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Welcome back!
Last Week’s Work
COMPARISONS
Here’s how the Spirit guided me as I looked for comparisons:
- Jesus did not want his audience to pray as the hypocrites did—in public so people would see them. This type of prayer gains nothing but public attention (v5).
- Nor did He want them to pray as the Gentiles did—repeating empty phrases and many words (vv7-8). God doesn’t need ritual or long explanations—He already knows what we need (vv7-8).
- Instead, He instructed them to pray privately (v6), and he gave them a model for prayer: “pray then, like this” (v9). Here, I felt the Spirit prompt me to view like as meaning “similar to,” not “the same as.” In other words, I believe rather than instructing His followers to say those exact words, He wanted them to use this model: begin by addressing God as Father above all fathers and give Him the glory. Next, align their priorities with His: that His kingdom be established and His will be done on earth as in heaven (see v10 discussion, below). Then, finally, ask for what we need: provision, forgiveness, protection from evil.
- Next, I sensed an important distinction between petitioning God for what we want versus what we need in vv5-13. The only wants discussed are in the negative examples (the hypocrites’ desire to be seen by others, and the Gentiles’ use of lengthy appeals to get their way). But three needs are mentioned specifically: daily bread (v11), forgiveness (v12), and help fighting temptation/ evil (v13). I don’t think this means Jesus counseled against asking God for wants, though.
- In v10, His followers are instructed to ask that God’s will be worked out on earth the same way it is in heaven. At first, I worried how I’d know if I were doing that right; but then I realized the obligation isn’t to make God’s will happen our way, but to agree that’s the goal, and support it’s achievement His way.
- In v12, we ask that God forgive us only to extent we extend the same grace. As I read that, I realized the scales are already skewed: God has already forgiven me so much more than anyone has ever owed me! Even so, v15 makes it pretty clear if I’m not forgiving others everything, there’s really no point in asking God to forgive that for me!
Finally, though the word but often indicates contradiction, I don’t think its use in v13 does. Rather, I think it’s there as repetition: to emphasize the importance of our request that God protect us from temptation and other forms of evil.
CAUSES/MOTIVATIONS
I didn’t find any cause connectors in my focus verse (Matthew 6:13). I did notice two in verse 5, though: “… you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others (emphasis mine).”
In other words, Don’t be like the hypocrites because they love to stand and pray in [public places], [so] that others can see them. Their motivation for praying wasn’t to be heard by God, but to impress others.
In vv7-8, for appears three times as a connector, signaling two reasons Jesus’s followers should not imitate the Gentiles’ example: … for [because] they think they will be heard for [because of] their many words, and … for [because] your Father [already] knows what you need… Finally, in the last four verses of the study passage, I saw Jesus had a single reason for instructing His audience to pray for forgiveness and help against temptation and evil. It was … “for [because there’s a condition to forgiveness, which is:] if you forgive others, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others, neither will [you be forgiven]!
CONDITIONS/METHODS
Isn’t that last revelation of cause also an amazing segue into our conditions/methods discussion? God is so good like that! Though, again, I observe that God has already forgiven me so much more than I’ve ever even had a chance to forgive in others. How to reconcile this? I think it’s simply a matter that God’s love for us is so great, He can forgive even when we are not worthy of that forgiveness. All the more reason to give Him glory! Finally, in v13, it seems to me the prayer is about keeping the requestor from tempting and/or evil conditions. I’m looking forward to digging more deeply into this verse and really understanding what is meant there, since nothing I’ve uncovered so far clarifies what Jesus meant. I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that God would “lead us into” clearly bad things!
Dig-In Challenges
This week, I’ll start refining my understanding of this passage:
- PRAY. Of course!
- REFINE by skimming the book of Matthew to determine which of the following types of writing appears most often in it: instruction, law, letter, narrative, poetry, or prophecy. Then reread Matthew 6:5-15 to see what (if any) other types are in use. Note all the types you find on your Scripture study sheet or in your journal. Recognizing writing types helps us determine whether the author intended the text to be interpreted literally or have an alternative meaning the original audience would probably have understood.
- REFINE: Next, research the book’s historical context by referencing an Introduction to the book of Matthew. This can be found in most bound Bibles immediately before Matthew 1, or by checking out the ESV online. Introductions are written by Bible publishers and provide historical details like who wrote the book, to whom, and when. They often also contain a summary of the book’s content. As you read the intro, note any relevant or interesting facts. Based on what you discover there, how will you interpret Matthew 6:5-15?
- REFINE: Last, look up the meaning of a few key words and/or phrases from your study using an interlinear Bible tool. I like Biblehub.com’s Greek tool for this research. To use: Click the blue arrow to the left or right of the verse citation (“Matthew 6:1”) to scroll to the verse containing words you want to review, then click the number in the Strong’s column that corresponds to the English word or phrase you’re researching. Note anything the Spirit highlights in the information provided.
This “refining” step is more involved than the “mining” we did earlier, but I encourage you to use these tools and dig as much as you can this week. I pray the Spirit will bless your efforts, my friend!