Salvation Summaries

The Lord’s Prayer: Our Father

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In this post, I’ll discuss the meaning of “Our” and “Father” in the Lord’s Prayer.

“OUR”

Is there anything special about the word “Our” in “Our Father?”  Several Bible commentaries I read think so.

For example, John Dummelow said, “Christians are taught to say ‘Our Father’ not ‘My Father’ because they are brethren, and may not selfishly pray for themselves without praying for others. Every time they use this prayer they are reminded that they are a brotherhood, a society, a Holy Church, a family, of which the members are mutually responsible for one another’s welfare.”

However, I believe Jesus selected “Our” simply as a way of addressing the Father, and possibly acknowledging who God is Father to, but nothing more.  Let me give you five reasons to support this.

  1. In Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus did not use the word “Our” before “Father.”
  2. In the book of Acts (written after Matthew and Luke) when the disciples prayed as a group for Judas’ replacement, they did not start their prayer with “Our Father.”
  3. From my review of 23 prayers in the Old and New Testaments (by Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Hannah, David, Jehoshaphat, Ezra, Nehemiah, Hezekiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jesus, and the disciples), none use the phrase “Our Father” in the first part of the prayer.  Instead, most say “O LORD”, “LORD God”, “O God”, or “My God.”
  4. In the New Testament, Paul often uses the phrase “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” God is “our” Father; Jesus is “the” Lord (Galatians 1:3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,).  However, he also describes God as “the” Father and Jesus as “our” Lord (Timothy 1:2 To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.). Thus, “our” and “the” are simply different ways of referring to, identifying or describing God and Jesus, and have no special significance.
  5. According to one Jewish source, Jews at that time were using the phrase “Our Father” in certain prayers in group settings (Shemoneh Esreh is an example). As such, Jesus might have taken this phrase from them (and His disciples might have been familiar with it).

As a result, while it’s appropriate to use “Our Father” when you say Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer, there’s no need to feel obligated to use this phrase when you begin your other prayers.

“FATHER”

In the Lord’s Prayer, why did Jesus choose to use the word “Father” rather than God or Lord?

I think there are two questions we need to answer here.  The first is why God is our Father (or why we should view Him in that way), and the second is why Jesus selected this term for His prayer.

Question #1: Why is God our Father? 

I took the long route in answering this question by first looking up nearly every verse in the Bible with the word “father” or “Father.”  As you might guess, there are many verses (more than 1,000) with this word.  In many cases, and especially in the Old Testament,  father is used with a small “f” and typically refers to a male parent (so and so was the father of such and such), though in some cases, and primarily in the New Testament, it refers to one of the founders or an important patriarch of Judaism (where Abraham or Jacob or David is viewed as father).  However, there are a number of verses too, though largely limited to the New Testament, where Father is used with a capital “F” and refers to God as our Father.

So, why is God our Father, or why should we view Him in that way?  I’ll list five reasons below, with supporting verses in the Appendix to this post.

  1. God is our Father because He created us
  2. God is our Father because the Old Testament prophets viewed Him as such
  3. God is our Father because He claimed to be
  4. God is our Father because of how He acts toward us (He acts toward us in the same way an earthly father acts toward his children)
  5. God has certain expectations from us, His children, because He is our Father

Although I chose not to elaborate on any of the above reasons for the sake of brevity, I would ask you to think about the first, fourth and fifth reasons when you have time.  While I have thought of God as our Father, I didn’t realize, until I wrote this post, the significance of this.  God is certainly someone we should fear, but there is a very personal, caring, father-like part of God that I had not fully appreciated until now.  In addition, I hadn’t thought much about the expectations He has from us on account of us being His children. As Christians, we seek to obey the many “do’s” and “don’ts” in the Bible because it is our responsibility to do so, and in order to help us grow spiritually. But there’s another reason we should do this, and that is to satisfy what God expects from us, His children.  In other words, we don’t want to simply obey because we should or because there is some spiritual benefit to us; we should seek to obey out of a desire to please God, and out of our love for Him as our Father.

Question #2: Why did Jesus use the word “Father” rather than God or Lord? 

This is speculation on my part, but I believe Jesus chose this term to highlight this (more personal) part of God’s nature, and possibly the Trinitarian aspect of His relationship with God (where God is the Father, Jesus is the Son).

 

Appendix

God is our Father because He created us. 

  • Deuteronomy 32:6 6 Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?
  • Job 38:28-30 28 Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? 29 From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens 30 when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
  • Ezekiel 18:4 4 For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son– both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.

God is our Father because the old Testament prophets viewed Him as such

  • Isaiah 63:16 16 But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
  • Isaiah 64:8 8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
  • Malachi 2:10 10 Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?

God is our Father because He claimed to be

General

  • Psalm 68:5 5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
  • Matthew 23:9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

People of Israel

  • Exodus 4:22-23 – God says “Israel is my firstborn.” Let me son go to serve Me.
  • Jeremiah 31:9 “With weeping they will come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, On a straight path in which they will not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.”

Solomon

  • 1 Chronicles 28:5-6 5 Of all my sons– and the LORD has given me many– he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.  6 He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.
  • 2 Samuel 7:13-14 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.

Believers

  • 2 Corinthians 6:18 18 “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.
  • Galatians 4:6-7 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

God is our Father because He acts toward us, His children, in the same way an earthly father acts toward his

Loves us

  • 1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Cares for us

  • Deuteronomy 1:30-32 30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,  31 and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”  32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God,
  • Psalm 68:4-5 4 Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds–his name is the LORD– and rejoice before him.  5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
  • Matthew 18:14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

Has compassion on us

  • Psalm 103:13-14 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;  14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
  • 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Wants to bless or reward us

  • Matthew 18:19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

Disciplines us (out of love)

  • Deuteronomy 8:5-6 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.  6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him.
  • Proverbs 3:11-12 11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke,  12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

God has certain expectations from us, His children, because He is our Father

To view Him as or call Him Father

  • Jeremiah 3:19-20 19 “I myself said, “‘How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.  20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

To follow and honor Him, to trust in Him

  • Deuteronomy 1:30-32 30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,  31 and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”  32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God
  • Malachi 1:5-6 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the LORD– even beyond the borders of Israel!’  6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty.

To be faithful to Him

  • Jeremiah 3:19-20 “I myself said, “‘How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me. 20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

To worship Him

  • Exodus 4:22-23 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son,  23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

 

 

 

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