The Lord's Prayer

Jesus taught His disciples, “Pray…in this way.”

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

He invited his followers to look in the mirror first, how they had offended the other. Having pondered that, they could move on to those who had wronged them. In my case, there’s a long list of people I have harmed, and a short list of those who have hurt me. My own offenses don’t have a leg to stand on. And thus I am not qualified to judge others for that which I myself am guilty of, (Matt. 7:1).

When someone offends us, we typically counter with an eye for an eye. But Jesus said “not to resist an evil person,” but to “turn the other cheek.” Here’s the context in which Jesus said this: The Roman occupation forces had taken away their freedom. 

When a military force enters your land, defeats your troops, imprisons and humiliates your men, it's tempting to strike back. But Jesus warned them not to, because this is the broad way that leads to destruction. They were in danger of becoming the very evil that they abhorred, by repaying evil with evil. And in their case, they travelled the broad way, and Jerusalem was destroyed.

But there’s a better way to pray. Let’s look at this prayer through the filter of the gospel:

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”

The burden was on them: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Do we really want God to forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors?

If God forgives us on the basis of how we forgive, then we’re in deep trouble. Even if we have forgiven a person, we still may feel nauseous when we see them. And if God treats us as we treat others, then God should barf by the look of us.

But the good news is that we were forgiven once for all time, not based on our ability to forgive, but based on God’s mercy. Forgiveness is no longer conditional, but complete.

“And you, being dead in your trespasses…He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,” (Col. 2:13).

Under the New Covenant, we don’t forgive so that God would forgive us, but we are “forgiving one another…even as Christ forgave” us, (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13).

“Our Father in heaven”

God is no longer just in heaven. Through Jesus' descent into Hades and his subsequent ascension, He filled “the entire universe with himself,” (Eph. 4:10). By pouring out his Spirit, God now abides in us forever. He’s no longer in the distance. We don't have to ask God to come meet with us or plead for an open heaven. He has already done that. Since the veil was torn asunder, we have open access to God.

“Your kingdom come”

The teaching of the New Covenant is that His kingdom has come. His kingdom is within all believers.

“Give us this day our daily bread”

Under the Old Covenant, they had Jesus, which is “the bread of life.” But Jesus foretold: “The bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” Once his body was broken for us, and after we come to Christ with that understanding, we “shall never hunger” again, (John 6:35, 50-51). 

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”

The message of the gospel is that God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,” (Col. 1:13-14). The evil one has been defeated. Jesus is the victor and the enemy is rendered harmless and ineffective.

There is nothing wrong with the Lord’s Prayer. Under the Old Covenant, it was a good prayer. But Jesus told us that the way we pray would change after the resurrection:

“In that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name,” (John 16:23-24).

So we can modify the model prayer to make it align with the New Covenant. Under this Covenant, we look not first in the mirror to see our shortcomings, but we behold Christ and His finished work:

Our Father who is present with us, Hallowed be Your name.

Thank you for the kingdom that has come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

Thank you for the bread of life.

As Christ forgave us, So also we forgive others.

You lead us not into temptation, For you have delivered us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.