Thursday, March 7, 2013

The Lord's Prayer Study



(This single-session study on the Lord's Prayer was prepared for the "Study and Fun" group at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church)



What is prayer?


The Westminster Shorter Catechism answer is:
Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God,
 for things agreeable to his will,
 in the name of Christ,
 with confession of our sins,
 and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.

Do you have any memories of praying the Lord's Prayer as a child?


The context of the prayer in Matthew is a teaching deploring people who pray in public for show.
Jesus instructs us to pray in the manner prescribed in this prayer.

It was taught as an example for prayer, not to be the prayer we pray by memory. Verse 9a: note that Jesus tells his disciples to pray "this way." (He does not say pray "these words" or "this prayer.")
– and yet we find value in saying this prayer word for word.

On Easter Day 2007, it was estimated that many of the two billion Christians of all faiths shared in the celebration of Easter would read, recite, or sing the short prayer in hundreds of languages. (From Wikipedia article on The Lord’s Prayer)


Our Father,

  • "Our Father": We all are aware that God is not a male being who is physically our father as conceived in human terms.  But we call God “Father” because human language is all we have, and in human language, God is much like our father.
  •  and that God is also referred to metaphorically with maternal images. (Cf. Psalm 131.2; Isaiah 40.11; 66.13; Matthew 23.37.)
  • Psalm 131: But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
        like a weaned child with its mother;
        like a weaned child is my soul within me.
  • Isaiah 40:11  He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
        he will gather the lambs in his arms;
    he will carry them in his bosom,
        and gently lead those that are with young.
  • Keep in mind that in Jesus' time, in a patriarchal society, the father was the authority figure who was assumed to have control and power over the family. (Matthew 5.16; 26.39 and 53; Romans 6.4; Ephesians 1.17; and Philippians 4.20 are examples where the power and glory of God as father are emphasized.)
  • In the Old Testament, God as father also includes implications of God as our creator. (Cf. Deuteronomy 32.6 and Malachi 2.10; 1 Corinthians 8.6.)
  • We also see the role of God as father as one which emphasizes God's compassion and our relationship to God as children. (Cf. Matthew 6.26; 7.11; 18.19; Luke 6.36; 15.11-32; John 14.23; Romans 8.15; 2 Corinthians 1.3; Galatians 4.6.)

which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;

  • Can we take the Lord’s name in vain by using this prayer?  If it means nothing?
  • "Hallowed be your name": "Hallowed" means to be holy, pure, sacred.
  • The "name" of God, both as a means of addressing God and an indirect way to refer to God, is to remain as holy, pure, and sacred as God is.
  •  Cf. Exodus 20.7 (the 2nd Commandment); Leviticus 19.12; Psalm 69.30; Daniel 2.20.
 thy kingdom come;
On one level – this is the Second Coming.
On another level – it is to reflect the coming kingdom NOW.  The Kingdom will come in the future and is reflected NOW by the hands of those faithful who work for a better world. These believe that Jesus' commands to feed the hungry and clothe the needy are the kingdom to which he was referring.
On another level – this is not the Second Coming in a global sense, but a spiritual growth in a personal sense. 
Scripture teaches that the "kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:21), or "within you" suggesting a psychological or spiritual condition of the individual. In this interpretation, the petition in the Lord's Prayer asks for this inner kingdom—that is, attainment of personal salvation, moral and psychological, and reference to this condition as "thy kingdom" suggests an implicit contrast between it and conditions dominated by selfish egoistic desires.


thy will be done,
in earth as it is in heaven.

John Ortberg interprets this phrase as follows: “Many people think our job is to get my afterlife destination taken care of, then tread water till we all get ejected and God comes back and torches this place. But Jesus never told anybody—neither his disciples nor us—to pray, 'Get me out of here so I can go up there.' His prayer was, 'Make up there come down here.' Make things down here run the way they do up there.”[17] The request that “thy will be done” is God’s invitation to “join him in making things down here the way they are up there.”  (Ortberg, John Ortberg. “God is Closer Than You Think”. Zondervan,2005, p.176.)

Give us this day our daily bread.

            DAILY is such a common word in our vocabulary.  But the interesting thing is that when Matthew wrote the Lord's Prayer in his Gospel, the word that was used for DAILY was far from a common word (epiousios ).  In all Greek literature, the word that is translated as DAILY appears nowhere else except here in the Lord's Prayer.  We're talking about 1000s of books, millions of scraps of paper that have survived in museums and archives, and not one of them uses this word that Matthew uses for daily.

            Oh wait -- there is one.  It is a scrap of paper that was apparently a shopping list -- a grocery list.  On that piece of paper is the word DAILY.

            Even though the word is so rare, it is easy to translate because it is a combination of two common words.  We do the same thing today, for example a pistol is often referred to as a hand-gun.  Two words used together to refer to a weapon.  Or a trolley is often called a street-car.  You get the point.

            Matthew and Luke both record the Lord’s Prayer with a word for “daily” that combines two common words and it has left scholars struggling with what Jesus meant with this prayer. (Epiousios seems to be a combination of the Greek words epi (upon or for) and ousia (needed sustenance) creating a sense of “for today’s needs.”)

            The combination of words that we translate as DAILY can be understood as "give us today what we need for tomorrow."  That sounds wonderful, but it is out of touch with the rest of the Gospel teachings.  After all, it was Jesus who said immediately after teaching his disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer, "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, what you will wear or what you will eat.  Today has enough concerns." (Matthew 6:25)

            Other scholars have said that this unusual word for DAILY means "the day's necessary things." 

            Anyone who has ever taken a look at the food labels on cartons has seen the explanation of the vitamins and minerals and calories.  One phrase on that label is "daily minimum requirement."  Food makers sell cereal based on how it has 100% of the daily minimum requirement.

            So with this meaning, the prayer asks only for what we need -- not for what we want, but what we need. 

            Actually, I believe the answer is both.

            In the Lord's Prayer we are praying that God will give us today what we will need for tomorrow, so that we will not have to be anxious for things.

            And it also means that we are asking only for what we need.  Not what we want.
                       


And forgive us our debts,
as we our debtors.

The Lord’s Prayer ought to be the one prayer that all people memorize and that we can all say together.  But gather any group of English speaking Christians together and what will happen?  They will do just fine until they come to the phrase, “Forgive us our…” and then let the chaos begins.  Part of the group will say “debts,” part will say “trespasses” and part will say “sins.”

            I am occasionally tempted to change the wording of the Lord’s Prayer in our worship services.  I’ve thought of trying to please everyone by making the congregation say, “Forgive us our DEBTS, as we forgive those who TRESPASS against us.”

            So, what is it that Jesus wanted us to say here?

            This is an interesting phrase in that the word Jesus used here is an uncommon word.  The word for “sin” or “debts” or “trespasses”  is a word that is used only one other time in the New Testament, and only once in all of the Old Testament.

            There are actually five different Greek words that are used in our New Testament for the concept of “sin.” The most common is a hunting phrase – it means “missing the target.” (Hamartia)
           
            I had a professor in Seminary who went hunting for rabbits one day.  He talked about seeing a rabbit, taking aim with his rifle, and pulling the trigger.  He missed, but the rabbit was frightened and began to run.

Being a bit of a dumb bunny, the rabbit was disoriented and began running toward the hunter.

            My professor took aim again and pulled the trigger.

            He missed again, and the rabbit kept running.  It ran right between my professor’s legs.  My professor turned took aim, pulled the trigger.
           
            And missed!

            Missing the target – the failure to be what God wants us to be.  The failure to meet His divine expectations.  That is sin. 

            When Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer in Luke’s Gospel, the word that is used is this very common word for sin – “missing the mark.” But in Matthew’s Gospel, the word Jesus used is a different, far less common word.

            The word that Matthew uses is a financial word that means debt, or a failure to pay that which is due. (Opheilema ).  It is used in only two other places in the Bible, and in both instances, it is a financial term. (Romans 4:4 and Deuteronomy 24:10)  However, it was used in some of the non-religious literature as a word referring to sin.

            The philosopher Plato used this word as a child’s obligation to pay the debt he or she owed to the parents (Laws 717B ).  God is described in the Lord’s Prayer as our Heavenly Father, and we owe him a debt.  He has done much for him, we therefore ought to give Him honor, praise, obedience, and yet we fall short of paying that debt.  We always will.

            That explains two versions of the Lord’s Prayer – “forgive us our sins/forgive us our debts”  -- but where does the word “trespasses” come from?  It comes from the words Jesus says after the prayer.  “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
           
            The word that is used there for sin is neither one of the other two words we have discussed – missing the mark or owing a debt of obedience.  The word here refers to stepping into some place you have no business being – and the English word for that is “trespassing.” (Paraptomata.  A similar word, parabasis actually is closer to the word “trespasses” and is often used in the Bible for “sin.”)

            You’ve seen those signs in the woods and in the countryside. 

            “No Trespassing!”

            “Violators will be shot.”

            “Survivors will be shot again!”

            But it is more than simply walking willingly into a place where you don’t belong. 

            So we have these three levels of meaning in this petition of the prayer:

  • Missing the mark – we aim for the target of living a godly life, and we miss.

  • Debts – we owe an obedience to God, and sometimes we don’t even try to pay it.

  • Trespasses – our lives skid out of control and we end up in a place we don’t want to be in life.

And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.

James 1:12–15 teaches us that God tests or tempts nobody, some see the petition in the Lord's Prayer as implying that God leads people to sin. So this is a request that we not be led by ourselves, by others, by Satan into temptation.

Since it follows shortly after a plea for daily bread (i.e., material sustenance), it can be seen as referring to not being caught up in the material pleasures given. A similar phrase appears in Matthew 26:41 and Luke 22:40 in connection with the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”


[For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.]
The doxology of the prayer is not contained in Luke's version, nor is it present in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew. It is thus absent in the oldest and best manuscripts of Matthew, and most scholars do not consider it part of the original text of Matthew.  Modern translations generally omit it.

The first known use of the doxology, in a less lengthy form ("for yours is the power and the glory forever"), as a conclusion for the Lord's Prayer (in a version slightly different from that of Matthew) is in the Didache, 8:2.

That is a very early Christian document dating back to the second century AD.  

This doxology has similarities with 1 Chronicles  – "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all."

Let's end our study by praying together the prayer our Lord taught us to pray.

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