ESV Study Bible | English Standard Version
Matthew 6:5-14
The Lord's Prayer
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love x to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. y Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, z go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. a And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as b the Gentiles do, for c they think that they will be heard d for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, e for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 f Pray then like this:
g “Our Father in heaven,
h hallowed be i your name. [1]
10 j Your kingdom come,
k your will be done, [2]
l on earth as it is in heaven.
11 m Give us n this day our daily bread, [3]
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And o lead us not into temptation,
but p deliver us from q evil. [4]
14 r For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
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Matt. 5:1–7:29 The Authoritative Message of the Messiah: Kingdom Life for His Disciples. This is the first of five major discourses in Matthew (chs. 5–7; 10; 13; 18–20; 24–25). Speaking to his disciples (5:1), Jesus expounds the reality of discipleship lived in the presence and power of the kingdom of God but within the everyday world. Some interpreters have thought the purpose of this sermon was to describe a moral standard so impossibly high that it is relevant only for a future millennial kingdom. Others have thought its primary purpose was to portray the absoluteness of God's moral perfection and thereby to drive people to despair of their own righteousness, so they will trust in the imputed righteousness of Christ. Both views fail to recognize that these teachings, rightly understood, form a challenging but practical ethic that Jesus expects his followers to live by in this present age. The sermon, commonly called the “Sermon on the Mount,” is probably a summary of a longer message, but the structure is a unified whole. It has similarities to the “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke 6:17–49, but there are also significant differences. The three main theories about their relationship are: (1) they record the same sermon but Matthew and Luke give summaries that report different sections and emphases; (2) they record two different sermons, given on different occasions but repeating much of the same content, as itinerant preachers often do; and (3) either Matthew or Luke, or both, have collected sayings that Jesus gave on different occasions and put them together in a sermon format. View (3) seems to make Matthew's presentation of this as a single historical event untruthful (cf. Matt. 5:1–2 with 7:28–29; 8:1; and Luke 6:17, 20 with Luke 7:1), and evangelical commentators have not generally adopted it. Views (1) and (2) are both possible, and it is difficult to decide between them.
Matt. 6:1–7:12 The Development of Kingdom Life in the Real World. Jesus sets forth principles for spirituality in religious life (6:1–18), everyday life (6:19–34), and community relationships (7:1–12).
Matt. 6:1–18 Jesus gives examples of how a person's faith can be expressed in a hypocritical way, when giving to the needy (vv. 2–4), praying (vv. 5–15), and fasting (vv. 16–18).
Matt. 6:5–15 Prayer was a pillar of Jewish piety. Public prayer, said aloud in the morning, afternoon, and evening, was common.
Matt. 6:5–6 stand and pray in the synagogues. At the set time of prayer, pious Jews would stop what they were doing and pray, some discreetly, but others with pretentious display. Jesus did not condemn all public prayer, as indicated by his own prayers in public (e.g., 14:19; 15:36). One's internal motivation is the central concern. shut the door. Though public prayer has value, prayer completely away from public view allows a person (or group) to focus more exclusively on God.
Matt. 6:7–8 heap up empty phrases. Pagans repeated the names of their gods or the same words over and over without thinking (cf. 1 Kings 18:26; Acts 19:34). Jesus is prohibiting mindless, mechanical repetition, not the earnest repetition that flows from the imploring heart (Mark 14:39; 2 Cor. 12:8; cf. Psalm 136; Isa. 6:3).
Matt. 6:9–13 Jesus gives his disciples an example to follow when praying. The prayer has a beginning invocation and six petitions that give proper priorities. The first three petitions focus on the preeminence of God while the final three focus on personal needs in a community context.
Matt. 6:9 Father (Gk. patēr, “father”) would have been “Abba” in Aramaic, the everyday language spoken by Jesus (cf. Mark 14:36; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). It was the word used by Jewish children for their earthly fathers. However, since the term in both Aramaic and Greek was also used by adults to address their fathers, the claim that “Abba” meant “Daddy” is misleading and runs the risk of irreverence. Nevertheless, the idea of praying to God as “Our Father” conveys the authority, warmth, and intimacy of a loving father's care, while in heaven reminds believers of God's sovereign rule over all things. The theme of “heavenly Father” is found throughout the OT (Deut. 14:1; 32:6; Ps. 103:13; Jer. 3:4; 31:9; Hos. 11:1). Jesus' disciples are invited into the intimacy of God the Son with his Father. The concern of this first petition (see note on Matt. 6:9–13) is that God's name would be hallowed—that God would be treated with the highest honor and set apart as holy.
Matt. 6:10 Christians are called to pray and work for the continual advance of God's kingdom on earth (the second petition; see note on vv. 9–13). The presence of God's kingdom in this age refers to the reign of Christ in the hearts and lives of believers, and to the reigning presence of Christ in his body, the church—so that they increasingly reflect his love, obey his laws, honor him, do good for all people, and proclaim the good news of the kingdom. The third petition speaks of God's will. This means God's “revealed will” (see note on Eph. 5:17), which involves conduct that is pleasing to him as revealed in Scripture. Just as God's will is perfectly experienced in heaven, Jesus prays that it will be experienced on earth. The will of God will be expressed in its fullness only when God's kingdom comes in its final form, when Christ returns in power and great glory (see Matt. 24:30; cf. Rom. 8:18–25; Rev. 20:1–10), but it will increasingly be seen in this age as well (Matt. 13:31–33).
Matt. 6:11 The fourth petition (see note on vv. 9–13) focuses on the disciples' daily bread, a necessity of life which by implication includes all of the believer's daily physical needs.
Matt. 6:12 Forgive us our debts (the fifth petition) does not mean that believers need to ask daily for justification, since believers are justified forever from the moment of initial saving faith (Rom. 5:1, 9; 8:1; 10:10). Rather, this is a prayer for the restoration of personal fellowship with God when fellowship has been hindered by sin (cf. Eph. 4:30). Those who have received such forgiveness are so moved with gratitude toward God that they also eagerly forgive those who are debtors to them. On sin as a “debt” owed to God, see note on Col. 2:14.
Matt. 6:13 This final (sixth) petition addresses the disciples' battle with sin and evil. Lead us not into temptation. The word translated “temptation” (Gk. peirasmos) can indicate either temptation or testing (see notes on 4:1; James 1:13). The meaning here most likely carries the sense, “Allow us to be spared from difficult circumstances that would tempt us to sin” (cf. Matt. 26:41). Although God never directly tempts believers (James 1:13), he does sometimes lead them into situations that “test” them (cf. Matt. 4:1; also Job 1; 1 Pet. 1:6; 4:12). In fact, trials and hardships will inevitably come to believers' lives, and believers should “count it all joy” (James 1:2) when trials come, for they are strengthened by them (James 1:3–4). Nonetheless, believers should never pray to be brought into such situations but should pray to be delivered from them, for hardship and temptation make obedience more difficult and will sometimes result in sin. Believers should pray to be delivered from temptation (cf. Matt. 26:41; Luke 22:40, 46; 2 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 3:10) and led in “paths of righteousness” (Ps. 23:3). deliver us from evil. The phrase translated “evil” (Gk. tou ponērou) can mean either “evil” or “the evil one,” namely, Satan. The best protection from sin and temptation is to turn to God and to depend on his direction. “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen” (esv footnote) is evidently a later scribal addition, since the most reliable and oldest Greek manuscripts all lack these words, which is the reason why these words are omitted from most modern translations. However, there is nothing theologically incorrect about the wording (cf. 1 Chron. 29:11–13), nor is it inappropriate to include these words in public prayers.
Matt. 6:14–15 forgive others. Jesus reemphasizes the importance of forgiving others, indicating that there is a direct relationship between having been forgiven by God and the forgiveness that his disciples of necessity must extend to others. As in v. 12, forgive your trespasses here refers to restoration of personal relationship with God, not to initial justification (cf. note on v. 12).
