Applying the Fourth Commandment (Love in Theology Pt 1 Series, 6 of 6)

Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Ex. 20:8–11)

"You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." (Deut. 5:15)

What is the Command?

The fourth commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." You must set apart one day in seven to rest from all your work and be refreshed in your worship.

• The first commandment answers the question, "Who do you worship?" It addresses the object of your worship and commands you to worship only the right God—not other gods (idols). The first commandment reveals the principle of exclusivity that is necessary to flourish in life: that you must worship God above everything and everyone.

• The second commandment answers the question, "How do you worship?" It addresses the method of your worship and commands you to worship God truthfully—without false images. The second commandment reveals the role of your imagination so you worship the right God rightly—in spirit and truth.

• The third commandment answers the question, "Why do you worship?" It addresses the purpose of your worship and commands you to honor God by not misusing his name. The third commandment reveals the purpose of your life: to bring honor to God's name in all that you do and say.

The fourth commandment answers the question, "When do you worship?" It reveals the pattern of your worship and commands you to remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. The fourth commandment reveals your life rhythm—to work for six days and then rest and be refreshed in worship on one day weekly.

To worship the one true God (first commandment) in a true way (second commandment) that brings honor to his name (third commandment), you must remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (fourth commandment).

To keep the Sabbath day holy means to set one day apart every week by stopping all your normal work so that you can rest and be refreshed in your worship of God on that day. You remember the Sabbath day because of how easy it is to forget God's astonishing love for you, especially when you're facing the demands of life.

God graciously designed the Sabbath to help you keep remembering the good news about who he is and what he has done for you as your Creator, Redeemer, and Restorer.[1]

Jesus' statement, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), signifies the profound difference between a false view of the Sabbath as a strict day of burdensome religious duties, and the biblical view of a day of great delight and joy for God's glory and your good (Isa. 58:13—14).

Therefore, to stop all your work and gather with God’s people to be renewed and refreshed in worship on the Lord’s Day is both your solemn duty and joyful privilege.

What is forbidden?

God forbids you to work on the Sabbath day, except for works of mercy and necessity. The reason God forbids you to work for one day every week is so that you can be refreshed by resting and worshiping him.[2]

God also forbids you to cause others to work on the Sabbath day so that they may also experience the blessings of rest and worship (Ex. 20:10).[3]

You are not to misuse (profane) the day by things you do or do not do. The Sabbath is a day God designed to help you experience the renewal of your whole being. Therefore, it may include sharing meals, walking in nature, engaging in activities that strengthen relationships, listening to music, reading, etc.

But what is forbidden on the Sabbath is doing these kinds of good things without making the primary focus of the day the renewal of your personal relationship with God—especially by "not neglecting to meet together" for public worship with other believers (Heb. 10:25).

However, by both his words and life, Jesus teaches that works of necessity and mercy are not forbidden on the Sabbath. Instead, they're encouraged.  Works of necessity and mercy refer to actions needed to meet essential and urgent needs such as safety, health, and hunger which cannot be postponed without causing harm.

When Jesus' disciples were hungry on the Sabbath, he allowed them to break the Sabbath traditions created by religious leaders by plucking grain and eating it (Matt. 12:1–4). Jesus also healed many people on the Sabbath, including Peter's mother-in-law, a man with a crippled hand, and a woman possessed by a demonic spirit (Matt. 8:14–15, 12:9–14; Luke 13:10–17, 14:1–6).[4] Jesus taught that works of necessity and mercy are actions that honor God and show God's love to people by upholding the "weightier matters of the law" like "justice and mercy and faithfulness" (Matt. 23:23).

What is required?

God requires you to set apart one day in seven to rest from all your work and be refreshed by your worship of him.

The Bible instructs believers not to neglect meeting together (Heb. 10:25), and the early church sometimes met daily (Acts 2:43). Debates have persisted over the correct day for Christian rest and worship—Saturday, Sunday, any day, or no specific day.

Some believe that because the Sabbath was included in Jewish ceremonial laws, it is no longer for Christians. However, most Christians throughout history have believed that God gave the fourth commandment to be a continuing moral law.[5] Paul condemns the superstitious observance of the Jewish Sabbath (Col. 2:16), not the moral "one-day-in-seven Sabbath" established by God for all image bearers at creation.[6]

Sunday is the most common day of rest and worship for Christians worldwide because the Sabbath has transitioned from a Jewish commemoration of God's creation and redemption in the Exodus on the seventh day, to a Christian commemoration of God's creation and redemption in Christ through his resurrection on the first day of the week.[7]

No matter which day you keep the Sabbath, God's design is for you to see it as a perpetual sign of his covenant love and faithfulness to you as your triune Creator, Redeemer, and Restorer.[8] Therefore, God's requirement to keep the Sabbath includes

remembering the good news (gospel) about his magnificent acts in creation (Ex. 20:11), redemption (Deut. 5:15), and restoration (Heb. 4:8–11).

Remembering God's Magnificent Acts in Creation

In Exodus 20:11 God instructs you, as his image bearer, to keep the Sabbath by imitating his divine pattern in creation of six days of work and one day of rest.[9] You imitate God's example by stopping all your "normal work" so that you can spend one day on what the English Puritans called "holy work."[10]

This includes remembering God's magnificent acts of creation in your worship, both with others and privately, as you celebrate God's creative acts through songs, prayers, Scripture readings, and sermons. It's a day to remember how your work is part of God's work in the world, and to celebrate all the blessings of your work as God's good gifts.

On the Sabbath, you follow God's example to appreciate the work you've been able to complete during the last six days, seeing your work as a part of God's work through you in the world, and giving thanks for it. Learning how to rest from your work on the Sabbath includes learning how to trust God with all your unfinished work.

Remembering God's Magnificent Acts in Redemption

In Deuteronomy 5:15, Moses gave the Ten Commandments again to the next generation of Israelites who had not experienced firsthand God's deliverance of their parents from their slavery in Egypt. The Sabbath became Israel's weekly celebration that affirmed their identity as God's redeemed people, set apart for his divine mission on earth.

The Church, as the New Israel, observes the Sabbath as a weekly celebration of God's redemptive acts through Jesus Christ. It's a day to remember God's redeeming love for you by hearing the preaching of God's word and receiving the Lord's Supper, given by the one who said at his last Passover meal, "Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor. 11:25). 

Remembering God's Magnificent Acts in Restoration

Israel’s observance of the Sabbath was also a day to remember and celebrate God's magnificent acts of restoration, through which they entered their promised rest in the land (Deut. 3:20, 12:9–10, 25:19; Jos. 1:13, 15).[11] In Hebrews 4:1–11, God promises you a Sabbath "rest" that is far better than the rest God gave Israel in Canaan.[12] This rest is described as "good news" with both a present and future blessing.[13]

Hebrews tells us there remains a "Sabbath rest" today that can only be found in the completed work of Jesus Christ. You enter this rest when you stop trying to earn your salvation by all your works so that you can rest alone in the saving work of Jesus for you.

However, your ultimate Sabbath rest is not just the salvation of your soul after death, but the promise of your bodily resurrection in a renewed creation in the age to come, that far surpasses the land of Canaan (Heb. 11:16; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev. 21:1–5).[14]

This is the hope God means to sustain you today, as you keep resting and worshiping on the Sabbath in anticipation of your ultimate rest to come with the One who says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).

Catechism Questions

What is the Fourth Commandment?

The fourth commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."

What is forbidden by God in the Fourth Commandment?

God forbids me to work on the Sabbath day, except for works of mercy and necessity.

What is required by God in the Fourth Commandment?

God requires me to set apart one day in seven to rest from all my work and be refreshed by my worship of him.

Footnotes:

[1] It's a day to remember that God gave his Son to redeem you, and when you believed in him, he gave you the gift of his Spirit so that you would be forgiven and experience the fullness of life with him now and forever.

[2] It can often be hard to stop all your work so that you can refresh your body and soul every week. Honoring the Sabbath day requires you to deepen your trust in God in ways that you need, but that you might not normally choose.

[3] In Exodus 20:10, Moses told Israel those who are not to work include "you, your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates."

[4] After healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus was criticized for breaking the Sabbath by the Jewish religious leaders known for teaching many burdensome Sabbath traditions. In response he asked them, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?" Luke records their response, "And they could not reply to these things" (Luke 14:5–6).

[5] All ten commandments, including the fourth, were spoken directly by God, inscribed by him on stone tablets, housed in the Ark of the Covenant, and were the basis of the Mosaic Covenant. The fourth commandment differs from the other nine because it is both a perpetual moral law for all humanity established at creation (before the Ten Commandments, e.g., Ex. 16:5, 23), and a Jewish ceremonial law in the Ten Commandments fulfilled in Christ.

[6] In the New Covenant, believers in Jesus are not under the Jewish Sabbath law(s), including the penalty of death for breaking the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14). This is why Paul taught that Christians no longer keep the Jewish "special days" (Rom. 14:5–6; Gal. 4:10).

[7] Having finished all his magnificent acts of redemption, Jesus rested in the grave on the Old Covenant Sabbath, then rose from the grave in his resurrection on the first day of the week. The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 59 summarizes this transition: "From the beginning of the world until the resurrection of Christ, God established the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. From that time until the end of the world the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath."

[8] The Sabbath is a sign of God's covenant love and faithfulness that "sanctifies" (sets apart) his people to remember who their triune God is and what he does as their Creator (Father), Redeemer (Son), and Restorer (Spirit). Just as the rainbow was a sign of God's covenant with Noah (Gen. 9:13,17), and circumcision was a sign of God's covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:11), the Sabbath was a sign of God's covenant with Moses. "Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you" (Ex. 31:12–13).

[9] God's rest on the seventh day was not due to his weariness but signified a dramatic shift from his acts in creation to his ongoing acts of sustaining and developing his creation to flourish according to his design. The Westminster Confession, Chapter V explains God's work of providence following creation. It describes how "God upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and things, from the greatest to the least, by His most wise and holy providence."

[10] Matthew Henry wrote, "The sabbath was made a day of holy rest so that it might be a day of holy work." Quoted in J.I. Packer, Growing in Christ, (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1994) 252.

[11] After many difficult years of struggling in the wilderness, this new generation of Israelites was about to enter the land of Canaan where God promised to restore them as his people and give them rest. In the book of Joshua, the story of Israel’s journey from slavery to rest reaches its climax when Israel finally enters the land God promised them and all their forefathers: "Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their father" (Josh. 21:43–44).

[12] "For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on" (Heb. 4:8).

[13] While the Israelites found physical rest in the Promised Land, Hebrews tells us there remains a "Sabbath-rest" for the people of God—rest that is found only in Jesus Christ's completed work. Therefore, God commands you to stop trying to earn your salvation by all your works, just as God stopped from all his works in creation, so that you can rest in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.

[14] Your final rest will not be a passive state, but an active engagement in the life of the new heaven and earth that will be characterized by worship, service, and ruling with Christ in a restored universe where there will be no crying, or mourning, or pain (Rev. 21:1–5).

Introduction to a Theology of Hope: A Biblical Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer by Dr. John M. Frame

In this volume we continue our project of summarizing the Christian faith in the concepts of faith, hope, and love (1 Cor. 13:13). Following the Enchiridion of St. Augustine, we are expounding faith using the Apostles’ Creed, hope using the Lord’s Prayer, and love using the Ten Commandments. So the present volume is about hope and will explain it by expounding the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4).

In Scripture, hope is not a temperamental optimism, nor is it a scientific process of analyzing our circumstances, weighing the chance of positive against the chance of negative ones. Rather, it is a sure and certain trust that all will be well, grounded in God’s own sure revelation.

Such a hope leads us to pray, not because we fear that God will not keep his word, but because we are sure that he will. That confidence authorizes us to pray, knowing that our prayer will be effective, knowing that God fully intends to answer us favorably.

So our hope is based on a conviction from Scripture that our future is governed by a loving heavenly Father who will certainly provide for us his family, forgive our iniquities, and heal all our infirmities. The Lord’s Prayer identifies God as precisely that kind of Father, glorious in his heavenly being and in his holy name. In prayer, we trust that his kingdom will certainly come and bring to our world universal obedience to his will.

The power and love of this great father will meet all of our needs, most amazingly the need we have for forgiveness of our sins against him. And he not only forgives us; he gives us new hearts, that we may forgive others as he has forgiven us.

To be sure, there is evil in the world until the final judgment, but our Father gives us victory over it, and one day that victory will be visible: all will see the triumph of God’s kingdom in power and glory, forever.

That is the biblical theology of hope. Over the past fifty years or so, theologians have discussed a different “theology of hope,” in which hope is linked to uncertainty rather than certainty. But like so many modern theological ideas, this view turns everything upside down.

The biblical theology of hope is based on certainty—not the certainty of temperamental optimism or of scientific rationalism, but the comforting words of our Father in Heaven, found in his sure word to us.

Dr. John M. Frame

Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy

Reformed Theological Seminary

Understanding Hope and the Lord’s Prayer (Hope in Theology Series 1 of 6)

Introduction

The Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments summarize the essence of what followers of Christ believe, why they have hope, and how they should live.

The Lord’s Prayer is the way Jesus taught his disciples to pray and the way most Christians have prayed throughout history, including those among the Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions.[1]

The New Testament reveals two accounts of Jesus’ teaching his disciples this prayer. The first account is early in his ministry, probably in Galilee, when he gives the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6:9-12). The second account is later in his ministry, probably in Judea, when one of his disciples asks him to teach them how to pray. (Luke 11:2-4) Jesus gives us this prayer in five simple verses in the Matthew 6 account.

Pray then like this:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day 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 evil.[2]

[For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.].[3]

Jesus’ intention in teaching his disciples to pray this new way is so that they would begin to think, hope, and live in a new way. He knew it was not possible for them to pray like this without aligning their lives with their prayers. So, the Lord’s prayer is marvelously full of meaning.[4] Theologian J.I. Packer says the Lord’s Prayer is “a key to the whole business of living. What it means to be a Christian is nowhere clearer than here.”[5] 

The Setting of the Prayer

Before examining the individual petitions in this prayer, it can be helpful to understand the contexts in which Jesus taught it in Matthew and Luke.

In Matthew’s account, Jesus teaches this prayer in the middle of his warning against the dangers of practicing religious righteousness to be approved by people. He begins this part of his Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” (Matt. 6:1)

Then Jesus uses the common practices of giving, praying, and fasting to help his hearers understand how they should practice these spiritual disciplines. In each of these three examples, Jesus draws a stark contrast between how religious hypocrites practice righteousness and how his followers should practice righteousness. When he addresses the practice of prayer, he distinguishes his approach to prayer with the religious traditions and practices in his day saying,

When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others . . . But when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them. (Matt. 6:5-8)

Jesus’ primary focus is on people’s underlying motivations for prayer. The pagans and religious hypocrites pray to earn favor with their audience or God by calling attention to themselves. Jesus says, “Do not be like them.” Instead, Jesus teaches his followers to have the motivation of a dearly beloved child who longs to know and honor God as their heavenly Father, by praying to God as “Our Father”.

In Luke’s account, Jesus teaches this prayer in response to a request from one of his disciples to teach them how to pray, soon after they observed Jesus finish his prayers. Luke writes, “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1)

The disciples regularly observed Jesus’ practice of prayer, including times when he would secretly separate himself from them to pray. Mark tells us, “Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

There were also many times the disciples heard Jesus pray when he was with them. There was something unique and compelling about how Jesus prayed that made his disciples want to learn how to pray like him.[6]

Luke’s account of Jesus teaching this prayer in Luke 11:2-4 is immediately followed by his account of Jesus continuing to teach about prayer in Luke 11:5-13. So, what does Jesus teach his disciples about how to pray after giving them the Lord’s Prayer?

In Luke 11:5-13, Jesus teaches his disciples to keep praying to God as their Father with the persistent, shameless boldness of a dearly beloved child. He teaches this to his disciples by telling them a parable about a man who has a need and knocks persistently on his friend’s door late at night until he finally gets up from his bed to answer. (Luke 11:5-8) Then, Jesus says,

I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? (Luke 11:9-12)

Jesus is teaching his disciples to be persistent in praying the way he had just taught them to pray – to be persistent in their prayers first and foremost for the Father’s name to be honored, for his kingdom to come, and for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus ends his teaching on how to pray by promising his disciples that the Father will answer their persistent prayers by giving them the greatest gift they could ever ask for as his children – the gift of himself in the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13).

Jesus is teaching that God himself is the ultimate gift to all those who “keep asking, seeking, and knocking” in their prayers. The greatest answer to prayer is not receiving what we ask God to give us – even things like our daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from temptation and evil – but the far superior gift of knowing, loving, and honoring the Giver as our Father in heaven.

The Meaning of the Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer has become so familiar to many Christians that they no longer think about the meaning of the words they’re reciting, ironically and unknowingly disobeying Jesus’ command not to pray with “empty phrases” (Matt. 6:7).

Understanding the overarching structure of the prayer can help us better understand the meaning of individual petitions. The petitions in the prayer are divided into two categories: 1) Godward petitions focusing on God’s honor, and 2) manward petitions focusing on human needs.

The first petitions repeat the pronoun “your” three times: 1) “hallowed be your name”, 2) “your kingdom come”, and 3) “your will be done.” The second petitions include eight personal pronouns: 1) Give us this day our daily bread, 2) forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and 3) lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

It’s also helpful to understand how the petitions relate to each other. For example, the first petition, “hallowed be your name” is best understood as the greatest of the three Godward petitions. We ask the Father to hallow his name by causing his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The three subsequent manward petitions for daily bread, forgiveness, and protection from temptation and evil should not be seen as disconnected from the Godward petitions – but the means to their fulfillment. We ask the Father to give us our daily bread, to forgive our sins, and to protect us from temptation and evil not ultimately for us – but so that we will hallow the Father’s name by causing his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Therefore, our study of the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and its applications to life and ministry will draw from this overall structure and its flow of thought found in the prayer.

Godward petitions for God’s honor:

1. Hallowed be your name.

2. Your kingdom come,

3. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Manward petitions for our needs:

4. Give us this day our daily bread,

5. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

6. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

 The Godward and manward petitions should be seen as a whole. In the Godward petitions Augustine teaches that we “ask for eternal goods,” and in the manward petitions we “ask for temporal goods, which are, however, necessary for obtaining the eternal goods. 

The Purpose of the Prayer

Jesus introduces all these petitions by saying, “Pray then like this” (Matt. 6:9). The Greek word translated “like this” (οὕτως) means pray “after this manner” – instructing us not merely to recite these words in prayer, although that’s acceptable, but to use them as a model for all our prayers.

Augustine teaches that praying in a “correct and proper way” means that we “say nothing that is not contained in the Lord’s Prayer.” So, we pray not only using “these very words”, but also “the other words we may prefer to say” that will help us follow the model of the Lord’s Prayer.[7]

Obviously we are not limited to praying only the exact words of the Lord’s Prayer. There are many prayers in Scripture, for example in the Psalms, that use very different words. The point is that the Lord’s Prayer is a model for our prayers. The prayers we bring to God are applications of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer.

For example, the Lord’s Prayer says “your will be done.” That authorizes us to pray specifically for all the ways in which we would like God’s will to be done: “Lord, please defeat those who promote abortion in our land.” “ Lord, help me to be faithful as I talk to my family about Jesus.”

Jesus teaches us to follow this model in all our prayers so we will understand that our purpose in life is the same as his – to hallow the Father’s name by causing his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. To do this, Jesus knows that we will need to be constantly trusting our heavenly Father for our daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from all the evil he came to conquer for our sake and for the sake of the Father’s name.

Jesus wants us not only to believe in these truths with our minds, but also to embrace them in prayer with our heart affections so that we will live out our whole lives in light of them. Only then can we know the hope of the gospel that is the hope of God’s glory, the hope of God’s kingdom, and the hope of God’s will being done on earth as in heaven.

Only then can we know the hope of God’s promised provisions of our daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil – especially as we dare to follow Jesus in the suffering that always accompanies those who pray and then live like this.

Conclusion

But sadly, most people don’t use the Lord’s Prayer this way, if they use it at all. Seeing how people in his day abused the Lord’s Prayer, Luther called it “the greatest martyr on earth.”

What a great pity that the prayer of such a master is prattled and chattered so irreverently all over the world! How many pray the Lord’s Prayer several thousand times in the course of a year, and if they were to keep on doing so for a thousand years they would not have tasted nor prayed one iota, one dot, of it! In a word, the Lord’s Prayer is the greatest martyr on earth (as are the name and word of God). Everybody tortures and abuses it; few take comfort and joy in its proper use.[8]

Luther’s harsh words against the abuses of the Lord’s Prayer are rooted in his heartfelt longing for God’s people to know and taste the riches God brings to all who pray it. He writes:

To this day I suckle at the Lord’s Prayer like a child, and as an old man eat and drink from it and never get my fill. It is the very best prayer, even better than the psalter, which is so very dear to me. It is surely evident that a real master composed and taught it.[9]

 Footnotes:

[1] Besides the New Testament, the earliest summary of Christian beliefs and practices is found in a first century document called the Didache from the Greek word Διδαχή for “Teaching” that includes a list of beliefs, including the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer, that were taught to converts before they were baptized.

[2] We’ll study later how the formatting of these verses reflects the relationship between the prayer’s primary and supporting petitions, e.g. God’s kingdom comes when his will is done on earth as it is in heaven, we ask the Father to forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, and our temptation includes the evil from which we need deliverance.

[3] The traditional doxology is found in the majority of New Testament Greek manuscripts (Textus Receptus and Majority Text) including the Greek uncials dating from the 5th-10th century and the Greek minuscules dating from the 9th-12th century. This is why the doxology is included in the English KJV and NKJV versions. But the doxology is not found in the earlier and best Greek manuscripts, including א, B, D, f1, various Latin and Coptic versions, and numerous church fathers. It’s also not found in Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:2-4. So, most modern English Bible translations do not include it or it’s placed in a margin or footnote, e.g. RSV and NIV. The use of this doxology probably arose when the prayer began to be used in public worship and needed a doxology at the end. It may be based on 1 Chronicles 29:11, “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.” So, it’s fine for believers to use this doxology to conclude the prayer, but it should not be seen as belonging to Jesus’ teaching.

[4] The Anglican Prayer Book Catechism reveals the fuller meaning of the Lord’s prayer. Question: “What desirest thou of God in this prayer?” Answer: “I desire my Lord God our heavenly Father, who is the giver of all goodness, to send his grace unto me, and to all people, that we may worship him, serve him, and obey him, as we ought to do. And I pray unto God, that he will send us all things that be needful both for our souls and bodies; and that he will be merciful unto us, and forgive us our sins; and that it will please him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly (i.e., spiritual) and bodily; and that he will keep us from all sin and wickedness, and from our ghostly enemy, and from everlasting death. And this I trust he will do of his mercy and goodness, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore I say, Amen. So be it.”

[5] The early church father Tertullian refers to the Lord’s Prayer as “a compendium of the gospel”. The English Puritan Thomas Watson calls it “a body of divinity”. J. I. Packer, Growing in Christ, Crossway Books, 1994

[6] It seems likely that when Jesus’ prayed, he used the same model for prayer he taught his disciples in the “Lord’s Prayer.” This argues against those who advocate changing the name of this prayer to the “Disciple’s Prayer.”

[7] Augustine writes, “It was very appropriate that all these truths [in the Lord’s Prayer] should be entrusted to us to remember in these very words. [But] Whatever be the other words we may prefer to say (words which the one praying chooses so that his disposition may become clearer to himself or which he simply adopts so that his disposition may be intensified), we say nothing that is not contained in the Lord’s Prayer, provided of course we are praying in a correct and proper way.”  From A letter to Proba by Saint Augustine, Bishop (Ep. 130, 11, 21-12, 22: CSEL 44, 63-64) On the Lord's Prayer.

[8] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, 43:200

[9] Ibid.

Praying that Our Father Will Hallow His Name (Hope in Theology Series 2 of 6)

Introduction: Our Father

Jesus begins his teaching on prayer by instructing his disciples to address God not only on their own behalf, but also on the behalf of others saying, Our Father – not My Father.[1]

Likewise, Jesus teaches that we should not pray “Give me this day my daily bread”, but “Give us this day our daily bread”, and not “forgive me my debts as I also have forgiven my debtors” but “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” And he does not teach us to pray “do not lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil” but “lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.”

Jesus is not forbidding his followers to address God as “My Father.” He also referred to God as “My Father” (Jn. 5:17), and he said, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17).

Nor is Jesus forbidding private prayer or prayer for one’s own needs. Just prior to giving his disciples these petitions, he encouraged them to pray privately, “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matt. 6: 6).

By instructing his disciples to pray using the pronouns our, us and we, instead of me, my, and I, throughout the prayer, Jesus is emphasizing the communal nature of the Christian faith and the bond of unity in the family of God and the body of Christ. He is addressing the disciples as a group, as the nucleus of the future church. And he is telling them how the church ought to pray together.[2]

Our Father

Jesus then teaches his disciples to address God in their communal prayers for each other as “Our Father” to impress on them what the God they are praying to is like. Throughout Scripture, God reveals what he is like by revealing his names.

 Prior to the time of Moses, God revealed what he was like by using simple, general Hebrew names, like El (אֵל‎), Elohim (אֱלֹהִים), El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי), translated as “God” and “God Almighty”. These names reveal God’s sovereign power and might, and his transcendent nature as the Creator and Ruler of all things who is high and lifted up in heaven over all things. 

Later God reveals himself to Moses using his Hebrew name יהוה‎ (transliterated as YHWH – Yahweh) to show that he is also a personal, faithful, covenant-keeping God of grace who promises to deliver his people by his great power (Exod. 3:15).

By giving himself a personal name, God reveals that he is a person and not an impersonal force or higher power.[3] In the New Testament, God retains many of these Old Testament names and translates his personal name YHWH as LORD using the Greek word κύριος (kurios) and applying that to Jesus.

But there is a new personal name for God added by Jesus Christ. It is the name Father from the Greek word Pater (Πάτερ) that is similar to the Aramaic word Abba used in Jesus’ time as an endearing expression of a child for a loving father.[4]

Abba was not normally used for God by the Jews of Jesus’ day, so they were angry when Jesus spoke of God as “my Father (Abba)”, and taught his followers to do the same, in a way that implied, in their view, that Christ-followers’ relationship with God was closer than other Israelites. (John 5:17-18)[5]

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to God as Father seventeen times as he teaches his followers about the life and values of all who trust in God as their Father in heaven.[6] And as Jesus suffered in the garden of Gethsemane, he prayed to God saying, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you” (Mark 14:36).

The name Father indicates God’s astonishing familial relationship with his people through Jesus Christ.[7] The New Testament teaches that followers of Jesus share in the relationship that Jesus the Son has with God his Father. This means that the love that God has for all who are in Christ by faith is the same love the Father has for his one and only Son.

Through faith in Christ, we’re adopted into the life of God’s family. God the Father becomes our Father, and God the Son, becomes our elder brother.[8] We who were once enemies and strangers to God are now in the high position of being his own beloved children.[9]  Paul writes, “You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)

To be considered right with God the Judge is wonderful, but to be adopted, loved and cared for by God the Father is even greater.[10] The Apostle John writes, “To all who did receive him (Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

One of the treasured rights as adopted children of God is our immediate and full access into God’s loving presence through prayer.[11] Jesus knew that the only way his followers could enter into the fullness of their relationship with God through him, and not be crippled by their fear of God’s punishment for their sin, was if they first knew how deeply God loves them as a Father loves his own children.

Therefore, Jesus teaches his followers not to look to the eloquent prayers of the religious professionals as examples of how to pray, but to how children relate to and speak with their loving fathers. Only then will their prayers be genuine, heartfelt, and sincere, because they know that their Father will always care for them and give good things to his children who ask. (Matt. 7:9-11)

Our Father in Heaven

This biblical concept of our closeness and intimacy with God as “Abba Father” does not imply a lack of reverence toward God. We must always have a healthy tension between bold endearment and humble respect when addressing God as “Our Father.”

To help us strike the needed balance between understanding God’s closeness to us as our loving Father and understanding God’s transcendence as our sovereign King, Jesus instructs us to pray to God as “Our Father in heaven.”

The word heaven in Scripture has several meanings, including the sky with clouds, God’s presence, and the state of angels and humans as they share God’s presence. Jesus’ reference to heaven in this prayer refers to the manifestation of God’s invisible and transcendent presence, sometimes referred to in Scripture as God’s kingly dwelling place and his throne room.[12]

The Bible teaches that God’s presence is everywhere in the universe – called the “heavens and earth” that God created in the beginning (Psalm 139, Gen. 1:1). But the concept of “heaven” that Jesus uses in this prayer refers to where God uniquely displays his presence in the universe.

In the beginning, before the Fall, God’s presence was uniquely displayed on earth with Adam and Eve in the garden paradise. It was literally “heaven on earth.” God is described as “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). There was no pain, suffering, disease, sickness, or death. The Hebrew prophets use the word “shalom” to describe this state of full peace, completeness, wholeness, and blessedness.

But because of the fall of humanity in sin, the fullness of God’s holy presence and blessing on earth had to be withdrawn. Heaven and earth are now tragically separated. The accomplishment of God’s will continues to be done perfectly in heaven, but no longer on the earth. This is why there is so much pain, suffering, disease, sickness, and death on the earth.

Apart from redemption, God is no longer down here on the earth “with us” as he was in the beginning. Instead, because of sin, God is pictured in the Bible as the transcendent, Almighty God who is now “up above” in heaven sitting on his throne, declaring, “‘Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1, Acts 7:49).[13]

In the meantime, Jesus instructs his followers to address God in their prayers like he does – with the intimacy of a child coming up into the lap of a merciful, loving father, and the respect and reverence of a servant bowing before the throne of his powerful, sovereign king.

By instructing us to address God in prayer as “Our Father in heaven,” Jesus teaches us to address God who is both our all-loving Father who is near us and our all-powerful, sovereign King who is ruling over all things from heaven on our behalf.[14]

Hallowed be Your Name

Jesus then teaches us to ask our Father in heaven for three things that are related to: 1) his name, 2) his kingdom, and, 3) his will.

The Greek phrase that is translated “Hallowed be your name” (ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου) is difficult to translate accurately.[15] Since this is a petition to God, the best way this can be expressed in English is to pray something like, “hallow your name!” As strange as it may seem at first, we are to ask the Father to hallow his own name.

What does “hallow” mean? The Greek word (ἁγιασθήτω) translated by the old English term “hallow”, means “to set something apart“, “to sanctify it” and thereby “to make it holy”. So, to ask our Father to hallow his name means we ask him to “set apart his name”, “sanctify his name” and thereby “cause his name to be celebrated and esteemed as holy.”

The concept of “God’s name” is used throughout the Bible to describe the revelation of God’s being and presence.[16] In Scripture, God’s name is inseparable from his person, it reflects his very essence – who he is and what he does. This is why God’s name is described in the Bible as especially sacred.

To hallow God’s name means to set apart and honor God for who he is in the fullness of his attributes and for what he does in the creation, redemption, and restoration of all things in Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit. God’s name is hallowed when he is exalted and when he receives the honor and glory he alone deserves as the Creator, Redeemer, and Restorer of all things in Christ.

The opposite of hallowing God’s name is profaning his name by not honoring and worshipping God for who he is and what he does. God said to Moses, “I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Lev. 10:3). But when Israel rebelled against God by disobeying his commands, he told Moses, “Speak to Aaron and his sons … so that they do not profane my holy name … you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel” (Lev. 22:2, 32).[17]

Israel’s disobedience, apostasy, and exile caused God’s name to be profaned and mocked by all the other nations of the world since they had been named as God’s people. In response to Israel’s profaning God’s name, God promises, through the prophet Ezekiel, to honor and vindicate his own name among the nations.

I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes” (Ezek. 36:23).

Likewise, in this first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to keep asking our Father in heaven to honor and vindicate his own name that is being profaned among the nations by their disobedience to his will. Throughout Scripture we learn that God has a great passion and zeal for his own name, honor, and glory. In Isaiah 48:9-11 God says to his people Israel,

For my name's sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off … For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

The most passionate heart to see God’s name honored among all nations is God’s heart. When God sees his name being profaned by the nations through their worship of false Gods, it awakens his holy and jealous zeal for them and for their worship. God’s holy jealousy for their worship is rooted in his knowledge that he created them so that they can only find ultimate happiness and joy in life by worshipping him alone.

Throughout the Bible we learn that God’s ultimate purpose for all things is to display the honor and glory of his name.

• God created us for his glory (Is. 43:6-7)

• God chose his people for his glory (Eph 1:4-6, 12,14)

• God rescued Israel from Egypt for his glory (Ps. 106:7-8)

• God restored Israel from exile for the glory of his name (Ezek 36:22-23, 32)

• Jesus teaches us to do good works for the Father’s glory (Matt. 5:16)

• Jesus teaches that God answers prayer so the Father will be glorified (John 14:13)

• God struck Herod dead because he did not give God glory. (Acts 12:23)

• God forgives our sins for his own sake. (Ps 25:11, Is 43:25)

• God instructs us to do everything for his glory. (1 Cor. 10:31, 6:20)

• Jesus is coming again for the glory of God. (2 Thess. 1:9-10)

• God’s plan is to fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory. (Hab. 2:14)

• In the new heaven and earth the sun will be replaced by God’s glory. (Rev. 21:23)

God’s primary purpose for creating the world is so that all the nations would glorify, worship and find their joy in Him. This is why we exist – to glorify God by enjoying Him and helping to extend the worship and enjoyment of God to all nations.

The Christian hope is that when Jesus returns he will make all things new so that God the Father will be honored and glorified in everything forever. (1 Cor. 15:24-25, 28) In the meantime, Jesus calls us to join with him and pray to our Father in heaven that his name would be hallowed.

Footnotes:

[1] Jesus’ emphasis on praying to the Father does not mean that we should not also pray to the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus invites his followers to join with him in the inter-Trinitarian fellowship of the Godhead as the Father glorifies his name through the Son by the power of his Holy Spirit.

[2] Augustine saw the Lord’s Prayer as beginning with an implicit declaration that we’re all one spiritual family: “You then who have found a Father in heaven, be loth to cleave to the things of earth. For you are about to say, ‘Our Father, which art in heaven.’ You have begun to belong to a great family.” (Id., Sermon IX)

[3] Bavinck writes, “YHWH is the highest revelation of God in the Old Testament. YHWH is God’s real, personal name.” Bavinck, H. (2008). Reformed Dogmatics. God and Creation, Baker Academic, p 95

[4] God is sometimes compared to a father in the Old Testament (Psalm 103:13). But most of the Old Testament references to God’s fatherhood refer to the entire Trinity, not just the person of the Father (Deut. 32:6, Isaiah 63:16, 64:8, Acts 17:24-29). In Isaiah 9:6, “everlasting Father” is a title of the coming Messiah. According to Bavinck, “Father” is thus the supreme revelation of God, and since the Father is made known to us by Jesus through the Spirit, the full, abundant revelation of God’s name is now Trinitarian: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Ibid. 97

[5] The Jews saw God as the Father of the nation Israel whom he delivered as his only Son.

[6] In the part of his sermon that addresses anxiety, he gives beautiful illustrations of the Father’s care for nature, including birds and flowers, which the Father values far less than his beloved children. (Matt. 6:25-34)

[7] In the New Testament, the name “Father” becomes the regular name for the first person of the Trinity, the person who sent Jesus into the world. The Apostles followed Jesus’ example and teaching by using the word “Father” in reference to the first person of the Trinity who is distinct from the Son and the Holy Spirit. (John 1:14, 18; John 5:17-26; John 14:16-17, Galatians 4:6; 2 Peter 1:17, 2 John 9)

[8] The resurrected Jesus said to his disciples, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17).

[9] God declares that all who are in Christ have a relationship with him as his deeply loved and adopted children. The goal of Jesus’ death for us is “that he might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5). Paul also teaches that the ultimate goal of God’s election is adoption. “In love He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:4-5).

[10] J.I. Packer writes, “If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.” Packer, J. I. (1993). Knowing God, InterVarsity Press.

[11] Jesus knew that the result of his followers believing that God is their loving heavenly Father would be that they would pray with the persistent, shameless boldness of a dearly beloved child like he did. The Apostle John describes the effect of believing this as, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:12).

[12] Early in his ministry Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). At the end of his earthly ministry, the disciples watched the resurrected Jesus return to heaven. “As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9).

[13] The Apostle Paul teaches that God’s redemptive plan in Jesus Christ is to restore cosmic wholeness by unifying heaven and earth again in the Messiah (Eph. 1:9–10) so that once again, God would be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).

[14] One of the ancient dilemmas regarding a proper understanding of God involves understanding the relationship of God’s merciful love as a Father to his sovereign power as a heavenly King – especially when suffering.

[15] This is because ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου is in the third person singular aorist passive imperative and there is no exact English equivalent to express a passive imperative in the third person. We are used to seeing imperatives in the first and second person as commands, e.g. "Go dig a hole!” But a Greek third person imperative expresses strongly that an action should be taken “may a hole be dug!” And since this first petition uses the imperative of request ἁγιασθήτω as a prayer to God, it is asking and strongly calling on God to hallow his own name.

[16] The name of God signifies: 1) God himself (Ps. 5:11; 9:2, 11; 116:13; 1 Kings 5:5), 2) the will and authority of God (1 Sam. 17:45; Matt. 28:19), and 3) the object of our trust and profession of God (Acts 21:13; 2:38).

[17]  See also the reason for God’s declaration of judgment against Sidon: “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Sidon, and I will manifest my glory in your midst. And they shall know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments in her and manifest my holiness in her. So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD” (Ezek. 38:22-23). Here it is God’s name, LORD, that is at issue.

Praying For Our Father’s Kingdom and Will to Come to Earth (Hope in Theology Series 3 of 6)

Introduction

The first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are interconnected.

We can’t fully understand the meaning of the first petition “Hallowed be your name” apart from understanding the meaning of the second and third “Your kingdom come” and “Your will be done.” This is because the Father’s name is hallowed by the coming of his kingdom, and the way the Father’s kingdom comes is by his will being done on the earth.

The structure and word order of these three petitions in the original Greek text of the New Testament can also help us understand their meaning. The original text reads like this:

•  Sanctify – your name (ἁγιασθήτω – τὸ ὄνομά σου)

• Cause to come – your kingdom (ἐλθέτω – ἡ βασιλεία σου)

• Bring about – your will (γενηθήτω – τὸ θέλημά σου)[1]

Jesus teaches his followers to ask their Father in heaven to sanctify his name by “causing his kingdom to come” and by “bringing about his will” on earth as it is in heaven.

Your Kingdom Come

To understand the full meaning of the second petition, “Cause your kingdom to come!”, we need to understand who God is and what God does to cause his kingdom to come on earth through his creation, redemption, and restoration of all things lost in the Fall. This includes understanding the good news of God’s kingdom – that the Father’s creation, ruined by the Fall, is being redeemed by Christ and restored by the Holy Spirit into the Kingdom of God on earth.

The mostly Jewish audience that Jesus was teaching this prayer, was waiting for God’s promised king to come and deliver them from their oppression and suffering by defeating all their enemies and establishing his kingdom on the earth forever.

From the Old Testament Scriptures, they knew that God created the world to be an eternal, utopian, cosmic display of his glory, as he rules over everything as Lord. They also knew that God created humanity to reflect his glory as they find their joy in him and his mission to fill the earth and rule over it as Lord, so that the paradise of his perfect rule would extend on earth for eternity.

However, the Scriptures also taught that evil entered the story through Satan, who enticed humanity to sin. Paradise was lost. As a result, God allowed Satan to set up his kingdom in this fallen world and to rule over it. The Apostle John writes, “The whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Satan now declares himself to be Lord over all of God’s creation to rule over it for his evil purposes.

Therefore, in the first century, when Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming the good news that God’s kingdom is “at hand”, his Jewish listeners understood this to mean that God’s kingdom in heaven was finally returning to earth in a new way through him.[2] Jesus’ miraculous signs and wonders were seen as magnificent displays of how God’s promised kingdom had already come to earth.

In Jesus’ day, the Jews were oppressed by the Roman government. They longed for their promised Messiah King to come, set up His kingdom, and save them from their oppression. So they were excited when Jesus began his public ministry calling them to “repent and believe in the good news” that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:14b-15).

However, the Jews soon learned that the kingdom Jesus was inaugurating was not what they expected. The nature of his kingdom extended far beyond the boundaries of earthly Israel, for Jesus came to deliver people of all nations from their sinful rebellion against God.[3]

The Scriptures teach that Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension demonstrate his victory as Lord over all the powers of evil, including his and our archenemies of the world, the sinful human nature, the devil, and death.

As our Redeemer King, Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserve to die for our sin. Through his death, Paul writes, “He disarmed all rulers and authorities putting them to open shame, by triumphing over them” (Col. 2:15). Then God raised Him from the dead, proclaiming his ultimate victory over evil and inaugurating his new Kingly rule on earth as Lord.

But Paul’s explanation of the gospel extends beyond Jesus death and resurrection in the past (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) to include Jesus’ present and future rule as the ascended King over all things by the Spirit. (1 Cor. 15:25-28)

When Jesus returns as King he will fill the earth with God’s glory by bringing everything on earth in subjection to the Father’s will, including death and Satan. Then as the obedient, incarnate Son, Jesus will deliver up to the Father the kingdom he established, including himself as its King so “that God may be all in all” – so that God the Father would be honored and glorified in everything. (1 Cor 15:28)

In the meantime, Jesus instructs his followers to long for and pray for the time when God will fulfill his promise to return the fullness of his kingdom on earth forever – by asking our Father in heaven to honor his name by causing his kingdom to come.[4]

Your Will to Be Done

In the third petition, Jesus instructs his followers to ask our Father in heaven to cause his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Again, this petition can only be fully understood by seeing its relationship to the two preceding. Therefore, Jesus is instructing his followers to ask their Father in heaven to honor his name and cause his kingdom to come – by causing his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.[5]

The Bible presents the unfolding mission of the Triune God as Creator, Redeemer, and Restorer of all things lost in humanity and creation because of the Fall as accomplishing the Father’s will. Although God the Son and God the Spirit are equal in power and authority with God the Father, the Bible presents the Son as carrying out the Father’s will and the Spirit empowering it. The Bible tells the story of the Triune God’s accomplishment of the Father’s will like this:

• God the Father establishes his good and perfect will by creating all things

• God the Son accomplishes the Father’s will by redeeming all things lost in the Fall

• God the Spirit applies the Father’s will by restoring all things lost in the Fall

In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul refers to the Father’s will before creation (1-5), the Son’s accomplishment of his will in redemption (6-10), and the Spirit’s application of his will in sealing believers (11-14).

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). At the end of his life and ministry, Jesus prayed to the Father, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4).

Jesus’ work, his mission, was to glorify the Father by causing his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. One of the reasons Jesus instructed his disciples to pray for the successful fulfillment of his mission was so that they would be swept up with him in his mission to accomplish the Father’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

The phrase “as it is in heaven” refers to the angelic beings in heaven who always obey God’s will perfectly – described in Psalm 103:21 as “all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will.” The perfect obedience of the angelic hosts to the Father’s will in heaven is the standard Jesus reveals for God’s new humanity of his followers on earth.

The original image of God in Adam and Eve displayed itself in their perfect obedience to God’s will. In the beginning they were, according to Augustine, “able not to sin.”[6] So they flourished by finding true happiness in their relationship with God and each other, as they obeyed God perfectly carrying out his will on the earth.

Though Adam and Eve were created sinless, they were not in a state of unchangeable perfection. They were perfect but not complete because they had not yet fully developed as image bearers. They still needed to have their obedience to God’s will tested. (Gen. 2:17-18) Although they were “able not to sin”, they had not yet reached the state of being “not able to sin.”[7] Bavinck describes it this way:

Adam thus stood not at the end but at the beginning of the road; his condition was a provisional and temporary one, which could not remain this way, and which had to pass over either into a state of higher glory or fall into sin and death.[8]

It’s hard to imagine what the further history of the human race and creation would have been like if Adam and Eve had obeyed God’s will and passed over into a higher state of glory where they were no longer “able to sin.” It would have been an eternal utopia, an earth filled with humanity flourishing in their relationship with God and each other, as they carried out God’s will perfectly on the earth for eternity.[9]

However, followers of Jesus will know what that will be like when he returns to bring the fullness of heaven back down to earth and restore fallen humanity and creation to God’s original design. In our new resurrected bodies, our souls will experience what Adam and Eve never experienced in the garden – the glorious state of not even being able to sin. When we’re in the new earth, we will perfectly obey God’s will just like the angels in heaven.

But what is the Father’s will?

God’s will is described two ways in Scripture. Theologians refer to these as “the two wills of God” – his decretive will and his preceptive will. God’s decretive will describes his sovereign and mysterious purposes at work in the world through which he ordains everything that comes to pass. God’s preceptive will describes God’s revealed moral instruction in the Bible that helps us know God’s heart and desires.

When we ask our Father in heaven to cause his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we’re not asking him to change his “decretive will” by somehow causing his sovereign purposes to be in alignment with our desired purposes. Martin Luther writes, “The good and gracious will of God (God’s decretive will) is done indeed without our prayer; but we pray in this petition that it may be done also among us.”[10]

Instead, we’re asking our Father in heaven to align all our life purposes and desires with his “preceptive will” revealed in the Bible. Jesus reveals the Father’s will as God’s moral law found in the Bible, especially the Ten Commandments. Calvin describes the Ten Commandments as “the true and eternal rule of righteousness for all humanity and nations who wish to conform their lives to God’s will”.[11]

Jesus teaches his followers to “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). We seek first God’s kingdom when we seek first God’s righteousness revealed in God’s Word. That righteousness is what God wills to be realized on the earth as it is in heaven.

Conclusion: On Earth As It Is In Heaven

The final phrase “on earth as it is in heaven” should not be understood as limited to the third petition, but seen as the culmination of all three. This is why we are to pray that our Father’s name would be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven by causing his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus teaches his followers to pray these petitions for the Father’s name, kingdom, and will first, before they pray for their daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil. Martin Luther shares the reason why. “If we are to be preserved and delivered from all evil, the name of God must be sanctified in us, his kingdom must be with us and his will be done among us.”[12]

Footnotes:

[1] The word γενηθήτω is the imperative form of γίνομαι translated “Let it come into being! Let it happen! Let it come about!”

[2] The Bible presents Jesus, the gospel, and the new community of Christ-followers, as being deeply rooted in this historic, Jewish context. This is why the message of the gospel is that Jesus came first as the promised Jewish Messiah, fulfilling God’s covenant promises to the Jews. When the Apostle Paul begins to explain the gospel to the mostly Gentile and Greek church in Rome, he writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).

[3] To their amazement, the citizens of this new kingdom were no longer limited to the Jews but included Gentiles from all nations.

[4] Note the role of the Church in the Heidelberg Catechism. Lord’s Day 48, Question 123: “What is the second petition? Answer: Thy kingdom come”; that is, so govern us by Thy word and Spirit, that we submit ourselves to You always more and more; preserve and increase Thy Church; destroy the works of the devil, every power that exalts itself against You, and all wicked devices formed against Thy Holy Word, until the fullness of Thy kingdom come, wherein Thou shalt be all in all.”

[5] This third petition is not included in Luke’s record in Luke 11:2.

[6] Augustine’s On Correction and Grace, 33. In the original Latin, “posse non peccare.”

[7] Although they were able not to sin (posse non peccare), they had not yet reached the state of being not able to sin (non posse peccare).

[8]  Bavinck, Dogmatick, 2:606

[9] Hoekema, Anthony A. Created in God’s Image. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1994.

[10] “Question: What is meant by “Your will be done?” Answer: The good and gracious will of God is done indeed without our prayer; but we pray in this petition that it may be done also among us. Question: How is this done? Answer: When God breaks and hinders every evil counsel and purpose, which would not let us hallow God’s name nor let His kingdom come, such as the will of the devil, the world, and our own flesh; but strengthens and keeps us steadfast in His Word and in faith unto our end. This is His gracious and good will.”, Martin Luther, The Book of Concord, The First Petition, p. 495

[11] Calvin’s Institutes 4.20.15

[12] Martin Luther, The Book of Concord, The Seventh and Last Petition, p. 508

Praying For Our Daily Bread (Hope in Theology Series 4 of 6)

Introduction

There are two sets of petitions in the Lord’s Prayer. The first set is vertical, focusing on God, where we ask for our Father’s name to be hallowed, for his kingdom to come, and for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The second set includes horizontal requests where we ask our Father for our daily bread, for our forgiveness, and for our deliverance.[1]

It’s important to understand how these two sets of petitions are interconnected. The reason we pray for our daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance is so that we can honor our Father’s name by advancing his kingdom and carrying out his will on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus knew that our anxiety about not having what we think we need in life could easily divert us from our mission of honoring the Father’s name by advancing his kingdom and will on earth.[2] To help us overcome this temptation and flourish in our mission, Jesus instructs us to pray to our heavenly Father, “Give us this day our daily bread.”[3]

Praying For Our Needs

The New Testament Greek word translated “bread” (ἄρτον) in verse 11 can refer to both the physical bread we eat and to all the basic provisions of life we need.[4] The Greek adjective (ἐπιούσιον) used to describe the bread is difficult to translate and is not used any other place in the New Testament except in Luke’s record of the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:2-4.[5] It can be translated “daily,” but its fuller meaning is most likely conveyed by the word “necessary.”

Jesus is not just teaching us to ask our heavenly Father to give us all the provisions that are necessary to sustain our physical lives each day. His broader purpose is to teach us how to trust in our heavenly Father to give us what is necessary each day to carry out his mission – with or without our daily provisions we may think are necessary.

Luke’s account of Jesus’ teaching the Lord’s Prayer is immediately followed by Jesus teaching that we should be persistent in our prayers, always bringing our needs to God as our heavenly Father with the persistent confidence of his beloved children that he will always hear and answer our prayers. Jesus says,

I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? (Luke 11:9-12)

Then Jesus teaches that our heavenly Father’s greatest answer to our prayers is not necessarily receiving what we ask him to give us, but the far superior gift of himself in the Holy Spirit. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13).[6]

Our continual need for physical nourishment should remind us of our continual need for our Father’s provision of not just our food, but also all things we need for life. We should always be asking our heavenly Father to give us good gifts, such as food, but all the while knowing that the ultimate gift our Father promises us, that meets our greatest need, is himself by his Holy Spirit.  

Praying For Our Protection

Similar to the way the prayer’s vertical petitions for the Father’s name, kingdom, and will are found in the Old Testament,[7] we also find the horizontal petitions in the Old Testament.[8]

For example, in Jesus’ instruction for us to pray for “our daily bread” he is echoing an ancient Jewish prayer: “Feed me with the food that is needful for me” (Prov. 30:8). This ancient “wisdom prayer” was probably one of the first century Jewish synagogue prayers used in corporate worship.[9]

The book of Proverbs teaches that true wisdom is achieved by honoring God and submitting to his will in all of life’s circumstances. (Prov. 1:7) And the truly wise person knows how to honor God and obey his will when facing the unique temptations that come from poverty and riches. To help us be wise when asking God to provide us with what is truly necessary in this life, he instructs us, in Proverbs 30:9, to ask him for protection from both kinds of temptations.

Give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is needful for me.

lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

There is a strong echo from the Proverbs 30 petition, “feed me with the food that is needful for me.” in the Lord’s Prayer petition “give us this day our daily (needful) bread.” There’s also a shared ultimate prayer for honoring God’s name found in both prayers. In Proverbs 30:9 the request for needful food is made so that the person praying does not “profane the name of my God.” And in the Lord’s Prayer, the request for daily bread is the first of several petitions offered so that the Father’s name will be hallowed (not profaned).

For Jesus’ followers to honor the Father’s name and fulfill his kingdom mission, they must overcome these dangerous temptations of poverty and riches by learning how to trust in their heavenly Father to give them everything that is necessary each day to carry out his mission.

Jesus’ primary purpose in giving us this petition is to increase our daily dependence on our heavenly Father – especially when we’re facing the kinds of temptations brought about by either poverty or riches – temptations that can easily divert us from carrying out the Father’s will.

Jesus knew firsthand the power of these temptations. Before he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he ate nothing for forty days. Matthew says, “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry” (Matt. 4:1).

We can be confident that, during his time in the wilderness, Jesus was asking his Father to give him what he needed each day to carry out his will. And after forty days without food, Jesus was approaching the limits of having what is necessary to stay alive physically.

Satan seized this vulnerable moment to tempt Jesus to stop trusting in his Father to provide what he needed and start trusting in his own ability by turning stones into bread. Satan said, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matt. 4:3).[10]

Jesus resists this temptation and quotes a passage from Deuteronomy 8, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). He tells Satan that what ultimately sustains his life is not physical bread but his Father’s will. So Jesus continues trusting in his Father’s word to provide him with everything he needs to do his will.[11]

Praying For Our Obedience

When his disciples became concerned that Jesus had not eaten in a while, they urged him to eat. Jesus responded by saying, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus then said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:31-34).

Jesus is teaching that our lives are not ultimately sustained or lost by things like physical food, but by our Father’s will. So the time we’re alive on earth is not ultimately determined by the amount of physical provisions we have but by how long it takes us to accomplish our Father’s will for our lives.

Trusting in his heavenly Father to provide for all his daily needs was a hallmark of Jesus’ brief life and ministry. When a religious leader showed an interest in following Jesus, he told the leader, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20). Following Jesus requires following his example of trusting in our heavenly Father to give us everything we need each day to carry out his mission.

Our Father did not always give Jesus the daily physical care and comfort he longed for and asked for. This does not mean that his Father stopped loving him – although it sometimes felt like it. Instead, Jesus learned that if the Father withheld what he thought he needed, it was because he did not need it to carry out his Father’s will. So it was sometimes actually better for Jesus not to have his physical needs met.

Through his suffering, the one who said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34), received the higher blessing of learning greater levels of obedience to his Father’s will. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb. 5:8-9).

Therefore, Jesus’ purpose in instructing us to ask our Father for our necessary daily provisions in life is not to teach us that we will always receive what we think is necessary, but to teach us that what we receive from our heavenly Father is truly best and necessary for us to do his will.

The same Jesus who teaches his followers not to be anxious about having the necessities of life saying, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33), also says, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16-17). Jesus doesn’t tell us how they will be put to death, but we know that many of his followers have been tortured and died of hunger.

Immediately after Jesus describes the horrific suffering his followers might experience, he makes this promise to them, “But not a hair of your head will perish” (Luke 21:18), showing that this promise, like his many others, does not include a promise of no physical harm.

The Apostle Paul gives us a long list of horrible physical circumstances he faced in his life and ministry, including “imprisonments”, “countless beatings” from which he almost died, and a host of other dangerous situations in which he experienced “many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” (2 Cor. 11:23-27).

The same Paul who believed Jesus’ promise that when he suffered “not even a hair from his head will perish,” was most likely beheaded in prison for his faith.[12] In all these difficult circumstances, when God did not give Paul the daily provisions and comfort he longed for and asked for, Paul learned that God did not abandon him, but gave him something far better that he needed much more – the soul-nourishing bread of life in Jesus Christ. As a result, Paul writes:

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:12-13)

Conclusion

Sometimes our heavenly Father answers our prayer for our necessary provisions in life by giving us abundance. Other times he answers our prayer by giving us a lack of physical provisions and a painful experience of suffering that increases our trust in him and our obedience to his will.

The Apostle Peter teaches that we’re all called to follow Jesus in his suffering. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21). Paul wrote, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Phil. 1:29).

Not having the things we think we need in life can sometimes be a good thing. Our physical suffering and hunger heightens our sense of need and drives us to our heavenly Father to find in him a strength beyond ourselves. Suffering is not something that followers of Jesus should be avoiding at all costs. If Jesus learned obedience to the Father’s will through the things he suffered, are his followers above their Master?

Therefore, in any and every circumstance, when facing plenty or hunger, Jesus instructs us to keep asking our heavenly Father to give us each day exactly what we need to honor his name and carry out his will–and then trust in him and his promise to give us exactly what we need.[13]

Footnotes:

[1] The first petitions repeat the pronoun “your” three times: 1) “hallowed be your name”, 2) “your kingdom come”, and 3) “your will be done.” The second petitions include eight personal pronouns: 1) Give us this day our daily bread, 2) forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and 3) lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[2] Jesus taught that one of the most dangerous temptations his followers face is having an inordinate focus on “treasures on earth” and “money” instead of “treasures in heaven” and “God.” (Matt. 5:19-24) He refers to these temptations as the “cares (anxieties) of this world” and the “deceitfulness of riches” that result in people “falling away” and becoming “unfruitful.” (Matt. 13:18-22)

[3] It can be helpful to see how this first petition for “our daily bread” relates to the other petitions and Jesus’ broader message in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gives us the Lord’s pattern prayer (Matt. 6:9-13) in the middle of his warning against the dangers of practicing religious righteousness (giving, praying, and fasting) to be approved by people. (Matt. 6:1-18) He is drawing a stark contrast between how religious hypocrites practice righteousness and how his followers should practice righteousness. Jesus’ focus is on the underlying temptations and heart issues his followers face when they’re practicing the spiritual disciplines of giving, praying, and fasting.

[4] Martin Luther writes, “Question: What is meant by ‘daily bread’? Answer: All that belongs to the wants and support of the body, such as meat, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, cattle, money, goods, a pious spouse, pious children, pious servants, pious and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, order, honor, good friends, trusty neighbors and the like.” Then he comments, “If you speak of, and pray for, daily bread, you pray for everything that is necessary in order to have and enjoy the same, and also against everything which interferes with it. Therefore you must enlarge your thoughts and extend them afar, not only to the oven or the flour-barrel, but to the distant field and the entire land, which bears and brings to us daily bread and every sort of sustenance. For if God did not cause it to grow, and bless and preserve it in the field, we could never take bread from the oven or have any to set upon the table.”  The Book of Concord, The Fourth Petition, p. 402-403, 501.

[5]  ἐπιούσιον may be the best equivalent Greek word for the unknown Aramaic word that Jesus actually used. 

[6] In Matthew’s account, Jesus includes the son’s request for bread and the Father’s promise to “give good things.”  “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt. 7:9-11)

[7] Old Testament scholar Rick Byargeon shows the striking similarity between the Jewish synagogue prayer Qaddish and the Lord’s Prayer. “The Qaddish begins with the phrase “Exalted and hallowed be his great name,” which parallels “hallowed be your name” in Matt 6:9. The second expression shared between the two prayers is related to the coming kingdom. The Qaddish states: “May he establish his kingdom in your lifetime.” This parallels the expression “your kingdom come” in Matt 6:10.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 41/3 (September 1998), p. 354

[8] One of the most prominent prayers of Judaism, called “The Prayer” (hattepilla), was compiled and standardized by Gamaliel as Eighteen Benedictions at Jamnia after the destruction of the temple near the end of the first century. Benediction 9 seems to have similar content to “Give us this day our daily bread.” “Bless, O Lord our God, this year for us, and let it be good in all the varieties of its produce. Hasten the year of our redemptive End. Grant dew and rain upon the face of the earth, and satiate the world out of the treasuries of Your goodness; and grant a blessing to the work of our hands.”

[9] The prayers in Proverbs 30 address the dangers of pride and arrogance and include examples of when “a slave becomes a king” and when “a fool is filled with food.” (Prov. 30:22) One of the strongest parallels between Proverbs 30 and the Lord’s Prayer is found in Proverbs 30:8 in which the Hebrew text הַטְרִיפֵ֗נִי לֶ֣חֶם חֻקִּֽי)) conveys the meaning “Let me eat my appointed/apportioned bread.” The Hebrew word (חֻקִּֽי) used to describe the bread reflects the idea of a specific allotment of bread that is appointed and sufficient for a prescribed amount of time – reflected in the petition, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

[10] Martin Luther writes, “But this petition [for daily bread] is especially directed against our chief enemy, the devil. For all his thought and desire is occupied with depriving us of all that we have from God and hindering us in its enjoyment … he is sorry that any one has a morsel of bread from God and eats the same in peace.”  The Book of Concord, The Fourth Petition, p. 502

[11] The passage Jesus quotes in Deuteronomy 8 is from Moses’ message to the people of Israel whom God taught this same lesson about trusting him for their daily needs during their forty years in the wilderness. To help Israel learn how to trust in him to care for them as they carried out his will, God provided for them daily only enough bread (manna) to sustain them for that one day. This bread could not be stockpiled to provide for their needs in the future. God did not do this to punish Israel, but as a form of loving discipline, so they would learn how to trust in him to always provide for their needs as they kept their primary focus on him and on carrying out his will on earth. Moses exhorts them to remember this valuable lesson. He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna … that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you” (Deut. 8:4-5). Sadly, the people of Israel failed this test during their forty years in the wilderness, but Jesus, the True Israel, passed this test, not only in his forty days of temptation in the wilderness, but also when he faced the same daily temptations throughout his life.

[12] In his last letter before his death, Paul writes, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

[13] J. I. Packer writes, “Now comes the real test of faith. You, the Christian, have (I assume) prayed for today’s bread. Will you now believe that what comes to you, much or little, is God’s answer, according to the promise of Matthew 6:33? And will you on that basis be content with it, and grateful for it? Over to you.” Packer, J. I.. Growing in Christ (p. 190). Crossway.