Which Lord’s Prayer?

 Which Lord’s Prayer?

Brett A. Todd

Most church-going people know there is a difference in how you say the Lord’s Prayer depending on what church you attend.  In one church you will hear, “forgive us our trespasses”  and in another church, you will hear, “forgive us our debts”.  It is really not a big deal, but again, most churchgoers are aware of this difference. However, many don’t know that in the Bible, there are two different Lord’s Prayers, one in Mathew and one in Luke.

In Matthew 6:9-13 we read:              In Luke 11:2-4 we read:

Our Father in heaven, Father, may your name be revered as holy

may your name be revered as holy. May your kingdom come.

May your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread.

May your will be done        And forgive us our sins,

on earth as it is in heaven. for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

Give us today our daily bread. And do not bring us to the time of trial.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not bring us to the time of trial,

but rescue us from the evil one.

As you can see, Matthew’s version is longer than Luke’s,  and as you compare them, you will see some differences.  Most scholars today believe that both Matthew and Luke were using an ancient writing called “Q” as their source for this prayer. In the past we have talked about “Q”, so if you are relatively new to this study, you can refer back to this article, titled, “The Gospel With No Name”.  Other scholars believe it is also possible that Mathew or Luke had access to the other’s Gospel and used it as their source for writing the Lord’s prayer.  

The first question you might have if you are a Protestant is, where are the concluding words (the doxology) to the Lord’s Prayer, “For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.”)?  Interestingly, the translators of the 1611 King James Bible “assumed” they had a very ancient and trustworthy Greek manuscript that contained these words.  They were wrong, nevertheless, this added doxology has remained a part of Protestant tradition, even to this day.  But this doxology is not a part of the Lord’s Prayer in the Bible.  They were added.

So, which Lord’s prayer is the correct one?  This is difficult to answer.  Is Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer more authentic than Luke’s, or did Matthew decide that Jesus' prayer was too short and needed additional elements to make this a better prayer?  Whatever the correct answer may be, it is clear that Matthew’s version won out in the church for liturgical purposes.  Either way, one can be fairly confident that we do have the prayer of Jesus.  The very prayer Jesus taught to his disciples to pray.

In our next study, we will look at the words of the Apostle Paul in which he tells his readers that the crucifixion of Jesus was foolishness to the gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews, as well as take a look at an interesting piece of ancient graffiti.