Augustine of Hippo gives the following analysis of the Lord's Prayer, which elaborates on Jesus' words just before it in the Gospel of Matthew: "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then in this way" (Matthew 6:8–9): This excerpt from Augustine is included in the Office of Readings in the Catholic
Liturgy of the Hours. Many have written biblical commentaries on the Lord's Prayer. Contained below are a variety of selections from some of those commentaries.
Introduction "Our" indicates that the prayer is that of a group of people who consider themselves children of God and who call God their "Father". "In
heaven" indicates that the Father who is addressed is distinct from human fathers on earth.
Augustine interpreted "heaven" (
coelum, sky) in this context as meaning "in the hearts of the righteous, as it were in His holy temple".
First Petition Former
archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams explains this phrase as a petition that people may look upon God's name as holy, as something that inspires awe and reverence, and that they may not trivialize it by making God a tool for their purposes, to "put other people down, or as a sort of magic to make themselves feel safe". He sums up the meaning of the phrase by saying: "Understand what you're talking about when you're talking about God, this is serious, this is the most wonderful and frightening reality that we could imagine, more wonderful and frightening than we can imagine."
Richard Challoner writes that: "[t]his petition claims the first place in the Lord's prayer [...]; because the first and principal duty of a Christian is, to love his God with his whole heart and soul, and therefore the first and principal thing he ought to desire and pray for is, the great honor and glory of God."
Second Petition "This petition has its parallel in the Jewish prayer, 'May he establish his Kingdom during your life and during your days. In the gospels Jesus speaks frequently of God's kingdom, but never defines the concept: "He assumed this was a concept so familiar that it did not require definition." Concerning how Jesus' audience in the gospels would have understood him,
George Eldon Ladd turns to the concept's Hebrew biblical background: "The Hebrew word
malkuth [...] refers first to a reign, dominion, or rule and only secondarily to the realm over which a reign is exercised. [...] When
malkuth is used of God, it almost always refers to his authority or to his rule as the heavenly King." This petition looks to the perfect establishment of God's rule in the world in the future, an act of God resulting in the eschatological order of the new age. The Catholic Church believes that, by praying the Lord's prayer, a Christian hastens the
Second Coming. Like the church, some denominations see the coming of God's kingdom as a divine gift to be prayed for, not a human achievement. Others believe that the Kingdom will be fostered by the hands of those faithful who work for a better world. These believe that Jesus' commands to feed the hungry and clothe the needy make the seeds of the kingdom already present on earth (Lk 8:5–15; Mt 25:31–40). Hilda C. Graef notes that the operative Greek word,
basileia, means both kingdom and kingship (i.e., reign, dominion, governing, etc.), but that the English word kingdom loses this double meaning. Kingship adds a psychological meaning to the petition: one is also praying for the condition of soul where one follows God's will.
Richard Challoner, commenting on this petition, notes that the kingdom of God can be understood in three ways: 1) of the eternal kingdom of God in heaven. 2) of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, in his Church upon earth. 3) of the mystical kingdom of God, in our souls, according to the words of Christ, "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21).
Third Petition According to
William Barclay, this phrase is a couplet with the same meaning as "Thy kingdom come". Barclay argues that "the kingdom is a state of things on earth in which God's will is as perfectly done as it is in heaven. ...To do the will of God and to be in the Kingdom of God are one and the same thing."
John Ortberg interprets this phrase as follows: "Many people think our job is to get my
afterlife destination taken care of, then tread water till we all get ejected and God comes back and torches this place. But Jesus never told anybody – neither his disciples nor us – to pray, 'Get me out of here so I can go up there.' His prayer was, 'Make up there come down here.' Make things down here run the way they do up there."
Stephen Cottrell makes the same point in his reflections on "Thy Kingdom Come": "the promise of the gospel isn't really us going up to heaven, but heaven coming down to earth". The request that "thy will be done" is God's invitation to "join him in making things down here the way they are up there".
Epiousion is translated as
supersubstantialem in the
Vulgate Matthew 6:11 and accordingly as
supersubstantial in the
Douay–Rheims Bible Matthew 6:11. Barclay M. Newman's
A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, published in a revised edition in 2010 by the
United Bible Societies, has the following entry: It thus derives the word from the preposition ἐπί (
epi) and the verb εἰμί (
eimi), from the latter of which are derived words such as οὐσία (
ousia), the range of whose meanings is indicated in
A Greek–English Lexicon.
Fifth Petition Although
Matthew 6:12 uses the term
debts, most older English versions of the Lord's Prayer use the term
trespasses, while ecumenical versions often use the term
sins. The last choice may be due to
Luke 11:4, which uses the word
sins, while the former may be due to
Matthew 6:14 (immediately after the text of the prayer), where Jesus speaks of
trespasses. As early as the third century,
Origen of Alexandria used the word
trespasses () in the prayer. The Latin form that was traditionally used in Western Europe has
debita (
debts), but most English-speaking Christians (except Scottish Presbyterians and some others of the Dutch
Reformed tradition) use
trespasses. For example, the
Church of Scotland, the
Presbyterian Church (USA), the
Reformed Church in America, as well as some
Congregational heritage churches in the
United Church of Christ follow the version found in
Matthew 6 in the
King James Version (KJV), which in the prayer uses the words
debts and
debtors. The Presbyterian and other Reformed churches tend to use the rendering "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors". Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans and Methodists are more likely to say "trespasses... those who trespass against us". The "debts" form appears in the first English translation of the Bible, by
John Wycliffe in 1395 (Wycliffe spelling "dettis"). The "trespasses" version appears in the 1526 translation by
William Tyndale (Tyndale spelling "treaspases"). In 1549 the
first Book of Common Prayer in English used a version of the prayer with "trespasses". This became the "official" version used in Anglican congregations. On the other hand, the 1611
King James Version, the version specifically
authorized for the
Church of England, has "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors". After the request for bread, Matthew and Luke diverge slightly. Matthew continues with a request for
debts to be forgiven in the same manner as people have forgiven those who have debts against them. Luke, on the other hand, makes a similar request about
sins being forgiven in the manner of debts being forgiven between people. The word "debts" () does not necessarily mean financial obligations, as shown by the use of the verbal form of the same word () in passages such as Romans 13:8. The
Aramaic word
ḥôbâ can mean "debt" or "sin". This difference between Luke's and Matthew's wording could be explained by the original form of the prayer having been in Aramaic. The generally accepted interpretation is thus that the request is for forgiveness of sin, not of supposed loans granted by God. Asking for forgiveness from God was a staple of Jewish prayers (e.g.,
Penitential Psalms). It was also considered proper for individuals to be forgiving of others, so the sentiment expressed in the prayer would have been a common one of the time.
Anthony C. Deane, Canon of
Worcester Cathedral, suggested that the choice of the word "ὀφειλήματα" (debts), rather than "ἁμαρτίας" (sins), indicates a reference to failures to use opportunities of doing good. He linked this with the
parable of the sheep and the goats (also in Matthew's Gospel), in which the grounds for condemnation are not wrongdoing in the ordinary sense, but failure to do right, missing opportunities for showing
love to others. "As we forgive ...". Divergence between Matthew's "debts" and Luke's "sins" is relatively trivial compared to the impact of the second half of this statement. The verses immediately following the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:14–15 show Jesus teaching that the forgiveness of our sin/debt (by God) is linked with how we forgive others, as in the
Parable of the Unforgiving Servant Matthew 18:23–35, which Matthew gives later.
R. T. France comments:
Sixth Petition Interpretations of the penultimate petition of the prayer – not to be led by God into
peirasmos – vary considerably. The range of meanings of the Greek word "πειρασμός" (
peirasmos) is illustrated in New Testament Greek lexicons. In different contexts it can mean temptation, testing, trial, experiment. Although the traditional English translation uses the word "
temptation" and
Carl Jung saw God as actually leading people astray, Christians generally interpret the petition as not contradicting James 1:13–14: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God', for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." Some see the petition as an eschatological appeal against unfavourable
Last Judgment, a theory supported by the use of the word "
peirasmos" in this sense in Revelation 3:10. Others see it as a plea against hard
tests described elsewhere in scripture, such as those of
Job. It is also read as: "Do not let us be led (by ourselves, by others, by Satan) into temptations".
Tertullian comments: "For the completeness of so brief a prayer He added — in order that we should supplicate not touching the remitting merely, but touching the entire averting, of acts of guilt — Lead us not into temptation: that is, suffer us not to be led into it, by him (of course) who tempts; but far be the thought that the Lord should seem to tempt, as if He either were ignorant of the faith of any, or else were eager to overthrow it. Infirmity and malice are characteristics of the
Devil...The final clause, therefore, is consonant, and interprets the sense of Lead us not into temptation; for this sense is, But convey us away from the Evil One." (
On Prayer, Ch. VIII) Coherently, Saint
Cyprian of Carthago translates Matthew 6:9 as follows:
And suffer us not to be led into temptation; but deliver us from evil. (''On the Lord's Prayer'', n. 7) Since it follows shortly after a plea for daily bread (i.e., material sustenance), it is also seen as referring to not being caught up in the material pleasures given. A similar phrase appears in Matthew 26:41 and Luke 22:40 in connection with the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane.
Joseph Smith, the founder of the
Latter Day Saint movement, in
a version of the Holy Bible which was not published before his death, used: "And suffer us not to be led into temptation". In a conversation on the Italian TV channel
TV2000 on 6 December 2017,
Pope Francis commented that the then Italian wording of this petition (similar to the traditional English) was a poor translation. He said "the French" (i.e., the
Bishops' Conference of France) had changed the petition to "Do not let us fall in/into temptation". He was referring to the 2017 change to a new
French version, ("Do not let us enter into temptation"), but spoke of it in terms of the
Spanish translation, ("do not let us fall in/into temptation"), that he was accustomed to recite in
Argentina before his election as Pope. He explained: "I am the one who falls; it's not him [God] pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen".
Anglican theologian Ian Paul said that such a proposal was "stepping into a theological debate about the nature of evil". In January 2018, after "in-depth study", the
German Bishops' Conference rejected any rewording of their translation of the Lord's Prayer. In November 2018, the
Episcopal Conference of Italy adopted a new edition of the
Messale Romano, the
Italian translation of the
Roman Missal. One of the changes made from the older (1983) edition was to render this petition as ("do not abandon us to temptation"). This was approved by Pope Francis; however, there are no current plans to make a similar change for the English translation .
Seventh Petition Translations and scholars are divided over whether the final word here refers to "
evil" in general or "the evil one" (the
devil) in particular. In the original Greek, as well as in the Latin translation, the word could be either of neuter (evil in general) or masculine (the evil one) gender. Matthew's version of the prayer appears in the
Sermon on the Mount, in earlier parts of which the term is used to refer to general evil. Later parts of Matthew refer to the devil when discussing similar issues. However, the devil is never referred to as
the evil one in any known Aramaic sources. While
John Calvin accepted the vagueness of the term's meaning, he considered that there is little real difference between the two interpretations, and that therefore the question is of no real consequence. Similar phrases are found in John 17:15 and Thessalonians 3:3.
Doxology Content The
doxology sometimes attached to the prayer in English is similar to a passage in
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." It is also similar to the paean to
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in
Daniel 2:37 – "You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory". The doxology has been interpreted as connected with the final petition: "Deliver us from evil". The kingdom, the power and the glory are the Father's, not of our antagonist's, who is subject to him to whom Christ will hand over the kingdom after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power (
1 Corinthians 15:24). It makes the prayer end as well as begin with the vision of God in heaven, in the majesty of his name and kingdom and the perfection of his will and purpose.
Origin The doxology is not included in Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer, nor is it present in the earliest manuscripts (papyrus or parchment) of Matthew, representative of the Alexandrian text, although it is present in the manuscripts representative of the later
Byzantine text. Most scholars do not consider it part of the original text of Matthew. The
Codex Washingtonianus, which adds a doxology (in the familiar text), is of the early fifth or late fourth century. New translations generally omit it except as a footnote. The
Didache, generally considered a first-century text, has a doxology, "for yours is the power and the glory forever", as a conclusion for the Lord's Prayer (
Didache, 8:2). C. Clifton Black, although regarding the
Didache as an "early second century" text, nevertheless considers the doxology it contains to be the "earliest additional ending we can trace". Of a longer version, Black observes: "Its earliest appearance may have been in Tatian's
Diatessaron, a second-century harmony of the four Gospels". The first three editions of the
United Bible Societies text cited the
Diatessaron for inclusion of the familiar doxology in Matthew 6:13, but in the later editions it cites the
Diatessaron for excluding it. The
Apostolic Constitutions added "the kingdom" to the beginning of the formula in the
Didache, thus establishing the now familiar doxology.
Varied liturgical use In the
Byzantine Rite, whenever a priest is officiating, after the last line of the prayer he intones the doxology, "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.", and in either instance, reciter(s) of the prayer reply "Amen". Adding a doxology directly following the Our Father is not part of the liturgical tradition of the
Roman Rite nor does the Latin
Vulgate of St.
Jerome contain the doxology that appears in late Greek manuscripts. However, it is recited since 1970 in the Roman Rite
Order of Mass, not as part of the Lord's Prayer but separately as a response acclamation after the
embolism developing the seventh petition in the perspective of the Final Coming of Christ. In most Anglican editions of the
Book of Common Prayer, the Lord's Prayer ends with the doxology unless it is preceded by the
Kyrie eleison. This happens at the daily offices of Morning Prayer (
Mattins) and Evening Prayer (
Evensong) and in a few other offices. The vast majority of
Protestant churches conclude the Lord's Prayer with the doxology. ==Use as a language comparison tool==