The Lord's Prayer Literally

Lord’s Prayer:A Fresh Application

The Lord’s Prayer, literally rendered.

The Lord’s Prayer Proper:

†Our Father in the heavens,
Sanctified![1] it was, Your Name; Came! she has, Your Kingdom; Born! it was, Your Will: as in heaven, also on the earth.  Our bread, the Epiousion[2], Gave! us, You did, today.  Forgave! us, You have, our debts; as we [must] also forgive our debtors.  Even though You did not[3] lead us into peril; even so, delivered! us, You have, from the evil.[4]
For if you have forgiven men their trespasses, then your heavenly Father will forgive you.  Yet if you have not forgiven men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.[5]

Liturgical response to the Lord’s Prayer:[6]

[Because Yours is the Kingdom, Power, and Glory, (of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and ever and) unto the ages (of ages).  Amen.] — The standard response of The Church.

[We Thank You, Father Ἀββᾶ! Jesus! Holy Ghost!] — My personal response.

[Lord have mercy?] — Another appropriate response.

The Focal Point of the Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer is clearly about forgiveness.  The same Lord; the Lord Whose Name was decreed Pure; the Lord Whose Kingdom has arrived; the Lord whose sovereign will was birthed; the Lord Who intends to convert earth into the likeness of heaven, as the Heavenly City of His purity, kingdom, and will descends upon us and overwhelms us.  The same Lord, Who has fed us heavenly manna, throughout the dismal darkness of our earthly lives; this same Lord, has now freely forgiven us all things.

We need not look far for further elaboration.  The book of Matthew is all about what it means to forgive.  Both Matthew 18 and Matthew 25 provide explicit examples.  Doubtless we could find many other verses illustrating what it means to forgive.

The Application

I owe no man anything, and no man owes me.  Every day I meticulously search my heart and mind to discover and forgive the slightest offense, the least debt.  There is nothing left to forgive.  Yet the genius of the Lord’s Prayer does not rest on these sorts of things.

I now stand debt free, forgiven by the King of Kings.  Absolved, of all financial burdens, and all ethical and moral demands; free, even from sin and death.  Moreover, as God has led me in the way, He has helped me to pay back each of these earthly entanglements, He has showed me how to seek forgiveness among men, He has dimmed the voice of temptation and sin in my life.  Even so, that roaring voice flairs up every once in a while to remind me what it cost to put away our sin.

Yet, I am far from being alone in finding such wonderful forgiveness: for I am a baptized Christian, a member of the body of Christ, and I have faded from importance; we remain, we are the City of God.  There is no I left remaining in body.  Not that I have become a meaningless nothing in a vast sea of spirituality.  Far from it; rather I have been made a contributing and partnering member of Life Himself.  We has outshined I: for my accomplishments are now of infinitely greater value as part of the body, the team, than they ever were in the service of selfish ambition.

Not only that, but we have been made into a hospital, where we, banded and operating together, work to heal ourselves and others as we continue to struggle with sin in this earthly life.

Where, then, is there any space left for further application?  Hasn’t everything been accomplished?  No!  Yet one small thing is lacking.

We overthink things, missing the obvious.  If God has seen fit that others have told me about the freedom bringing forgiveness of Christ; then the obvious application is that I should tell still others about this freedom bringing forgiveness of Christ.  Yes, there is a Kingdom, not far away, where anyone and everyone is forgiven.  You are welcome to come there.  You are invited to join this hospital surgical team as well.

But isn’t this the same application that Jesus made in Matthew 28?

Jesus came and spoke to them, saying,

“All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth.  Therefore, as you are coming and going, make disciples in every nation: baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.  Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Amen.

Forgiveness is most complete and effective, when we spread it around, when we share it.  The only sin that cannot be forgiven is not believing the God who freely offers forgiveness for every debt and trespass; thus becoming a hard-hearted, obstinate person who refuses to forgive, nursing every grudge, clinging to each slight, and licking wounds as if they were great treasures, rather than millstones around our necks, which is what they really are.  Have you heard about God’s great forgiveness today?

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[1] Today, we consider both hallowed and sanctified to be archaic meaningless terms; we prefer the word consecrated, to set apart for special use or purpose.  You, on the other hand, must seek out the words which are most meaningful and relevant to you: you must not rest in your quest until you have discovered words that express significant meaning for you.  You must come to understand, about what you are praying: otherwise, there is no point to prayer.

[2] The Epiousion is Jesus Himself.  This is what He teaches in John 6 and several other places.  That which is beyond (mere) substance, that which is more than bodily food, is the true Manna of God, the hidden Manna, which is elsewhere called angel’s bread or food, the bread of heaven, the Eucharist.  It is that which compels us and empowers us to Christlikeness.

[3] The verb is subjunctive, “could not have”: it is a theological impossibility.

[4] None of the verbs are future tenses; these are not prayer requests or petitions as is commonly supposed.  There is one verb in the present tense; all the rest are past tenses; these all express gratitude or thanksgiving for what God has already accomplished in eternity.  The pronouncement comes in time, because man can only understand time.  We need not ask for any of these things.  God is way ahead of us in meeting our true needs.  We need to be more observant and appreciative of all that God has done thus far in time.  Otherwise, we have only one thing to do besides being thankful: we need to become a forgiving people (Matthew Chapters 18 and 25).

The verbs are also marked with exclamation points, indicating that they are in the imperative mood, the common mood for prayer.  However, there is no English language imperative that is not in the second person, present tense.  We believe that emphatic, excited, or exclamatory better capture the Greek sense.  We simply do not command that God do our bidding, so if we use the imperative for prayer, it should invariably be accompanied by the word please, as is the usual case in Hebrew.  None of these verbs is second person, or accompanied by please, most are past tense: hence, the imperative nuance is simply inappropriate.

[5] Because such forgiveness is impossible among men, we continually cry out for God’s mercy, so that He would complete our forgiveness, and elevate it to His Divine level.  It is God like forgiveness to which we aspire.

[6] These liturgical responses are usually inserted between the Lord’s Prayer and its pointed explanation.

[7] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.  No rights are reserved.  They are designed and intended for your free participation.  They were freely received, and are freely given.  No other permission is required for their use.