Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 6:9

"After this manner therefore pray ye. Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." — Matthew 6:9 (ASV)

This passage contains the Lord's prayer, a composition unequaled for comprehensiveness and beauty. It is supposed that some of these petitions were taken from those in common use among the Jews. Indeed, some of them are still to be found in Jewish writings, but they did not exist in this beautiful combination.

This prayer is given as a model. It is designed to express the manner in which we are to pray, evidently not the precise words or petitions which we are to use. The substance of the prayer is recorded by Luke 11:2-4. It, however, varies from the form given in Matthew, showing that he intended not to prescribe this as a form of prayer to be used always, but to express the substance of our petitions, to specify to his disciples what petitions it would be proper to present to God.

That he did not intend to prescribe this as a form to be invariably used is further evident from the fact that there is no proof that either he or his disciples ever used exactly this form of prayer, but clear evidence that they prayed often in other language. See Matthew 26:39-42, 44; Luke 22:42; John 17:1–26; Acts 1:24.

Our Father. God is called a Father for the following reasons:

1. As he is the Creator and the Great Parent of all.
2. The Preserver of the human family, and the Provider for their wants, Matthew 5:45; 6:32.
3. In a peculiar sense the Father of those who are adopted into his family, who put confidence in him, who are true followers of Christ, and made heirs of life, Romans 8:14–17.

Hallowed be thy name. The word hallowed means to render or pronounce holy. God's name is essentially holy; and the meaning of this petition is, "Let your name be celebrated, venerated, and esteemed as holy everywhere, and receive from all people proper honors." It is thus the expression of a wish or desire on the part of the worshiper that the name of God, or God himself, should be held everywhere in proper veneration.