Our Father–The One in the Heavens: God with Us in the Lord’s Prayer

Recognition of the heavens all around us and of the imperatives used in the Lord Prayer, Jesus' model for our prayers, transforms it into a very radical and dangerous prayer. In it, we are actually commanding the immediate manifestation of God's increasing rule in our present existence and on Earth.

Jesus, our Immanuel, “God with Us” (Matthew 1:23), did not teach us to pray to an infinitely distant and disinterested sovereign God, but rather to speak to a Father who is present in the heavens all around us:

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς

Literally: Our father, the one (ὁ) [who] in the heavens (τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, plural) [is].

Matthew 6:9b (SBLGNT) + interlinear

It is commonly thought, and taught, that these words contain two contrasting ideas. On the one hand, it is correctly thought that Jesus’ address teaches us that God is not wholly disinterested in us, but is interested in us in the same way an infinitely stern but loving father would be interested in the lives of his children. This fatherly interest in us is then transformed into a mere metaphor to accommodate the second contrasting idea, namely, that that God manifests his interest in us only from “way up there” in Heaven (always thought of as a proper noun, a singular place name with a capital “H”), infinitely distant from us. This infinite distance to “Heaven where God is” is believed to prove that God’s interest in us is objective and strictly dispassionate, “love” with no emotional component and no, or almost no, realized, immediate presence in our reality. God loves us in some ways “like” an earthly father would love us, but not in any way that implies any, or at least any frequent, actual presence in our lives or effect on the conditions of our lives. By his nature he is “way up there,” can’t be bothered with the trivial details of our puny lives. By his very nature he can only “meddle” in our affairs rarely and on a vast, cosmic, apocalyptic scale. Many of us even find this view somewhat comforting–God may judge us after we die for what we have done here (though certainly with a father-like compassion for our weaknesses!), but he is too distant and uninterested to interfere in what we are doing now in our individual lives on Earth.

However, the idea of God’s comforting distance from us is plainly not supported by the words Jesus used. Jesus didn’t teach us to come before our father-like figure infinitely separated from us in “Heaven” (singular, with a capital “H”) to pray. He taught us to pray to our Father–our real, non-metaphorical, spiritual Father–who is present “in the heavens” (plural). As I explained in my last post, from the Creation of “the heavens and the earth” in Genesis 1 onward, “the heavens” include all the space above the ground, from the air we breathe up through the vault of the sky to the “heavens of the heavens” (the realm of being we normally call “Heaven”). God always has been and remains active in all of these “heavens,” including the space immediately around us, and it is from there that he hears our prayers and answers. He is not infinitely distant, but immediately present, “meddling” in all of the affairs of our lives, making all things work as his will has determined. Ephesians 1:1.

Jesus made this point even clearer as he continued with his model prayer:

Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:9c-10 (NASB)

The Greek of the last part of verse 9 and of verse 10, states:

…ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου, ¹⁰ ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·

Matthew 6:9c-10 (SBLGNT)

The first thing to note about these verses is the three verbs–hagiasthētō (ἁγιασθήτω), elthetō (ἐλθέτω), and genēthētō (γενηθήτω). Grammatically, all three of these verbs are aorist imperative passive verb forms. Most importantly, all three are imperatives. In praying them, we are not begging God to do something, we are commanding that something be done.

Next, note that all three verbs are in the passive voice. This leaves it indeterminate who or what we are commanding to do these things. Are we commanding God to do these things? Are we commanding ourselves to do them? This would be a very attractive option, except that all of these verbs are true passives, not forms that are ambiguous middle/passive voice forms. This seems to imply that it is not ourselves, or, at least, not only ourselves, that we are commanding to do these things. Are we commanding the world around us to do them? Or are we simply commanding that they be done, regardless of how or by whom? This last option seems most likely, particularly considering the tense of these verbs.

All of these verbs are in the aorist tense. We shouldn’t read too much into this choice of tenses, because Koine Greek did not have future tense forms in the imperative mood. Still, if, in praying this prayer, we were commanding something to be done in the far or indefinite future, it would have been more natural for Jesus to have used present imperatives rather than aorist imperatives. Instead, the most common usage of the aorist imperative is to give a command that something be done at once. It can also sometimes, though less commonly, carry with it the more general implication of the aorist tense in the indicative mood (which has future tense forms) of describing a finished action in the past that has continuing effects. Thus, an aorist imperative can sometimes be read as commanding that the continuing effects of what was done in the past be manifested in the present. (A non-theological example of this would be an order putting a past judicial judgment into effect in the present). Either of these readings fits the Disciples Prayer: we may be commanding that these things be done at once (and should not be surprised when they are done!), or we may be commanding that the consequences of what God has already finished doing be manifested now.

With that understanding of the verb forms, the last part of verse 9 literally commands that that “the Name of you” (“you” being “our Father”) be set apart as holy, regarded as special. It is left indefinite who is to make this happen and how. It is also left indefinite who is to be made to treat God’s “name,” the representation of his person, as holy. We do know that our behavior in the world, as God’s children, can either cause God and his name to be honored or to be spoken evil of (blasphemed) by unbelievers. Matthew 5:14-16; Romans 2:23-24; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12. (See, also, The Fruit of Righteousness and the Fruit of the Spirit). Still, this is part of a prayer directed at God, not directed at us–we are not commanding ourselves to make sure other people honor the name of our Father. But as directed at God, this is a very dangerous prayer! God defends his name, and will continue to do so, in ways that we don’t expect and often find distressing. We are agreeing he should do so, and commanding that it be manifested at once.

The first part of verse 10 literally commands God’s Kingdom to come, to be brought (passive) into manifestation at once. As I have explained in another place, the Kingdom is the realm in which God reigns as King. Because it is a command, not a request, and is stated in a tense which implies either immediacy or the execution of something already decided or accomplished, it can’t properly be read as I think we normally inwardly read it: “please, please, God, I beg you to bring final judgment on some future day, after it no longer interferes with my present life!” It doesn’t look to the apocalyptic future, it looks to the present. It is a command that God’s rule in the world be more fully manifested in our visible reality right now. And, once again, who or what is being commanded to manifest God’s rule is indeterminate. Certainly the fulfillment of the command starts with the person praying allowing God more control of their own life. But beyond that, it leaves the choice of what and how up to God. It is not a command to build our own kingdoms, not even if we build them “in Jesus’ name.”

The last part of verse 10 reiterates and clarifies the command of the first part. The prayer commands that The Father’s “will” be done, “in the same way as (ὡς) in heaven (singular, without an article), so on earth.” Again, we are not commanding that our own kingdoms be built so that we can–we say–use them “for” him. We are commanding his “will”–his thélēma–the end result, the big picture of the results that flow from everything the Father, in his wisdom, prefers and chooses–to come into existence now. And we are declaring that his thélēma that we are calling into existence consists of things being done here on Earth–on the ground (γῆς)–exactly as they are in Heaven. Here, the prayer uses “Heaven,” singular, rather than “the heavens,” plural, so we can legitimately capitalize the”H” to show that it refers to the realm–really not a physical space–in which God’s throne is situated. This realm corresponds with the Old Testament “heavens of the heavens”–which, it will be recalled, has the same relationship to the lower heavens in which we move that the lower heavens have to the Earth.

The focus is not on placing the Father infinitely distant from us, but on isolating the throne of the Father from the corruption of the Earth. In Heaven, God’s will is the only will that has ever been done, but not so on Earth. We have asserted our own wills against the Father, and so have corrupted the Earth. (See, also, the Idolatry and the Meaning of “Sin” Outline, which collects articles on this subject as they are written). The Father is still all around us, in the lower heavens, too, just as the first line of this prayer says. But there is a realm–also near at hand, but not yet fully manifested in our outward physical reality–in which only God’s will, his plan, has ever been. We are commanding that realm to be made visible.

Verses 11 and 12 then contain very simple commands seeking immediate action:

Give (dos) us this day our daily bread.
And forgive (aphes) us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Matthew 6:11-12 (NASB).

The two main verbs are, once again, aorist imperatives, commanding immediate action or visible fulfillment of something already done. In fact, these verses pertain to very immediate needs–food to eat and release from our debts–which, as I have explained elsewhere, includes both our sense of indebtedness because of our sins and weaknesses and our debts (both moral and financial) to others. However, the imperative verbs in these verses differ from those in verses 9 and 10 in that they are in the active, rather than the passive, voice, and that they are in the second person singular, directed specifically at the Father to whom we are praying. We are commanding the Father to do as he said he would do, though, in the context of verses 9 and 10, leaving it to his judgment how he will do it and in what form the answer will come. It is also noteworthy that the command in verse 12 is conditioned on what we do–in praying this prayer, we command the Father to release us from our debts in exactly the same way as (ὡς) we are willing to release others from their debts to us. This has, of course, a negative side–if we don’t release others from their debts to us, we will not be able to receive God’s release of our own debts. Matthew 6:15. I have also discussed this condition that we must forgive in another post.

Finally, the first half of verse 13, which many commentators believe is actually the end of the model prayer, contains the first main verb which is not in the imperative–because it is a negative request–followed by another aorist imperative, both very much pertaining to an immediate need we all face in this world (and will no longer face after we leave here!):

And do not lead (mē eisenenkēs) us into temptation, but deliver (rhysai) us from the evil [one].

Matthew 6:13 (NASB) (marginal reading of the last two words)

“Do not lead” is in the second person and in the active voice–asking the Father not to do something. And that it is asking, rather than commanding, is shown by its mood–subjunctive rather than imperative. God has not promised never to place us in situations in which we will be tempted–he even led Jesus into a place of temptation (which Jesus defeated). Matthew 4:1-11; Hebrews 4:15. Then the second clause states another aorist imperative–in the second person singular, so again commanding the Father to act at once, but also in the middle voice, apparently implying that the person praying has some role in bringing about the Father’s answer. So we command the Father to deliver us from “the evil,” from the evil one and the power of evil in the world, but also implicitly recognize that, when he provides a way of escape, we must take it. 1 Corinthians 10:12-14.

In summary, the Lord’s Prayer, his example or model prayer for his disciples of how they should pray, is not a prayer looking toward a distant Heaven which we can only see after we die or a long-distant future Kingdom. Instead, it looks toward the heavens all around us, where the Father’s power is active at all times, and his Kingdom which already is fully realized there, and commands him to bring it into manifestation in both the big events of the present world and the mundane details of our present lives.

Next: The Kingdom of “the Heavens” in Matthew