Matthew 6:9-15
9 Pray like this:
Our heavenly Father, may your name be revered.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our portion of bread.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.)
14 For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if you do not forgive their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.
Luke also has a version of the Lord's prayer. For further discussion, see the appendix Comparing Matthew to Luke on the Lord's prayer.
Our heavenly Father
We, as sons (or children) of God now have a right to call the formerly unknown God by the intimate name "Father." Once having this intimate relationship, we really ought realize how holy God is, how much we should desire to do his will. We are both to pray that God's kingdom come here on earth and realize that it is already among the born-again Christians. (Granted, Jesus' disciples had not yet been born again when he gave this talk, but some were already chosen for rebirth in the Spirit once Jesus was resurrected.)
If you have never met your dad, thinking of him as your Father is difficult. Without the help of Jesus, we don't know the Father. Yes, he is our father in the sense that he created us. But we don't relate to him as a member of his intimate family. Only when we have put our faith in his son, Jesus, are we treated as true members of the family – as sons of God, in fact.
Jesus is also specifying that God alone is to be our Father, for our human fathers are now not to rule us, assuming we are of age. More importantly, we are to look to our divine Father for guidance more so than we do our human father, and if necessary, to turn away from our human father. [LP.2]
Matthew 23:9
May your name be reveredCall no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
(Usually rendered 'Hallowed be your name.')
Whatever name we use to refer to God, we should hold God in very great respect in our thoughts, words and actions. He should be the focus of our being. We should be ever mindful of him. This is not so easy for the natural, unregenerate person. But for those born of the Spirit, the love of God strongly tends to be realized. When Jesus gave his followers this prayer, he no doubt was looking forward to the day, after his resurrection, when the Spirit would empower people to truly hold God's name in awe and respect.
Your kingdom come
That kingdom is breaking through under Christ's ministry, but is not consummated until the end of the age. While first century Jews tended to look forward to the Messianic kingdom, the readers of Matthew not only look forward, but also perceive that the kingdom has already broken through, as the sun's rays peek over the horizon near dawn, and pray for its extension as well as for its unqualified manifestation. Won't it be wonderful when no one needs to preach about salvation, because everyone knows Christ! In the meantime, there is a big harvest of souls awaiting the few laborers for Christ. Ask God to send more workers! (Matthew 9:37-38)
As the commentator D.A. Carson observed, the typical Jew "looked forward to the kingdom whereas the reader of Matthew's gospel, looking forward to its consummation, perceives that the kingdom has already broken in and prays for its extension as well as its unqualified manifestation."
For further discussion of the divine kingdom, see appendices on From the days of John until now and Concerning the kingdom of heaven.
Give us today our ration of bread
As Jesus points out in other verses, we should not be overly concerned about food and other material needs. Yet, there is value in reminding ourselves of that dependence by asking God to provide our bread for the day.
Bread was up until very recently known as the staff of life. If nothing else was available, healthy, non-processed bread would keep a person going physically. Of course, then as now, "bread" was a metaphor for sustenance.
The poor were really poor in former times as they were right up until the past two or three centuries in the New World. "Jehovah jireh" = the Lord will provide... for the needs of those who put their faith and trust in him. Yet, we should not take God's provision too lightly. There is value in focusing on the fact that he is the one helping us, especially those of us who are disciples (=students).
But, in any case, why think about what we are going to put on the table Friday if today is Monday? With Jesus, we may take one day at a time.
We are to ask Father to meet our basic needs for the day, not because he doesn't already know our needs, but to keep us in a right relationship with him. We are ever-reminded that we do not "earn" our daily strength. God provides that. Consider the Israelites who worked overtime to "earn" more manna for their larders. They labored in vain, because the manna would only keep a short time. God provided for them daily, and they did not work hard to receive that sustenance.
Let us not forget that Jesus is the bread of life. So we need his grace with us one day at a time. Just for today. Tomorrow's troubles are not worth the bother of hashing over. Let them go for now. Let us consume the bread of life: to "eat up" Jesus and everything about him, especially his will, which is the Father's will. We are to live and breathe Jesus, which we will do if we try to avoid quenching the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Recall that Jesus' food is to do God's will (John 4:34).
You can do nothing without Jesus, and hence the Father.
John 15:5
Even for mundane matters, none of us, whether born again or not, can
do anything without Jesus giving consent.
I am the vine, you [as sons of God] are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, yields much fruit. For without me you can do nothing.
Matthew 28:18
So even when people are led into temptation, fall and commit criminal
acts against their fellow humans and God, Jesus and our Father are
involved, one way or another.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power in heaven and earth is given to me.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive...
According to scholars, the word "debts" plainly means "sins." A person who sins against someone else injures him and so, by ancient custom, the injured person had a right to seek revenge, or at least some kind of payment (like lawsuits of today). But why should we sue for redress of a grievance? God, through the sacrifice of his son, forgives our sins.
At this point, we may think of Jesus' story about the oppressive servant who hounded others to pay him back what they could ill afford, despite his having been forgiven all the debt he owed to a king. When the king heard about the servant's cruelty, he reimposed all the debt that that servant owed him (Matthew 18:23-35). How can we not bask in God's graciousness and release our resentments, forgiving others who have wronged us? Isn't our destiny the wonder of eternal life? How can we complain? So then, should we not also forgive people who owe us money? Why demand repayment? God will provide our true needs. Why not let that go? Clinging to the need to get money back is like clinging to Mammon. Wrong direction. Turn around, and get God good.
Forgiving the debts owed us by others is not the easiest thing for many of us. But the oft-heard assertion, "I will never forgive that," carries a grave danger to the speaker. Jesus has already warned earlier in the Sermon, as he does elsewhere in the gospels, that forgiveness is an imperative component of the Christian walk.
In fact this particular admonition is placed immediately after the model prayer:
Matthew 6:14-15
Temptation14 For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if you do not forgive their offenses, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.
During refining, metal is tested to see what needs yet to be done, to assure that it is purged of nonessential weak material so that only the durable matter is left. When your faith is tested, God is helping you to see where you are in your spiritual progress, so that you learn to cast off the inessential. Its purpose is somewhat like the goal of Marine Corps boot camp or Army basic training.
Further, how can you learn to rely on God without being placed in situations where you have little wiggle room?
If a person indulges in much self-will, perhaps God will lead him to learn a hard lesson, in order that he become more modest and humble toward God, which is for his own good, since those who primarily serve themselves serve Satan, the evil one. For example, observe that the alcoholic or drug addict has followed a path that leads him into the hands of the evil one. If he is fortunate, he turns to God and recovers, perhaps through Alcoholics Anonymous [LP.4], from the disordered condition that has overcome him. Though God did not wish that person to go down that road, even so he ordained that difficult path for that person. That person was "led into temptation" on account of the poor choices he made. Of course, this principle doesn't only apply to alcoholics and addicts. It is a consequence of our blindness in this fallen world.
Such a fall certainly doesn't mean that God is angry with people who have fallen into the devil's snares. After all, God sent his son to deliver us from the evil one. Yet, as long as a person refuses to turn to Jesus, the "wrath of God" rests over him. God is not personally angry. But by refusing to turn to the light, the balky person is keeping the disorderly state of mind, and the pain, of this fallen world.
John 3:36
Yet even a born-again Christian will make mistakes, sometimes major
blunders. So a new son of God is wise to ask the Father
not to let him go astray, to ask that, should he veer off the right path, that
God guide him back to where he belongs. Please don't let me follow a
false light, Oh Lord – because, without your help, I am very likely to do just that!
He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.
As we have said, a most important part of the Christian walk is to overlook the wrongs done to us by others. Jesus explains this point in Matthew 6:13-14 and in a number of other places in the gospels. But danger is lurking for Christians and even more so for those who are near, but who have not come, to Christ. They need help averting a nasty fall. Matthew's addition of "but deliver us from evil" serves to remind the hearer that a hard test (=temptation) is sent by Hell in order to block the potential believer from coming to Christ as well as to hinder the born-again believer from succeeding in his walk with the Lord. Some of these temptations were indeed very difficult, as when governmental and religious oppressors gave Christians a choice between denying Jesus and death.
Was not Judas led into temptation by Jesus and his Father, even though Judas was unwittingly doing the devil's work? Jesus, at the instance of his Father, at some point chose Judas as a devil (i.e., a tare or weed). When Jesus' final hour arrived, he directed Judas to hurry and do what he had to do (John 13:27). God was not doing evil to Judas. Judas had already worked his way into this role, as he was money-hungry. God authorizes everything, including the works of Satan. When we are children, we learn to avoid, say, the evil of a hot stove. The stove is fine in Mom's universe, but we are to steer clear of it.
In addition, there is no "right" to receive God's grace. Grace is unmerited favor from God. We should be mindful of these blessings, and try not to take his grace for granted (though the sons will, to some extent, tend to take the Father's provision for granted). If God withheld his grace from you, you would soon be led astray. In current times, God sends his rain on the just and the unjust, on the saved and the not-yet saved. Though the unsaved benefit much less from God's grace than the saved, at least they get some reflected light, and there is hope for them.
Once the final judgment has occurred, those who have rejected Jesus after many opportunities will finally get their way. No more Jesus at all. No Savior. No light of the world. No sense of God. Hell. Hell is what you get when the Savior is not present.
It is too bad anyone must endure this, as Jesus already endured such a torment when, having taken our place, he cried out in anguish, "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me!?" (Matthew 27:46)
Why would God lead anyone into temptation and into the hands of the evil one?
Well, consider the instance in which Paul ordered – through spiritual means – the destruction of a man's body.
1 Corinthians 5:1-5
Paul used his Holy Spirit power from a distance to cause the destruction of the weak believer's body – not for punishment, but for an emergency amputation. The man had to be disconnected, via some harsh physical illness, from the powerful sinning body in order for him to be released and saved. But, because he was born again, the true man was in the spirit and not the body. An unregenerate man who dies in his sin still has a dead spirit after death of the body, as he did during his physical lifetime.5 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
In this particular case, we cannot say that the man was led into temptation, but he was certainly led to Paul, who took drastic spiritual action in order to assure the brother's eternal life, as well as to bolster the young church at Corinth.
The doxology: Kingdom, power and glory
These words appear to have been added to Matthew for liturgical reasons by the early church. One commentator thinks the words are meant to "seal" the prayer, a practice found, he says, among ancient Jews. Certainly it is beneficial to be reminded that God is totally in charge! It is unthinkable that Jesus would have objected to this "comment." In any case, it is certainly possible that Jesus said something close to this during his earthly ministry and that a Matthew editor incorporated that saying. But it is also possible the redactor wanted to underscore the meaning of "your kingdom come." True servants of God will obey God, though learning to do so well is a lifelong process. As we saw from the foregoing discourse, the way God would like for us to act – the "heavenly" way – is what we are to aspire to here on earth.
The unforgiving can't heal
Those who hold onto resentments and grudges remain in a stew of cloudy thinking that prevents them from experiencing the blessings of God's forgiveness. This is why Matthew repeats the warning on forgiveness here. It is so important that your ability to experience the kingdom is at stake!
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