Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

Matthew VI. T-13. 321
oping itself, Christ subjoins, in tlie third petition, yevrjd/jTO) to OiXr]-
fid aov K. T. A., thy ivill he done, etc., in order to express the consummation
of the kingdom of God, -which consists in the unlimited fulfilment
of God's will ; so that the three petitions stand related to each
other as beginning, end, and middle. The words " as in heaven, so in
earth," express the unqualijied fulfilment of the will, which now appertains
to the heavenly state* ovAj, but which, in the consumma-
tion, is to extend to earthly things also.
/ In the second half of the Lord's Prayer, the subjective distance
from the kingdom of God, and the steps of approach to it, are apprehended
and described with the supplementary thought, " That it
may be so, give us daily the bread of life." Thsii^agxoq-yiyreod, does
not denote bodily food merely, is seen from the context ; it stands
among purely spiritual petitions, and supposes spiritually-disposed
petitioners.* True, the suppliant should set out from his physical
existence, and ascend to what is higher ;
for which reason the refer-
ence to bodily nourishment, on which the existence of the whole
man depends, should not be excluded, nay, it may even be regarded
as the immediate one ; but the s]3iritual food must still be looked
upon as included, since otherwise the important petition for the
Spirit of God would be entirely wanting in the prayer. (On aprof,
as spiritual food to man, as a spirit, see Matth. iv. 4 ; John vi. 32,
compared with 41, 48, 50, 51.—The word ETTiovmog, which occurs
nowhere else, is difficult.f Some derive it from the particle emovaa,
which is used like sequens [Acts vii. 26 ; xvi. 11 ; xxi. 18 ; xxiii,
11], particularly in the phrase ^liga i~Lovoa = ih>a, which, according
to Jerome, was used in this passage in the Ev. sec. Hehr. [Comm.
in Matth. ad loci. -^^^ ^^^ interpretation, which Dr. Paulus ex-
tends even to the future in general, is in contradiction to Matth. vi.
34, where care for the morrow is forbidden. In that case the connexion
of oiifieQov with i-iovaiog is inappropriate. Others more cor-
rectly derive it from ovaia,\ in the sonse of suhstanticdis—so that the
term is meant to define the bread more accurately in its nature,
nourishment for the. true being of man—or what is sufiicient for existence—what
is enough. Thus Thohcck.)
In the consciousness of the dependence of spiritual and bodily
hfe on '^.- and his preserving power, the consciousness of guilt is
* As heaven, -^'here angels perfectly fulfil the will of God, stands separated from
earth, where we still dwell in a state of expectancy, we need for our earthly hfe, earthly,
daily bread. It is better to refrain from spiritualizing the simple sense of the prayer.— [E.
f Origen (de Orat, p. 94) regards it as a word coined by the Evangelist himself, without
giving an etymology. The derivation from the participle is admissible after the ana-
logy of Tzepiovat.oQ iOe^.ovaioc. But it may be derived from the participle of eli>ai as well
as from that of ievai. See Tholuck in his comm. on the passage.
X The word is not i-oicLor but I-lovglo^, being derived not from the noun iirovmn,
but from the noun oiiGia and the prop i-i.—[E.
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