Matthew 6:9 - Meaning and Application

When Christ had corrected what was wrong, he then showed the better way, for his rebukes are meant to teach. Since we do not know how to pray as we should, he helps our weakness by giving us words to use: “After this manner therefore pray ye” (Matthew 6:9). So much corruption had entered prayer among the Jews that Christ saw it necessary to give a new guide for prayer. He shows his disciples what should usually fill their prayers and what shape those prayers should take.

He gives words that can certainly be used as a form of prayer, a short summary of the many parts of our requests. Yet we are not bound to use only this prayer, or always to use these exact words, as if our other prayers needed to be made holy by them. We are told to pray in this way, with these words, or to this effect. Luke gives the prayer somewhat differently, and we do not find the apostles using it as a fixed form. We are not here taught to pray in Christ’s name, as we are later. We are told to pray that the kingdom may come, which it did when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Even so, it is very good to use it as a form, and it is a sign of the fellowship of believers. It has been used by the church in all ages, at least, as Dr. Whitby says, from the third century.

It is the Lord’s Prayer, composed and appointed by him. It is very short, yet very full, because he has mercy on our weakness in prayer. The matter is excellent and necessary, the order is instructive, and the words are very brief. It has much in a little. We should learn its meaning well, because it is only used rightly when it is used with understanding and without empty repetition.

The Lord’s Prayer, as every prayer, is like a letter sent from earth to heaven. It has its address, to our Father; its place, in heaven; its requests, in the several petitions; its close, “for thine is the kingdom”; its seal, “Amen”; and, if you wish, its date too, “this day.” Put simply, the prayer has three parts: the opening, “Our Father who art in heaven”; the petitions; and the closing praise.

Before we bring our needs, we must make a solemn approach to the One we are speaking to: “Our Father.” This reminds us that we should pray not only alone and for ourselves, but also with and for others, since we belong to one another and are called into fellowship. We are taught here whom to pray to, God alone, and not saints or angels. They do not know us, they are not given the honor that belongs in prayer, and they cannot give the help we seek. We are also taught how to speak to God, and what title to use for him, one that shows him as kind and ready to help, because we are coming boldly to the throne of grace.

First, we must speak to him as our Father and call him so. He is a Father to all people by creation (Malachi 2:10; Acts 17:28). In a special way, he is Father to believers through adoption, which means he brings us into his family, and new birth (Ephesians 1:5; Galatians 4:6). That is a wonderful privilege. In prayer we should look at God in this way and keep good thoughts of him, thoughts that encourage us instead of frightening us. Nothing is more pleasing to God, or more comforting to us, than to call God Father. Christ usually called God Father in prayer.

If he is our Father, then he will pity us in our weakness and failings (Psalm 103:13), spare us (Malachi 3:17), and make the best of our poor efforts, even when they are far from perfect. He will not refuse us anything that is truly good for us (Luke 11:11-13). We may come to him boldly as to a father. We have an advocate with the Father, and the Spirit of adoption. When we come sorrowing for sin, we should think of God as a Father, as the prodigal son did (Luke 15:18; Jeremiah 3:19). When we ask for grace, peace, and the inheritance and blessing of sons, it helps us to remember that we come to God, not as an angry judge still unreconciled to us, but as a loving, gracious Father who has made peace with us in Christ (Jeremiah 3:4).

Second, he is our Father in heaven. He is in heaven, though heaven cannot contain him, and he shows his glory there in a special way, since it is his throne (Psalm 103:19). To believers, it is a throne of grace. We must direct our prayers toward him there, because Christ the Mediator, the one who brings God and man together, is now in heaven (Hebrews 8:1). Heaven is beyond our sight and is a world of spirits, so our conversation with God in prayer must be spiritual. Heaven is on high, so in prayer we should rise above the world and lift up our hearts (Psalm 5:1). Heaven is pure, so we must lift up pure hands and seek to honor his name, because he is the Holy One who dwells in that holy place (Leviticus 10:3).

From heaven God sees the children of men (Psalm 33:13, 14). In prayer, we must also remember that his eye is on us. From there he has a full and clear view of all our needs, burdens, desires, and weaknesses. Heaven is also the firm place where he shows his power (Psalm 150:1). He is not only able, as a Father, to help us and to do far more than we ask or think, he also has all that is needed to supply our needs, because every good gift comes from above. He is a Father, so we may come to him boldly. Yet he is a Father in heaven, so we must come with reverence (Ecclesiastes 5:2). In this way, all our prayers should match our great goal as Christians, which is to be with God in heaven. God and heaven, the goal of our whole life, must be clearly in view in every prayer. Prayer sends us ahead to the place where we say we are going.

The petitions are six in number. The first three are more directly about God and his honor, while the last three concern our own needs, both earthly and spiritual. This is like the Ten Commandments, where the first four teach our duty toward God and the last six our duty toward our neighbor. The order of this prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, trusting that other things will be added.

“Hallowed be thy name.” This is the same word elsewhere translated “sanctified.” Here the older word “hallowed” is kept because people were used to it in the Lord’s Prayer. In these words, we give glory to God. They can be read not only as a request, but as praise, like saying, “Let the Lord be magnified” or glorified, because God’s holiness is the beauty and greatness of all his other qualities. We should begin our prayers by praising God, and it is right that he be served first, before we ask him for mercy and grace.

We should give him praise for who he is, and then receive the benefit of all he is. In this petition, we also set our aim. It is the right aim and should be our main and final goal in every request, that God would be glorified. All our other requests must serve that end. We should pray, in effect, “Father, glorify yourself in giving me my daily bread and in forgiving my sins,” and in all the rest.

Because everything comes from God and through God, everything must also be for God. In prayer, our thoughts and desires should aim most at God’s glory. The Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders, made their own name the main purpose of their prayers, wanting to be seen by others (Matthew 6:5). Against that, Jesus tells us to make God’s name our main purpose. Let every request we bring rest on that goal and be shaped by it: “Do this for me, for the glory of your name, and only as far as it honors you.”

When we pray that God’s name be sanctified, we are asking that God himself, and everything by which he has made himself known, be honored as holy by us and by others, and especially by himself. We pray, “Father, let your name be glorified as a Father in heaven. Show your goodness, your greatness, your majesty, and your mercy. Let your name be treated as holy, because it is holy. Let our own polluted names matter less, but Lord, what will you do for your great name?”

When we pray for God’s name to be glorified, we are asking for what God will certainly do anyway. He will honor his own name whether we ask or not, as Psalm 46:10 says, “I will be exalted among the nations.” We are also asking for something we know will be granted. When our Savior prayed, “Father, glorify your name,” the answer came at once, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

“Your kingdom come” clearly points to the message Christ was preaching then, the same message John the Baptist had preached before him, and the same message Jesus later sent his apostles to preach: the kingdom of heaven is near. This means the kingdom of the Father in heaven, the Messiah’s kingdom, is near, and we should pray for its coming. We should turn what we hear from God’s Word into prayer. Our hearts should answer God’s promises. If Christ says, “Surely, I am coming soon,” our hearts should reply, “Even so, come.”

Ministers should pray over the Word they preach. When they say the kingdom of God is near, they should also pray, “Father, let your kingdom come.” What God has promised, we must pray for. Promises are given not to replace prayer, but to stir it up and encourage it. When the promised time is close, we should pray even more earnestly. Daniel did this when he saw that the time for Israel’s deliverance was near (Daniel 9:2). The Jews also prayed daily that God would make his kingdom rule, that his redemption would grow, and that the Messiah would come and deliver his people.

“Let your kingdom come” means, let the gospel be preached to all and received by all. Let everyone submit to what God has said about his Son in his Word and receive him as Savior and King. Let the gospel church grow, let the world become Christ’s kingdom, and let all people live as subjects of that kingdom.

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We pray that, since God’s kingdom has come, we and others may obey all its laws and commands. In this way it will show that Christ’s kingdom has come. It will also show that it is a kingdom from heaven, and that it brings something of heaven to earth. We make Christ only a name if we call him King and do not obey his will. Since we have prayed that he would rule us, we also pray that we would be ruled by him in everything.

The thing we ask for is clear: “Your will be done.” In other words, “Lord, do with me and mine whatever pleases you” (1 Samuel 3:18). “I give myself to you, and I am fully satisfied that all your purposes for me should happen.” In this sense, Christ himself prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done.” We also ask, “Enable me to do what pleases you. Give me the grace I need to know your will rightly and obey it well.” Let your will be done by me and others with a willing conscience, not our own will, not the desires of the flesh or mind, and not the will of people (1 Peter 4:2), much less Satan’s will (John 8:44). We pray that we may never do anything that displeases God, or be troubled by anything God does.

The pattern is also clear: “on earth as it is in heaven.” Earth is the place where we are tested and where our work must be done, if it is ever to be done at all. Heaven is the place of rest and joy. We pray that earth may become more like heaven through obedience to God’s will. This earth has become very near to hell through the power of Satan’s will, and we ask that believers may become more like the holy angels in devotion and obedience. We are on earth, thank God, not yet under the earth. We pray for the living, not for the dead who have gone into silence.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Since our bodily life is needed for our spiritual life in this world, we first pray about God’s glory, kingdom, and will, and then we pray for the needs of this present life. These are gifts from God, and we must ask him for them. The phrase means bread for the coming day, bread for what remains of our life, or bread for our support and subsistence, what suits our place in the world (Proverbs 30:8).

Every part of this request teaches something. We ask for bread, which teaches sobriety and self-control. We ask for bread, not luxuries or unnecessary extras, but what is healthy even if it is plain. We ask for our bread, which teaches honesty and hard work. We do not ask for food taken from others, or for the bread of deceit (Proverbs 20:17), or the bread of laziness (Proverbs 31:27), but for what is honestly earned. We ask for daily bread, which teaches us not to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), but to keep depending on God’s care each day.

We ask God to give it to us, not sell it to us or lend it to us, but give it. Even the greatest people must depend on God’s mercy for their daily bread. We also pray, “Give it to us,” not to me alone, but to others with me. This teaches charity and a caring concern for the poor and needy. It also shows that we should pray with our families, since we eat together and should pray together. We ask for this day, which teaches us to keep renewing our desire toward God as our needs return each day. As regularly as the day comes, we must pray to our heavenly Father. We should feel that we could no more live a day without food than without prayer.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” This belongs with the previous request, because it says “and forgive,” which shows that without pardon for our sins, we can have no true comfort in life, or in the supports of life. Our daily bread would only feed us like lambs for slaughter if our sins were not forgiven.

This also shows that we must pray for daily forgiveness as regularly as we pray for daily bread. “He who has been washed” still needs to wash his feet. Here we have a petition: “Father in heaven, forgive us our debts,” our debts to you. Our sins are our debts. As creatures, we owe God a debt of duty, and when we fail to pay it, we also incur a debt of punishment.

When we disobey God’s will, we place ourselves under his anger. When we do not keep the law’s command, we become liable to its penalty. A debtor can be brought into court, and so can we. A wrongdoer is a debtor to the law, and so are we. Every day our heart’s desire and prayer to our heavenly Father should be that he would forgive us our debts.

We ask that the claim of punishment be canceled, so we will not come into condemnation. We ask to be released, and to have the comfort of that release. In asking for pardon, our great plea is the satisfaction made to God’s justice for human sin by the death of the Lord Jesus, our Surety, meaning the one who stood in our place, or rather our Bail, who took responsibility for our release.

The petition is strengthened by this argument: “as we forgive our debtors.” This is not a plea based on merit, but a plea based on grace. Those who come to God for forgiveness for their sins against him must seriously forgive those who have wronged them. Otherwise, they condemn themselves when they pray the Lord’s Prayer.

Our duty is to forgive our debtors. When it comes to money owed, we should not be harsh or severe in pressing for payment from those who cannot pay without ruining themselves and their families. But here the main thought is injury, not money. Our debtors are those who trespass against us, those who strike us, as in (Matthew 5:39, Matthew 5:40), and who could, under strict law, be prosecuted for it. We must hold back, forgive, and forget the insults and wrongs done to us.

This forgiving spirit is a moral sign that fits with pardon and peace. It gives us reason to hope that God will forgive us, because if this gracious attitude is in us, it is worked by God. Since forgiveness is such a high and holy thing in him, it gives evidence that he has already forgiven us by working this condition of forgiveness in us.

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This petition is stated in two parts. First, negatively: “Lead us not into temptation.” After praying that sin’s guilt would be removed, it is right to pray that we never return to folly, and that we are not tempted back into it. This does not mean that God tempts anyone to sin. It means, “Lord, do not let Satan loose on us. Chain up that roaring lion, because he is cunning and cruel. Lord, do not leave us to ourselves” (Psalm 19:13), “because we are very weak. Lord, do not put stumbling blocks and traps in our way, or place us in situations that may lead us to fall.”

We should pray against temptations both because they bring distress and trouble, and because we may be overcome by them. Then guilt and grief follow. Second, positively: “But deliver us from evil,” or from the evil one, the devil, the tempter. We ask to be kept so that we are not attacked by him, or, if attacked, not overcome by those attacks. Or it can mean deliver us from the evil thing, sin, the worst of evils, an evil, indeed the only evil, the thing God hates and Satan uses to tempt people and destroy them.

We also ask to be delivered from the evil of the world, from the corruption that is in the world through sinful desire. We ask to be delivered from the evil that belongs to every condition in the world, from the evil of death, and from the sting of death, which is sin. We ask to be delivered from ourselves, from our own evil hearts, and from evil people, so they will not become a trap for us, and we will not become their prey.

The conclusion is this: “For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” Some connect this with David’s praise in (1 Chronicles 29:11), “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness.” This serves, first, as a plea to strengthen the prayers that came before it. It is our duty to plead with God in prayer, to fill our mouths with arguments (Job 23:4), not to persuade God, but to shape our own hearts, strengthen our faith, stir our earnestness, and show both.

The best arguments in prayer come from God himself and from what he has made known about himself. We must wrestle with God in his own strength, both in the kind of arguments we use and in how we press them. This plea especially fits the first three requests: “Father in heaven, your kingdom come, for yours is the kingdom. Your will be done, for yours is the power. Hallowed be your name, for yours is the glory.”

It is also encouraging for our own needs. “Yours is the kingdom” means that you rule the world and protect the saints, your willing people in it. God gives and saves like a king. “Yours is the power” means that you are able to uphold that kingdom and keep every promise you have made to your people. “Yours is the glory” means that all the good given to the saints, and all that is done for them in answer to prayer, ends in your praise, because their praise waits for you.

This is also a form of praise and thanks. The best way to plead with God is to praise him. Praise helps prepare us to receive more mercy. In all our prayers, praise should have a large place, because praise fits the saints. We are to be a people for God’s honor and praise. It is right and fitting to praise God and give him glory, not because he needs it, for he is already praised by a world of angels, but because he deserves it, and because it is our duty to honor him in line with his purpose in revealing himself to us.

Praise is the work and joy of heaven. All who would go to heaven hereafter must begin their heaven now. Notice how full this doxology is: the kingdom, the power, and the glory, all are his. We should be generous in praising God. A true believer never thinks he can speak well enough of God. There should be a free flow of praise, and that praise should last forever.

Giving glory to God forever means we admit that glory is always due to him, and we long to keep doing it forever, with the angels and saints above (Psalm 71:14). Finally, we are taught to add our “Amen,” meaning, “So be it.” God’s Amen is a grant, his “let it be so.” Our Amen is our own sincere desire, our “let it be so.” We say Amen as a sign of both desire and confidence that we will be heard.

Amen reaches back to every request that came before it. In compassion for our weakness, we are taught to gather the whole prayer into one word, and so collect in general what we may have lost or forgotten in the details. It is good to end religious duties with warmth and strength, so we may leave them with a sweet sense upon our spirits.

It used to be the practice of godly people to say “Amen” out loud at the end of every prayer. That is a good practice, as long as it is done with understanding, as the apostle says (1 Corinthians 14:16). It should also be done honestly, with real life and warmth inside, matching the outward words of desire and trust.

Most of the requests in the Lord’s Prayer had already been used by the Jews in their prayers, or in words much like them. But the line in the fifth petition, “As we forgive our debtors,” was completely new. So our Savior explains why he added it, not to make a personal point about the bad temper, love of lawsuits, or unkindness of that generation, though there was plenty of reason for that. He added it because the matter itself is so necessary and important.

When God forgives us, he gives special attention to whether we forgive those who have hurt us. So when we ask for pardon, we must mention our care to do this duty. That reminds us of it, and it also binds us to it. See the parable in Matthew 18:23-35. Self-centered human nature resists this, so Christ presses it here (Matthew 6:14, Matthew 6:15).

He first gives this in a promise: if you forgive, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. This does not mean forgiveness is the only thing required. There must also be repentance, faith, and new obedience. But where those graces are truly present, forgiving others will be there too. And this kindness toward a brother shows that a person is really sorry before God.

The things called “debts” in the prayer are called “trespasses” here, meaning injuries or wrongs done to us in body, goods, or reputation. “Trespasses” is a gentler word for offenses, like stumbles or slips. It is a good sign, and a real help, when we use a softer name for the wrongs done to us. Do not call them treasons, but trespasses. Do not call them planned injuries, but careless mistakes. Perhaps it was only an oversight (Genesis 43:12), so make the best of it.

We must forgive others as we hope to be forgiven. That means more than not hating them or plotting revenge. We must also stop bringing up their wrongs against us, and we must not be glad when trouble comes to them. Instead, we should be ready to help them and do them good. If they repent and want friendship again, we should be open and kind, as before.

Christ also gives a warning: if you do not forgive those who have hurt you, that is a bad sign that you do not truly have the other needed qualities, and you are not fit for pardon. In that case, the Father whom you call Father, and who offers grace on fair terms, will not forgive you. And if your other grace is genuine, but you still greatly fail in forgiving others, you cannot expect the comfort of pardon. You may need some trial or sorrow to bring your spirit low enough to obey this duty.

Those who want mercy from God must show mercy to their fellow believers. We cannot expect God to stretch out the hand of his favor to us unless we lift up holy hands to him, free from anger (1 Timothy 2:8). If we pray while angry, we should fear that God will answer in anger. It has been said that prayers made in anger are written in gall.

What reason is there for God to forgive us the great debts we owe him if we will not forgive our brothers the small debts they owe us? Christ came into the world as the great peacemaker. He came not only to bring us back to God, but also to bring us back to one another. We must agree with him in that. It is bold and dangerous to treat lightly what Christ places such great weight on. Human passions will not overturn God’s word.