The Lord's Prayer Explained

Introduction to the Lord's Prayer

1. You have rehearsed what you believe; now hear what you are to pray for. You would not be able to call upon Him in whom you had not first believed, as the Apostle says, "How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" (Romans 10:14). Therefore, you first learned the Creed, which is a brief yet profound rule of faith—brief in the number of its words but profound in the weight of its contents. But the prayer which you receive today to learn by heart, and which you will recite in eight days' time, was taught (as you heard when the Gospel was read) by the Lord Himself to His disciples, and has come from them to us, since "their sound has gone out into all the earth" (Psalm 19:4).

2. You who have found a Father in heaven should be reluctant to cling to earthly things. For you are about to say, "Our Father in heaven." You have begun to belong to a great family. Under this Father, lord and servant are siblings; under this Father, general and common soldier are siblings; under this Father, rich and poor are siblings. All Christian believers have various fathers on earth, some noble, some obscure; but they all call upon one Father who is in heaven.

If our Father is there, then our inheritance is also prepared for us there. But He is such a Father that we can possess with Him what He gives. For He gives an inheritance but doesn't leave it to us by dying. He doesn't depart Himself, but remains forever, so that we may come to Him. Since we've heard of whom we are to ask, let us also understand what to ask for, lest we might offend such a Father by asking wrongly.

The First Petition: Hallowed Be Your Name

3. What, then, has the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to ask of the Father in heaven? "Hallowed be Your name." What kind of blessing is this that we ask of God, that His name may be hallowed? The name of God is always holy, so why do we pray that it may be hallowed, except that we ourselves may be hallowed by it? We pray, then, that what is always holy may be hallowed in us. The name of God is hallowed in you when you are baptized. Why will you offer this prayer after you have been baptized, if not so that what you will then receive may remain in you forever?

The Second Petition: Your Kingdom Come

4. The next petition follows: "Your kingdom come." God's kingdom will come whether we ask for it or not. Why, then, do we ask for it, except that what will come to all the saints may also come to us? We pray that God may count us among the number of His saints, to whom His kingdom is to come.

The Third Petition: Your Will Be Done

5. We say in the third petition, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." What does this mean? That as the angels serve You in heaven, so we may serve You on earth. For His holy angels obey Him; they don't offend Him; they carry out His commands through love for Him. We pray, then, that we too may fulfill God's commands with love.

These words can be understood in another way too: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Heaven in us is the soul; earth in us is the body. What, then, does it mean: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" ? That as we hear Your commandments in our minds, so may our bodies consent to them, so that while flesh and spirit strive against each other, we may still be able to fulfill God's commands.

The Fourth Petition: Our Daily Bread

6. "Give us this day our daily bread" comes next in the Prayer. Here we may be asking the Father either for the bodily sustenance we need, using "bread" to signify whatever is necessary for us, or we may be thinking of that daily Bread which you will soon receive from the altar. Either way, it is right that we pray for Him to give it to us.

For what are we praying for, if not that we may commit no evil that would separate us from that holy Bread? And the word of God which is preached daily is also daily bread. Just because it isn't bread for the body doesn't mean it isn't bread for the soul.

But when this life has passed away, we will no longer seek the bread that hunger requires. We will no longer need to receive the Sacrament of the Altar, because we will be there with Christ, whose Body we now receive. Nor will we need these words that we are now speaking to you, nor the reading of sacred Scripture, because we will see Him who is Himself the Word of God, through whom all things were made, by whom the angels are fed and enlightened and made wise. They don't require long discourses but drink in the One Word, and filled with Him, they overflow with unceasing praise. For, as the Psalm says, "Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will be always praising You" (Psalm 84:4).

The Fifth Petition: Forgiveness

7. Therefore, in this present life, we ask what comes next: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." In Baptism, all debts—that is, all sins—are entirely forgiven us. But because no one can live here below without sin—if not any great crime that would separate us from the Altar, still altogether without sins no one can live on this earth—and since we can receive Baptism only once, in this Prayer we learn how we may be washed day by day, that our sins may be forgiven us daily, but only if we do what follows: "As we also forgive our debtors."

Accordingly, my brothers and sisters, I advise you who are in God's grace—my children, yet my brothers and sisters under that heavenly Father—I advise you that whenever anyone offends and sins against you, and then comes, confesses, and asks your pardon, you should forgive them and immediately let go of any grudge from your heart. Otherwise, you may keep yourself from receiving the pardon that comes from God. For if you don't forgive, neither will He forgive you. Therefore, it is in this life that we make this petition, because it is only in this life that sins can be forgiven, where they can also be committed. But in the life to come, sins are not forgiven because they are not committed.

The Sixth and Seventh Petitions: Deliverance from Evil

8. After this we pray, saying, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." This petition—that we not be led into temptation—is also necessary to ask for in this life, because in this life there are temptations; and that "we may be delivered from evil" is necessary because evil exists here.

Thus, of all these seven petitions, three relate to eternal life and four to the present life:

"Hallowed be Your name." This will be forever.

"Your kingdom come." This kingdom will be forever.

"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This will be forever.

"Give us this day our daily bread." This will not be forever.

"Forgive us our debts." This will not be forever.

"Lead us not into temptation." This will not be forever.

"But deliver us from evil." This will not be forever.

But where there is temptation, and where there is evil, there it is necessary that we make these petitions.