Addendum

Luther on the Lord's Prayer

According to Luther's catechisms, the Father bids his children pray not for his benefit, but for theirs.

A modern Lutheran (or perhaps ancient catholic) exposition

For fresh, Christ-centered interpretations of the requests of the Lord's prayer, see David P. Scaer, The Sermon on the Mount: The Church's First Statement of the Gospel, 2000, Concordia Publishing House. Those interpretations differ the most from the following in the third and fourth petitions.


How to pray in the will of God

A Calvinistic understanding of the Lord's Prayer

Our Father in heaven,

Thy name be hallowed | Thy kingdom come | Thy will be done in earth as in heaven

Give us our daily bread | Forgive us as we forgive | Deliver us from the Evil One

To better understand the following explanations, see The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary (Johannes G. Vos, ed. G. I. Williamson, 2002). According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus fulfilled each of the six requests: he brought glory to God, the coming of the kingdom, submission to his Father's will, forgiveness of sins, provision of bread, and deliverance from the Evil One.

Q & A
Summary for Palms and other PDAs

Excerpts from the Westminster Larger Catechism follow.

Thy name be hallowed

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven


Give us this day our daily bread

...acknowledging, that in Adam, and by our own sin, we have forfeited our right to all the outward blessings of this life... We pray for ourselves and others, that both they and we,

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

...we pray, that God would so overrule the world and all in it, subdue the flesh, and restrain Satan, order all things, bestow and bless all means of grace, and quicken us to watchfulness in the use of them, that we and all his people may by his providence

that our sanctification and salvation may be perfected, Satan trodden under our feet, and we fully freed from sin, temptation, and all evil, forever.


Q & A on the Lord's prayer

Q. Do we pray for our sanctification when we pray for God's will to be done, or is that what we pray for when we pray to be delivered from the Evil One?

A. Both. The first three petitions of the Lord's prayer are requests for God to be pleased, whereas the last three petitions are requests for him to bless his people. Our sanctification is both for God's benefit and for our benefit, so it falls under both categories. When we pray for God's revealed will to be done, we express our desire for God's benefit by asking that he would receive the obedience that he deserves. When we pray to be delivered from the Evil One, we express our desire for our own benefit by asking to be saved from our spiritual enemies.

Q. Why doesn't the Lord's prayer follow the popular division into adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication?

A. The six supplications of the Lord's prayer include adoration, confession, and thanksgiving, but not by artificially dividing one aspect of prayer from another. When we pray for God's name to be hallowed, for his kingdom to come, and for his will to be done, we thereby express our adoration of God. When we ask for God to forgive us our sins, we thereby confess our sins. We must ask God for things with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6-7). When we ask for forgiveness, we thank God for his promise to forgive us because of Christ's blood. When we ask for our daily bread, we thank God for how he has been meeting our physical needs each day. When we ask for deliverance from the Evil One, we thank God for his promise to save us from Satan. Thanksgiving cannot be separated from adoration (Neh. 12:46; Ps. 69:30; 100:4; 147:7; Heb. 13:15).

Westminster Larger Catechism (ARP version)

Question 189: What does the preface of the Lord's Prayer teach us?

Answer: The preface of the Lord's Prayer (contained in these words, Our Father which art in heaven), teaches us, when we pray, to draw near to God with confidence of his fatherly goodness, and our interest therein; with reverence, and all other childlike dispositions, heavenly affections, and due apprehensions of his sovereign power, majesty, and gracious condescension: as also, to pray with and for others.

Question 190: What do we pray for in the first petition?

Answer: In the first petition (which is, Hallowed be thy name), acknowledging the utter inability and indisposition that is in ourselves and all men to honor God aright, we pray, that God would by his grace enable and incline us and others to know, to acknowledge, and highly to esteem him, his titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, works, and: Whatsoever he is pleased to make himself known by; and to glorify him in thought, word, and deed: that he would prevent and remove atheism, ignorance, idolatry, profaneness, and: Whatsoever is dishonorable to him; and, by his overruling providence, direct and dispose of all things to his own glory.

Question 191: What do we pray for in the second petition?

Answer: In the second petition (which is, Thy kingdom come), acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.

Question 192: What do we pray for in the third petition?

Answer: In the third petition (which is, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven), acknowledging, that by nature we and all men are not only utterly unable and unwilling to know and do the will of God, but prone to rebel against his Word, to repine and murmur against his providence, and wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh, and of the devil: we pray, that God would by his Spirit take away from ourselves and others all blindness, weakness, indisposedness, and perverseness of heart; and by his grace make us able and willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things, with the like humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity, and constancy, as the angels do in heaven.

Question 193: What do we pray for in the fourth petition?

Answer: In the fourth petition (which is, Give us this day our daily bread), acknowledging, that in Adam, and by our own sin, we have forfeited our right to all the outward blessings of this life, and deserve to be wholly deprived of them by God, and to have them cursed to us in the use of them; and that neither they of themselves are able to sustain us, nor we to merit, or by our own industry to procure them; but prone to desire, get, and use them unlawfully: we pray for ourselves and others, that both they and we, waiting upon the providence of God from day to day in the use of lawful means, may, of his free gift, and as to his fatherly wisdom shall seem best, enjoy a competent portion of them; and have the same continued and blessed unto us in our holy and comfortable use of them, and contentment in them; and be kept from all things that are contrary to our temporal support and comfort.

Question 194: What do we pray for in the fifth petition?

Answer: In the fifth petition (which is, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors), acknowledging, that we and all others are guilty both of original and actual sin, and thereby become debtors to the justice of God; and that neither we, nor any other creature, can make the least satisfaction for that debt: we pray for ourselves and others, that God of his free grace would, through the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, apprehended and applied by faith, acquit us both from the guilt and punishment of sin, accept us in his Beloved; continue his favor and grace to us, pardon our daily failings, and fill us with peace and joy, in giving us daily more and more assurance of forgiveness; which we are the rather emboldened to ask, and encouraged to expect, when we have this testimony in ourselves, that we from the heart forgive others their offenses.

Question 195: What do we pray for in the sixth petition?

Answer: In the sixth petition (which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil), acknowledging, that the most wise, righteous, and gracious God, for divers holy and just ends, may so order things, that we may be assaulted, foiled, and for a time led captive by temptations; that Satan, the world, and the flesh, are ready powerfully to draw us aside, and ensnare us; and that we, even after the pardon of our sins, by reason of our corruption, weakness, and want of watchfulness, are not only subject to be tempted, and forward to expose ourselves unto temptations, but also of ourselves unable and unwilling to resist them, to recover out of them, and to improve them; and worthy to be left under the power of them: we pray, that God would so overrule the world and all in it, subdue the flesh, and restrain Satan, order all things, bestow and bless all means of grace, and quicken us to watchfulness in the use of them, that we and all his people may by his providence be kept from being tempted to sin; or, if tempted, that by his Spirit we may be powerfully supported and enabled to stand in the hour of temptation: or when fallen, raised again and recovered out of it, and have a sanctified use and improvement thereof: that our sanctification and salvation may be perfected, Satan trodden under our feet, and we fully freed from sin, temptation, and all evil, forever.

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Gloria Patri

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Dawning Realm proclaims the good news of the kingdom as confessed at Caesarea Philippi, Nicaea, and Augsburg.
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