When we think of the Lord’s Prayer, we typically go to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9–13).
This is the prayer most often memorized, regularly recited by churches in corporate worship and by individuals in private devotions. It has been used in all the major catechisms of the church stretching back to the Didache of the first century. The words of the King James Version in particular have a beautiful cadence which has entered the public consciousness of the English-speaking world.
For many Christians, Matthew 6:9–13 is the Lord’s Prayer.
But our Lord gave us two versions of his prayer. And in the “other” Lord’s Prayer, Jesus counsels us that everything we ask for amounts to one thing, and that one thing is exactly what he promises to give.
The Two Prayers
The two versions come to us in different contexts. In Matthew’s Gospel, he records Jesus preaching the prayer in a section of the Sermon on the Mount on personal piety. He not only teaches them what to pray, he also teaches them how to pray—with humility rather than a public show of spirituality (Matthew 6:5–8) and what such a prayer life is characterized by—a posture of humble forgiveness (Matthew 6:14–15).
When we come to the prayer in Luke’s Gospel, the occasion is the disciple’s request that he teach them to pray. Here, like in Matthew, Jesus does not only give them what to pray, he also teaches them how to pray and what they should expect to receive when they pray.
These differences are what make the “other” Lord’s Prayer so valuable to our Christian walk. Let’s take a look.
What to Pray
Luke’s version is broadly similar to Matthew’s, but shorter and more compact. It omits the expanded title “who art in heaven” from the first petition, addressing God simply as “Father.” It doesn’t have Matthew’s third petition (“your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”) or the final phrase of the sixth petition (“but deliver us from evil”).
| Matthew’s Version Matthew 6:7–13 | Luke’s Version Luke 11:1–4 | |
| Occasion | And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. | Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” |
| Introduction | Pray then like this: | When you pray, say: |
| 1st Petition | Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name. | Father, hallowed be your name. |
| 2nd Petition | Your kingdom come, | Your kingdom come. |
| 3rd Petition | your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. | |
| 4th Petition | Give us this day our daily bread, | Give us each day our daily bread, |
| 5th Petition | and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. | and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. |
| 6th Petition | And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | And lead us not into temptation. |
As someone who grew up hearing and reciting Matthew’s version often, long ago I adopted the practice of praying this prayer every day. I’ve taught it to my children, used it in prayer groups, and recited it in church. With such extensive familiarity, it feels polished and soothing, like a stone whose rough edges have been smoothed by years of river water rushing over it.
To my ears, Luke’s rendition feels hasty and stilted, perhaps even—dare I say of God’s word—lacking.
Yet Luke records the words of our Lord, so I must be the one who is lacking. Maybe in holding too tightly to tradition, I’ve failed to grasp that in giving us two versions, Jesus gives us deeper insight into how prayer works.
Because Luke’s version is different from Matthew’s, we are freed from being enslaved to repeating magic words. We can riff on a petition and make it our own. We can vary how we address God, whether in the exalted title “Our Father in Heaven” or the simpler and more direct “Father.” We can be confident that we have prayed biblically even if we don’t make it through all six petitions, because Jesus himself didn’t always use all six. These two versions play variations on a theme to show that it is not the form but the pattern which is important; not the words but the meaning of the words.1
The words and specific petitions aren’t the only thing that is different in the two accounts. The context around Luke’s version helps shape our posture in prayer.
How to Pray
The words and specific petitions aren’t the only thing that is different in the two accounts. The context around Luke’s version helps shape our posture in prayer. Jesus shows us that how we pray is just as important as what we pray.
While Matthew’s version emphasizes an attitude of humility, Jesus here highlights an attitude of impudence. He uses this illustration:
And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.”
Luke 11:5–8
Jesus insists that there should be something impudent about our prayers. The word refers to shamelessness or persistence—the exact sort of shameless persistence it would take to knock on your friend’s door in the middle of the night until you annoy him into giving you what you want.
Imagine asking, seeking, and knocking (v. 9) before the Lord with that sort of attitude! You would have to be utterly convinced that what you were asking for is not only right and good but absolutely vital and necessary.
First, ask yourself: Do I pray with that sort of attitude?
Then, secondly, ask: What did Jesus teach his disciples to pursue with such impudence? When I pray, what should I expect to receive?
What to Expect When We Pray
Jesus gives us a thrice-repeated promise in these verses. He says, “It will be given to you.” He says, “You will find.” He says, “It will be opened to you.” The repetition is a mark of surety—you will receive what you ask for.
When we come before our heavenly Father and ask him for his name to be honored, his kingdom to be advanced, our needs to be met, our sins to be forgiven, our temptations to be tempered, Jesus says we’re really asking for one thing. And that one thing, he promises to give.
What is that one thing? The Holy Spirit.
Did you ever notice that? Look at what he says:
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Luke 11:9–13
When we pray the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, we are asking for divine help to accomplish God’s purposes in our lives and in the world. The way he has determined to supply that help is through his Spirit.
The Spirit helps us and is always with us (John 14:15–17). He guides us into all truth (John 16:13), gives us spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:8–10), and works in us fruitful living (Galatians 5:22–23), joy (1 Thessalonians 1:6), and fellowship (2 Corinthians 13:14).
These are the things that cause God’s name to be hallowed, his kingdom to come, our needs to be met, our sins to be forgiven, and our souls to be led in God’s good ways. Because the Spirit is the one who provides us with those things, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit is God’s answer to the Lord’s Prayer.
What We’re Really Asking for When We Pray the Lord’s Prayer
Here’s where Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer leaves us: When we pray the way that Jesus taught us to pray, we’re really asking for the Holy Spirit.
Because God has promised to give his Spirit, we can pray with shameless, persistent, urgent impudence. The specifics of our prayers will involve God’s glory and worship, the advancement of his kingdom, our temporal and spiritual needs, our sins and relationships, and our protection from evil.
Because we have the “other” Lord’s Prayer, we know that the answer to these prayers will always be yes, and the way he will answer them is by giving us his Holy Spirit in abundance.
What great confidence we have to pray!
Notes:
- Leon Morris, Luke, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 210. ↩︎
