Punctuation in the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)

[Jonathan Robie]

I was surprised by the punctuation used in some critical editions of the Lord's Prayer.

In this edition, the Greek Orthodox Church puts an άνω τελεία at the end of the first line, and a blank line separates the first two lines from the next three:

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς·
ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·

ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου,
ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς

Wiktionary tells me that the άνω τελεία is used thus:

1. Separates groups of clauses in a sentence.
2. Separates two parts of a sentence where a κόμμα is thought to be inadequate.

But Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς is not a clause, and the whitespace separates these three very parallel lines (which I am putting back together below):

ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·
ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου

Then it uses a comma for these two lines, implying that ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς does not pertain to ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου or ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου:

γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου,
ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς·

Compare that to SBLGNT, which uses commas throughout the part I mentioned above:

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου, ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·

And Tyndale House GNT:

πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·

Thoughts? My brain really wants to group the three highly parallel constructions together:

ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου,
ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου,
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου

And I want to say that ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς applies to all three of them.

The indentation of the NIV implies they may agree with me:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

[Jason Hare]

Well, Jonathan, you've just transformed how I read that passage!

[mikeatnip]

Interesting observation. I suppose the punctuation boils down to presuppusitions about the interpretation. Your interpretation certainly gives me a new perspective (as one who believes "the gospel" is the coming of the kingdom to earth, not the coming of a payment for sins). I can also see the second line as part of a worshipful statement that belongs with the first, as per the Greek Orthodox Church.
I wonder if the Patristics would have any commentary on this? Not that I expect them to make a grammatical statement, but perhaps some statements that would give an indirect indication of how they subconsciously applied any punctuation.

[Jonathan Robie]

Interesting observation. I suppose the punctuation boils down to presuppositions about the interpretation. Your interpretation certainly gives me a new perspective (as one who believes "the gospel" is the coming of the kingdom to earth, not the coming of a payment for sins).

When I wrote this, I was preparing to teach a Sunday School class. Here are the notes I handed out for discussion:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SOT ... sp=sharing

On the second page, you can see some verses that show relationships between the things mentioned in these three clauses, e.g.

"Therefore, say to the Israelites, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.'"

God's name is glorified when we do God's will, and profaned when we do not. I think you can take any of the three clauses and define them in terms of the others: God's name is glorified in his Kingdom, where his will is done. The Kingdom is the place where God's name is glorified and his will is done. God's will is to glorify him and seek first his Kingdom.

I can also see the second line as part of a worshipful statement that belongs with the first, as per the Greek Orthodox Church.
I wonder if the Patristics would have any commentary on this? Not that I expect them to make a grammatical statement, but perhaps some statements that would give an indirect indication of how they subconsciously applied any punctuation.

A few places to look:

https://ccel.org/ccel/origen/prayer/prayer.xiv.html

https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf11 ... #highlight

[mikeatnip]

Chrysostom makes it clear that "hallowing" the name is accomplished by us here and now:
"“ ... that we may live so purely, that through us all may glorify Thee.” Which thing again appertains unto perfect self-control, to present to all a life so irreprehensible, that every one of the beholders may offer to the Lord the praise due to Him for this."
Origen (on the next page from the link you gave) is not quite so clear, but the point comes out as:
"It is exalting the name of God together when, after one has participated in an outflow of deity in having been sustained by God and having overcome his enemies so that they are unable to rejoice over his fall, he exalts the power of God in which he has participated, as is shown in the twenty-ninth psalm by the words: I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have sustained me and not made my enemies to rejoice over me."
Well, quite interesting. I can see now that 'hallowing' the name is done by living a virtuous and overcoming life. His name, reputation, gets the glory.

[Mitch Tulloch]

As someone who is still pretty much a beginner in Greek but who has thought a lot about The Lord's Prayer, I'm going to take a chance and wade in here into this discussion. I know this forum isn't supposed to be for theological discussion so I'll try to stay focused on the Greek -- but hey, Jonathan has opened the door a crack here, so here goes...

Instead of thinking about how the punctuation of the passage depends on our presuppositions about its interpretation, I think a better approach is to consider The Lord's Prayer in the context of the whole Book of Matthew and especially the chapters that preceed the Prayer. Below is Matthew 6:9-13 copied from https://www.bibelwissenschaft.de broken into what I think are the three insructions I think Jesus is trying to communicate to his disciples:

[#1]
Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς·
ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·
ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·
τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·

[#2]
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·

[#3]
καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

Why do I group τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν with γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου etc? Because previously in Matthew 4:3-4 the Devil suggested Jesus turn stones into ἄρτον. Jesus responds by quoting Deut 8:3 and if you look at the whole of Deut 8 it basically is Moses saying "Do God's will" i.e. obey God's commands. So I would interpret the phrase τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον as saying either (a) give me the strength (or sustenance) to do the Father's will as your disciple no matter how tough things get" or (b) give me the power to do what you command me to do as your disciple. Like healing the sick for example (Matthew 10:1) -- note that later in Matthew 15:21 Jesus told the Syrophoenecian woman that οὐκ ἔστιν καλὸν λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων καὶ βαλεῖν τοῖς κυναρίοις. so it could be that the ἄρτον in The Lord's Prayer means "the bread [power to do the works] of the kingdom" and not "bread" in the physical sense.

<theological aside>
Personally I prefer interpretaion (b) as my background is Vineyard and I see discipleship basically as "doing the stuff" that Jesus did (i.e. heal the sick, cast out demons, proclaim the kingdom). Because in Luke 6:40 Jesus says οὐκ ἔστιν μαθητὴς ὑπὲρ τὸν διδάσκαλον· κατηρτισμένος δὲ πᾶς ἔσται ὡς ὁ διδάσκαλος αὐτοῦ. so being "like" ὡς Jesus is what being a disciple is all about -- which of course we can only do if the Spirit enables us (which is again like Jesus who after the Spirit came upon him in Matthew 3:16-17 was able to do his "power" works). But I'm perfectly fine with those who prefer interpretation (a) or would simply say that Jesus is telling us to ask God to provide for our daily needs as we try to do his work
</theological aside>

The second part καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν (καὶ can indicate something new is coming, right?) looks back to Matthew 3:13-15 where Jesus came to John to get baptized by him. John of course was baptizing people for repentance from their sins, so Jesus in this second part of his Prayer is telling his disciples to live a lifestyle of repentance, forgiving others so they can live in God's forgiveness.

And the third part καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν looks back to Matthew 4:1 where Jesus was ἀνήχθη εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος πειρασθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου. Again, I think the καὶ here is more important than the punctuation (which was added much later, right?)

So my very loose paraphrase of The Lord's Prayer in Matthew would be that we should pray three things if we want to be his disciples:
1. Father, give me whatever I need to be able to do your will so your kingdom can advance.
2. And help me keep forgiving others so I can live in your constant favor.
3. And pleeeease don't put me through a time of testing like the one Jesus had to go through!!

[Jonathan Robie]

Looking at the Greek, I would group it like this:

1. Address:

Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς·

Three petitions about God's name, Kingdom, and will, with strongly parallel wording:

ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου·
ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·
γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου,
      ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·

2. Three petitions about our own needs, linked with καὶ:

τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον·
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·
καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.

[Mitch Tulloch]

Well that's a good way of grouping it too

[mikeatnip]

I find your spin on "daily sustenance" interesting. I see no problem in a general sense, although I would say that the "sustenance" that we need daily is for the strength to carry out the "non-power" works (loving others, serving them, walking humbly, etc) as much as or even more so than the "power" works. But the concept is the same, essentially. I suppose that is Vineyard vs. non-Vineyard.
In a recent discussion by email with some others, it was noted that lhm (forgive the transliteration) in Hebrew and ἄρτοs in Greek both really have a semantic center more in the general idea of "food" rather than "bread" in particular. Hebrew more so than Greek, although the Hebrew lhm tends toward "grain foods" and is even used for animal food. In its earliest English form, the etymology of English "bread" meant "food." "Bread" as we think of it today was "loaf."

[Jonathan Robie]

In a recent discussion by email with some others, it was noted that lhm (forgive the transliteration) in Hebrew and ἄρτοs in Greek both really have a semantic center more in the general idea of "food" rather than "bread" in particular. Hebrew more so than Greek, although the Hebrew lhm tends toward "grain foods" and is even used for animal food. In its earliest English form, the etymology of English "bread" meant "food." "Bread" as we think of it today was "loaf."

Words have more than one sense, but the definitional sense is usually the more concrete prototypical one. I think the basic sense of the word really is a loaf of bread, which was the basis of their diet. By extension, it is used to refer to any food. In other cultures, the word for rice or the word for fish may be used this way.

ἄρτος (artos). n. masc. bread, food. Refers specifically to grain made into flour and baked into a loaf, but often used generically for any kind of food.
This word for bread or food appears over 90 times in the NT. It often refers literally to loaves of bread, but the phrase “eat bread” can also just mean “eat food” in a generic sense (Matt 15:2; Mark 7:2). Bread is an important element in several passages, including the temptation of Christ (Matt 4:3; Luke 4:3), the feeding of 5,000 (Matt 14:17–21), and the Last Supper (Matt 26:26).

Phillip J. Long, “Eating and Drinking,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

In this prayer, I agree that ἄρτος is probably used to refer to any kind of food or nourishment. And I also agree that food and nourishment are used metaphorically in other passages to refer to other kinds of sustenance. But I would be careful to distinguish what it says from what it means to your or me. I wouldn't want to bake this interpretation into my understanding of what the Greek word means.

I think it's always best to look at the prototypical meaning and use it to understand what it is likely to mean in a given context. I think it's important to avoid weighing a word down with every way it is used elsewhere.