Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Two versions of the Lord's Prayer are given in the gospels -- Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4.

In Matthew 6:9-13 (which I would say is the more commonly-used version of the Lord's Prayer), Jesus, as part of His Sermon on the Mount, provided His listeners with a suggested wording for prayer as a corrective to the practice among Gentiles (that is, followers of non-Jewish or pagan religions) of making long, repetitive prayers, based on a belief that their gods would pay greater attention to them because of their length (which Jesus had just mentioned in Matthew 6:7-8). As Jesus said, such repetition is not necessary, because God already knows what we need before we ask Him.

Jesus therefore provided the wording of a short suggested prayer that contains elements of love and familiarity (addressing God as "Our Father"); praise of God's name; a desire for God's rule and will to be realized and accomplished just as fully on earth as it is in heaven; a simple request for everything we need to sustain this life; a plea for forgiveness; a recognition of our corresponding obligation to forgive others; a request that we not be subjected to testing of our faith through temptation, but rather delivered from evil; and a closing doxology, or re-statement that all authority, power, and glory forever belong to God. 

In Luke 11:2-4, Jesus gave this same model for prayer, not as part of an extended discourse, but after His disciples came to Him while He was praying (in Luke 11:1), and specifically asked Him to teach them to pray, as John the Baptist had taught his disciples (although the gospels do not provide any actual example of John having done this).

The most common wording of the prayer in Luke is shorter than the one in Matthew (just as Luke's account of the subjects covered by Jesus in Matthew 5-7 occurs in briefer excepts than in Matthew's gospel). Luke's version of the prayer omits the petition about God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven, and does not specifically ask God to deliver us from evil. It also does not contain the closing doxology found in Matthew.

May 15 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report