OUR FATHER, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.
(Taken from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, 1662).
From Matthew 6:9-13
(context Matthew 6)
A short line-by-line analysis. Click on the title links for more in-depth commentary.
• Our Father which art in Heaven
Jesus teaches His disciples that God is our parent in
Heaven. The Apostle Paul restates this by exhorting the believer to
address God as "Abba" (Aramaic for "Daddy"- the kind of intimate word
that a child would use to his or her father)
" And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."" (Rom 8:15, NIV)
• Hallowed be thy name
The first of seven requests in this prayer. "Hallowed"
means holy. As we pray this line we are reminding ourselves that God is
separate from us, completely pure and faultless. Here we become aware
of our own frailty as we adore and worship the living God.
• Thy kingdom come
God's kingdom is to do with His ways and order. So here
we are asking that God's ways happen here, as they are fully obeyed in
Heaven.
• Thy will be done
The third request in this prayer is that God's will
occurs. Here we are aligning our will with God's will, we are submitting
ourselves to Him, and asking that His way triumphs.
• Give us this day our daily bread
We need God in all areas of our life (physical,
spiritual and mental), and this is a daily need. We need to come back to
God regularly, each day- indeed, many times each day and many ways, for
we can quickly become independent and self-seeking. Jesus reiterates
this daily dependency when he exhorts us to not
"worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself" (Math 6:34, NIV)
• And forgive us our trespasses
Different versions of this prayer use different words here - sometimes "trespasses", "debts" or "sins" (
click here
for a explanation of this). Here we bring to mind the ways in which we
have failed God and others, and ask the Lord for His forgiveness.
• As we forgive them that trespass against us
As we receive God's forgiveness, we bring to mind anyone who we feel may have wronged us, and pardon them.
• And lead us not into temptation
The sixth request in the Lord's prayer is not to be in a
place where temptation might overwhelm us. It is not wrong to be
tempted or tested (
Jesus was!). It is wrong to give in to this temptation
.
• But deliver us from evil
The final request is for protection by our Father in heaven. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, he declared
'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'(Math 4:4 NIV).
In times of trial, Jesus recognises the Lord as His source of
deliverance. Likewise we are to depend on God when evil is at our door.
• For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Forever and ever. Amen.
The prayer finishes with a closing
doxology, that is, a hymn of praise to God. Not all versions of the Lord's prayer include this ending.
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