The
Lord’s Prayer : Matthew 6:5-15 New
American Standard Bible
5
“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand
and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen
by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But you, when you
pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is
in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
7
“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles
do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 So do not
be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9 “Pray, then, in this
way:
‘Our Father who is in
heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in
heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our
daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our
debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
14
For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will
not forgive your transgressions.
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
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; Acts 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 (Ps. 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, Luke 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 (Luke 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 (Ps. 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, Ps. 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, Ps. 33:13, 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, Ps. 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, Eccl. 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 (Matt. 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, Ps. 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 Luke 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; 1 Sam. 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 (1 Pet. 4:2), much less Satan’s will (John 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 (Prov. 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 (Prov. 20:17), not the brad of idleness (Prov. 31:27),
but the bread honestly gotten. (3.) We ask for our daily bread; which teaches
us not to take thought for the morrow (Matt. 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 (Matt. 5:39, 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 (Ps. 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 ponerou—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, 1 Chron. 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, Ps. 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 (1 Cor. 14:16), and uprightly, with life and liveliness, and
inward expressions, answerable to that outward expression of desire and
confidence.
8658
Lord’s Prayer, the
Bible
Dictionary
The
name given to the prayer Jesus Christ taught his disciples, probably as a model
prayer for regular use.
Aspects
of the Lord’s Prayer
1.
A
recognition of God as Father and Lord Mt 6:9 pp Lk 11:2 See also Mt 7:21; Mt
16:17; Lk 10:21; Eph 3:14-15
2.
A
desire for God’s perfect will to be done Mt 6:10 pp Lk 11:2 See also Mt 12:50;
Mt 26:39,42; Ac 21:14; Col 1:9; Heb 10:9
3.
Asking
for physical provision Mt 6:11 pp Lk 11:3 See also Mt 6:31-32; Mt 7:9-11
4.
Asking
for forgiveness Mt 6:12 pp Lk 11:4 See also Mt 6:14-15; Mt 18:23-35; Mk 11:25;
Lk 23:34; Col 3:13; 1Jn 1:9
5.
Asking
for spiritual protection Mt 6:13 pp Lk 11:4 See also 2Co 1:10-11; Jude 24; Rev
3:10
for yours is the kingdom and the power and the
glory for ever. Amen.
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