“[For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for
ever. Amen.]” –Matthew 6:13b. (KJV).
Why
did I put brackets around today’s quotation?
Very simple. Scholars tell us
that this was a later scribal addition to the Lord’s Prayer and not in the most
reliable and oldest Greek and Latin manuscripts. For this reason, these words we memorized and
love as a part of the Lord’s Prayer are omitted from most modern translations
(English Standard Version among them). A
footnote usually explains why it is omitted in modern translations with the
notation that it is not theologically incorrect to quote this praise ending to
the most beloved prayer of all time. It is
also appropriate to include this adoration phrase in public prayers. David’s prayer recorded in I Chronicles
29:10b-13 bears the essence of “”for
thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. He prayed: “Blessed
are You, O Lord, the God of Israel our Father forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens
and in the earth is Yours. Yours is the
kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You
rule over all. In Your hand are power
and might, and in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank You, our God, and praise
Your glorious name.”(ESV).
We
can’t know, of course, how the faithful scribe of long ago might have felt when
he finished writing the words in Matthew that constitute what we know as “The
Lord’s Prayer.” But I can imagine that
he, knowing of David’s marvelous words of adoration as recorded in I Chronicles
29, and many similar bursts of praise in the Psalms and other writings, felt
the need to spontaneously write an appropriate addendum. A major part of prayer is glorifying God’s
name. Is it not appropriate, then, that
this prayer begin with adoration and end with adoration and acclamation? Several years ago, my dear husband and I
often did joint teaching in churches that were in the area of associational
work where he was the director of missions.
I well remember our teaching (we called it a “study course” then) the
book on prayer by Dr. T. W. Hunt. He
gave an acrostic to help us remember the elements of prayer and a good way,
always, to approach God. The acrostic
spelled the word ACTS and was a mnemonic device for helping to make our prayer
times with God deeper and more meaningful:
A - Adoration
C
-.Confession
T -Thanksgiving
S
- Supplication
Even
though scholars have found that the last line of the Lord’s Prayer was not in Codex Vaticanus, one of the most
valuable of the ancient texts, it still is a vitally important part of this
prayer as we learned it from our King James Version. And one reason for its value is that it
returns our focus to God. It also
finishes out the elements of prayer—Supplication. We depend on the power, might and majesty of
God. Beginning with God, we pray: “Our
Father, Which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” We end with “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever, Amen.” We acknowledge God’s sovereign rule: His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. We recognize His power, omnipotency,
sovereignty, supremacy. We extol His
glory, worthiness, omniscience, omnipresence.
And these characteristics of our all-powerful God will be forever and
ever. Amen! (So be it!).
The principles of prayer in the Lord’s prayer can be found throughout
the Bible in notable prayers of leaders and in the Psalms, majestic prayers the
Hebrew hymnbook contains. And as we pray, we have the Holy Spirit who intercedes
for us “in groanings that cannot be uttered”
(Romans 8:26). Amen!
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