Lord's Prayer

THE LORD’S PRAYER : M. M. NINAN
kingdom, of the mediator, he will receive from his Father, and this will terminate in the kingdom of glory: in a
word, not the kingdom of nature and providence is meant, which always was; but the kingdom of heaven, which
was at hand, nay had taken place, though as yet was not very visible, and which is spiritual in the hearts of
God's people, Jews and Gentiles; and which will appear exceeding glorious in the latter day, and at last be
swallowed up in the ultimate glory; all which must be very desirable by the sincere lovers of Jesus Christ.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. There is some appearance of this petition still remaining, in what the
(t) Jews call the short prayer:
"what is the short prayer? R. Eliezer says, , "do thy will in heaven"; and give quietness of spirit, or acquiescence
of spirit in thy will, to them that fear thee below.''
Christ says "thy will"; not the will of wicked men, nor the will of Satan, nor a man's own will, but the will of God:
by which is meant either his secret will, which is the rule of all his proceedings both in providence and grace; is
unknown to us, till facts make it appear; is always fulfilled in heaven and in earth; and sometimes is fulfilled by
those who have no regard to his revealed will; and is what ought to be submitted to patiently, and without
murmuring: or rather his revealed will, which consists partly in the declarations of his grace and mercy; as that
salvation is by Christ, whoever believes in him shall be saved, that all the redeemed be sanctified, persevere to
the end, and be glorified; and partly in the commands enjoined his people, which will of his is good, perfect, and
acceptable. The will of God may be said to be done by us, when our wills are resigned to his; when we patiently
submit to every adverse dispensation of providence; when our hearts and actions are, in some measure,
conformed to his law; when what is done, is done in faith, with a view to his glory, and without dependence upon
it; of which such only are capable who have a spiritual understanding of the will of God, believe in Christ, receive
grace and strength from him, and are assisted by his Spirit. These desire to do the will of God, as it is done in
heaven; meaning not so much by the inanimate creatures, the sun, and moon, and stars, as glorified saints and
holy angels, who do it voluntarily and cheerfully; speedily, and without delay; constantly, and without any
interruption; and perfectly and completely.
Geneva Study Bible
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Matthew 6:10.[420] Ἐλθέτω, κ.τ.λ.] Let the kingdom of the Messiah appear. This was likewise a leading point in
the prayers of the Jews, especially in the Kaddisch, which had been in regular use since the captivity, and
כל ברכה שאין בה canon, which contained the words, Regnet tuum regnum; redemptio mox veniat. Hence the
Bab. Berac. f. 40. 2. Here, likewise, the kingdom of God is no other than the kingdom of the ‏.מלכוח אינה ברכה
Messiah, the advent of which was the supreme object of pious longing (Luke 2:25; Luke 17:20; Mark 15:43;
Luke 22:18; Luke 23:51; 2 Timothy 4:8). This view of the kingdom and its coming, as the winding up of the
world’s history, a view which was also shared by the principal Fathers (Tertullian, Chrysostom, Augustine,
Euth. Zigabenus), is the only one which corresponds with the historical conception of the βασιλεία τ. θεοῦ
throughout the whole of the N. T.; comp. on Matthew 3:2, the kingdom comes with the Messiah who comes to
establish it; Mark 11:9-10; Luke 23:42. The ethical development (Matthew 13:31 ff., Matthew 24:14; comp. on
Matthew 3:2, Matthew 5:3 ff., Matthew 5:48; also on Acts 3:21), which necessarily precedes the advent of the
kingdom (Luke 19:11) and prepares the way for it, and with which the diffusion of Christianity is bound up,
Matthew 28:19 (Grotius, Kuinoel), forms the essential condition of that advent, and through ἘΛΘΈΤΩ, Κ.Τ.Λ.,
is thus far indirectly (as the means toward the wished-for end) included in the petition, though not expressly
mentioned in so many words, so that we are not called upon either to substitute for the concrete conception of
the future kingdom (Luke 22:18) one of an ethical, of a more or less rationalistic character (Jerome, Origen,
Wetstein: of the moral sway of Christianity; Baumgarten-Crusius: the development of the cause of God among
men), or immediately to associate them together. This in answer also to Luther (“God’s kingdom comes first of
all in time and here below through God’s word and faith, and then hereafter in eternity through the revelation of
Christ”), Melanchthon, Calvin, de Wette, Tholuck, “the kingdom of God typified in Israel, coming in its reality in
Christ, and ever more and more perfected by Him as time goes on;” comp. Bleek.
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