used by Christ, it carries a new meaning and force. What is hallowing a Father-Name? Showing the obedience and devotion of sons. Remember Jesus called God "Holy Father," "Righteous Father.

II THE KINGDOM OF THE WILL. "Thy kingdom come." "Thy will be done." These are plainly the same thing; for God"s kingdom must be the rule of his will." A living, active will creates a kingdom. If God"s will were fully done, God"s kingdom would have come. A kingdom of moral beings; ruled by a supreme and holy will. To pray for the kingdom to come is to yield ourselves to the service of the will.

III GIVING AND FORGIVING. This part of the prayer concerns man"s necessities. Our Father in heaven is interested in our daily needs. "Give!" is the cry of the needy child. "Forgive!" is the cry of the sinful child. Both attitudes are of supreme interest to our heavenly Father. "Bread" stands for all our bodily needs; "forgiveness" for all our soul-needs.

IV DEFENDED AND DELIVERED. Treating ourselves as frail and weak, and yet exposed to evil. "No one can tell beforehand how he will be affected by persistent, insidious, and vehement temptations. If it is a duty to avoid evil, it is surely permissible to solicit Divine help thereto." This]s the prayer of self-distrust and dependence. Compare "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thus therefore pray ye - He who best knew what we ought to pray for, and how we ought to pray, what matter of desire, what manner of address would most please himself, would best become us, has here dictated to us a most perfect and universal form of prayer, comprehending all our real wants, expressing all our lawful desires; a complete directory and full exercise of all our devotions. Thus - For these things; sometimes in these words, at least in this manner, short, close, full. This prayer consists of three parts, the preface, the petitions, and the conclusion. The preface, Our Father, who art in heaven, lays a general foundation for prayer, comprising what we must first know of God, before we can pray in confidence of being heard. It likewise points out to us our that faith, humility, love, of God and man, with which we are to approach God in prayer.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

A model prayer to show that an infinite variety of wants and requests can be compressed into a few humble petitions:

v. 9. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

It does not detract from the value of the prayer that many of its words and thoughts are found in the Old Testament and in the formulas in use among the Jews at that time. The marvel of its beauty lies rather in this, that the Lord arranged the petitions with reference to the importance of human wants and imbued them with His spirit, thus making the brief formula the most perfect prayer in the world. Note how He brings out this point. Thus, after this manner, not after that of the heathen, shall be your habitual prayer, for you are people who stand in a different relation to the Deity, you know the one, true God, to whom all prayers should be addressed. Father, He calls Him, to bring out the sonship of the believers. Their confidence and trust in Him is that of children sure of the father’s love. He is our Father, in the fullest sense, by His work of creation as well as by that of redemption. He is the almighty God and Lord, who reigns in heaven over all the universe and thus possesses the willing power to hear our prayer, Eph 3:14-15; Eph 4:6; Isa 66:1; Act 7:55-56. His name, the entire manifestation of His essence, the revelation of His being, which distinguishes Him and gives an idea of His greatness, Psa 48:11; Mal 1:11, shall be hallowed, praised, glorified. This is done not only by holding Him in all esteem and relevance, by yielding to Him the position which is His by eternal right, by making Him the one object of worship the world over, but by leading such lives that every desire, thought, word, and deed will redound to His glory, Mat 5:16.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As if Christ had said, For preventing these and all other faults in prayer, I will myself give you a complete form of prayer, and an exact pattern and platform for your imitation when you pray.

Note, That the Lord’s Prayer is both a perfect form of prayer which ought to be used by us, and also a pattern and platform, according to which all our prayers ought be framed. St. Matthew says, After this manner pray ye: St. Luke says, When ye pray, say,

-"Our father which art in heaven; Hallowed be thy name: 10 Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven: 11 Give us this day our daily bread: 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 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.

The sense and signification of this best of prayers, is this: "O thou our Father in Jesus Christ! who remainest on thy throne in heaven, and art there perpetually praised, and perfectly obeyed by glorious angels and glorified saints; grant that thy name may be glorified, thy throne acknowledge, and thy holy will obeyed, here on earth below, by us thy sons and servants, proportion to what is done in heaven.

And because, by reason of the frailty of our natures, we cannot subsist without the comforts and supports of life, we crave, that such a proportion of the good things of this life may be given unto us, as may be sufficient for us; and that we may be content with our allowance.

And knowing that thy holiness and justice oblige thee to punish sin and sinners, we plead with thee, for the sake of thy Son’s satisfaction, to pardon to us our daily trespasses, which we are guilty of in this state of imperfection; as we so freely and heartily forgive others that have offended and wronged us.

And seeing that by reason of the frailty of our natures we are prone to rush upon and run into temptation; we crave that, by the power of thy omnipotent grace, we may be kept from Satan’s temptations, from the world’s allurements, from our own evil inclinations, and be preserved unblamable to thine everlasting kingdom; which is exalted over all persons, over all places, over all things, in all times, past, present, and to come: and accordingly, in testimony of our desires, and in assurance to be heard and answered, we say Amen; so be it; so let it be, even so, O Lord, let it be for ever."

More particularly, in this comprehensive and compendious prayer, the following severals are remarkable.

Namely, 1. That the learned observe, that this prayer is taken our of the Jewish liturgies, in which it is entirely found, excepting these words, As we forgive them that trespass against us.

From whence Grotius notes, how far Christ the Lord of his Chursh was from affecting novelties, or despising anything because it was a form; a piece of piteous weakness amongst some at this day.

Observe, 2. The person to whom Christ directs us to make our prayers; namely, to God, under the notion of a Father; teaching us, that in all our religious addresses to God, we are to conceive of him, and pray unto him, under the notion and pray unto him, under the notion and relation of a Father. Our Father, &c.

So is he by creation, by a right of providence and preservation, by redemption, by outward and visible profession, by regeneration and adoption; and this relation which God stands in to us, may encourage us to pray unto him; for being our Father, we are sure that he is of easy access unto, and graciously ready to grant what we pray for.

And whereas it is added, which art in heaven; this is not to be so understood as if his essence were included, or his presence circumscribed or confined there, for he fills heaven and earth with the immensity of it: but he is said to be so in heaven, because there is the special manifestation of his presence, of his purity, of his power and glory, and teaches us with what holy fear, with what humble reverence, and not without a trembling veneration, polluted dust ought to make their solemn approaches to the God of heaven.

Observe, 3. That the three first petitions relate more immediately to God.

1. That his name may be hallowed. By the name of God, understand God himself, as made known to us in his attributes, words, and works. This name is hallowed or sanctified by us three wars; by our lips, when we acknowledge his divine perfections, and tell of all his wondrous works; in our hearts, by entertaining suitable conceptions of God; and in our lives, when the consideration of these divine perfections engages us to suitable obedience.

2. That his kingdom may come: by which we are not to understand his general and providential kingdom, by which he ruleth over all the world, that being always come, and capable of no farther amplification; but principally the kingdom of grace, promoted in the hearts of his people by the preaching of the gospel: we pray that God would dethrone sin and Satan in our own and others’ souls, and increase grace and sanctification both in us and them, and that the kingfom of glory may be hastened, and we may be preserved blameless to the coming of Christ in his kingdom.

3. That his will may be done; by which the preceptive rather than the providential will of God us to be understood: we are to obey the former universally, and to submit to the latter very cheerfully. It intimates, that it ought to be the prayer and care, the study and endeavour, of every Christian, that the commanding will of God may be so done by men upon earth, as it is by the glorified saints and glorious angels done in heaven; namely, with that alacrity and cheerfulness, with that speed and readiness, with that constancy and diligence, that the imperfection of human nature will admit of; imitating the blessed angels, who execute the divine commands without reluctancy or regret.

Observe, 4. The three last petitions respect ourselves, as the three former did Almighty God.

The first of which is a prayer for temporal blessings: give us this day our daily bread.

Where note, The mercy prayed for, bread, which comprehends all the comforts and conveniences of life, and whatever is necessary for the supporting human nature.

Also the qualification; it must be our own bread, not another’s, what we have a civil right to as men, and a covenant right to as Christians.

Note farther, The kind of bread we ask and desire; it is daily bread. Hereby we are put in mind of our continual dependence upon God for our lives, and for all the supports of life which we enjoy, and also kept in mind of our mortality. And mark the way and manner of conveying all good things to us, it is in a way of free-gift.

Give us our daily bread, we cannot give it ourselves; and when we have it of God, we receive it not as a debt, but as a free gift.

The next petition is for spiritual blessings, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Where note, 1. Some things supposed, namely, That we are all sinners, and, as such, stand in need of pardon and forgiveness.

2. That our sins are debts, willful debts, repeated debts, innumerable debts, inexcusable debts, debts diffcultly discharged, undoing debts.

3. That we are obliged to pray every day for daily pardon, as we do for daily bread, for our sins are many and daily.

4. It is here supposed, that since we are to pray for forgiveness of sin, it is impossible ever to satisfy the justice of God for sin.

Lastly note, The condition or qualification required, forgive as we forgive:

This requires, 1. That our minds be full of charity, free from rancour and ill-will, and all desires of revenge, and a secret grudge against another.

2. That we stand ready to help them, and to do any office of love and service for them that have offended us.

3. That we admit our offending brother into friendship and familiarity, which is called forgiving him from the heart: our heart must be towards him as formerly it was.

The sixth and last petition follows, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Here note, A double mercy prayed for; namely, preventing mercy, and delivering mercy.

1. Preventing mercy, lead us not into temptation.

Hereby it is supposed, 1. That we are unable to keep our selves from temptation, partly through our natural depravity, partly through carnal security.

2. That it is God that must keep us from Satan’s assaults, his traps and snares, which every where he lays in ambush for us.

3. That it is our own daily duty to be earnest and instant with God in prayer, not to suffer us, by the subtraction of his grace, or in a way of punishment for sin, to run into the circumstances which may prove snares to us, but daily to afford us such a measure of his grace as may keep us from falling by temptation, and not leave us falling under the temptation, but recover us speedily by his power, and enable us to stand more firmly for the future.

2. We here pray for delivering mercy, Deliver us from evil: by which may be understood Satan the evil one, but especially the evil of sin. We pray here that God would graciously preserve us from those vicious inclinations of our minds, and evil dispositions of our hearts, which render us so prone to yield to the temptations of Satan.

Here we see the ugly and deformed face of sin: it is evil: evil in its author and original, it is of the devil, the evil one; evil in its effects and fruits, it doth debase and degrade us, pollute and defile us, befool and deceive us, and, without repentance, damns and destroys us.

Observe lastly, The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which contains a complication of arguments to urge Almighty God with, for obtaining the mercy prayed for.

1. For thine is the kingdom; thou art the only absolute and rightful Sovereign, and all men are concerned to honour thee, and obey thy laws; thou art the supreme Governor of the world, and King of thy church, therefore let thy kingdom come, and thy will be done.

2. Thine is the power, therefore give us daily bread, and forgive our daily sins; for thou hast power to supply the one, and authority to pardon the other. The power of God is a mighty encouragement to prayer, and faith is the power of God has amighty prevalency in prayer with God.

3. Thine is the glory, that is, thine will be the glory; as if we should say, "Lord! by enabling us to hallow thy name by owning thy kingdom, by doing thy will, and by thy providing for us, and pardoning of us, thou wilt have much glory by us and from us."

It teaches us, that as our prayers in general ought to be argumentative; so an argument in prayer drawn from the glory of God is a mighty encouragement to hope for audience and acceptance.

4. For ever and ever, that is, thy kingdom is eternal, thy power eternal, thy glory eternal; the God whom we pray to is an eternal God, and this attribute of God is improvable in prayer, as an encouragement to expect the same blessings from God which others have done before us; for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

Amen; a word used in all languages, denoting an hearty assent to our own prayers, and an hearty desire to receive the mercies prayed for, and an humble assurance that we shall be heard and answered.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. After this manner pray ye. The Savior does not bid us use these words, nor command any set form, but gives this as a proper example of prayer, simple, brief, condensed, yet all-embracing. Our Father which art in heaven. These words reveal a very tender relationship between God and the true worshiper, and base the petition on the fact that the child speaks to the Father. Hallowed be thy name. Of the seven petitions of the Lord's prayer the first three are in behalf of the cause of God; the glory of his name, the extension of his kingdom, and the prevalence of his will. The other four, which are properly placed last, as least important, pertain to our individual needs. No one can offer the first three petitions who is in disobedience. Hallowed. Holy, sacred, reverenced.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

9–13. THE LORD’S PRAYER

St Luk 11:2-4, where the prayer is found in a different connection, and is given by our Lord in answer to a request from the disciples to teach them to pray, ‘even as John taught his disciples.’ The text of St Luke as it stands in E.V. has probably been supplemented by additions from St Matthew.

πάτερ ἡμῶν. It is of the essence of Christian prayer that God should be addressed as a Father to whose love we appeal, not as a God whose anger we appease. The analogy removes nearly all the real difficulties on the subject of prayer. A wise earthly father does not grant all requests, but all which are for the good of his children and which are in his power to grant. Again, the child asks without fear, yet no refusal shakes his trust in his father’s love or power.

ἁγιασθήτω, ‘held sacred,’ ‘revered.’ Each of these petitions implies an obligation to carry out on our own part what we pray God to accomplish.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9-13.] The Lord’s Prayer.

9.] There is very slender proof of what is often asserted, that our Lord took nearly the whole of this prayer from existing Jewish formulæ. Not that such a view of the matter would contain in it any thing irreverent or objectionable; for if pious Jews had framed such petitions, our Lord, who came πληρῶσαι every thing that was good under the Old Covenant, might in a higher sense and spiritual meaning, have recommended the same forms to His disciples. But such does not appear to have been the fact. Lightfoot produces only the most general common-place parallels for the petitions, from the Rabbinical books.

With regard to the prayer itself we may remark, 1. The whole passage, vv. 7-15, is digressive from the subject of the first part of this chapter, which is the discouragement of the performance of religious duties to be seen of men, and is resumed at ver. 16. Neander (Leben Jesu, p. 349, note) therefore supposes that this passage has found its way in here as a sort of accompaniment to the preceding verses, but is in reality the answer of our Lord to the request in Luk 11:1, more fully detailed than by that Evangelist. But to this I cannot assent, believing our Lord’s discourses as given by this Evangelist to be no collections of scattered sayings, but veritable reports of continuous utterances. That the request related in Luke should afterwards have been made, and similarly answered, is by no means improbable. (That he should have thus related it with this Gospel before him, is more than improbable.) 2. It has been questioned whether the prayer was regarded in the very earliest times as a set form delivered for liturgical use by our Lord. The variations in Luke have been regarded as fatal to the supposition of its being used liturgically at the time when these Gospels were written. But see notes on Luk 11:1. It must be confessed, that we find very few traces of such use in early times. Thol. remarks, “It does not occur in the Acts, nor in any writers before the third century. In Justin Mart. we find, that the προεστώς prays ‘according to his power’ (Apol. i. 67, p. 83, ὁ πρ. εὐχὰς ὁμοίως κ. εὐχαριστίας ὅση δύναμις αὐτῷ ἀναπέμπει).… Cyprian and make the first mention of the prayer as an ‘oratio legitima et ordinaria.’ ” An allusion to it has been supposed to exist in 2Ti 4:18, where see note. 3. The view of some that our Lord gave this, selecting it out of forms known and in use, as a prayer ad interim, till the effusion of the Spirit of prayer, is inadmissible, as we have no traces of any such temporary purpose in our Saviour’s discourses, and to suppose any such would amount to nothing less than to set them entirely aside. On the contrary, one work of the Holy Spirit on the disciples was, to bring to their mind all things whatsoever He had said unto them, the depth of such sayings only then first being revealed to them by Him who took of the things of Christ and shewed them to them. Joh 14:26.

οὕτως] παραδίδωσι τύπον εὐχῆς, οὐχ ἵνα ταύτην μόνην τὴν εὐχὴν εὐχώμεθα, ἀλλʼ ἵνα ταύτην ἔχοντες πηγὴν εὐχῆς ἐκ ταύτης ἀρυώμεθα τὰς ἐννοίας τῶν εὐχῶν. Euthym. Considering that other manners of praying have been spoken of above, the βατταλογία and the πολυλογία, the οὕτως, especially in its present position of primary emphasis, cannot well be otherwise understood than thus, i.e. ‘in these words,’ as a specimen of the Christian’s prayer (the ὑμεῖς holds the second place in emphasis), no less than its pattern. This, which would be the inference from the context here, is decided for us by Luk 11:2, ὅταν προσεύχησθε, λέγετε.

Πάτερ ἡμῶν] This was a form of address almost unknown to the Old Covenant: now and then hinted at, as reminding the children of their rebellion (Isa 1:2: Mal 1:6), or mentioned as a last resource of the orphan and desolate creature (Isa 63:16); but never brought out in its fulness, as indeed it could not be, till He was come by whom we have received the adoption of sons.

‘Oratio fraterna est: non dicit, Pater meus, tanquam pro se tantum orans, sed Pater noster, omnes videlicet una oratione complectens, qui se in Christo fratres esse cognoscunt.’ Serm. lxiv. 4 App. vol. v. pt. ii. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου καὶ ἔχθραν ἀναιρεῖ, καὶ ἀπόνοιαν καταστέλλει, καὶ βασκανίαν ἐκβάλλει, καὶ τὴν μητέρα τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων ἀγάπην εἰσάγει, καὶ τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἐξορίζει πραγμάτων, καὶ πολλὴν δείκνυσι τῷ βασιλεῖ πρὸς τὸν πτωχὸν τὴν ὁμοτιμίαν, εἴ γε ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις καὶ ἀναγκαιοτάτοις κοινωνοῦμεν ἅπαντες. Chrysost. Hom. xix. 4, p. 250.

ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς] These opening words of the Lord’s Prayer set clearly before us the status of the Christian, as believing in, depending upon, praying to, a real objective personal God, lifted above himself; to approach whom he must lift up his heart, as the eye is lifted up from earth to heaven. This strikes at the root of all pantheistic error, which regards the spirit of man as identical with the Spirit of God,—and at the root of all Deism; testifying as it does our relation to and covenant dependence on our Heavenly Father.

The local heavens are no further to be thought of here, than as Scripture, by a parallelism of things natural and spiritual deeply implanted in our race (compare Aristotle, περὶ οὐρ. i. 3, πάντες γὰρ ἄνθρωποι περὶ θεῶν ἔχουσιν ὑπόληψιν, καὶ πάντες τὸν ἀνωτάτω τῷ θείῳ τόπον ἀποδιδόασι καὶ βάρβαροι καὶ Ἕλληνες ὅσοιπερ εἶναι νομίζουσι θεούς, δηλονότι ὡς τῷ ἀθανάτῳ τὸ ἀθάνατον συνηρτημένον), universally speaks of heaven and heavenly, as applying to the habitation and perfections of the High and Holy One who inhabiteth Eternity.

ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου] De Wette observes: ‘God’s Name is not merely His appellation, which we speak with the mouth, but also and principally the idea which we attach to it,—His Being, as far as it is confessed, revealed, or known.’ The ‘Name of God’ in Scripture is used to signify that revelation of Himself which He has made to men, which is all that we know of Him (ὄνομα τοίνυν ἐστὶ κεφαλαιώδης προσηγορία τῆς ἰδίας ποιότητος τοῦ ὀνομαζομένου παραστατική. Orig. (Thol.)): into the depths of His Being, as it is, no human soul can penetrate. See Joh 17:6: Rom 9:17. ἁγιάζω here is in the sense of keep holy, sanctify in our hearts, as in ref. 1 Pet. τὰ σεραφὶμ δοξάζοντα οὕτως ἔλεγον Ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος, ὥστε τὸ ἁγιασθήτω τοῦτό ἐστι δοξασθήτω. Chrys. Hom. xix. 4, p. 250.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. The editor here adds, vv. 9-12, the Lord’s Prayer. This is found in Luk 11:1-4 in a different context and in a shorter form. Mt. probably drew it from the Logia. In the source from which Lk. drew it its Jewish and eschatological colouring had been partially obscured. The Jewish phrase “which art in heaven” had been omitted. The further omission of “Thy will be done as in heaven, so upon earth,” partially obscures the eschatological significance of the first three petitions as they stand in the first Gospel. The substitution of sins (ἁμαρτίας) for ὀφειλήματα avoids the Jewish metaphor implied in the latter word. Lastly, the omission of “but deliver us from evil” avoids an ambiguous phrase. See below.

(L) Thus therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in the heavens, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven so upon earth. Our daily bread give us to-day. And forgive us our debts, as we forgave our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.]—οὕτως] i.e. “after this manner,” not “in these words.”—ὑμεῖς] in contrast to αὑτοῖς, v. 8.—πάτερ—ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς] See on 5:16. The first three petitions are eschatological in scope, and pray for the inauguration of the kingdom; cf. Introduction, p. lxix. For the aorist imperatives as appropriate in prayer, cf. Moulton, p. 173. When the kingdom has come, God’s name will be sanctified and His will will be realised.—ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομα σου] Cf. Isa 29:23 “They shall sanctify My name,” Eze 36:23 “I will sanctify My great name.” The “name” of God is equivalent to His nature as revealed. In one respect His name is profaned when His people are ill-treated. The sin of the nation which brought about the captivity had caused a profanation of the Name, Isa 43:25, Isa 48:11, Eze 36:20-23. By their restoration His name was to be sanctified. But this sanctification was only a foreshadowing of a still future consummation. Only when the “kingdom” came would God’s name be wholly sanctified in the final redemption of His people from reproach. Thus the petition, “Hallowed be Thy name,” carries with it the anticipation of the next clause. “Hallowed be Thy name.” Yes, but when can that be? Only when the kingdom is inaugurated. So “Thy kingdom come.” Cf. the collocation of the two clauses, “May His great name be sanctified,” and “May His sovereignty reign,” in the Jewish prayer cited below. Further, when His name has been sanctified in the redemption of His people and in the establishment of the kingdom, then, and then only, will it be true that God’s will is done. Hence the third petition forms the climax of the first two. D* a b c k omit ὡς before ἐν οὐρανῷ. With or without ὡς the sense is the same: “May Thy will be done” throughout the universe. The addition of ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ (τῆς) γῆς does not exclude the reference to the coming “kingdom,” since there is nothing in the Gospel which leads us to believe that the editor thought of that kingdom as purely heavenly or spiritual. True, the Son of Man is to come on the clouds of heaven, and the elect are to be gathered from the ends of the earth. But, on the other hand, the wicked are to be gathered out of the kingdom, and the just to shine forth in it (13:41-43). The phrase “heaven and earth shall pass away,” 24:35, need not be anything more than a rhetorical statement by contrast of the eternal validity of Christ’s words; cf. 5:18. Even if they are understood as a direct statement of a future passing away of the heaven and earth (cf. Isa 65:17, Isa 66:22), they must be interpreted in the light of the conception of the παλιγγενεσία of 19:28, in which the apostles are to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. The contrast heaven-earth is frequent in the later Jewish literature; cf. Berakh 29b “Do Thy will in heaven above, and give rest of spirit to them that fear Thee beneath”; 17a “May it be Thy will, O Lord our God, to establish peace in the upper family and in the lower family”; Joma 39a “If a man sanctifies himself below, they sanctify him above”; cf. Psa 135:6.

The prayer passes from aspiration for the sanctification of God’s name by the inauguration of the “kingdom,” in which His will will be universally recognised and carried into effect, to three petitions which concern the daily life of those who are awaiting the “kingdom.” The first is for the satisfaction of bodily necessities.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.