Exegesis of The Lords Prayer - Essay Example

Exegesis of The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) The Lord’s Prayer was taught by Jesus Christ to His disciples before He died. It is relatively brief compared to the ceremonial prayers of the pagans, which Jesus Himself condemns. It is also a prayer that is basically all about supplication. The Lord’s Prayer actually contains may other aspects and characteristics through which one finds practical and theological meaning. Literary Criticism The passage of The Lord’s Prayer comes in the middle of the chapter devoted by Matthew to the sermons of Jesus Christ on how to make people establish connection with God the Father. These sections of Chapter 6 include giving to the needy which runs from the first verse to the fourth. The next section, from verses 5-15, is devoted to prayer, and this is where The Lord’s Prayer belongs. Verses 16 to 18 are all about fasting, while the last two remaining sections include about treasures in heaven from verses 19 to 24, and about an assurance for the people not to worry from verses 25 to 34 (Mt. 6:1-34, New International Version). The Lord’s Prayer comes between the sections on giving to the needy and the one on fasting. These acts are generally directed by Jesus Christ to the faithful as a lesson on how they can fulfill the kingdom of God on Earth. Moreover, the Lord’s Prayer is preceded by an introductory paragraph that reminds the Israelites of the personal touch and sincerity that every prayer must have. There is a warning for the Israelites not to follow the hypocrites who pray in public and who do so insincerely. The Lord’s Prayer is therefore the answer to this. It is a structurally simple and straightforward prayer that is void of anything unimportant. In this particular verse, The Lord’s Prayer ends with a paragraph that explains that whether one forgives or does not forgive sins, that is the same way that God the Father in heaven treats him. The structure of The Lord’s Prayer is known as the sevenfold structure. It is made up of seven parts: the address, three petitions that focus on God, and three petitions that focus on the needs of human beings (Chamblin 2). This structure is actually similar to the Lukan Parallel or the version of The Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke since this version is admittedly “much shorter” (Chamblin 3). In fact, The Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke has a rather simple address “Father,” and it is missing a petition that is focused on God: that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Moreover, there is no third petition that concerns the need of human beings: Deliver us from the evil one. Nevertheless, the other petitions are intact (Lk. 11:2-4). This particular sevenfold structure actually has its own unique characteristics. First, there is economy of words in the passage. This is somehow an opposition to the “many words of the pagan prayers” (Chamblin 1). In fact, the Lord’s Prayer actually contains only 57 words in its Greek translation and 54 in the English version. Although this is not a criticism of the length of prayers, the point here as emphasized by Jesus Christ Himself is “pointedness and conciseness” (1). In fact, according to the passage before the Lord’s Prayer, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Mt. 6:7). This means that God does not deal with a prayer by virtue of its length but only by virtue of its essence. Moreover, the passage even implies that prayer is a mere act of formality because in fact, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt. 6:8). This means that with or without prayer, the father knows what will be said, although this does not take away the necessity of the prayer. The sevenfold structure is also unique in that it uses God’s name in such a way that it is restricted to the address: “Our Father in heaven” (Mt. 6:9). According to Chamblin, this is so because somehow Jesus Christ teaches that a prayer is not supposed to be full of neurotic repetition of the name of God. Rather, it should be straightforward and focused. The third feature of the sevenfold structure is that the prayer is made up of petitions. Based on the premise that the Father knows what one is about to ask of Him, the entire prayer is made up of petitions. Moreover, it means that although God knows what one’s petitions are, there is a need for one to say a prayer in order to receive (Chamblin 2). This principle is also rather implied in the Gospel of Matthew: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mt. 7:7). This means that although God knows what is to be asked of Him, He would still require that person to make an effort to ask. The act of supplication is therefore a way of proving to God that one has finally made a decision to ask for what he wanted. When it comes to redaction criticism, the Lord’s Prayer was believed to have been spoken by Jesus Christ 1,968 years ago, and was recorded in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke11:2-4. One contention about the early beginnings of the Lord’s Prayer was that it was a disciple of Jesus named Levi Mattathia ben Alfai, or Matthew, who wrote Jesus’ sayings. However, neither of the two forms – that of Matthew and that of Luke – was found to have had an original Aramaic version spoken by Jesus Christ. The present versions were actually taken from the Greek “Codex Sinaiticus,” which was dated around 325 CE. The original version was rather an imaginary one produced from the scholarly combination of the Matthean and Lukan versions. This version, which was an attempt restoring the original form of the texts, had two forms. One from Joachim Jeremias in 1966, entitled Abba Studien zur Neutestamentlichen Theologie und Zietgeschichte, and the other from Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht Gottingen, and from Joseph A. Fitzmyer, entitled The Gospel according to Luke, which was published in 1981 (Kilmon). The Lord’s Prayer changed in form as it was translated from Greek to English during the 16th century. The first modern version of the prayer was during the reign of Henry VIII in the 1549 and 1552 editions as published in the “Book of Common Prayer” (Thurston). It was further modified in 1581 and 1611. The 1581 version has been retained to this day (Thurston). The passage also contains a number of theologically important words. One of these is “kingdom.” The word “kingdom” in the verse “your kingdom come” (Mt. 6:10; Lk. 11:2) refers to more than just the idea of kingship as it refers not only to the king but also to the people over whom he has the right to reign. Moreover, the word “kingdom” implies that there must be standards by which the subjects of the king should live (Lanier 59). Moreover, the word “kingdom” may also be synonymous to “royal power, royal rule or royal reign” (Fredrich 11). However, in this particular context in Matthew 6:10 and Luke 11:2, “kingdom” refers to “royal reign,” and this somehow refers to the “kingdom of grace in the present and the kingdom of glory in the future [or] Last Day” (Fredrich 12). In fact, “kingdom” is used in the same context as in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, when Jesus told His disciples, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mk. 10:14; Lk. 18:16). In short, kingdom, in this context refers to a rather invisible royal reign of God over the people, and one which is established only by virtue of faith. Another theologically important word in the passage is “bread” (Mt. 6:11). “Bread,” in this context figuratively refers to “the food necessary for existence,” although in John 4:34 Jesus refers to food as “the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (Lanier 61). Moreover, in Luke 4:4, Jesus also said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Therefore, this “bread” that the petitioner of the Lord’s Prayer is asking to give Him daily is the bread necessary for spiritual survival. Moreover, the word “bread” may actually refer to the basic needs of man that Jesus refers to in Matthew 6:32 when he says “your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Fredrich 17). Furthermore, “daily bread” could also mean the “daily prayer” that must be said every single day or constantly (17). A third word in the passage with theological significance is “debts,” in the verse “And forgive us our debts” (Mt. 6:12). In this particular context, “our debts” refers to the “totality of our sins” for sinners deserve God’s anger (Fredrich 19). Moreover, “debts” refers to moral debts or sins, and does not refer to financial obligations (20). One last word with theological significance is “temptation,” in Matthew 6:13. The passage where you can find the word “temptation” – “And do not bring us into temptation” actually literally means “Help us avoid sinning” (Fredrich 23). This means that Satan constantly tries to get people to sin, and God constantly brings us to the test. The tests or trials given by God are for our own good, but Christians somehow pray that God does not bring them to the test because one cannot possibly withstand any test or temptation that is “beyond what [he] can bear” (24). Moreover, “temptation” also means “a situation in which we will be tempted” or an occasion of sin (24). It is therefore not only a petition to God but also a constant reminder for oneself to avoid occasions of sin for these will eventually destroy the self. Theological Analysis On the subject of the relationship with God, the passage says that man is constantly subjected to temptation and should therefore conduct himself in prayer to the Father. This means that one cannot avoid temptation without the guidance and grace of the Father or of God. Every faithful therefore needs to pray the Lord’s Prayer in order that they may be delivered from evil all the time and so maintain a good relationship with God (Lanier 67). Moreover, in order to maintain one’s relationship with God, there is a necessity of forgiving others, and so one comes to the conclusion that it is love and not the law that should be the basis for one’s relationship with God. Moreover, one’s relationship with God also necessarily reflects on one’s relationship with one’s fellow believers and with one’s enemies (Lanier 68). This means that those who say that they have a good relationship with God must necessarily mean that they also have a good relationship with other people, both with their fellow believers and with those who have once wronged them. Moreover, there is an implication here that those who cannot forgive their enemies may not exactly comprehend the grace afforded by God’s forgiveness of their own sins. There is therefore “the necessity of forgiving others as God is willing to forgive” (Lanier 68). With this principle, there is also another implication: “But if you do not forgive others, then your father in heaven will not forgive you,” and that this is tantamount to a breach of relationship with God (68). Moreover, the Lord’s Prayer teaches the Christian community the fatherhood of God (Watson 4). God is a Father by virtue of his acts and power. First of all, God is a Father because He created the world and so “We are also his offspring” as stated in Acts 17:28. God is also a Father by virtue of a special grace which is based on the verse in 1 John 3:9 which states that we are “born of God” (Watson 4). In fact, this verse in particular means that one must already be sanctified even before he can call God as his Father in the verse “Our Father in heaven” (Mt. 6:9). Moreover, there are other reasons why God is considered Father in the context of the Lord’s Prayer. God is called Father by virtue of election. This is because God has chosen a particular number of children whom He would entail heaven upon. In fact, in Ephesians 1:4, the Apostle Paul states, “He has chosen us in him” (Watson 4). Faith also makes God our Father. Through faith, God is believed to be our Father for he is the most ancient, he is perfect, he is the wisest, he is the most loving, he is the wealthiest, he can reform his children and he does not die (5). These have all been proven by several passages in the Bible, but the point is the ultimately that the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to depend on God for He is our Father. Furthermore, it also means that if ever we need something, then we address our prayers of supplication to the Father and not to anyone else. This particular passage may have also addressed crucial points in the community for which it was written. The intention of Jesus to teach the Lord’s Prayer to His disciples began when one of His disciples hear Him pray and ask Him to teach them. This prayer is somehow the answer to the need to conquer temptations to which the Christians of Jesus’ time were exposed. Moreover, Jesus wanted to teach His disciples that one of the best ways to battle against temptation or to avoid it is through the use of prayer. Furthermore, the teaching of this prayer is all about the emphasis on the need to engage in prayer constantly and regularly. The practice of prayer is purely spiritual in origin and purpose, i.e. for the avoidance of temptation and for the receiving of one’s daily bread, which is akin to spiritual sustenance (O’Brien 120). Moreover, the Lord’s Prayer may have been generously used by the disciples of Jesus Christ when they were at the Church in Jerusalem. However, as the prayer was brought to other daughter churches of the Christian Church, then it has slowly and gradually undergone transformation (Chase 14). Nevertheless, what we learn here is that the Lord’s Prayer was also a source of motivation and inspiration by the apostles of Christ in order to strengthen themselves when they have to preach the Gospel especially after the death of Christ. Jesus may therefore have been only preparing His disciples for their missionary work by teaching them how to call out to the Father for whatever they would need. Conclusion The Lord’s Prayer is more profound that it actually seems. Both historically and theologically, it has wonderfully practical implications for the faithful. First of all, it has brevity and focus, which implies that prayers should not be full of unnecessary remarks but should rather be straightforward. Secondly, its history teaches us that it could have been used as a source of inspiration by the disciples of Jesus after His death. Thirdly, the prayer reminds us of the value of forgiveness especially for one’s enemies in order to maintain one’s relationship with God. Fourthly, the Lord’s Prayer is a reminder of the fatherhood of God and of his omniscience, thus instilling faith in one who prays to Him and asks Him for what he wanted. Lastly, it teaches people the value of spiritual sustenance or “daily bread.” With all these things, one could learn so much from the Lord’s Prayer. Top of Form Bottom of Form Works Cited Chamblin, Knox. “Commentary on Matthew 6:9-13: The Lord’s Prayer.” 2014. Third Mill. 19 Feb 2014. Chase, F. H. The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church. New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2004. Print. Fredrich, Joel D. “The Lord’s Prayer: Exegesis of Matthew 6:9-13 and Like 11:2-4.” 2010. Wisconsn Lutheran Seminary Library. 20 Feb 2014. Kilmon, Jack. “The Lord’s Prayer.” 2014. Historian.net. 20 Feb 2014. Lanier, David E. “The Lord’s Prayer: Matthew 6:9-13 – A Thematic and Semantic – Structural Analysis.” Criswell Theological Review 6.1 (1992): 57-72. Print. O’Brien, P. T. “Prayer in Luke-Acts.” Tyndale Bulletin 24 (1973): 111-127. Print. Thurston, Herbert. “The Lord’s Prayer.” 2009. The Catholic Encyclopedia. 20 Feb 2014. Watson, Thomas. “The Preface to the Lord’s Prayer.” The Lord’s Prayer. Servant of Messiah, 1960. Print. Read More