John Calvin Commentary Matthew 6:9

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

You therefore pray thus. Instead of this, Luke says, when you pray, say. Though Christ does not instruct His people to pray in a prepared form of words,⁴³¹ He only points out what should be the object of all our wishes and prayers. He embraces, therefore, in six petitions what we are free to ask from God. Nothing is more advantageous to us than such instruction. Though this is the most important exercise of piety, yet in forming our prayers and regulating our wishes, all our faculties fail us. No one will pray correctly unless his lips and heart are directed by the Heavenly Master. For that purpose, He has laid down this rule, by which we must frame our prayers, if we desire them to be considered lawful and approved by God.

It was not the intention of the Son of God (as we have already said) to prescribe the words which we must use, so as not to leave us free to depart from the form which He has dictated. His intention, rather, was to guide and restrain our wishes, so that they might not go beyond those limits. From this we infer that the rule which He has given us for praying correctly relates not to the words, but to the things themselves.

This form of prayer consists, as I have said, of six petitions. The first three, it should be known, relate to the glory of God, without any regard to ourselves; and the remaining three relate to those things which are necessary for our salvation. As the law of God is divided into two tables, of which the former contains the duties of piety and the latter the duties of charity,⁴³² so in prayer Christ instructs us to consider and seek the glory of God, and, at the same time, permits us to consider our own interests.

Let us therefore know that we will be in a state of mind for praying correctly if we are not only earnest about ourselves and our own advantage, but also assign the first place to the glory of God. For it would be completely absurd to focus only on what belongs to ourselves and to disregard the kingdom of God, which is of far greater importance.

Our Father who are in heaven. Whenever we engage in prayer, two things are to be considered, so that we may both have access to God and rely on Him with full and unshaken confidence: His fatherly love toward us and His boundless power. Let us therefore entertain no doubt that God is willing to receive us graciously, that He is ready to listen to our prayers—in a word, that He Himself is disposed to aid us. Father is the title given to Him; and under this title Christ supplies us with ample materials for confidence.

But as only half of our reliance is founded on the goodness of God, in the next clause, who are in heaven, He gives us a lofty idea of the power of God. When the Scripture says that God is in heaven, the meaning is that all things are subject to His dominion—that the world and everything in it is held by His hand, that His power is everywhere diffused, and that all things are arranged by His providence. David says, He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them (Psalms 2:4); and again, Our God is in heaven: he hath done whatever he hath pleased (Psalms 115:3).

When God is said to be in heaven, we must not suppose that He dwells only there; but, on the contrary, we must hold what is said in another passage, that the heavens of heavens do not contain him (2 Chronicles 2:6). This mode of expression separates Him from the rank of creatures and reminds us that, when we think of Him, we should not form any low or earthly conceptions, for He is higher than the whole world.

We have now ascertained the design of Christ. In the beginning of the prayer, He desired His own people to rest their confidence on the goodness and power of God, because unless our prayers are founded on faith, they will be of no advantage. Now, as it would be the folly and madness of presumption to call God our Father, except on the ground that, through our union to the body of Christ, we are acknowledged as His children, we conclude that there is no other way of praying correctly but by approaching God with reliance on the Mediator.

May your name be sanctified. This makes even more clear what I have said: that in the first three petitions we should lose sight of ourselves and seek the glory of God—not that it is separated from our salvation, but that the majesty of God should be greatly preferred by us to every other object of concern. It is of unspeakable advantage to us that God reigns and that He receives the honor which is due to Him. But no one has a sufficiently earnest desire to promote the glory of God unless (so to speak) he forgets himself and raises his mind to seek God’s exalted greatness.

There is a close connection and resemblance between these three petitions. The sanctification of the name of God is always connected with His kingdom; and the most important part of His kingdom lies in His will being done. Whoever considers how cold and negligent we are in desiring the greatest of those blessings for which we are here commanded to pray will acknowledge that nothing here is superfluous. Indeed, it is proper that the three petitions should be distinguished in this way.

To sanctify the name of God means nothing other than to give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name, so that people may never think or speak of Him but with the deepest veneration. The opposite of this is the profanation of the name of God, which takes place when people either speak disrespectfully of the divine majesty or at least without that reverence which they should feel.

Now, the glory by which it is sanctified flows and results from the acknowledgments made by people as to the wisdom, goodness, righteousness, power, and all the other attributes of God. For holiness always dwells and permanently remains in God; but people obscure it by their malice and depravity, or dishonor and pollute it by sacrilegious contempt. The substance of this petition is that the glory of God may shine in the world and may be duly acknowledged by people.

But religion is in its highest purity and vigor when people believe that whatever proceeds from God is right and proper, full of righteousness and wisdom. For the consequence is that they embrace His word with the obedience of faith and approve of all His ordinances and works. That faith which we yield to the word of God is, so to speak, our subscription,⁴³³ by which we set to our seal that God is faithful (John 3:33); as the highest dishonor that can be done to Him is unbelief and contempt of His word.

We now see what wickedness is displayed by most people in judging the works of God, and how freely they allow themselves to indulge in censure. If any of us are chastised, we grumble, murmur, and complain, and some break out into open blasphemies. If He does not grant our wishes, we think that He is not sufficiently kind to us.⁴³⁴ Many turn His incomprehensible providence and secret judgments into material for idle talk and jesting. Even His holy and sacred name is often treated with the grossest mockery. In short, a part of the world profanes His holiness to the utmost of their power. We need not wonder then, if we are commanded to ask, in the first place, that the reverence due to it may be given by the world. Besides, this is no small honor done to us when God recommends to us the advancement of His glory.

⁴³¹ “Combien Christ ne commande pas aux siens en priant de s'attacher scrupuleusement a certains mots;” — “though Christ does not command his people to adhere scrupulously to certain words.;” — “though Christ does not command his people to adhere scrupulously to certain words.

⁴³² “Comme la Loy de Dieu est divisee en deux Tables, desquelles la premiere contient les choses dont nous sommes redevables a Dieu pour honorer sa majeste: la seconde ce que nous devons a nostre prochain selon charite.” — “As the Law of God is divided into two Tables, of which the first contains the things which we owe to God to honor his majesty: the second, what we owe to our neighbor according to charity.”.” — “As the Law of God is divided into two Tables, of which the first contains the things which we owe to God to honor his majesty: the second, what we owe to our neighbor according to charity.”

⁴³³ “Comme si nous signions de nostre propre main, declarans que Dieu est veritable;” — “as if we signed with our own hand, declaring that God is true.”;” — “as if we signed with our own hand, declaring that God is true.”

⁴³⁴ “Il nous semble qu'il nous fait tort;” — “we think that he wrongs us.”;” — “we think that he wrongs us.”