Our communication with God basically divides into two types: prayer and praise. Prayer includes invocation, petition and intercession. By contrast, praise includes thanksgiving, rejoicing, blessing and offering. Interestingly, the various Hebrew words for praise all indicate actions such as making a noise, gesturing, assuming certain postures, and playing or singing music. James 5:13 expresses the difference between the two types of communication: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.” Other differences are shown below:
Prayer Praise
need abundance
getting giving
asking telling
“please” “thank you”
negative positive
absence presence
So which category does the Lord's Prayer fall into? At first glance, it would seem to squarely fit the
description of prayer. But the last phrase is a doxology, which encourages us to view it as praise as well. I will save until later the issue of whether that doxology actually came from Jesus or was added later when the Lord's Prayer began to be used for liturgical purposes in the church.
Our
This is given as a corporate prayer, not an individual one.
“The point is this: We need each other as we worship God. Both Testaments stress the concept of the people of God. It is in the community that the dynamics of worship are deepened. It is in the flow of people interacting that worship will be broadened...When we come together to worship God, we do so as a family. We come as brothers and sisters, mutually to stimulate one another.” (Allen and Borror, Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel, p. 49)
Father
This intimate view of God is said to be unique for the time. It is the translation of the word Abba, or Daddy. This was the address Jesus himself used in all but one of his prayers (The exception was “My God, why have you forsaken me?”). Jesus says that we can use the same address as he used. Why? Galatians 4:6 says that “we received adoption as sons.” Therefore we are joint heirs with Christ.
Note that this describes a horizontal relationship as well as a vertical one, both established by one event – the cross.
Jesus gave up, temporarily, his unique position as Son of God in order that we might be children of God. Our only basis for using the word Father is our relationship in Christ; it is the same as praying in Jesus' name.
One unknown commentator has a number of good remarks to make concerning each of the phrases in the Lord's Pray. So I will give his or her comments in italics for you to consider.
“I cannot say Father if I do not demonstrate this relationship in my daily living.”
which art in heaven
Hebrews 11:6 says, “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists.” That is not only the minimum requirement, it is what we have the most to thank Him for – His very existence.
Where is heaven” Anywhere God is. These first few lines couple God's nearness and his distance from us. The High Church usually emphasizes the distance while the Low Church emphasizes the closeness—especially in relationship to Jesus. Witness hymns such as “What a Friend We have in Jesus” and the lyrics “He walks with me and he talks to me and he tells me he is my own.” A balance of both is needed to get the complete picture.
“I cannot say 'who are in heaven' if all my interests and pursuits are earthly things.”
The contrast between the personal relationship expressed in “our Father” and the exalted view of God in “who art in heaven” is too great to fathom.
William Hendricksen reminds us, “We are pilgrims below, our real home is in heaven. One day we can address God without adding 'who art in heaven' for we will be with Him forever.”
hallowed be thy name
So far in the prayer we have discussed the Person we are approaching and those with whom we are doing the approaching. Now Jesus deals with the attitude with which we should corporately approach Him. To “hallow” means to honor, glorify, exalt, hold in reverence, sanctify and make holy. Holiness really summarizes all of God's attributes, His complete Otherness. In terms of the “name,” in Jewish thought that stood for the person himself – his actual essence.
The Book of Leviticus provides the most complete presentation in the Bible of the concept of holiness. Basically, there are three classes of places, people or things: holy, clean, and unclean. Unclean can be cleansed to become clean, and clean can become polluted to become unclean. Clean can be sanctified to become holy while holy can be profaned to become merely clean. Man's natural processes and efforts only lead to profaning and polluting. On the other hand, only God can cleanse and sanctify.
Christians have a different perspective on these categories than did the Jews. The most holy place in the OT was the Holy of Holies; for the believer, God's Temple in which He dwells is within us corporately and individually. The most holy people outside of God Himself were the priests; now we “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people” (I Peter 2:9). “You, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him.” (Colossians 1:21-22)
“I cannot say hallowed be thy name if I, called by His name, am not holy.”
thy kingdom come
Most people don't really realize that they are praying for the end of the earth as we know it. Revelation 22:20: “The one who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
“I cannot say thy kingdom come if I am unwilling to give up my own sovereignty and accept the righteous reign of God.”
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
This goes together with above phrase. There are different understandings as to when that will happen, but all Christians are agreed that it will happen according to God's timing.
“I cannot say thy will be done if I am unwilling or resentful of having it in my life. I cannot say on earth as it is in heaven unless I am truly ready to give myself to His service here and now.”
Give us this day our daily bread
Here is a tongue-in-cheek “new translation” of this phrase for today's world:
“We respectfully petition, request and entreat that due and adequate provision be made, this day and the date hereinafter subscribed, for the satisfying of this petitioner's nutritional requirements and for the organizing of such methods as may be deemed necessary and proper to assure the reception by and for said petitioner of such quantities of baked cereal products as shall, in the judgment of the aforesaid petitioners, constitute a sufficient supply thereof.” (T. Kimes, “How to Clarify your Business Writing”)
“Daily” is a hapax legomenon (i.e., it appears only once in the NT). One proposed meaning is “our bread for tomorrow.” Why only for one day? This may represent the same principle as when God provided manna in the desert, but only enough for one day at a time (or two days in the case of the Sabbath). We should always live a life of day-by-day dependance on God.
“I cannot say give us this day our daily bread without expending honest effort for it or by ignoring the genuine needs of my fellow men.”
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Skip down to verses 14-15 for the relation between our forgiveness and God's. Jesus also explains it in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:23-35).
Here are some pertinent quotations on the subject from various commentators:
Human forgiveness is not an achievement but a duty that will be punished if ignored.”
“Human forgiveness is not the basis of divine forgiveness, but it is evidence of a life lived on the principle of divine grace.”
“Forgiveness from God is a gift of God's grace, but we must take the gift seriously and make the right ethical response if we are to appropriate the gift and incorporate it into the structure of our lives.”
“He was teaching the impossibility of the unforgiving being forgiven; he was not drawing any parallel between God and us in relation to the basis of forgiveness.”
“Human forgiveness is neither a pre-condition for God's forgiveness, no can it make any claim to it; rather, it is an echo and a command of the forgiveness received.”
“It is not a business transaction: God does not keep office ledgers.”
“A forgiving spirit is made easier for Christians when they consider how much God has already forgiven.”
Look at Luke's version (in 11:2-4) and compare the whole prayer at the same time. I had one Sunday school teacher who was an extreme dispensationalist. He said that Christians do not have to ask God for forgiveness after they have been saved. When asked about this particular phrase in the Lord's Prayer, he dismissed it by explaining that Christians today are not supposed to recite this prayer because it was only valid during the period of Jesus' earthly ministry. We must watch out for this type of erroneous reasoning since it could easily be used to invalidate most of Jesus' teachings.
“I cannot say 'forgive us our trespasses” if I continue to harbor a grudge against anyone.”
and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil (or The Evil One).
Read James 1:13. Is there a contradiction? The same Greek word can be translated as either temptation or trial, according to its context within a sentence. NRSV says “Do not bring us to the time of trial.”
“I cannot say deliver us from evil if I am not prepared to fight the spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer.”
Doxology
The final words found in the KJV of verse 13 appear in none of the earlier manuscripts, were never quoted by the early church fathers, and do not appear in the parallel passage in Luke. They were probably added when the Lord's Prayer was later adapted for liturgical use by the church. Does that mean that they are unbiblical? Not at all, since they express thoughts echoed elsewhere in Scripture. Then are they non-biblical? Actually, the language in this doxology comes primarily from the conclusion of David's prayer in I Chronicles 29:11-13:
For thine is the kingdom
“I cannot say thine is
the kingdom if I do not give the King the disciplined obedience of a
loyal subject.”
For thine is the power
“I cannot say thine is the power if I fear what my neighbors and friends may say or do.”
and the glory
“I cannot say thine is the glory if I am seeking my own glory first.”
Forever
“I cannot say forever if I am too anxious about each day's affairs.”
Amen
This is an appropriate ending to any prayer, but many of us do not realize what the word really means. What is the original Greek or Hebrew word? It is actually the same in English, Hebrew and Greek. So it is usually not translated, just transliterated. We see the same things with words like hallelujah (Praise Jah), hosanna (save, we pray), and maranatha (O Lord, come). If we compare Luke's Gospel with the others, we see that he sometimes translates it as “truly” or “in truth.”
Root meaning = firm, true, certain or reliable
to the end of an oath (Deuteronomy 27:15-26) “Cursed is he who...And the people shall say Amen” This is repeated twelve times in the passage. All the people are to confirm it and agree to consequences.
God the Amen (Isaiah 65:16) is in other translations: RSV-the God of truth, NRSV- the God of faithfulness, New English- the God whose name is Amen, Good News- the faithful God. Amen is given at the end of an oath (as in Deuteronomy. 27:15-17) or a blessing.
Since God witnesses our confirmations, he is called this.
Christ the Amen (Revelation 3:14) takes up idea of Isaiah 65:16. “Faithful and true witness” is practically a definition of AMEN.
In the OT, it occurs mainly in a liturgical setting, such as in the Psalms.
It is interesting that in Synagogue services, the congregation said Amen only to the doxologies and benedictions (What is the difference between the two?), not the prayers. In this context it expresses confidence in the faithfulness of God (saying Yes to God). Rabbis taught that if the leader was a Jew, the congregation should say Amen after each benediction. If he was a Samaritan, they should wait until the entire benediction was over to make sure he didn't add anything they didn't agree with. I have the same hesitation when worshiping in churches that utilize responsive readings not taken directly from the Bible. I Corinthians 14:13-17 demonstrates that a person hearing a thanksgiving must hear it in their own language so that they can say AMEN in agreement.
Paul puts an Amen to the ends of some his own benedictions and doxologies, which is unlike the synagogue practices of the time. It is likely that in the letters he is acting as a spokesman for the whole congregation. (Romans 1:24-25) It can also be viewed as a sort of a spontaneous outburst of Paul – notice the “truth of God” in this passage. In Revelation 22:20, the church answers AMEN to endorse a promise.
“Amen” occurs 126 times in the NT. In the Gospels, only Jesus uses it, 25 times in John's Gospel as a double AMEN.
Used as a preface it is practically unique with Jesus. There are no parallels in rabbinical literature of the time (We are told that the people felt that unlike the Pharisees, Jesus spoke with authority).
Revelation 7:11-12 is the only example in the Bible outside of Jesus' sayings. Archealogists have uncovered only one 7th cent. BC ostrakon in which a private party says “Amen, there is no mistake on my part.” But in general, only Jesus prefaces his words as True. “They are an expression of his majesty and authority.”
Usage by Jesus: “Verily, verily I say (archaic)...” “Of a truth” “Truly” today doesn't convey the solemness of this pronouncement. It preceded a statement that was very important and usually caused some surprise or went against popular opinion. It “introduces new revelations of the mind of God.” Jesus saying “Amen, Amen I say to you” is the equivalent to the OT “As I live, says the Lord.”
Today's usage is mainly as a conclusion to the words of someone else (usually in prayer). So it really departs from biblical examples in two ways: (1) used after prayer requests, rather than blessings or thanksgivings, and (2) Attesting to the sincerity of the words and of the conviction that the Father will attend to our needs. In other words, we use Amen to mean “let it be so.”
The first time this particular useage is seen is in the Septuagint, which transliterated Amen eight times, used “truthfully” once, and translated it 17 times by “let it be so.” This phrase obscures the original meaning of confirming something as true (with attendant obligations on the speaker to help carry out intended action). Dictionary of OT Theology and Exegesis: “If Christian usage of 'amen' is to be informed by the OT, then to say 'amen' to a prayer should imply a commitment to pray and also to live, where appropriate, in such a way as to further the fulfillment of that prayer.” I read years ago that every time we make a request of God in prayer, we should automatically consider whether there isn't something we can do to help fill the need ourselves.
Read II Corinthians 1:18-22
as a summary. This whole passage is built around the meaning of Amen.
One commentator has said, “With the Amen of their own sonship, he
is suggesting, the Corinthians themselves are affirming Christ is the
sign of God's faithfulness. And through the Holy Spirit, we are able
to say Amen. Note that in verse 20 this is “to the glory of God.”
This fits with rabbinical teaching that their saying Amen to a
benediction or doxology actually increased God's glory.
“I cannot even say amen unless I honestly say, 'Come what may, this is my prayer.'”
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