+ Whether the Prayer was originally given in Aramaic or Hebrew has been discussed, but without a certain conclusion. Chase is sure it was in Aramaic; see, further, Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers 2 (1897), p. 176 £.
¢ Compare the parallel clause in the Jewish synagogal prayer Kaddish: ‘Magnificetur et sanctificetur nomen eius magnum in mundo’ (Maimonides’ translation); see Achelis, Bergpredigt,
. 238 f. ;
P $ See Ex 208, Lv 218 2232, Nu 2012, Dt 3251, Is 2028, Ezk 3628 ; and in the NT, 1 P 315. by ¥ || See Ps 511 910, Pr 1810, So the peculiar phrase (still in religious use) ‘for his name’s sake,’ Ps 233 2511 318 799; cf. Achelis, Bergpredigt, pp. 240-243. ,
{| Compare here, also, the Kaddish parallel: ‘Regnare faciat regnum suum.’ Marcion, in his Lukan form of the Lord’s Prayer, read as the second petition, not what we have here, but 36s juiv +o &ys0v xvetex, or another form of the same, éabéra 7) kyioy xvevuc cov rpos Hues. The same thought in a more expanded form was known, as a feature of Luke’s text, to Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor; thus: Neo) To yloy rveled cov ie Audis xol xolopiocara iucas (cf. Westcott and Hort, ow Testament in Greek, vol. ii. Appx.; Nestle, in Encycl. Bibl. iii. 2818). This petition for the Holy Spirit cannot be authentic in this connexion, for it has small attestation, is not suitable to the context, and is obviously a drastic substi- tution to bring into the Prayer a specific request for the Holy
ee eee
| 36 SERMON ON THE MOUNT
ee the wonderful Messianic Hope of the ebrews; it was in substance the prayer which for centuries Israel had addressed to God.* Jesus bade them continue this prayer for the coming of the Kingdom of God, but taught them the true conception of what that Kingdom was, and how it was to be accomplished. The Kingdom of God was Jesus’ constant and all-inclusive term to denote the individual and social good which would come to men when they would trust themselves to God’s guidance and conform themselves to His ideal (Mt 6%=Lk 12*!). In Jesus’ conception the coming of the Kingdom was a process, a develop- ment through successive stages with a final con- summation (Mk 4°62), He established the King- dom among men (Lk 17%), His followers were to carry it forward (Mt 281°: °°), and in due time He would bring about its complete realization (Mt 24. 25).¢ Our prayer, therefore, must be that God in His wisdom, power, and love may hasten the growth among men of righteousness, mercy, and peace; that the principles of the Gospel may prevail in individuals and in society as a whole, that humanity may become transformed into the likeness of Him who revealed to them the Divine ideal of God for His children.
The third petition (yevnO7Tw 7d Oé\nud cov, ws ev ovpay@ Kal éml ys) was needed in the Prayer to guard the second petition against misinterpretation. It had become a prevalent misconception that the coming of God’s Kingdom depended after all upon Himself, and that when He should choose to do so He could by His omnipotence bring that King- dom into complete existence ; so men had impor- tuned God to become loving and forgiving towards them, and to grant to them the blessings which out of dissatisfaction or neglect He was with- holding from them. Jesus makes that idea im- possible when He gives this third petition, teaching that God’s will must be absolutely done by all.t To do God’s will, to accomplish His work, was the one purpose of Jesus’ own life (Mt 26%”, Jn 4% 6°8 127 174), and He enjoined it upon all as the one comprehensive human obligation (Mt 72, Jn 72"). Men must therefore co-operate with God in the realization of the Kingdom by making themselves, with God’s help, what they should be, and by bringing in the true brotherhood of universal love and service.
The fourth petition§ pertains to the physical Spirit which Jesus had included only by implication. The prominence given to the Holy Spirit in the Apostolic age has left its impress upon the Lukan account of Jesus’ words; cf. Mt 72=Lk 1118, Mt 1125=Lk 1021, also Mt 1020=Lk 1212,
* See art. MESSIAH in vol. iii. ; Hneycl. Bibl., art. ‘Messiah’ ; also Goodspeed, Israel's Messianic Hope (1900).
t See art. Kinepom or Gop in vol. ii. ; also Wendt, Lehre Jesu, ii. 293-325. The verbal form é10écw does not favour the idea that the coming of the Kingdom is continuous; which part of the verb was used in the original Aramaic can only be matter of con- jecture—one would suppose a jussive imperfect, and this would have presented no difficulty. At any rate, this petition must be interpreted in the light of Jesus’ entire teaching concerning the Kingdom, The Greek aorist here may be due to the idea held by all Christians in the Apostolic age, that the return of Christ was imminent, and that with His return He would bring the catastrophic consummation ; this passage would then be one of a number in the Gospels which received an eschatological colouring in transmission, on account of the failure of the
disciples to take completely Jesus’ view of the natureand coming of the Kingdom.