The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

INTRODUCTION

The 2x2 Fellowship lacks a formal declaration of doctrine, but one essential characteristic is their belief that they follow the example of Jesus in Scripture more closely than anyone else. Accordingly, their Workers travel in pairs of two based upon their reading of Mark 6:7 when Jesus sent the Apostles forth to preach. The exact nature, course and purpose of the Mission of the Twelve is dealt with elsewhere.

Critics of this literal interpretation have rightly pointed out that while Jesus did indeed send them two by two, He also gave them authority over unclean spirits. Scripture says that they drove out many demons and cured many who were sick (Mk 6:13), so a valid question has been posed: when was the last time a Worker drove out a demon or annointed a sick person and cured them? As of this writing I am unaware of a response to this question.

Curing the sick and driving out demons is an extraordinary activity which required a special charism (or grace) given by Christ for a limited mission. It is not very often that we hear of anyone, 2x2 or otherwise, engaging in these unusual behaviors. Because of the unique nature of those abilities, perhaps a more realistic question could be directed to the 2x2s regarding prayer. In other words, if the 2x2s believe that they and they alone most closely resemble the New Testament church, it is then quite reasonable to ask why they don't pray the Lord's Prayer. After all, they make claim to follow Jesus' example and teachings more than anyone else. Why, when Jesus quite clearly gave a formula for prayer, do not the 2x2s follow His lead?

OBJECTION #2 - Jesus was merely giving guidelines for prayer
The disciples asked Jesus how to pray, and He responded by giving them The Lord's Prayer (Mt 6:9-13, Lk 11:1-4). Some have said that Jesus wasn't giving them the exact words to say but rather telling them what they needed to pray for in a general sense. There are several reasons why I disagree:

1) Jesus was clearly giving the disciples a formula for prayer since He obviously didn't need forgiveness Himself. "Forgive us our trespasses" hardly applies to the sinless Lamb of God.

2) The two sections in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4 are the only places in Scripture where Jesus gives such an instruction. The first five chapters of Matthew's gospel reveal to us a summation of Jesus' central teachings on love, mercy, justice, and forgiveness (such as the Beatitudes). For example, our Lord gives directions on how to pray, fast, and give alms -to avoid doing these things merely to appear holy to other people. These fundamental ideas are in sharp contrast to the explicit and specific words He gives us in the Lord's Prayer, so they must be more than just guidelines.

3) Jesus was NOT asked "what should we pray for?" and He did NOT say, "when you pray you should pray about these things." No, He specifically gave a formula for not only how to pray but also what to actually say, as seen in different English translations:

"This is how you are to pray" (NAB)
"After this manner therefore pray ye" (KJV)
"Pray, therefore, like this" (Amplified Bible)
"This, then, is how you should pray" (NIV)
"Pray then in this way" (NRSV)
"Pray then in this way" (NASB)

4) Put yourself in the shoes of the disciples. If one of you asked Jesus, "Lord teach us to pray" (Lk 11:1). If He replied "When you pray, say...." (Lk 11:2), wouldn't you be scrambling for the nearest scroll to copy it down word for word? If Jesus was asked to teach us to pray and He says, "this is what you should say", I should think that we would pay very close attention to His every word.

5) 2x2s take Jesus quite literally at His word when it comes to the sending of the Apostles in pairs. On what arbitrary basis, then, do they choose to not do the same for the Lord's Prayer?

OBJECTION # 2 - Avoiding Repetitious Prayer?

Some might say that repeating the Lord's Prayer is an example of Jesus' warning to "do not heap up empty phrases" (Mk 6:7) The responses to this objection are as follows:

1) Just because something is repeated doesn't mean it is "vainly repetitious". How many times have we told our children, spouses, or other family members that we love them? Expressions of love are hardly empty phrases even though we say them over and over. Furthermore, I can still remember my family prayer before meals in our 2x2 home as a child. Even though my mother or father would say the exact same thing every time I always knew that it was important and carried real the real sentiment of thanksgiving for God's gifts. Looking back, I am grateful for having parents who made family prayer an important part of my young life. They lived their faith in their actions and their words (prayers), therefore showing through their example humility and love.

2) There is such a thing as "good repetition". St. Paul repeatedly (pardon the pun) encourages constant prayer (Rom 1:9, Rom 12:12, 1 Thess 5:17). God was pleased with the tax collector's heartfelt repetitious prayer of "God be merciful to me, a sinner." (Lk 18:13)

3) Psalm 136 repeats the phrase "For His steadfast love endures forever" twenty-six times. Everyone knows that the psalms are prayers, but no one would accuse this one of being vainly repetitious.

4) Jesus Himself did it. "He left them and withdrew again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again." (Matthew 26:44)

OBJECTION #3 - No proof in the Bible that the disciples ever prayed The Lord's Prayer
1) This is an argument from silence. I could just as easily say that the Bible doesn't say that they didn't pray that way...

2) Jesus gave the prayer to be prayed in the plural sense; for example, "give us this day" and "forgive us our sins" and so on. This could indicate that it is a prayer to be repeated by Christians gathered together.

3 There was no need to record all the prayers of the faithful when they were gathered. When the disciples devoted themselves to the teachings of the Apostles and breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42), each individual prayer was not written down. Note, though, that Luke refers to "the prayers" as if there were specific prayers made.

CONCLUSION
Scripture demonstrates that Jesus, when asked how to pray, replied by giving what has become known as The Lord's Prayer. The first century Didache proves that the earliest Christians prayed this prayer together (8:2). So, we have biblical and extrabiblical evidence for the Lord's Prayer being used. Throughout the centuries The Lord's Prayer has been an important part of worship practices for both Catholics and Protestants (Anglicans, Methodists, most Presbyterians, etc).

How did 2x2s come to reject The Lord's Prayer as a legitimate form of worship? They can't say it's because "worldly churches" use it because they read the same Bible and have co-opted many of their same hymns. They can't say that they do it because it's from "organized religion" because their fellowship is quite organized, from convention schedules to Sunday morning meetings to workers' fields and more. Any 2x2 who argues that theirs is not an organized religion does so by totally disregarding plain evidence to the contrary. There should come a time soon when the 2x2s ask themselves why they do the things they do. It is likely that, instead of conducting a thoughtful study of Scripture on this matter, William Irvine simply rejected The Lord's Prayer because of its prominent place within the "organized religion" of his day. That's hardly a good reason to ignore what appears to many sincere Christians to be a clear teaching from Christ.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible "And what he said to them is undoubtedly said to us also. We are therefore here directed, not only to imitate this in all our prayers, but to use this very form of prayer." http://www.biblestudytools.net/Commentaries/WesleysExplanatoryNotes/wes.cgi?book=lu&chapter=11#Lu11_2 lego "be saying" Strong's #3004 "Christ taught them a prayer..." Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible 1997 Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee, p 956 Jesus replies with the same word, lego as when He is directly quoting Scripture (Luke 4:4, cf Deut 8:3) Luke 18:34 And they understood none of these things: and this SAYing was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." ** like The Lord's Prayer is a "saying" 209 out of 218 are direct quotes or quotes of Old Testament or references to specific phrases/parables.

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