The Lord’s Prayer: A command and address.

Class Outline:

Thursday December 1, 2022

 

We’ve seen the context of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew, which immediate context is the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew, Jesus’ ministry begins with His message of “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Then, He calls some disciples to follow Him and they leave their old life behind and immediately do so. Matthew is emphasizing obedience, which is the necessary component of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the life and conduct of the blessed disciple of Christ who is not under the law, but has the law written on his heart because he loves the one who wrote the law. The disciple abides in Christ through obedience and he purposely keeps in consistent communication with the Father according to the will of the Son, his Mediator.

 

JOH 15:7

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.”

 

Abiding is obeying.

 

MAT 6:9-13

"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.

 

From the start we need to know that the Lord has given us a command.

 

Literal translation: “Therefore, thus, you pray (present imperative): Our Father …”

 

A command among many.

 

When we try and smooth out the Greek to make good English, we get “Pray in this way … “Pray in this manner … Pray like this …”

 

Wallace in An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (p. 722) states that this is a customary present imperative. “The force of the customary present imperative is simply continue. It is a command for action to be continued, action that may or may not have already been going on. It is often a character-building command to the effect of “make this your habit,” “train yourself in this,” etc.

 

“You should therefore pray as follows …” [Wallace] “The focus is not on urgency, nor on a momentary act. This initial command at the beginning of the Lord’s prayer means, “Make it your habit to pray in the following manner.”

 

This initial command fits in with the Lord’s follow up commands to pray later on in His sermon. After He warns us not to be anxious and then not to judge others (i.e., don’t be anxious about others), He gives us another command (three in one) “Ask … seek …knock.”

 

MAT 7:7-11

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

 

Wallace classifies these (ask, seek, knock) as iterative present imperatives, which is a repeated action. That is, “do it again and again.” “The force of the commands is, “Keep on asking … keep on seeking … keep on knocking…” [Wallace]. And remember, “your Father who is in heaven (reminder from the prayer) [will] give what is good to those who ask Him.”

 

The Lord’s Prayer is in the gospels. We must interpret it as:

1) A part of the story of Jesus.

2) What the writer wanted his audience to know.

 

What kind of literature is this? The Lord’s Prayer is found in the gospels (Matthew and Luke). Prayer taught in the epistles is not like this. The gospel is a narrative about the story of Jesus whereas the epistles are instructional throughout, comprised of paragraphs of argument and exhortation. Therefore, we expect to find the Lord’s Prayer to be presented differently than instruction on prayer from Paul or Peter in their letters.

 

The gospel literature tells the story of Jesus while at the same time it addresses the gospel writer’s contemporaries; their audience. When we read the gospels, we want to keep both of these eyes open. It is a nuance, but an important one. The reason someone is writing something and to whom is going to affect what they write. We remind ourselves that the Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t mean that they sit with paper, and pen and then go into a trance; waking up later to the words before them. We can easily see that the writers all have different styles and they often have different audiences.

 

The gospels are about the life of Jesus. What does this passage tell us about Jesus?

 

Jesus prayed in a way that was unique to common Jewish prayer and He wanted the disciples to learn how to do it themselves.

 

Luke’s account helps us to answer this more confidently.

 

LUK 11:1-2

And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples." 2 And He said to them, "When you pray, say:

 

The disciples knew well the morning and evening common prayers; the prayers of thankfulness for bread, the psalms, the Shammah, etc. They wouldn’t have asked Jesus to teach them that. Jesus was doing something unique.

 

They’re not asking to know how John prayed, but that John taught his disciples to pray and they would also like personal instruction. And, as in Matthew, He uses the imperative, “When you pray, say (legete).” From lego, it is a very common word for speaking. And, one thing we might easily miss. Who has the authority to command us on how to pray to the Father? It’s more than a command to the act of prayer, which the apostles do. It is a command on what to say. However, we might have to memorize it in Greek. (But since that would be akin for most of us to speaking in tongues, it should help us to understand that we are not being commanded to parrot the words, but that we must convey the truths contained in the words, which truths transcend language).

 

The limits of the text are six petitions divided directly into two parts: praising God the Father for His Person and work (kingdom and will); petitions for our needs (satisfaction / contentment), confession of sins (anxious for nothing and not judging others), petitions for guidance and wisdom as we make our way on the narrow road.

 

Perhaps the front of the limit is the warning not to pray to be noticed, but to go into your inner room, and you will be rewarded in secret.

 

MAT 6:5-8

“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.”