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NASB | Matthew 6:9 ¶ "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 6:9 ¶ "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. [Luke 11:2-4] |
Bible Question: Following the Lord's Prayer, we start our prayer by calling "our Father" first. (Question 1) But I wonder if people in fact called God "our Father" in their prayer either in the OT or NT. (Question 2) If not, what name did they call? Thank you for your reply. |
Bible Answer: Dear 00123, I’ve read the following that I found interesting regarding your question and wanted to share. An excerpt from the 2007 June issue of Tabletalk magazine http://www.ligonier.org/tt_rightnowcountsforever.php “The German scholar Joachim Jeremias has argued that in almost every prayer that Jesus utters in the New Testament, He addresses God as Father. Jeremias notes that this represents a radical departure from Jewish custom and tradition. Though Jewish people were given a lengthy number of appropriate titles for God in personal prayer, significantly absent from the approved list was the title “Father.” God has only one child, His only-begotten Son, the monogençs, which restricts this filial relationship to Christ. We do not have the natural right to call God “Father.” That right is bestowed upon us only through God’s gracious work of adoption. This is an extraordinary privilege, that those who are in Christ now have the right to address God in such a personal, intimate, filial term as “Father.” Therefore, we ought never to take for granted this unspeakable privilege bestowed upon us by God’s grace. We note in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus instructs us that now when we pray, we are to refer to God as “Our Father.” Again the “ourness” of this relationship is grounded in the unique ministry of Jesus by which, through adoption, He is our elder brother and He gives to us those privileges that by nature belong only to Him. Now, by adopting us, He says that we may regard God, not only as His Father, but as our Father.” – R. C. Sproul ©2007 Ligonier Ministries. All Rights Reserved. Stand in His grace, WOS |