The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 239

'28: cf. Luke xv. 21), and apiril;u!LI relation- snpreme Btanda.rd of truth and the one means ship is perhaps only possible becnnse of the of knowing God e.nd a.pproachi11g him; cf. naturalrela.tionship (cf. eh. v. 16, note). Our. I Pet. iii.15, where " <'<'Y,d(co obviously rneo.ns 'l'hough the prayer is here given with specie.I 'set e.part, enshrined.as the object of supreme, reference to praying a.lone (ver. 6), the be- e.bsolute reverence, as free from all clefilc- liever is to be ·reminded at once that he is ment and possessed of all excellence' " joined • by spiritua.l relationship to many (Johnstone, in loo.); of. also Isa, :uix. 23. others who hnve the ea.me needs, etc., as him- The so.me thonght appears to have been the self. -Whioh art in heaven (6 Iv Toi, obpavois). basis ofthe early Western a.ltcrne.tive petition Added in this faller form of the prayer ( viiu (Marcion's or Tertollian's, fJide Westcott and ,upra), on the one hand to definitely exclude Hort, 'App.,' Lnke xi. 2) for the gift of the the applioa.tion of the words however medi- Holy Spirit; i.e. the address to the Father ately to any-human teacher (cf. eh. lliii. 9), we.a followed by a prayer for purification ·and on the other to remind those who pray by the Holy Spirit prepazatory to the prayer, • of the awfnl majesty of bun whom they ad- "Thy kingdom come." A man must accept dress. " They ·are e. Sursum corda; they God's manifestation or him.self before he . remind ns that now we have lifted up onr can take part in the spread of the king- hearts from earth and things earthly to dom. Gregory of Nyssa (,ride Westcott aud • another and -a higher· world" (Trench, Hort, Zoe. cit., e.nd Reach, •Agrapha,' p. 398) • Sermon on the Mo=t '). ll'.a.llowed be thy says clistinclly, "Let thy Holy Spirit come name. 'l'he first of the three prayers for npon ns and pnrify ns; " but he aubst-itulea the furtherance of God's canse. Their paral- this prayer for the words, "Thy kingdom ,lelism,is seen-muoh more clearly in the Greek come." (For the support afforded by this to . than in the English order of the words. Thg the theory that the Lord's Pro.yer circulated name. We look on a no.me almost as an in a varying form, cf. Ch1U1e, loc. cit.) Gre- accidental appendage by which a person is gory's petition, e.saffeoting only humanity, is designated, but in its true idea it is the desig- less oomprchensive than that found in our •nation of a person which exactly answers to Gospels . his nature and qnu.lities. Hence the full Ver. 10.-Thy kingdom come. Let there Name of God.is properly that description of come the full establishment of thy realm. 'him .which embraces all that he really is. The prayer paBBes from the persona.I accept- As, however, the term" name" implies that ance in the heart of God's revelation of him- it is expressed, it must, when it is used of self to the consequent resnlt. The clause God, be limited to that portion of his nnture has a much wider meaning than the de- .and qualities which cu.n be exprcSBcd in velopment and spread of the Church, or · human terms; becanse it has been already e.en the personal return of Chri..t at the •me.de known to us. The " name " of God, second advent. It speaks of that whicll here and elsewhere in the Bible, therefore, eh11ll be the iBBne of both this and that, the ,does not mean God in his essence, but rather fine.I and perfect establishment of God's that manifestation of himsolf which he hns reo.lm, in which all men will.do him willing •been plensed to give, whether partial and service, and a.II habits and onstoma, indi- ,preparatory as under the old covenant (of. vidual and social, will be suoh as he approvea Gen. iv. 26 [xvi. 13); xuii. 29; Exod. vi. S; af (~ide lutrocluction, p. xxv.). Dr. C. Taylor •:r.xxiv. 5),or fi.nnl as under the new (cf. John (' S11yings,' eto., Exo. v.) points out tho.t :r.vii 6); or again (to take o.nother division the coming of the kingdom and the aanoti- found inExell's' Biblical Illustrator,' in loo.) fying of the Name 11re brought together in the me.nifcsto.tion of himself through nature, Zech. xiv. 9; Weiss,' Life,' ii. 349, with many through inspired words, through the Ince.r- others, aays tbo.t our Lord probo.bly at.lo.pied n11tion. Cow pared with the Glory (3&{a) •· the tho frequent Jewish prayer for the coming Nnme expresses the revelation as it is appre- of the kingdom of Messiah. Thy will be . bended and used by man. Man is co.lied by done. Let ihy will oome iuto oomplete ex- .the Name, and employs it. 'rbe Glory e:r.- istence ('Y•V116-/iT01 ; of. "Let there be light," •presses rather the manifestation of the Di vine Gen. i. S, LXX.). The thougl.it is not merely as Divine, as e. par~inl disclosure of the Divine God's will realizctl in this or that action, Majesty not directly intelligible by ma.n whether performed or endured by us(of. oh. (comp. Ex. nxiii. 18, ff.)" (Biahop West- xxvi. 42; Aots xxi. 14) bnt God's will 11.11 a cott, 'Adel. Note ' on 3 J obu 7). HaUowm be. whole coming into full king. God's will is 'A')'<046f/TI» cannot hcre,.as sometimes (Rev. a.I ways in ideal until it ia aocomplishcd in uii. 11 ; of. John xviL 17; I 'fhess. v. 23), aoL The connexion of the ole.use with whi.t mean "be made holy," for this God's mani- has gone before is therefore this-lho e.c- festo.lion of hillll!elf already is; but " be ceptance of God's mauife~tation of himsell oounted holy," i.e. in l,ume.n juclgment. The leads to the ostabliehment of his rculm, and prayer is lhnt God's rne.nifeatation of himself this to the rt'Blizntiou of his will, whi~h may be ackuowlollgr:d 11nd revered as the one uutil theu is only idce.l(cf.oh. v.18, no~,end).  232 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [ou. VI, 1-34.