Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 6:9

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

After this manner —Literally, thus. The word sanctions both the use of these words themselves and of other prayers—whether prescribed or spontaneous—that follow the same pattern and spirit. In Luke 11:2 we have the more definite phrase, “When you pray, say, ...”

Our Father —It is clear that the very word “Abba” (father), uttered by our Lord here and in Mark 14:36, so impressed itself on people’s minds that, like “Amen,” “Hallelujah,” and “Hosanna,” it was used in the prayers of converts from both paganism and Hellenistic Judaism. From its special association with the work of the Spirit (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6), it would seem to have belonged to the class of utterances commonly described as “speaking in tongues,” in which words from two or more languages were apparently mingled together as each best expressed the worshiper’s devout enthusiasm.

The thought of God’s Fatherhood was not entirely new. He had claimed “Israel as His son, even His firstborn” (Exodus 4:22), and had loved him as His child (Jeremiah 31:9; Hosea 11:1). The idea of an outraged Fatherhood underlies the reproaches of Isaiah (Isaiah 1:2) and Malachi (Malachi 1:6). The plea, “Thou, O Lord, art our Father” (Isaiah 64:8), was Israel’s refuge from despair. This concept had become common in Jewish liturgies and private prayers.

When the disciples first heard it, the name would not have conveyed thoughts beyond those with which they were already familiar. But it was a word pregnant with future meaning. Time and the teaching of the Spirit were to develop what was then just a seed. The full truth—that this Fatherhood is grounded in our union with the Eternal Son, which makes us sons of God; that it is a name for all humanity, not only for Israelites; and that of all the names for God, it is the fullest and truest—was to be learned as they were guided into all truth. Like all such names, it has inner and outer circles of application. It is true of all people, true of all members of the Church of Christ, and true of those who are led by the Spirit, though in different degrees. Yet all true theology rests on the assumption that these ever-widening circles share the same center: the love of the Father.

The words “Our Father” do not exclude the use of the more personal “My Father” in solitary prayer. Instead, they are a perpetual witness that even then, we should remember that our right to use that name is not an exclusive privilege, but one shared by every member of the great family of God.

Which art in heaven —Familiar as it is, this phrase has a history of special interest.

1. In the earlier books of the Old Testament, the words “Jehovah is God in heaven above and in earth beneath” (Deuteronomy 4:39; Joshua 2:11) express His universal presence. This was also embodied in the name of “the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth,” from the earliest patriarchal faith (Genesis 14:22). Later, people became more conscious of the infinite distance between themselves and God, representing the contrast with the thought that He was in heaven and they on earth (Ecclesiastes 5:2). This thought became a liturgical formula in Solomon’s great dedication prayer: “Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place” (1 Kings 8:42–43 and elsewhere; 2 Chronicles 6:21 and elsewhere). And so, freed from an overly close identification with the visible sky, the phrase became a symbol for the entire visible and invisible world, which is equally the dwelling place of God. It utters in the language of poetry what we vainly attempt to express in metaphysics with terms like the Infinite, the Absolute, and the Unconditioned.
2. We should not forget that the words supply both a link and a contrast between pagan and Jew, between the Aryan and Semitic peoples (as in the phrase “God of heaven” in Ezra 1:2; Daniel 2:18–19). Each found in the visible heaven the symbol of the universe’s invisible forces and an unseen world. However, the one (the Aryan) first identified his heaven (the Varuna of the Vedic hymns, the Ouranos of the Greeks) with that world and then personified each of its forces, so that the pantheism of the thinker became the polytheism of the worshiper. For the other (the Semite), heaven was never more than the dwelling place of God in His undivided unity.

Hallowed be thy name —The first expression of thought in this model prayer is not the voicing of our wants and wishes. Rather, it is a plea that the Name of God—that which sums up all our thoughts of Him—should be “hallowed.” It should be, for us and for all people, a consecrated name, not used lightly in trivial speech, rash assertion, or bitter debate, but treated as the object of awe, love, and adoration. The words “Jehovah, hallowed be His name” were familiar to all Israelites and are found in many of their prayers. Here, however, the petition’s position gives it a new meaning, making it the key to all that follows. Even more striking is that this petition links the teaching of the first three Gospels with that of the fourth. Just as the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray in this way, so He Himself prayed in John 12:28, “Father, glorify Thy name.”