The Use of the Lord's Prayer in the Primitive Church

Author(s): Gordon J. Bahr

Source: Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 84, No. 2 (Jun., 1965), pp. 153-159
Published by: The Society of Biblical Literature
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 THE USE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER
IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH
GORDON J. BAHR
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

T HERE is no lack of exegetical works on the Lord's Prayer. In

addition to the material available in the standard commentaries,
there is a wide variety of articles and monographs which try to explain
what the words of the Lord's Prayer mean.
But when we ask how the Lord's Prayer was used in the primitive
church, the secondary literature is of small service. In the literature to
which I have had access, only five authors discuss the way in which the
primitive church used the Lord's Prayer. Four of these limit their com-
ments to one or two statements, or, at most, a short paragraph; the fifth
author devotes an entire article to the subject, but reaches conclusions
which are open to question.' The reason for the paucity of statements
on this subject is easily found: the primitive Christian sources give us
no clear description of the way in which the church of that period used
the Lord's Prayer. Perhaps some of the statements about the Lord's
Prayer and prayer in general from the literature of the first two centuries
will enable us to conjecture how the Lord's Prayer must have been used
in the earliest Christian communities.
Origen in his treatise On Prayer twice calls the Lord's Prayer an
outline or a sketch:
... 677 Kal 7IrlTrv 7jS aOXov Xev6o'u6EOAa,
r7, vvjroypaetaoav v7r6-rov KvpLov
7rpocevXrv6aro s 6vvaluews 7re7rXrpcoratOecwpitat PouX6oievoL.2
(And now we shall come to the next task, wishing to consider the prayer outlined
by the Lord and with what power it has been filled.)

Then follows the Matthean form of the Lord's Prayer.

Kal Irpo 7rapvrwv'ye 7raparTlpr7leov, ort 6 MarOatos Kail AovKas 66talev av

Carl Steuernagel,"Die urspriinglicheZweckbestimmungdes Vaterunser,"in Wis-

senschaftlicheZeitschriftder Karl-Marx-UniversitdtLeipzig, 3 (1953/54), Gesellschafts-
und sprachwissenschaftlicheReihe Heft 2/3, pp. 217-20. Steuernagelconjecturesthat,
at the request of his disciples, Jesus wanted to give them directions for saying the
havinenuor shortened middle portion of the Eighteen Benedictions which was used on
the Sabbath. But Steuernageldoes not give a satisfactory explanationfor the laudatory
character of the opening statements of the Lord's Prayer, nor is he able to show that
such a sabbatical shortening of the Eighteen Benedictions was customary prior to the
first amoraic generation.
2 Origen, repi EhX?s 18, 1.
153

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154 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

rols 7roXXols T'rv acr)v avaLyeypa:EkvaL vTOTETU7roTLv7v Trp6OsTO 5eZv oiVTcos

c irpoaXevX1v.2
7rpoaeCXeOaa
(And first of all it is observed that Matthew and Luke are thought by many to
have recordedthe same prayer sketched out because it is necessary to pray thus.)

Origen is not the first to speak of the Lord's Prayer as an outline.

Tertullian, in his treatise on prayer, says
... Jesus ChristusDominus noster, nobis discipulis novi testamentinovamorationis
formam determinavit.3
(Jesus Christ our Lord has marked out for us disciples of the New Covenant a
new outline of prayer.)

The assumption that the Lord's Prayer is an outline for prayer may
be lurking behind the word ovirws which is often used to introduce the
text of the prayer. Origen uses it,4 and before him the Didache,5 and
before that, the Gospel according to Matthew.6 Harnack,7 Zahn,8
Fiebig,9 and Lohmeyer?o agree that this word does not mean that the
Lord's Prayer is to be repeated verbatim, but that it is merely an ex-
ample of how one should pray. I would suggest that it is an example of
the ideal prayer in the sense that it is an outline of the parts which the
ideal prayer should contain and of the items which the ideal prayer
should include. To borrow Tertullian's words,
Sed quam eleganterdivina sapientia ordinem orationis instruxit, ut post caelestia,
id est post dei nomen dei voluntatemet dei regnum, terrenis quoquenecessitatibus
petitioni locumfaceret."
(But with what propriety has divine wisdom set up the order of the prayer, that
after heavenly things, that is, after God's Name, God's will, and God's kingdom,
it should make place for petition for earthly necessities too.)

Tertullian's observation is of utmost importance, and I shall return to it

later.
Origen tells us which parts a prayer should contain.
AoKdG E /TOLt, TrLTrep TIVTOT7WV T7JS
EVX.s 6CXaf3o6vTa, O TW KaTraTvaat rbv
T67roLVroyparTTrfo 4aLvovTaL, ovs e3pov 6teoaKe?aaTEvovs
Xoyov. Teaaapes or tFioL
ev raTs IpaqbaLs, Kal acouaTo7roLt7TEov eKacTaK?KaTa TOVTOVS EVX7v. Eilal 8

3 Tertullian, de Oratione1.
4Loc. cit.
s 8, 2.
66 9.
7 Adolf Harnack, "Uber einige Worte Jesu, die nicht in den kanonischen Evangelien
stehen, nebst einem Anhang iiber die urspriingliche Gestalt des Vater-Unsers," in
Sitzungsberichteder koniglich preussischenAkademieder Wissenschaften(1904), p. 205.
8 Theodor Zahn, Das Evangeliumdes Matthdus2,p. 268.
9 Paul Fiebig, Das Vaterunser: Ursprung, Sinn und Bedeutung des christlichen
Hauptgebetes,pp. 27 f.
10Ernst Lohmeyer, Das Vater-unser, pp. 10 f.
" Op. cit., ch. 6.

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 BAHR: LORD'S PRAYER IN PRIMITIVE CHURCH 155

ol TroTOloVro. KaTa tvvap v SotoXoylas &v Tn aPXS Kal Te TrpooLUCLq Trijs

EVXr/s XcKTeOV TOoVO^eo &a Xparov .... Kal Ipera TOVTO TraKTEov EKaaoT
eUxapLailas Te KOLVaSvTrep TrV ElS ravTas evepyeaiOV,
'Vy ltlv Kal T?TEVXEV
&7r6 eoi. Mertd T?r7yecVXapTarlav ialvraL pLL TtLKpOVTrvaaetv yLvbtpvov
TWV itlwv aCtapT7rl/arTo KarTyopov Eirl e ov.... MEra be'r,v koVioX6?o7yrlv
TerapTOv ,.to avrvarreLtv alYveratL 6eT, Tr7V repl rWv /je'y&Xao Kai eirovpavlwv
a7Tf<rLv .... Kai Erl traL- Trv eXvy e's otooXoylav Oeov bLa XpoLarovO y
&yL?7rvev'CLart Kararavareov. 2
(It seems to me that, having taken up the parts of prayer, I should thus bring the
matter to an end. It appears to me that there should be four parts in the outline.
These I have found scattered in the Scriptures. And each should compose his
prayer according to these. These are the parts: so far as one is able, at the begin-
ning and in the exordiumof the prayer one must express the praise of God through
Christ.... And after this, each must place thanksgiving,both communal, for the
benefits toward all, and for those which have come to the individual from God.
And after thanksgiving, it seems to me that one must become a sharp accuser of
one's own sins before God .... And after confession, it seems to me that one
must add, fourthly, petition for the great and heavenly things.... And in addi-
tion to all this, one must bring the prayer to an end with praise of God through
Christ in the Holy Spirit.)

Origen's prescriptions contain provisions for heavenly things and earthly

necessities, as Tertullian has said.13 Or, as Tertullian says in another
place, the Lord's Prayer
Neque enim propria tantum orationis officia complexa est, venerationemDei, aut
hominispetitionem.....'4
(... embraces the characteristic functions of prayer, the honor of God and the
petitions of man ....)

These sources agree that prayer needs an outline, and that the out-
line should have two parts: one devoted to the praise of God and one
devoted to the petitions of man. Now that we have the skeleton of
prayer, how do we clothe it with flesh? Origen provides the answer.
He says that, using the arrangement which he proposes, we should fill
it in according to our ability.15 That means that once we have the
proper outline in mind, we are free to fill in that outline with our own
words.
The text of the Lord's Prayer is to be composed in the presence of
the worshiping congregation. Cyprian says of the Lord's Prayer,
Publica est nobis et communisoratio.'6
(Our prayer is public and common.)

"2 Op. cit., ch. 33.

'3 Op. cit., ch. 6 quoted above. '4 Op. cit., ch. 1.
Is Op. cit., ch. 33 quoted above.
i6 Cyprian, de Dominica Oratione,ch. 8. Cf. Origen, op. cit., ch. 33 quoted above;
also Apostolic Constitutionsii, 36 and iii, 18.

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156 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

Not all modern scholars agree with Cyprian that the Lord's Prayer was
the prayer of the community.17 But it seems to me that the plural form
of the Lord's Prayer in both Matthew and Luke strongly suggests that
these authors assumed that it was basically a prayer used by a group.
The context in which it is set, although not original, also supports this
interpretation.
Following the Lord's Prayer, the individual brought before God his
own private petitions. Tertullian says,
... praemissa legitima et ordinaria oratione,quasi fundamento,accidentiumjus est
desideriorum,jus est superfluendiextrinsecuspetitiones .... 8
(... the appointed and customary prayer having been sent ahead as a foundation
or accessory required for his desires, it is permitted to add other petitions....)

Thus provision was made for both public and private prayer within the
context of congregational worship.
The Didache has preserved the following singular19 but highly sug-
gestive instruction following the Lord's Prayer:
rpis TrS IsJpepasoviro lrpoaevXfaOe.20
(Three times a day thus shall you pray.)

I shall return to this rule in a moment.

To recapitulate: up to this point I have shown that the Lord's Prayer
is an outline for prayer; that it contains two parts, one heavenly, the
other earthly; that it has no fixed text; that it is a communal prayer;
that private petitions may follow it; and that it is to be prayed three
times a day.
The things which these Christian authors wrote about the form and
use of the Lord's Prayer were also written by Jewish authors about the
Eighteen Benedictions (Amidah).
This chief prayer of the Jewish liturgy was also originally not a
prayer with a fixed text, but merely an outline for prayer, and had to be
filled in by the person using it. For example, the Talmud relates the
following incident which occurred sometime after the year 130:
1,3:, r1 Hn " TMin' fl 'sn T 'Innr
'5nN -IVn
-plnl' pm-1D'n-1 ' ': nt)y Inn
Y:1 nr1
nnr D1;1 Qllt rr rnn 1z:
nN ;1rr nrD ~m?n
p1i<,
1-14 oh
0Dut n;tr KIn 1pn ND:

17 Congregationalprayer: Lohmeyer, op. cit., p. 11; Harnack, op. cit., p. 208; E. F.

Scott, The Lord's Prayer, p. 25; Theodor Zahn, Das Evangeliumdes Lukas, p. 444.
Private prayer: Gustaf Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, p. 364; Heinz Schiirmann, Das
Gebetdes Herrn, p. 113.
i8 Op. cit., ch. 10.
I' Ap. Const.vii, 24 is probably dependent upon Didache 8. Cf. Ap. Const.ii, 36:
twice daily.
2o Didache 8, 3.

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 BAHR: LORD S PRAYER IN PRIMITIVE CHURCH 157

11TD1n5b' 'bNIDinri .Ip n""'nl'3K ": n'nn 36 n'iy -irw To^nn wryz 'r zn)In
u
'3 1' -Irp
I KbT
2"' 3 i =n:n
nnlm
nrrion ri orD'9- ixpD -i r .
Ntn 'irp r n
1^
(We learn in a baraitha: It happened to one disciple that he went down before the
ark [to lead the congregation in prayer] in the presence of Rabbi Eleazar, and he
lengthened [the Eighteen Benedictions]too much. His disciples said to him, "Our
master, how much this one lengthened them!" He said to them, "Is he lengthening
more than Moses, our master, as it is written of him, '.... forty days and forty
nights.. .'?"22 Again it happened to a disciple that he went down before the ark
in the presence of Rabbi Eleazar. And he shortened too much. His disciples said
to him, "How much this one shortens them!" He said to them, "Is he shortening
more than Moses, our master, as it is written, 'O God, heal her now, I beseech
you.'?"22
This makes it quite clear that the text of the Eighteen Benedictions
was not fixed, and that not more than an outline existed which was filled
in at will. A number of other texts indicate the same, among them the
following story about Rabbi Akiba who was martyred about 132.
13'a i9Mnn r *36in -xrrn
1^lzBID -n11Mn -nrr
ny IDDnnna2py -I rw1 'i1 ID-lN
j23:rty r'mW nl"nniti nlynDa 3vD inN ?;^0
imx 1
tai tn n113 UDK rN l
wxy 1'2=
Rabbi Judah said, "When Rabbi Akiba was praying with the community he used
to shorten [the Eighteen Benedictions when saying them] before them. When he
was praying privately, one would leave him on this side [of the room] and come
[back] and find him on the other side because of the kneeling and prostration
which he practiced.

We even get strong prohibitions against reciting a fixed prayer.

24:o1n)nninron 181ymp InBsn ;rly; -r10
14Nty9 '_1-
(Rabbi Eliezer [ben Hyrcanus- late first century25]says, "He who makes his
prayer [the Eighteen Benedictions] a fixed thing, his prayer is not supplications
for grace.")

As late as the fourth century, we are told that one should strive for variety
in his prayer, and that new material should be introduced every day.26
Even the outline of the Eighteen Benedictions remained unfixed for a
long time. Only at the end of the first century were the eighteen parts of
the prayer put in order. At this time a benediction (or rather, a male-
diction) was added to the existing eighteen.27 And as late as the third
century a Babylonian scholar could say that there is no order in the
middle section of the Eighteen Benedictions.28

21
Berakot 34a (parallels:Mekilta Exod 15 25;Sifre Num 12 13,105, 28b).
22
Deut 9 25 f., Num 12 13. The proof texts have been chosen to represent the ex-
tremes of length and brevity.
23 Tos. Berakot
3, 5. See also M. Taanit 2, 2 and next note.
24 M. Berakot
4, 4; see also Abot 2, 13.
2sSo Bacher, Tannaiten I2, p. 103.
26 Berakot 29b.
27 Berakot 28b-29a. 28 Berakot 34a.

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158 JOURNALOF BIBLICALLITERATURE

The Eighteen Benedictions fall into three parts: the first part, con-
sisting of three benedictions, gives praise to God; the last part consisting
of three benedictions, gives thanks to God; and the middle section con-
tains the petitions of the praying congregation. This tripartite arrange-
ment probably existed long before the time when the Eighteen were
arranged in order at the end of the first century.29 The tannaitic midrash
on Deuteronomy attributes this threefold division to the first sages,30
an indication that it must have been of considerable antiquity already
at that time.
Thus the Eighteen Benedictions exhibit the pattern: praise, petition,
thanksgiving. We have seen that Origen prescribes a five part outline
of praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition, and praise. These two
outlines are really identical; they consist of praise, petition, and praise,
for giving thanks to God amounts to praising him.
The Lord's Prayer has the same tripartite outline. The first part
offers praise to God by asking that his name be hallowed, his kingdom
come, his will be done. Then come the petitions for human needs, and
finally, the doxology again praises God. The need to provide a third
part for the Lord's Prayer, which did not appear in the original outline,
may account for the later addition of the doxology. Several scholars3'
have pointed out that the addition is merely a reflection of the first
part of the prayer.
I have already indicated that the Eighteen Benedictions formed a
congregational prayer, as its plural form also suggests. Under certain
circumstances it was also said privately,32 for one could not always be
with a group of people at the time for prayer.
Jewish congregational prayer of this period made provision for private
as well as public petitions.
'n 'JD1'IPy' 8:
'3y ;ISDn Dt<3Kt: i9nb 1 mnl rr rn DUNbS ID`ly'5N irK 'N K'mn
ID rin1i Lsn' iD r-1ri' ' Ci nrm mw pnx ni 'iw' nDn m nn,' 1'H'11ninri IpDVs
nv 1
33:-'aK 1hD i ins2
nr PK o r:iHxlw
'ILDv
(For we learnin a baraitha:Rabbi Eliezer[ben Hyreanus- late first century]
says, "A manshouldpetitionfor his needsand after that say the EighteenBene-
dictions.As it is said,'A prayerforoneafflictedwhenhe is faintand poursout his
thoughtbeforethe Lord. May the Lordhearmy prayer;let my cry comeunto
you.'34 Thought means only the Eighteen Benedictions. As it is said, 'And Isaac
went out to meditate in the field.'3s" Rabbi Joshua [ben Hananiah-a con-

29IsmarElbogen,DerjiidischeGottesdienst
in seinergeschichtlichen
Entwicklung',
pp. 31 f.
30Sifre Deut 33 2. Cf. M. Rosh ha-Shanah 4, 5.
p. 172; Zahn, Mattihus, p. 284; Dalman, op. cit., p. 363.
31 Lohmeyer, op. cit.,
3 Tos. Berakot 3, 5 and 7; Abodah Zarah 7b. See also M. Berakot 4.
33 Abodah Zarah 7b.
34 Ps 102 1 f.
3s Gen 24 63.

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 BAHR: LORD'S PRAYER IN PRIMITIVE CHURCH 159

temporary of R. Eliezer] says, "Let him say the Eighteen Benedictions and after
that let him petition for his needs. As it is said, 'I will pour out my thought before
him, my trouble I will tell before him.'36")

We have already seen that Tertullian is of the opinion that personal

petitions should follow the prescribed and customary Lord's Prayer.
Finally, the Eighteen Benedictions were prayed three times each day.
'-i
z'py .'nflvy n11Dot p D Tir
l'Yo Ii '21 .Tn-y
l13)0Drui i9n1 Di,
o
D1' 1D I'D 3 1p2
37:nr' 1'yD
1ui Dm1-nvpy nI;Dtn Ynm 1n
ninmn
in' Do IDvI
(Rabban Gamaliel [late first century] says, "Every day a man must pray the
Eighteen [Benedictions]." Rabbi Joshua [ben Hananiah--a contemporary of
Rabban Gamaliel] says, "An abstract of the Eighteen." Rabbi Akiba [martyred
ca. 132] says, "If his prayer is fluent in his mouth, let him pray [the full] Eighteen;
but if not, an abstract of the Eighteen.")

The times for prayer were morning, afternoon, and evening:

38 .... ynp 51'K
I'n yn nSn.. .... n 1-y nnmln
r n . .n... mln iyl nv. nsn
(The morning prayer [may be said] until midday.... The afternoon prayer [may
be said] until evening.... The evening prayer, there is no fixed time for it....)
This recalls the highly important directive which follows the Lord's
Prayer in the Didache: "Three times a day thus you shall pray." Here
the similarity in usage between the Eighteen Benedictions and the
Lord's Prayer is obvious.39
I have indicated a number of ways in which the Lord's Prayer and
the Eighteen Benedictions are similar: both are outlines for prayers;
both prayers have the same tripartite outline; the words of the two
prayers are not fixed; both are congregational prayers; private petitions
follow both; and both are used three times a day. These observations
suggest that the primitive church used the Lord's Prayer in exactly the
same way as the contemporary synagogue used the Eighteen Benedictions.

36Ps. 1423. Here thought (= the Eighteen Benedictions)precedespersonalpetitions.

37 M. Berakot 4, 3; cf. M. Taanit 2, 2.
j8 M. Berakot
4, 1.
39 Adolf Harnack, "Die Lehre der zw6lf Apostel nebst Untersuchungenzur altesten
Geschichte der Kirchenverfassungund des Kirchenrechts,"pp. 27 f.; Eduard Freiherr
von der Goltz, Das Gebetin der altestenChristenheit,p. 190.

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