Teach us to pray (part 2)
Part one of this post has been niggling me since I uploaded it! and the reason is that I don't feel that I've dealt fully with the question, which was, 'is the Lord's prayer a 'prayer' or a 'model' to teach us how to pray?'
So which is it, a prayer or a model and where should we look to unearth more truth and insight?
Let's begin by looking at the Lord's Prayer itself, and the first thing we notice is that whilst the words recorded in both gospels are similar, they aren't exactly the same as what we say today!
Which makes me ask, when did we get the version of the Lord's prayer that we all know and say today? Was it around 325AD at the council of Nicaea, or much later in the history of the established church or much, much earlier? Surely it existed before Nicaea?
What about the very early church, after Pentecost when the Apostles went out to bring the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, surely they must have prayed as our Lord had taught them to pray? Yes/No?
Yes! Thankfully we have the 'Didache' or to give it it's full title 'The Lord's teaching of the twelve Apostles' to help shed some light on things for us. You can find the Didache in the link below. It's our Lord's teachings which in my opinion should be included in the New Testament or at least as an adendum to it!
Section 8 of the document deals with how we are to Pray! I've included all of it below,
8.1 You must not let your days of fasting be at the same time as those of the hypocrites. They fast on Mondays and Thursdays but do your fasts in Wednesdays and Fridays.
8.2 And do not pray as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in his Gospel
(now we're getting somewhere!)
"Our Father, who art in Heaven. hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins and we forgive those who sin against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil, for thine is the power and the glory forever"
8,3 Pray thus three times a day.
Some important things to note here include: -
The prayer recorded in 8.2 is more or less the Lords prayer that we pray today, we've just added an additional unnecessary 'and ever' at the end, if you ask me!
This is the earliest document that exists, as the Didache was taught and then recorded pre-Gospels!
The Didache is Pre-Paul! Remember Paul wasn't one of the twelve disciples and wasn't taught by Jesus. The Didache is therefore devoid of his influence as it comes before Paul becoming an Apostle and his subsequent teachings!
'The hypocrites' referrred to here are the Jews who have rejected Jesus as the Messiah!
The instruction in 8.3 to 'Pray thus three times a day' has it origins in Judiasm. Here we should be mindful that Jesus didn't come to abolish the law, but rather to fulfill it (See Matt 5:17 from the Sermon on the Mount)
This is how the Jews were taught to pray! Remember Jesus' parable about the Pharisee and the Tax collector found in Luke 18: 9- 14. The Pharisee stood tall, proud and righteous, his face looking up and palms held outwards to recieve God's blessing. The Pharisee was praying as Judiasm taught, yet Jesus used this as an example of how not to pray, instead teaching that we should pray with humility, locked away in our rooms where only our Father in heaven could see!
The twelve Apostles, went out into the World proclaiming the Word that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Saviour of the world as promised in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus, The Son of God who entered our fallen world to redeem humanity, coming firstly to the Jews, and then to you and me, the Gentiles! What instructions Jesus taught them as his disciples and eyewitnesses they recorded in the Didache, 'The Teachings'
Is the Lord's prayer a prayer or a model of how we should pray? I believe that it's both! It's a prayer to be used when time is short, in times of haste and also a model in times when we can take the time to converse with our Father and ponder as far as our finite minds are capable of doing, the unknowable God that we love and serve!
Have a great week, and God bless,
Trev.