Lord’s Prayer: Part 1 Introduction

The Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father is one of the most important texts in Christianity. It was directly taught from Christ Himself in two of the Gospels; Matthew and Luke. It also appears in the Didache (8 v 4), a first and second century document which details the apostles’ teachings.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, the prayer is placed in the context of the Sermon on the Mount. Here, Christ teaches how His follows should pray. In Luke’s Gospel, the disciples come to Jesus and ask Him how to pray.

In most Bibles, there are slight differences between the two Gospel narratives:

Matthew 6 v 9-13

This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Luke 11 v 2-4

He said to them, “When you pray, say:

‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.

And lead us not into temptation.’

When we look at the many ancient manuscripts, the variations seem to mix up different parts. So in Luke’s version some copyists might have written ‘Our Father in Heaven’, instead of Father.

The Didache has a more similar feel to the prayer which is used in most churches today:

Didache 8 v 4-10

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth;
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one;}
For Thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever.

This makes me think that by the time the Didache was compiled, the prayer was codified. What I find interesting is later in the Didache, Christians are asked to pray this prayer three times a day.

In some Bibles we might see NU-Text in the footnotes. This relates to the different groupings of ancient manuscripts. NU-Text relates to the Alexandrian manuscripts. Some academics have argued these texts are older than the Byzantium manuscripts, which was traditionally used to translate the Bible.

If we just use the NU-Text we get a much shorter Lord’s Prayer, which also doesn’t have the last line,

For Thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever.

So which is correct? These differences likely come out of the oral traditions of different communities. The Alexandrian tradition for the shorter prayer was established in Egypt, while the longer Didache prayer was codified in the Greek churches.

The differences aren’t a major problem as the purpose of the prayer remains the same, to recognise who God is and that we need Him.

What is Prayer?

Many people think Christian prayer is simply petitioning God to do what you want. There is an element of this when we ask God for help, but prayer is as much about changing us as asking for God to change our circumstances.

Prayer is an opportunity to bring our requests to God, and allow His will to be done in our lives. Just as Christ prayed on the Mount of Olives.

Luke 22 v 42

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus asked for the ‘cup of suffering’ to be removed from Him, but only if it was His Father’s will.

Prayer is about communicating with God. Allowing Him to share in our lives, hear our concerns and what worries us. It’s like a father and child relationship, where the father wants the best for His child, which sometimes means saying ‘No’.

In some ways, it’s like the relationship between a king and their subjects. Where the weaker party asks for justice, and the stronger one gives their ruling.

The more we pray and submit to God’s will, the more we are changed. How we interact with those around us changes too. And God can choose to meet our requests, not just our spiritual needs, but our physical ones too. Ultimately, we need to trust Him.

The Lord’s Prayer shows us how to prayer. It tells us we need to recognise His rule and reign and trust His decisions are just and fair. It’s not about twisting God’s arm or persuading Him through clever arguments, but about us humbly submitting and accepting His will.

This series will look at each line of the prayer and unpack its meanings. I will use the most common version of the prayer as it is used in most liturgy.

In the Paid Subscribers section of this series, I will talk about how the Lord’s Prayer interacts with popular culture. Due to the speech code issues in the UK, I put the more sensitive discussions behind the pay wall.

This time I look at the Lord’s Prayer and the occult.