The Lord’s Prayer - Old Testament
On Tim Challies’s blog, I posted a comment that what is known as The Lord’s Prayer is actually an Old Testament prayer and is not for New Testament believers. In my comment, I pointed to John 15:24 where Jesus says to the very same disciples, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”
To flesh out my comment a little more, I provide the following Old Testament basis for the Lord’s Prayer:
“Our Father” - Isaiah 63:16; 64:8
“Who Art in Heaven” - 2 Chronicles 20:6; Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 57:15; 66:1
“Hallowed by thy name” - Leviticus 10:3; 22:32; 2 Samuel 7:26; I Kings 8:43; I Chronicles 17:24; Nehemiah 9:5; Psalm 72:19; 111:19; Isaiah 6:3; 29:23: 37:20; Ezekiel 36:23; 38:23; Hab. 2:4; Zech. 14:9; Mal. 1:11; 4:2
“Thy kingdom come” - Daniel 2:44; 7:13, 14, 27; Psalm 2:6; Isaiah 2:2-4; 9:6, 7; Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 9:9
“Thy will be done” - Psalm 40:3; Ezra 7:18; Daniel 4:35; Psalm 143:10
“On earth as it is in heaven” - Daniel 4:35; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 103:19-22
“Give us this day our daily bread” - Proverbs 30:8; Exodus 16:16; Job 23:12; Psalm 34:10; Isaiah 33:16; Ezra 3:4
“And forgive us our debts” - Exodus 34:7; I Kings 8:30-50; Psalm 32:1; 103:3-12; 130:4; Daniel 9:4-19; Jeremiah 31:34; 36:3; 2 Chronicles 6:21
“As we forgive our debtors” - Nehemiah 5:12, 13; Genesis 50:17; I Samuel 25:28, 29; Deuteronomy 15:2
“And lead us not into temptation” - Isaiah 3:12; 9:16; Proverbs 16:29; 8:20; Psalm 125:5; 27:11; Genesis 22:1; Deut. 8:2; Proverbs 30:8
“But deliver us from evil” - I Chronicles 4:10; Psalm 121:7, 8; Jeremiah 15:21; Psalm 56:13
“For thine is the kingdom” - I Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 145:13; Daniel 4:34, 35
“And the Power” - I Chronicles 29:11
“And the glory” - I Chronicles 29:11; Daniel 7:14
“For ever and ever.” - Daniel 7:18
While the references are by no means exhaustive, they do provide an Old Testament basis for each of the prayer phrases identified by Jesus in response to the disciples’ request.
Hello Peter,
Regarding your point of how the prayer Jesus modeled in the gospels came from the OT, as per your citations above…how would you consistently apply that point to all of the OT citations of Scripture in the NT by Paul, Peter, Hebrews, etc? Thanks.
Brian, thanks for commenting.
Maybe the best way to answer your question is to refer you to the book, The Art of Reading Scripture, and specifically to Richard Hays’s article, Reading Scripture in Light of the Resurrection. In that article, Hays writes:
“The New Testament’s resurrection accounts teach us to read the Old Testament as Christian Scripture. To read it in this way … does not mean to deny its original historical sense, nor does it preclude responsible historical criticism. Christians have a stake in seeking the most historically careful readings of the Old Testament texts that we can attain. At the same time, however, in light of the New Testament’s witness, we cannot confine the mean of the Old Testament to the literal sense understood by its original authors and readers, for these ancient texts have been taken up into a new story that amplifies and illumines their meaning in unexpected ways. The New Testament writers insist that we are to read Israel’s story as a witness to the righteousness of God, climatically disclosed in Jesus Christ. They insist that Israel’s Scriptures, understood in the fullest and deepest way, prefigure Jesus.”
In his article, Hays goes through three scriptural examples of how the “meaning” of Jesus’s statements or even scriptures to Old Covenant people “was inaccessible to them in the pre-resurrection situation.”
The premise of Hays’s statement is seen explicitly in Romans 15. In the beginning of that chapter, Paul quotes several Psalms, but quotes them as the first-person statements of Jesus, Himself and not the psalmist.
I also recommend Hays’s Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. In that book, Hays explores how Paul actually uses Old Testament scriptures in ways not used or understood by the original authors and readers to establish the realities of the New Covenant/Testament. It is a great read and right on line.
In Luke the disciples ask him to teach them to pray and he replies that when they pray they should pray this way and then gives them the prayer. Why would he do that if it weren’t for the church?
Michele, when the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He responded to them as men who were under the Old Covenant. Old Covenant believers did not possess the same rights and promises as we do as New Covenant believers. (See Hebrews 11:39, 40). When Jesus was about to be crucified and institute the New Covenant (see my posts, The Resurrection and the Blood), He said to these very same disciples, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” In effect, He told them of new way to pray based upon their New Covenant rights and privileges. The Old Covenant became obsolete. (Hebrews 10:9). This is also seen in the prayers of Paul we see in the Epistles.
One dramatic example of the change is found in my posts about New Testament forgiveness. In the Lord’s Prayer, God is to forgive as others are forgiven. That is strictly the Law. Jesus, Stephen, Paul, and John demonstrated a different doctrine of forgiveness based upon the post-resurrection covenant.