But *thou*, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render [it] to thee.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as those who are of the nations for they think they shall be heard through their much speaking.
The Lord warns against a fault in prayer: treating the number of words as the thing that moves God. Does prayer work by volume — and if not, why pray at all? (Where the ESV reads "heap up empty phrases," older translations say "vain repetitions" — the phrase most of the writers below discuss.)
The fault is not length in itself but the belief that persistence in the same formula earns a hearing. One writer defines it, then points to the first part of the cure:
Vain repetitions were, we suppose, the repeating of the same requests in the same words. People thought there was merit in keeping up their cries like this, and that, as the Lord says, they would be heard for their much speaking… So it is well to consider the twofold, entirely effective antidote. The Lord speaks plainly of one, and just as clearly implies the other. The first is confidence in God: "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Knowing this, the soul will be content to leave its petitions to His care and love.
Another commentator quotes Martin Luther. Behind the babbling lies a fear that God is not listening.
Here He criticises the abuse of prayer, when those who are praying use many words and babblings. He calls this a heathen practice — a loose, idle and useless talk of people who think they would otherwise not be heard. The spirit of the worshipper prays. Because he knows that God will hear him, he dares not use such endless, idle talk. The fewer the words, the better the prayer.
The Lord's own example in the garden settles this.
Our Lord does not forbid frequent repetition but "vain repetition." He Himself, blessed be His name, in His agony in the garden, prayed the same thing three times over. This is enough to prove that repetition can be very far indeed from being "vain." One person praying alone, or many Christians gathered together, may press the same matter again and again, earnestly and urgently, when it weighs heavily on the heart. No one can rightly call that "vain repetition."
The line runs between a recited formula and a burdened heart returning to the same request:
We have to tell two things apart. One is the vain repetition of set "formulas" said over and over. The other is the intense, fervent prayer of a believer who in his trouble keeps repeating his request. The Lord Jesus Himself gave His disciples the parable of the widow, to show that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
The Lord's warning reaches past Israel to the nations — and past them to what would come later:
The Lord had to accuse the Jews of hypocrisy. He had to judge the heathen nations too, for their vain repetitions and much speaking in prayer (see 1 Kings 18:26-29). Beyond that He also warns His disciples against senseless prayers. He knew in advance what would develop in Christianity.
Applied to public prayer, this puts long-winded praying in unflattering company:
A careful reading of the Scriptures will show that long public prayers are not the rule in the Bible. The Lord refers to them with withering disapproval… Solomon said: "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God… God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few" (Eccl. 5:1-3). So anyone who makes long public prayers puts himself in the same class as the heathen, the scribes, and fools, which is not very complimentary.
The Father already knows the need. So prayer must have another purpose.
Prayer is unnecessary as a way of telling God what we need. But it is not an exercise wasted when the child opens its heart and unburdens itself to its Father who is in heaven. This is the appointed way of relief for the heart of the creature: to pour out its requests to God.
The danger is not only public. It reaches into daily private prayer.
You find, I dare say, that you fall into this trap most often during your habitual prayers, in the mornings and evenings, for example. Suddenly you notice that you are saying the usual round of petitions without thinking, while your thoughts travel in all directions. This fault, if unchecked, will cause your prayers to become "vain repetitions."
- The error — The sin is not many words, but seeking merit in many words, as if God listens only after we wear Him down.
- The exception — Repetition is not the sin. The Lord Himself repeated His prayer three times; a heart pressing one heavy burden is never "vain."
- The reason — The nations prayed long because they doubted God heard them; the believer prays short because he knows God hears.
- The antidote — Confidence: your Father already knows the need. Prayer informs no one; it unburdens the child.
- The watch — The trap is nearest in the daily habit, when the lips run the usual round and the thoughts wander elsewhere.
Be not ye therefore like them, for your Father knows of what things ye have need before ye beg [anything] of him.
Jesus says this right after warning against piling up words in prayer. It takes away the whole reason for it: we pray to a Father who already knows. That raises the obvious question — if He knows before we ask, why ask at all?
The verse opens with a command to be different. The mistake it corrects is thinking that many words move God. One commentator quotes Luther:
"Here He criticises the abuse of prayer, when those who are praying use many words and babbling. He calls this a heathen practice — loose, idle and useless talk, by people who think God would not hear them otherwise. The spirit of the worshipper prays. Because he knows that God will hear him, he dares not use such endless, idle talk. The fewer the words, the better the prayer."
Jesus targets empty repetition, not repetition itself. Older translations call this "vain repetition," and the word "vain" matters:
Our Lord does not forbid frequent repetition, but "vain repetition." He Himself, blessed be His name, prayed the same thing three times over in His agony in the garden. That is enough to prove that some repetition is very far indeed from being "vain." A person praying alone, or many Christians gathered together, may press and press again a matter that weighs heavily on the heart. They may do it earnestly, fervently and without giving up, and no one can charge them with "vain repetition."
The reason not to babble is a relationship — "your Father." One writer shows what human parents cannot combine:
He is marked by wisdom, love and power — a perfect combination. For instance, a mother might bend over her sick and dying child in the tenderest love. She loves the child, but she lacks the power to restore the child to health. Again, a father may have an only son. He is rich. He can give his son every luxury and satisfy every whim the young man may have — and in the end ruin the child for life. He has love and power, but lacks wisdom. But in the case of our heavenly Father there is love, power and wisdom.
If the Father already knows, prayer is not an information service. Its purpose lies elsewhere.
Is prayer then unnecessary, a useless exercise? It is unnecessary as a way of telling God what we lack. But it is not an exercise wasted when the child opens its heart and unburdens itself to its Father in heaven. It is the appointed way of relief for the heart of the creature to pour out its requests to God.
There is a second reason. Prayer does something in us, not only for us:
That our Father knows what we need is one side. The other side is that He wants us to keep realising our own weakness and dependence on Him. He wants to keep us in the enjoyment of communion with Him. Nothing helps this more than personal, confidential prayer.
The verse says the Father knows what things you need. That is a narrower word than we usually mean when we pray.
"YOUR Father!" If God is our Father, we are blessed indeed... One who knows what we need. What we want is another matter. A child in a family gets its needs supplied. But if the three-year-old wants to play with his father's sharp razor, his father refuses him. God is as loving in His refusals as in His answers.
The danger of empty praying is not limited to the people Jesus described. One writer points to two things that cure it, the second being the prayer that starts in the next verse:
Even the Jews were not free from the same tendency... and certain professing Christians have repeated the very evil the Lord condemns here. Even more could be said, for almost everyone is tempted this way. So it is worth looking at the twofold, wholly effective cure. The Lord speaks plainly of one, and just as clearly implies the other. The first is confidence in God: "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Knowing this, the soul will be content to leave its petitions to His care and love. The second is that prayer must be divinely taught: "Pray then like this."
- Knows — Our prayers tell the Father nothing new. He knows every need before we speak a word.
- So — Because He knows, length and repetition buy nothing. The fewer the words, the better the prayer; but earnest pressing of a real burden is never "vain."
- Still — Prayer is still the appointed relief for the heart. It keeps us aware of our weakness and in communion with Him.
- Need — He knows our need, not our wants. His refusals carry the same love as His answers, because He alone joins love, power and wisdom.
- Taught — Confidence in the Father is one half of the cure for empty praying; the prayer He goes on to teach is the other.
Thus therefore pray *ye* Our Father who art in the heavens, let thy name be sanctified,
Jesus has just warned His disciples not to pile up empty words when they pray. Now He gives them the pattern instead. It starts with who God is, not with what we want.
One writer ties this pattern back to the warning in verse 7:
In Matthew 6:9-13 we have a pattern for prayer. When the Lord gave this example He was not asking His own to repeat the prayer parrot-fashion. The Lord guards against this in verse 7 by telling us not to use empty repetitions as the nations do.
Calling God "Father" was a real advance on what had gone before, though not yet the full Christian position:
"Our Father in heaven." This is a distinct advance on anything known of God before. The patriarchs had fellowship with Him as the Almighty. Israel knew Him as Jehovah. But the coming of the only Son into the world has brought out the sweet name of Father… Even so, Matthew 6:9 falls far short of John 20:17. There we hear the risen One announcing the fruits of His great victory: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
That name also limits who can use it. One writer contrasts the tax collector, who came to God on completely different ground:
This prayer does not have the whole human race in view, and it was not spoken to everyone alike. It does not express the state, wants, and feelings of everyone who has some desire after God, or a fear of coming wrath. So the tax collector stood far off. He would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, realising his sin and unworthiness. He does not dare to say, "Father," or "Our Father in heaven."… "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" was the right and fitting cry from his broken heart.
The opening line packs three distinct thoughts into a few words:
The first section of the prayer has three subjects. First, "Our Father" indicates the dignity of His prime place, yet at the same time His tender care. "In heaven" shows His supremacy, high above all creation. "Hallowed be Your name" is the reminder of His sublime holiness, as set apart from all others.
The first petition reaches into the life of the person praying:
"Name" in Scripture always expresses what God is as revealed. So, in connection with the Father, it is the truth of what God is in that relationship. When we desire that His name should be hallowed, we ask that it be sanctified in us, by us, and by all who have the privilege of calling on God by this precious title. We ask for an answering response in us to His holiness in this relationship. How often we have said this prayer with little thought of what it involved! We said it even while we, as His children, were dishonouring His name as our Father by our unholy ways and associations!
Placed first, it becomes the root from which everything else in the prayer grows:
"Hallowed be Your name" is the great foundation of all, the first and strongest feeling of a renewed mind.
God's concerns come before ours in this prayer, and that order is meant to reshape our own asking:
How often we put ourselves and our interests first in our prayers. It was not so that the Lord taught His disciples. He taught them to put God first. They were to pray that His name might be hallowed, and then to reach out in their desires to the furthest bounds of the earth… The heart first reaches up to the sacred glory of God's name, and broadens out to include every dwelling of man. Then we may ask for our daily needs.
Commentators here agree that this prayer was not given as a fixed form for the church age, and they point to what is missing from it:
Examine the Lord's prayer closely, and nothing strikes the mind so strongly as the absence of any mention of the name of Christ… And our Lord in this passage says plainly that up to that moment His disciples had not asked anything of the Father in His name. This was at the end of His time on earth.
Yet the same writer insists its petitions remain ours to pray:
The death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour have brought us into a new place, and into the known possession and enjoyment of higher blessings. Even so, we can go back in the power of the Spirit, take up many of its petitions and present them before God.
- Relationship first. Prayer begins with who God is to you — "Father." The coming of the Son brought that name out, and only His disciples could use it.
- Height second. "In heaven" sets the Father high above all creation, while "Our Father" holds His tender care.
- Holiness third. His "name" is all He has revealed Himself to be; asking it be hallowed asks that His holiness be answered in us and by us.
- Order fourth. God's glory leads, our needs follow — the reverse of how we usually pray.
- Use fifth. Given as a pattern, not a chant; Christ's name is absent from it, yet its petitions can still be taken up in the Spirit.