RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Lord's Prayer
means in the sense in which God forgives him. A man's "debtor" in a spiritual sense is not a debtor to him as he himself is a debtor to God. As Jesus bids the man who brings a gift to the altar while at variance with his brother first to be reconciled to his brother before he dare to offer it (Matt. v. 23, 24) , so he enjoins his disciples to "lift up holy hands, without wrath and disputing" (I Tim. ii. 8), and to dismiss rancor and hatred from their hearts before they come with a prayer to their father (cf. Matt, vi. 14, 15). This is illustrated in the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matt, xviii. 23-35). A spirit of unmercifulness shuts the door of the father's mercy. This petition is even more pointed and earnest than parallel clauses in the Shemoneh 'Esreh: " Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed." Polycarp recalls the intense devotion of this petition in the words: " If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive; for we are before the eyes of the Lord " (Philippians, vi.; ANF, i. 34). Luther in his " Greater Catechism " (iii. 64) alludes to the spirit of the petition and says: " If you do not forgive, remember that God does not forgive you; but if you forgive others, you may have the certainty and consolation of knowing that you are forgiven in heaven."
6. The Sixth Petition: "And lead us not into temptation." The connection of the sixth with the fifth petition is evident. As the disciples of Jesus, during the time which elapses before the setting up of his kingdom in glory, utter the fifth petition with the consciousness of their sins, so they utter the sixth petition with the consciousness of their own weakness and of the ever-present danger of their sinning. In this connection may be recalled the words of Jesus to his disciples in Gethsemane: " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak " (Matt. xxvi. 41). This temptation is especially imminent when men go out into the world, where pleasure or the force of evil influence surrounds them, or the power of the spiritual world and of the enemy of mankind seek an opportunity of sifting the disciples like wheat (Luke xxii. 31). This temptation is very different from the trial by which the faith of the disciples is actually strengthened (James i. 2). Watchfulness which avoids light-mindedness, overweening confidence, or cowardice, and sees all the dangers as they really are, prevents the falling into temptation, and the prayer against it insures at least that when temptation comes it may merely result in a sort of judgment in which only the unworthy fall (I Pet. iv. 17; cf. Rev. iii. 10; II Pet. ii. 9). When the spirit of the forgiving father produces in the disciples a strong disposition toward reconciliation with others, the deliverance from temptation asked of the father appears in their flight from sin, so that they do not seek out opportunities for sinning but avoid them. In strict accordance with the meaning of this sixth petition are such exhortations as those of St. Paul to the Corinthians (I Cor. vi. 18, x. 14). To be led into temptation is, however, sometimes a punishment from God, and Origen (" On Prayer," xxix. 16) observes: " Let
us do nothing which shall cause us by the just judgment of God to be led into temptation."
7. The Seventh Petition: "But deliver us from evil" (not found in Luke). This petition merely puts in positive form the substance of the negative sixth petition. The Church Fathers have been divided as to the meaning of " the evil " — whether it means the Evil One (Satan), as Tertullian and the Greek fathers after Origin think, or the evil thing, sin, as Cyprian and the Latin fathers interpret it. The point seems to be decided by II Tim. iv. 18, where the exact words of the Evangelist are employed: "The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work."
8. The Doxology: "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen." The oldest form of the doxology, as would appear from the Didache, omits " the kingdom " and " Amen." The Amen probably did not appear in the original text of Matthew and Luke. At an early period, however, it was imported into the Christian liturgy from the synagogue prayers. In the Didache the Lord's Prayer was ordered to be repeated thrice a day, an order in which may be seen the influence of the Jewish custom, which was to recite the Shemoneh 'Esreh thrice a day. The variations in the versions of Matthew and Luke seem to intimate that the congregation of the disciples of Jesus when assembled in prayer were not bound in slavish bondage to the letter, but were united in the freedom and power of the spirit. (J. Hatjssleiter.)
Bibliography: The commentaries on Matthew and Luke are, of course, to be taken into account; many of them give considerable on the history of the exegesis of the Lord's Prayer. Patristic comment of note, other than that mentioned in the text, is by Cyprian, De dominica oratione; Augustine, De sermone Domini in monte, in MPL, xxxiv. 1229-1308; Origen, Peri euches; Gregory of Nyssa, in MPG, xliv. 1120-1193. A collection of patristic comment is by G. Tillman, Das Gebet, nach der Lehre der Heiligen dargestellt, 2 vols., Freiburg, 1876. From the historical and critical side may be named: A. H. H. Kamphausen, Das Gebet des Herrn, Elberfeld, 1866; A. Tholuck, Die Bergrede Christi, Gotha, 1872; E. Achelis, Die Bergpredigl nach Matthaus und Lukas, Bielefeld, 1875; F. H. Chase, The Lord's Prayer in the Early Church, in TS, i., no. 3, Cambridge, 1891; G. Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, vol. i., Leipsic, 1898, Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1902; O. Dibelius, Das Vaterunser, Umrisse zu einer Geschichte des Gebets, Giessen, 1903; E. Bischoff, Jesus und die Rabbinen, Berlin, 1905; G. Honnicke, in NKZ, xvii (1906), 57-67, 106-120, 169-180; DB, iii. 141-144; EB, iii. 2816-23; DCG, ii. 57-63.
More of the homiletical is found in: N. Hall, The Lord's Prayer; a practical Meditation, Edinburgh, 1889; G. Karney, Pater Noster; Studies on the Lord's Prayer, London, 1889; H. J. Van Dyke, The Lord's Prayer, New York, 1891; J. Ruskin, Letters to the Clergy on the Lord's Prayer and the Church, late ed., New York, 1896; E. Wordsworth, Thoughts on the Lord's Prayer, ib. 1898; C. W. Stubbs, Social Teaching of the Lord's Prayer, London, 1900; L. T. Chamberlain, The True Doctrine of Prayer, New York, 1906; F. M. Williams, Spiritual Instructions on the Lord's Prayer, New York, 1907. Sermonic treatment is given by: H. Hutton, London, 1863; W. Gladden, Boston, 1881; H. W. Foote, ib. 1891; R. Eyton, ib. 1892; M. Dods, Cincinnati, 1893; F. W. Farrar, London and New York, 1893; W. J. S. Simpson, London, 1893; W. R. Richards, Philadelphia, 1910.
Important or interesting are: A. S. Cook, Study of the Lord's Prayer in English, in American Journal of Philology, xii. 59-66; idem, in Biblical Quotations of Old English Prose Writers, pp. 147 sqq., New York, 1898; The Lord's Prayer in 500 Languages, ed. R. Rost, London, 1905.
Lord's Supper