ACC ~ Matthew 6 v9 - 15

OVERVIEW:

To address God as Father is the privilege of belief in the Son (TERTULLIAN, ORIGEN), a privilege we receive and learn about from the one who mothers our faith, namely, the church (TERTULLIAN). Do not think of heaven in simplistic spatial metaphors, as if the birds are nearer to God than we (AUGUSTINE). By saying “our Father who art in heaven” we are both adoring God and expressing our faith (TERTULLIAN). God wishes to be called Father, that he may give us great confidence in seeking him (ANONYMOUS). God who is incomparably holy is not made more holy by our prayer; rather, we pray that his holy name may daily be made holy in us (CYPRIAN). To pray to hallow his name is to pray that we may be enabled to live so blamelessly that through us all may glorify God (CHRYSOSTOM).

People who pray for the coming of the kingdom of God rightly pray that the kingdom of God might be established in themselves (ORIGEN) and that God might reign in us (CYPRIAN). The citizens of this kingdom live already in it, as in a well-ordered city where God already reigns (ORIGEN). All are equal in God’s presence, whether king or pauper (CHRYSOSTOM). Christ is the kingdom of God, whose advent we crave to be quickly manifested to us (CYPRIAN). The kingdom of God, though already present on the earth, is as yet unrecognized by those who remain ignorant of it (AUGUSTINE). God is intrinsically and by nature Lord, but he does not compel obedience. Hence he does not coercively reign over all, so not all people are in his kingdom, because not all do his will (ANONYMOUS). The prayer for God’s will to be done does not imply that anyone could prevent the fulfillment of God’s will or that he needs our prayer to accomplish his will (TERTULLIAN). Even as one cannot do good without God’s help, neither does God will to do good in someone unless that one wills to let him do good (ANONYMOUS).

We pray that our bread be given to us daily. This means that we who daily receive the Eucharist for the food of salvation may not be separated by sin from Christ’s body (CYPRIAN). When we receive bread daily we partake of the divine nature. This is the bread that nourishes our essential humanity (ORIGEN). This daily bread is given to supply just enough for one day (CHRYSOSTOM). Yet this supersubstantial bread (maar) also means “for tomorrow,” for eternity, and implies a bread that is not reducible to physical substances (JEROME).

Since we sin daily, we are commanded to ask pardon for sins daily (CYPRIAN). If baptism remits all sin, we nonetheless continue to pray for forgiveness for continuing sins after baptism (CHRYSOSTOM). We will not receive forgiveness unless we have first forgiven others (AUGUSTINE, ANONYMOUS). Evil is not from God’s will in creation but from the free choice of creatures (CHRYSOSTOM). We pray not only that old sins will be forgiven but that new sins will be resisted (TERTULLIAN). We are more like God in the act of forgiveness than at any other moment. To forgive is to be like God. (CHRYSOSTOM). This prayer for forgiveness belongs to believers who call God Father, who discover daily forgiveness within the nurturing pedagogy of the church (CHRYSOSTOM). This petition assumes that we are ready to forgive those who ask our pardon, since we too want to be forgiven by our most generous Father with respect to those who seek pardon from us (AUGUSTINE). One who says he or she forgives but does not forgive will not be forgiven (ANONYMOUS). A decisive covenant with God is implied in forgiving as we have been forgiven, so important that its neglect places in question the fulfillment of all the previous petitions (AUGUSTINE).

The devil is not evil by nature, for evil is not something derived from any nature as created but what has been added to nature by choice (CHRYSOSTOM). The brief petition to be delivered from evil summarizes and comprehends all our petitions to God (CYPRIAN). The first three petitions pertain to eternal life: hallowing God’s name, praying for the coming kingdom and the complete fulfillment of the will of God (AUGUSTINE). The last four petitions pertain to temporal life: daily bread, forgiveness of sins, struggle against temptations, deliverance from evil (AUGUSTINE).

6:9 | Approaching Our Heavenly Father

SHOWING BELIEF

TERTULLIAN: Prayer begins with a demonstration of our belief in God and a blessed act of faith at the moment when we say, “Father, who art in heaven.” For we are thereby both adoring God and demonstrating our faith, and this form of address is the result. It is written, “To those who believe in God he gave the power to be called the children of God.” [1] ON PRAYER 2.1. [2]

[1] Jn 1:12.

[2] CCL 1:258; FC 40:159**; ANF 3:682**.

THE CHURCH IS THE MOTHER OF FAITH

TERTULLIAN: Our Lord so frequently spoke to us of God as Father. He even taught us to call none on earth father, [1] but only the one we have in heaven. [2] Therefore, when we pray to the Father, we are following this command. Blessed are they who recognize their Father! Remember the reproach made against Israel, when the Spirit calls heaven and earth to witness, saying, “I have begotten sons and they have not known me.” [3] In addressing him as Father we are also naming him God, so as to combine in a single term both filial love and power. Addressing the Father, the Son is also being addressed, for Christ said, “I and the Father are one.” Nor is Mother Church passed over without mention, for the mother is recognized in the Son and the Father, as it is within the church that we learn the meaning of the terms Father and Son. ON PRAYER 2.2-6. [4]

[1] In the same voice that we say Abba.

[2] Mt 23:9.

[3] Is 1:2.

[4] CCL 1:258; FC 40:159-60**; ANF 3:682**. To address God as Father is the privilege of belief in the Son, a privilege we receive and learn about from the one who mothers our faith, namely, the church.

THE PRIVILEGE OF CALLING GOD ABBA

ORIGEN: According to the apostle, “as long as the heir has not reached his majority, he differs little from a servant, though he be lord of all. He remains under tutors and governors until the time of his maturity appointed by his father.” [1] But the “fullness of time” [2] consists in our Lord Jesus Christ coming among us, when those who desire it receive adoption as sons, as Paul says in these words: “For you have not received the spirit of bondage in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, whereby we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” [3] ON PRAYER 22.2. [4]

[1] Gal 4:2.

[2] Gal 4:4.

[3] Rom 8:15.

[4] GCS 3:347; ACW 19:73-74*. It is the distinct privilege of those who believe in God the Son to address God as Father in the same way he did.

APPROACHING GOD WITH GREAT CONFIDENCE

ANONYMOUS: He wishes himself to be called Father rather than Lord, so that he may give us great confidence in seeking him and great hope in beseeching him. Servants do not always demand what they want nor even always seek with a good conscience things that are righteous. Frequently servants do not consider what pertains to the benefit of their master but to their own benefit. Hence they do not always deserve to be heard. Sons, however, always make petition because they seek with good conscience what is righteous. They do not consider first what is for their own good but what is for the good of their father. Hence they always deserve to be heard. If you believe yourself to be a son of God, seek those things that are advantageous for you to receive and that it behooves him to bestow. However, if you always seek from him carnal and earthly things, you are setting yourself a difficult or impossible task. How would those things benefit you who don’t have them, which everywhere he admonishes you to scorn if you did have them? INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 14. [1]

[1] PG 56:711.

THE LIMITS OF SPATIAL METAPHORS

AUGUSTINE: Let the new people, therefore, who are called to an eternal inheritance freely employ the word of the New Testament and say, “Our Father who art in heaven,” that is, the place where holiness and justice reign. For God is not contained spatially. The heavens may be in a sense “higher” created bodies of the world, even while remaining created, and so cannot exist apart from some spatial location. But do not think of this spatially, as if the birds are nearer to God than we. It is not written that “the Lord is closer to tall people” or “nearer to those who live on higher hills.” For it is written, “The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit,” [1] namely, close to those who are humble. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.5.17. [2]

[1] Ps 34:18 (33:18 LXX).

[2] PL 34:1276-77; NPNF 1 6:39**; ACW 5:106. The spatial metaphors are only partially useful in speaking of both God’s almightiness and nearness yet limited by finite perceptions.

IN HEAVEN ALL INEQUITIES ARE OVERCOME

CHRYSOSTOM: This at once takes away hatred, quells pride, casts out envy and brings in the mother of all good things, charity. By inward prayer the inequality of human things is thwarted. It shows how nearly equal are the king and the poor person in all those matters that are most indispensable and of greatest weight. Behind those closed doors before God, we are all equals. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 19.4. [1]

[1] PG 57:278; NPNF 1 10:134*.

GOD IS NOT MADE HOLY BY DEGREES

CYPRIAN: We pray “Hallowed be thy name,” not that we wish that God may be made holy by our prayers but that his name may be hallowed in us. But by whom is God made holy, since he himself is incomparably holy? It is because he commands us, “Be holy, even as I am holy,” [1] that we ask and entreat that we who were sanctified in baptism may continue in that which we have begun to be. And this we pray for daily, for we have need of daily sanctification, that we who daily fall away may wash out our sins by continual sanctification. [2] TREATISES, ON THE LORD’S PRAYER 12. [3]

[1] 1 Pet 1:16; cf. Lev 20:7.

[2] When we pray to be holy even as God is holy, we are following his command by asking that the sanctification begun in our baptism may continue.

[3] CCL 3a:96; ANF 5:450*.

GLORIFYING HIS NAME

CHRYSOSTOM: The prayer to hallow God’s name corresponds with what Jesus has previously taught: “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven,” [1] just as the seraphim too, giving glory, sang “Holy, holy, holy.” [2] So “hallowed” means “glorified.” In effect he is saying, “Enable us to live so purely that through us all may glorify you.” It points us again to mature self-control, that we may present to all a life so irreprehensible that every one of those who observe may offer to the Lord the praise due to him for this. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 19.4. [3]

[1] Mt 5:16.

[2] Is 6:3; Rev 4:8.

[3] PG 57:279; NPNF 1 10:134*.

6:10 | God’s Kingdom and Will

CHRIST REIGNS IN THE MATURING SOUL

ORIGEN: The kingdom of God, according to the word of our Lord and Savior, “comes not with observation”; and “neither shall they say, Behold here, or behold there”—but “the kingdom of God is within us” [1] (for “the word is very near to us,” [2] in our mouths and in our hearts). So one who prays for the coming of the kingdom of God rightly prays that the kingdom of God might be established in himself, that it might bear fruit and be perfected in himself. Every saint, being ruled by God as king and obedient to the spiritual laws of God, as it were, dwells within this kingdom as in a well-ordered city. The Father is present to such a one, and Christ reigns with the Father in the soul that is maturing. This is in accord with the promise that “we will come to him and make our abode with him.” [3] ON PRAYER 25.1. [4]

[1] Lk 17:20-21.

[2] Deut 30:14.

[3] Jn 14:23.

[4] GCS 3:356-57; ACW 19:84-85.

THE KINGDOM IS CHRIST’S OWN COMING

CYPRIAN: We ask that the kingdom of God may come to us, even as we also ask that his name may be sanctified in us. But when was it ever the case that God did not reign? Or when did that kingdom begin with him who both always has been and never ceases to be? We are here praying that our kingdom, which has been promised us by God, may come, the very kingdom acquired by the blood and passion of Christ. We pray that we who now are his subjects in the world may hereafter reign with Christ when he reigns. For this he himself promises when he says, “Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world.” [1] Christ himself, dearest beloved, is the kingdom of God, whom we day by day desire to come, whose advent we crave to be quickly manifested to us. For since he is himself the resurrection, since in him we rise again, so also the kingdom of God may be understood to be himself, since in him we shall reign. TREATISES, ON THE LORD’S PRAYER 13. [2]

[1] Mt 25:34.

[2] CCL 3a:97; ANF 5:450-51**. The kingdom for which we pray is Christ’s own coming. His kingdom is eternal and not locked into temporal categories.

MAY THE KINGDOM BE FULLY MANIFESTED

AUGUSTINE: The expression “thy kingdom come” is not to be thought of as if God were not now reigning. [1] But some might get the strange impression that “come” implies “for the first time upon the earth”—as if to imply that God were not even now really reigning upon earth! Or that God had not always reigned upon the earth from the foundation of the world! “Come,” therefore, is to be understood in the sense of “manifested to humanity.” Just as light that is present is absent to the blind or to those who shut their eyes, so the kingdom of God, though it never departs from the earth, yet is absent to those who know nothing about it. To none, however, will ignorance of God’s kingdom be permitted when his Only Begotten comes from heaven. Then he will be recognizable not only by the intellect but visibly as the Man of the Lord to judge the living and the dead. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.6.20. [2]

[1] Augustine is here asking: Does the prayer imply that God’s reign has not yet begun or is not present?

[2] PL 34:1278; ACW 5:109**; NPNF 1 6:40. The kingdom of God, though already present on the earth, is as yet unrecognized by those who remain ignorant of it.

NOT ALL ARE IN GOD’S KINGDOM

ANONYMOUS: The kingdom of God is called the retribution or the tribulation, which the just receive according to the reward of their justice or sinners according to the guilt of their sinning. The saints too are called the kingdom of God, as it is written, “And they will gather the weeds out of his kingdom,” [1] that is, out of the Christian people. The kingdom of God is also called justice, as it is said, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to the nation that does his work.” [2] For all these things, there is one interpretation. It is one thing to be a king and another thing to rule. Understand, God is naturally a king, but he does not reign in all. Not all people are his kingdom because not all do his will. Among evil people God does not reign, but the devil—it is his will they do. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 14. [3]

[1] Mt 13:41.

[2] Mt 21:43.

[3] PG 56:711.

WHETHER GOD NEEDS OUR PRAYER TO ACCOMPLISH HIS WILL

TERTULLIAN: When we pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we do not imply that anyone could prevent the fulfillment of God’s will or that he needs our prayer to accomplish his will. Rather, we pray that his will be done in all. Think of heaven and earth as a picture of our very selves, spirit and flesh. The sense of the petition is the same, namely, that in us (as spirit and flesh, as heaven and earth combined) the will of God may be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, what does God will more than that we ourselves walk according to his ways? We ask therefore that he supply us with the energy of his own will and the capacity to do it, that we may be saved, both in heaven and on earth. The sum of his will is the salvation of those whom he has adopted. ON PRAYER 4.1-2. [1]

[1] CCL 1:259; FC 40:161-62**; ANF 3:682**. If we think of heaven and earth as a figure of our very selves, spirit and flesh, we are praying here that in us (as spirit and flesh, as heaven and earth blended) the will of God may be done.

THAT ALL MAY DO GOD’S WILL

AUGUSTINE: We pray that God’s will may be accomplished in sinners also, even as it is accomplished in the saints and the just. This can be taken in two ways. First, we are to pray even for our enemies. For what else shall we call those in spite of whose will the Christian and Catholic name still spreads? According to this understanding the petition, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” is intended to convey the following meaning: As the righteous do your will, let sinners do it also, so they may be converted. Second, the interpretation may be taken in the sense that “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is to be understood as a petition for the final rendering of his just due to every person. This will be done at the last judgment, when the lambs will be separated from the goats. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.6.22. [1]

[1] PL 34:1279; FC 11:130**; NPNF 1 6:41; ACW 5:110, 15:3, 46. To pray that God’s will be done on earth as in heaven requires that we pray that it may be done also in sinners, and finally by all wills, that justice shall be rendered to all.

HUMAN GOOD IS ACCOMPLISHED ONLY WITH GOD’S HELP

ANONYMOUS: Notice how carefully Jesus spoke. He did not say, “Father, hallow thy name among us, bring thy kingdom upon us, do thy will among us,” lest God should seem to hallow himself among people or want to bring his kingdom among those he wishes or to do his will among those he wishes; and thus God would show partiality toward certain people. Nor did he say, “Let us hallow thy name, let us receive thy kingdom, let us do thy will, in heaven and on earth,” lest it seem that only people are hallowing God or receiving his kingdom or doing his will. Rather, he spoke moderately and impersonally; in other words, “Let it be hallowed, let it come, let it be done,” that he might show the necessary work of both persons, for humans consider God necessary and God considers human willing necessary for the doing of justice. For even as people cannot do good without God’s help, neither does God will to do good in people unless they will to let him. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 14. [1]

[1] PG 56:712.

6:11 | Asking for Our Daily Bread

THE BREAD THAT ESSENTIALLY NOURISHES OUR TRUE HUMANITY

ORIGEN: Since some understand from this that we are commanded to pray for material bread, it will be well to refute their error here and to establish the truth about the epiousios (supersubstantial) [1] bread. We must ask them how it could be that he who commanded us to ask for great and heavenly favors should command us to intercede with the Father for what is small and of the earth, as if he had forgotten—so they would have it—what he had taught. For the bread that is given to our flesh is neither heavenly, nor is the request for it a great request.

We, on our part, following the Master himself who teaches us about the bread, shall treat the matter explicitly. In the Gospel according to John he says to those who had come to Capernaum seeking for him: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you seek me, not because you have seen miracles but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled.” [2] One who has eaten of the bread blessed by Jesus and is filled with it tries all the more to understand the Son of God more perfectly and hastens to him. Hence his admirable command: “Labor not for the meat that perishes but for that which endures to life everlasting, which the Son of Man will give you.” [3] … The “true bread” is that which nourishes the true humanity, the person created after the image of God. ON PRAYER 27.2. [4]

[1] Although it is unlikely that the adjective epiousios was coined ex novo by the Evangelists, it is true that in all of Greek literature the term appears only here and in a parallel passage in Luke. Origen links it to the root of ousia “essence, substance,” and he builds his interpretation on this connection. In passage 6, on the other hand, he connects it more plausibly to the root of the verb hiēmi “to go.” The difficulty here posed by Origen continues to interest modern scholars, as is widely known.

[2] Jn 6:26.

[3] Jn 6:27.

[4] GCS 3:363-64; ACW 19:92-93. The bread is that which nourishes true humanity created in God’s image.

DAILY EUCHARIST IN UNION WITH CHRIST

CYPRIAN: “Daily bread” may be understood both spiritually and simply, because both meanings help us to understand salvation. For Christ is the bread of life; and this bread is not the bread of all, but it is our bread. And as we say “our Father,” because he is the father of those who understand and believe, so too we say “our bread,” because Christ is the bread of us who touch his body. Now we ask that this bread be given to us today, lest we who are in Christ and receive his Eucharist daily as the food of salvation should be separated from Christ’s body through some grave offense that prohibits us from receiving the heavenly bread. For according to his words: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.” [1] TREATISES, ON THE LORD’S PRAYER 18. [2]

[1] Jn 6:51.

[2] CCL 3a:101; ANF 5:452*. We call it our bread because Christ is the bread of those who are in Eucharistic union with his body.

BREAD FOR ETERNITY

JEROME: In the Gospel the term used by the Hebrews to denote supersubstantial bread is maar. I found that it means “for tomorrow,” so that the meaning is “Give us this day our bread” for tomorrow, that is, the future. [1] We can also understand supersubstantial bread in another sense: bread that is above all substances and surpasses all creatures. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.6.11. [2]

[1] The explanation of epiousios suggested by Jerome, returning to the Aramaic text of the Lord’s Prayer, is also accepted by some modern scholars.

[2] CCL 77:37.

NECESSARY FOOD FOR ONE DAY

CHRYSOSTOM: What is daily bread? Just enough for one day. Here Jesus is speaking to people who have natural needs of the flesh, who are subject to the necessities of nature. He does not pretend that we are angels. He condescends to the infirmity of our nature in giving us his commands. The severity of nature does not permit you to go without food. So for the maturing of your life, he says, I require necessary food, not a complete freedom from natural necessities. But note how even in things that are bodily, spiritual correlations abound. For it is not for riches or frills that we pray. It is not for wastefulness or extravagant clothing that we pray, but only for bread. And only for bread on a daily basis, so as not to “worry about tomorrow.” [1] THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 19.5. [2]

[1] Mt 6:34.

[2] PG 57:280; NPNF 1 10:135**.

6:12 | Forgiving Debts and Debtors

ASKING PARDON DAILY

CYPRIAN: How necessary, providential and expedient it is for us to be reminded that we are sinners and must ask pardon for our sins. And while we ask for God’s forgiveness, our minds retain an awareness of those sins! Lest anyone become complacent and suffer the fate of flattering himself, he is instructed and reminded that he sins daily, while he is ordered to ask pardon for his sins. Thus John advises us in his epistle, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” [1] In his epistle there is a twofold connection. We must ask pardon for our sins and obtain forgiveness when we ask pardon. Moreover, he said that the Lord is faithful in pardoning sins and loyal to his promise, for he who taught us to ask forgiveness for our trespasses and sins promised paternal mercy and subsequent pardon. He added and clearly imparted a law that binds us by a definite condition and guarantee. We shall be pardoned for our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, knowing that we cannot obtain pardon for our sins unless we give equal pardon to those who sin against us. In this regard he says in another place: “With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.” [2] And the servant who, after his every offense has been forgiven by the Lord, is unwilling to forgive his fellow servant shall be sent to prison. Because he was unwilling to pardon his fellow servant, he forfeited what the Lord had pardoned him. [3] TREATISES, ON THE LORD’S PRAYER 22-23. [4]

[1] 1 Jn 1:8-9.

[2] Mt 7:2.

[3] Mt 18:23-35.

[4] CCL 3a:104; FC 36:146-47*; ANF 5:453.

PRAYING DAILY FOR FORGIVENESS

CHRYSOSTOM: This prayer for forgiveness belongs to believers. For the uninitiated could not call God Father. We discover forgiveness within the nurturing pedagogy of the church. If then the prayer belongs to believers and they pray, entreating that sins may be forgiven them, it is clear that even after baptism the profit of repentance is not taken away. [1] If he had not meant to signify this, why would he have instructed us to pray for forgiveness? He asks us to bring our sins to remembrance and ask for forgiveness, and he teaches us how to obtain remission. He makes the way uncomplicated. By this rule of supplication it is clear that it is possible even after the font of baptism that our offenses may still be washed away. He thereby persuades us to be modest, commands us to forgive others, sets us free from vengeful obsessions, promises pardon, and holds before us good hopes and a high view of the unspeakable mercy of God. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 19.5. [2]

[1] Since we sin daily, to avoid self-deception, we are called to pray daily for our sins. Lest anyone think oneself innocent and so perish all the more, the faithful pray every day for forgiveness.

[2] PG 57:280-81; NPNF 10:135-36**. Even after baptism the profit of repentance is not taken away, and our offenses may still be washed away.

FORGIVE THOSE WHO ASK YOUR PARDON

AUGUSTINE: It is certainly a bargain to be reckoned with when we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We can be sure that we have violated that rule if we do not forgive those who ask our pardon, since we too want to be forgiven by our most generous Father with respect to those who seek pardon from us. Now, as to that commandment by which we are ordered to pray for our enemies, [1] we are not ordered to pray for those who seek forgiveness. For such persons are not enemies. In no way, however, can someone really say that he is praying for a person he does not know. Therefore it must be said that we should forgive all sins committed against us if we want the Father to forgive what we have committed. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.8.29. [2]

[1] Mt 5:44.

[2] PL 34:1282; FC 11:137-38.

YOU WILL NOT OUTSMART GOD

ANONYMOUS: With what assurance does that person pray who harbors animosity toward someone who has offended him? Even as he lies when he prays and says, “I forgive” and does not forgive, so too he seeks pardon from God, but he will not be pardoned. Therefore, if that person who has been offended prays to God without assurance unless he pardons the very person who offended him, how do you think that person prays who not only has been offended by another but himself offends and oppresses others through injustice? But many people who are unwilling to forgive those who sin against them avoid saying this prayer. They are ill-advised, first, because the one who does not pray as Christ taught is not Christ’s disciple; second, because the Father does not graciously hear a prayer that the Son has not recommended. For the Father knows the words and meaning of his Son, and he does not accept what the human mind has devised but what the wisdom of Christ has expressed. Therefore you may indeed say a prayer, but you may not outsmart and deceive God. And you will not receive forgiveness unless you yourself have first forgiven. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 14. [1]

[1] PG 56:714.

6:13 | Deliverance from Evil

NEW SINS MUST BE RESISTED

TERTULLIAN: To complete the prayer that was so well arranged, Christ added that we should pray not only that our sins be forgiven but also that they be resisted completely: “Lead us not into temptation,” that is, do not allow us to be led by the tempter. God forbid that our Lord should seem to be the tempter, as if he were not aware of one’s faith or were eager to upset it! That weakness and spitefulness belongs to the devil. For even in the case of Abraham, God had ordered the sacrifice of his son not to tempt his faith but to prove it. In him he might illustrate that which he was later to teach, that no one should hold loved ones dearer than God. … The disciples were so tempted to desert their Lord that they indulged in sleep instead of prayer. Therefore the phrase that balances and interprets “lead us not into temptation” is “but deliver us from evil.” ON PRAYER 8.1-3, 5-6. [1]

[1] CCL 1:262; FC 40:166-67.

WHETHER THE DEVIL IS EVIL BY NATURE

CHRYSOSTOM: Jesus here calls the devil “the wicked one,” commanding us to wage against him a war that knows no truce. Yet he is not evil by nature, for evil is not something derived from any nature as created but is what has been added to nature by choice. The devil is the prototypically evil one, because of the excess of his evil choices and because he who in no respect was injured by us wages against us an implacable war. Thus we do not pray “deliver us from the wicked ones” in the plural but “from the wicked one.” THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 19.6. [1]

[1] PG 57:282; NPNF 1 10:136**. Evil is not from God’s will in creating but from the free choice of creatures. The devil is wicked not by nature but by choice. Hence evil is not an intrinsic aspect of God’s creation.

THE RECAPITULATION OF ALL PREVIOUS PETITIONS

CYPRIAN: After all those things, in the prayer’s summation there occurs a little clause concluding all our petitions and prayer in succinct fashion. For at the very last we state “but deliver us from evil,” understanding the phrase to mean all adversities that the enemy undertakes against us in this world. There can be strong and faithful protection against these adversities if God delivers us, if, as we pray and implore, he furnishes us his aid. Moreover, when we say “deliver us from evil,” nothing remains for which we should ask still further. When once we seek God’s protection against evil, having obtained this, we stand secure and safe against all the works of the devil and of the world. For what fear, indeed, is there with regard to the world for one who has God as protector in the world? TREATISES, ON THE LORD’S PRAYER 27. [1]

[1] CCL 3a:107; FC 36:150-51. The brief petition to be delivered from evil summarizes and comprehends all our petitions to God.

THE ORDERING OF THE SEVEN PETITIONS

AUGUSTINE: We must consider and carefully set forth the respective and distinctive notes of those seven petitions. While our present life is passing away like time, our hope is fixed on the life eternal, and while we cannot reach the eternal without first passing through the present life, eternal things are first in importance. In addition, the fulfillment of the first three petitions has its beginning in the life that begins and ends in this world. For the hallowing of God’s name began with the advent of the Lord’s humility; and the coming of his kingdom—the coming in which he will appear in brightness—will be made manifest not after the end of the world but at the ending of the world; and the perfect fulfilling of God’s will on earth as in heaven—whether you take the words heaven and earth to mean the righteous and the sinful, or the spirit and the flesh, or the Lord and the church, or all of these together—will be fully achieved through the full attainment of our blessedness, and therefore at the ending of the world. But all three will continue for all eternity; for the hallowing of God’s name will continue forever, and of his kingdom there is no end, and there is the promise of everlasting life for our blessedness. Therefore these three things will continue, completely fulfilled, in the life that is promised to us.

It seems to me that our remaining four petitions pertain to the needs of this temporal life. The first of them is “give us this day our daily bread”; the mere fact that it is called a “daily” bread shows that it pertains to the present time, the time which the Lord has called “today.” This is equally clear, no matter what significance one may attach to the expression “daily bread”; that is to say, whether we take it as signifying spiritual bread or the bread that is visible either in the sacrament or in our earthly food. Of course, this opinion does not imply that spiritual food is not everlasting. What the Scriptures call daily food is offered to the soul in the sound of human speech or in some kind of sign that is confined to time. There will be none of these things when everyone will be “taught of God” [1] and will be imbibing the ineffable light of truth through mind alone but not imparting it through any bodily actions. Perhaps that is the very reason why this nourishment is called food rather than drink. For just as food must be broken up and chewed before it can become nourishment for the body, so also is the soul nourished by the Scriptures when it has uncovered and digested their inner meaning. But whatever is taken in the form of drink is not changed as it flows into the body. Therefore truth is called food as long as it is referred to as daily bread; when there will be no need of breaking it, so to speak, and chewing it, then it will be in the form of drink. This will be the case when there will be no need of discussing and discoursing, when nothing will be needed but a drink of pure and crystal truth.

In this life we are both receiving and granting forgiveness of sins, and this is the second of those four petitions. But in eternity there will be no forgiving of sins, because there will be no sins to be forgiven. Temptations make this life troublesome, but there will be no temptations after the fulfillment of the promise, “You will hide them in the secret of your presence.” [2] Of course, the evil from which we wish to be delivered is an evil that is present with us in this life, and it is during this life that we wish to be delivered from it. For through God’s justice we have by our own faults made this life mortal, and through the mercy of God we are being delivered from that mortality. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.10.36-37. [3]

[1] Is 54:13.

[2] Ps 31:20 (30:20 LXX).

[3] PL 34:1285-86; FC 11:144-46.

6:14-15 | Forgiving Trespasses

READINESS TO FORGIVE

CHRYSOSTOM: Nothing makes us so like God as our readiness to forgive the wicked and wrongdoer. For it is God who has made “the sun to shine on the evil and on the good.” [1]

For this same reason again in every one of the clauses Jesus commands us to make our prayers together in one voice, saying, “our Father,” and “thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” and “give us the bread, and forgive us our debts,” and “lead us not into temptation,” and “deliver us.” So everywhere he is teaching us to use this plural word that we may not retain so much as a vestige of resentment against our neighbor.

How great a reproof then must they deserve, who, after all this, still do not forgive and even ask God’s vengeance on their enemies. In doing so they diametrically transgress this command. Meanwhile Christ is seeking in every way possible to hinder our conflicts with one another. For since love is the root of all that is good, by removing from all quarters whatever mars it he brings us together and cements us to each other. For there is not one, not a single one, whether father or mother or friend, who loves us as much as the God who created us. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 19.7. [2]

[1] Mt 5:45.

[2] 61.

THE CONSEQUENCE OF FAILURE TO FORGIVE

AUGUSTINE: And certainly we should not heedlessly neglect to call attention to the fact that of all the pronouncements in which the Lord has ordered us to pray, he has deliberately attached a very special commendation to the pronouncement that deals with the forgiving of sins. In this pronouncement he wished us to be merciful because that is the only prescribed means of avoiding miseries. Indeed, in no other petition do we pray in such a manner as to make a kind of covenant with the Lord, for we say, “Forgive us as we also forgive.” If we default in this covenant, the whole petition is fruitless, for he says, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” [1] SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.11.39. [2]

[1] Mt 6:14-15.

[2] PL 34:1287; FC 11:148.