Thus therefore pray ye

Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

NASB Matthew 6:9–13.

The Prayer Template for the Way of Life

The text starts with:
Greek: ουτως ουν προσευχεσθε.
My translation: According to this manner make prayer.

The Didache says it a little differently “This is what you should pray”.
And the copy of the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:2 uses similar language.
Greek: Οταν προσευχησθε λεγετε.
My translation: While you make prayer use this expression.
NASB: When you pray, say.

What is immediately obvious when reading the various translations of the initial introductory statement by Jesus, is that this prayer is a framework. It has all the ingredients of what the Lord is looking for when we pray.

It also appears that the Luke version, and the Didache seem to lean towards praying it verbatim. Not as a special formula but as a type of sacrifice.

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
Heb 13:15

And the Didache concludes with “This is what you should pray three times a day.” linking it to the daily sacrifices similar to how Daniel did so while in exile. [Daniel 6:10].

It’s also important to note that the prayer itself starts with “Our Father”, not “My Father”. This seems to indicate that the intention is for it to be used as a corporate prayer. Perhaps as a congregation or a family.

This framework for prayer is something that I’ve selected to pray verbatim in a group or corporate setting. But treat it more as a guide for personal prayer.

Personalization Example

Father in Heaven, may your name be sanctified in the way that I live, in the workplace, at home. Tomorrow when I speak to this friend, may I be a good representative of Your Kingdom. And let us advance your Kingdom in the actions we select to take.
Whatever our plans are, you are the Lord of my life and You have the permission to change my direction at any point.
Please show me today a piece of the coming Kingdom. My mom is dealing with a health issue, would you give us a taste of your Kingdom by healing her.
Show me if there are any offenses that I need to forgive today, and thank you for the covering of your mercy in my life.
As I go to the workplace, and there are ungodly influences, do not allow me to fall in the grasp of these temptations. May all power, glory and honour be yours forever. Amen.

What About the Ending | The Doxology

If you’ve grown up with the Lord’s Prayer memorized, you likely ended it with: "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.".

You may be surprised to know that this does not exist in early manuscripts.
In fact some more recent translations such as the ESV do not include it at all. The NASB includes it in brackets.

So Where did it Come From?

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.

Does this sound familiar? This is not something written by Christians, not even in the New Testament. It is much older. You will find this declaration in 1 Ch 29:11.

How would language from the book of Chronicles, make it into modern day Christian bibles, and be recited by believers worldwide?
How many are aware that they are quoting what is considered by Christians one of the top 4 most boring books of the Old Testament?

As it turns out, all the early Christians were Jewish. In fact it would be more accurate to say that Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism, being referred to as the sect of the Nazarenes. Paul referred to himself as belonging to this sect in Acts 24:5.
And Jewish prayers often concluded with doxologies.

The earliest record of this doxology is in the Didache. It’s a first century writing. Likely written by the apostles as a manual for followers of Jesus for the goyim [gentile nations].
The copy of the Lord’s Prayer in this book is verbatim to the one in Matthew. Except that it includes the doxology at the end.

This indicates very early on, congregations were corporately praying the Lord’s Prayer word for word. Per the common Jewish practice of adding these type of endings to prayers.

At this point you might be thinking, I’ve never heard of the Didache, why are we all familiar with this doxology and how did it get into the King James translation of the Bible?

During the 16th Reformation of Western Christianity, the protestant translators working to compile an English translation of the Bible that was as close to the sources as possible, only had access to Byzantine manuscripts which came from the Greek Orthodox Church. The only other option was to use sources from the Roman Church, which as you might imagine was not considered a viable option for the protestants.
While it’s purely speculation, it’s possible that the Byzantines added the doxology to their greek manuscripts for convenience when it was being used for recitation.
Regardless of why it was added, we can be fairly certain that this was a widely established ending used by early believers, based on the wording in 1 Chronicles 29:11.

The Kingdom Prayer

The Kingdom is a central focus in the Lord’s Prayer, and what I want to do here show how each component of the prayer speaks of the Kingdom in some way.

Πατερ ημων ο εν τοις ουρανοις αγιασθητω το ονομα

My translation
Our Father in Heaven, may your name be sanctified.

This invocation establishes the foundational reality that undergirds kingdom prayer: God’s sovereignty and majesty demand recognition and reverence.
He is elevated above the kingdoms of the earth. And He commands all power in His Kingdom.

ελθετω η βασιλεια σου γενηθητω το θελημα σου ως εν ουρανω και επι της γης

My Translation
May Your Kingdom Grow, May your will in Heaven, also be upon the earth.

Most translations say something like “Your Kingdom come”. The thing is, “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” according to the words of Jesus in Luke 17:21b. Which implies that at the very least, the Kingdom has seeded as a mustard seed, and is growing. It appears in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus is teaching us to pray that His Kingdom will continue to be established, and come to a state of fullness.

τον αρτον ημων τον επιουσιον δος ημιν σημερον

My translation
The bread of ours for tomorrow, grant it to us in the current age.

Nowhere is the kingdom focus of the prayer more evident, than in this statement regarding bread.
Most Christians think of this statement as a request for our daily needs. But just a few versus down Jesus says “do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink”. There must be something more to this request. And there is.

If you look at the greek word επιουσιον that many English translations have as “daily”, it is only used in 2 places in the whole Bible. Which is Matthew 6, and Luke 11, both in the Lord’s Prayer.
The only other sources we have for this word is again the Didache. It appears nowhere in wider Greek literature, whether Christian or Pagan.
If the writer wanted to say daily, there are common greek words that can be used to communicate this.

In Matthew 15:26 Jesus said “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”. And the children’s bread he was referring to is the goodness of the Messianic age, the Kingdom.

Back to the greek word epiousios, there is evidence the word is better translated “tomorrowly” or “of tomorrow”. Many Bible commentators agree that it is a Kingdom focused word.
I believe Jesus is telling us to ask for a portion of the coming Kingdom, immediately today. Think of expectations of the Kingdom including perfect health, abundance, victory over evil, restoration of Israel and universal recognition of the one true God. Jesus wants to give us a foretaste of these things today.

και αφες ημιν τα οφειληματα ημων ως και ημεις αφιεμεν τοις οφειλεταις

My translation
And forgive our offenses, in the same way we forgive those who have offended us.

Rooted in Israel’s redemptive traditions of Jubilee and the Sabbatical Year. Every seven years “each creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor”. This represents the fundamental building block of freedom in the Kingdom.
Forgiveness is not merely a personal virtue, without it participation in the Kingdom is not possible.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions. The LORD then declares, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”.

Just as Israel had to be freed from slavery in Egypt, those who wish to enter the Kingdom must be freed from the slavery of unforgiveness.
The request to forgive our offenses is a call for the righteous principles of redemption to be applied in our present age.

και μη εισενεγκης ημας εις πειρασμον αλλα ρυσαι ημας απο του πονηρου

My translation
And do not bring us into the grasp of temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

The Lord’s Prayer ends on a major eschatological point. One of the promises of the New Covenant is that “they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me.”.
This final petition expresses that we are prone to sin, and we are yearning for the consummation when our Lord will put an end to all that is evil, and establish his eternal kingdom of righteousness and holiness.

On a personal application level, the disciples themselves were all tested and without divine strength the temptations would have been too intense to resist. When we humble ourselves and submit to the reign of the Holy One, He is able to deliver us from situations where otherwise we would be unable to stop ourselves from falling.

To recognize Jesus as the one who rescues us from the evil one, speaks of the future Kingdom age where God’s righteousness will reign completely, where there will no longer be any temptation to sin, and all the world will know the Lord.