The Lord's Prayer is one that Jesus taught directly... even I know this one.
*** Would you please explain what this prayer is about and the significance of the statements it contains?
Thank you.
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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name."
We address God as our Father, and acknowledge that He is holy. To know and address God as our Father is a gift which Jesus grants to us; as He alone is uniquely the Son of God. He graciously extends to us the right to call His Father our Father as well, to know the One He has always known as Father as our Father as well. St. Paul will, in his letters, talk about how we have been adopted by God's grace as sons of God by our union to Christ. It is this adoption, this grace, that we come before God as Father, uniquely and only because of Christ.
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Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
The Greek word translated as "kingdom" is
basileia, and refers to the royal power and authority of a king; here we ask God to rule and reign as King, to bring His rule here. Throughout Jesus' earthly ministry He preached the kingdom of God, He preached what it means for God to be King and that the way God is King is through Himself, through His lowliness, humility, and even His suffering and death on the cross--and which is inaugurated through His resurrection and ascension to be seated at the right hand of the Father. In this way, God is King now, through the redemption and healing of His grace through the Gospel into our lives. And, ultimately, that kingdom will come in its entire fullness in the end. That is "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" the reality of God's rulership, His Kingship, that operates in heaven will come down here. The Christian hope is not to leave the earth and go to a place called heaven forever, but that heaven will ultimately come down to earth, there will be a union between heaven and earth, and God will be all in all.
We pray that God's kingdom and will come, and be done, not just in the future, but even now. That the hungry should be fed, the naked clothed. That sinners repent, and people come to know God in Christ and be transformed in faith and hope of what He has done, continues to do, and will complete in the end.
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Give us this day our daily bread."
Here we have a very interesting statement, it may not seem that way, but when we look at the original Greek we find that the word translated here as "daily" is epiousion, a purely literal translation of this word would be something like "super-substantial" or "super-essential". And there has been a lot of discussion over its precise meaning. I'm not going to resolve that here, but if you ask me what I think I think it is speaking about God providing for our every need--both physical and spiritual. It is to say that everything we need comes from God, and He is the One who provides us with it.
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Forgive us our trespasses even as we forgive others their trespasses against us."
Here we confess we have sinned, and we need forgiveness from God; but we also admit that our forgiveness is connected to our forgiving others. If I am not forgiving others who have hurt me, who have done wrong to me, then when I come to God and ask for His forgiveness I am making an empty and vain appeal. God wants us to come to Him honestly and vulnerably--we are sinners in need of His mercy, every day, every moment of every day. And that means even as I recognize that I am a sinner who needs forgiveness, so does my neighbor who has sinned against me. The wrongs committed shall be covered, God who is merciful to us says we are to be merciful to others. Therefore forgive and be forgiven; these two things come together.
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Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
God does not tempt us, the meaning here is our asking to not face harsh ordeals of testing, "lead us not into the time of trial" is another way it has been translated. Instead, we ask to be delivered from evil, from the sufferings and wrongs and evils--to come out of suffering, to be comforted and pass through suffering unscathed.
In some manuscripts it says "deliver us from the evil one", which brings a further dimension--that the devil brings torments and we beseech God to be delivered from the devil's snares, schemes, and torments.
And finally, some manuscripts--and in the traditional liturgical form of the Prayer--there is a final doxology or "glory":
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For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen."
The prayer concludes with a declaration of God's total and unparalleled worthiness, He alone Rules and Reigns, He alone has Power and Authority, He alone is Good and Glorious--and it is forever and ever, unceasing, unmatched, eternal and everlasting.
And so we place all things into His care, and surrender ourselves to Him.
-CryptoLutheran
