I. Introduction: The Lord's Prayer as the Pattern and Directory of Prayer
"As God prescribed Moses a pattern of the tabernacle (Exod 25:9), so Christ has here prescribed us a pattern of prayer." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"The ten commandments are the rule of our life, and the sum of our faith—and the Lord's prayer is the pattern of our prayer." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"It is, without doubt, the best, the most expressive and perfect form of prayer that has ever been delivered." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"For he has given us a form in which is set before us as in a picture every thing which it is lawful to wish, every thing which is conducive to our interest, every thing which it is necessary to demand." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"The special rule for our direction in prayer is that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called The Lord's prayer." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
II. The Preface: "Our Father which art in heaven"
"That immediately, in the very beginning of our prayer, he might excite in us a childlike reverence for, and confidence in God, which are the foundation of our prayer; namely, that God is become our father in Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of him in true faith, than our parents refuse us earthly things." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"God is our Father, 1. In respect to our creation... 2. In respect to our redemption, and reception into divine favor through Christ our mediator... 3. In respect to our sanctification or regeneration by the Holy Spirit." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"Though the Father alone is named in the Lord's prayer—yet the other two Persons are not excluded. The Father is mentioned because he is first in order; but the Son and Holy Spirit are included because they are the same in essence." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"There is no such thing in the Lord's prayer, as, 'O saints or angels, hear us'; but, 'Our Father in heaven.'" [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"Father denotes reverence: Our Father, denotes faith." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"These words, 'Our Father,' in the preface, teach us—1. To draw near unto God with confidence, both of his all-sufficiency and his readiness to help us; as also with a filial affection of desire, love, and delight, as children to a Father." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
"Lest we should form any earthly conceptions of God's heavenly majesty, and that we may expect from his almighty power all things necessary for soul and body." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"These words, 'Which art in heaven,' teach us to draw near unto God with all holy reverence, because of our great distance, God being not our earthly Father, but our Father which is in heaven." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
"We are to pray to God with and for others, he being a common Father unto all his people." [Thomas Ridgley - A Body of Divinity]
III. The First Petition: "Hallowed be Thy Name"
"This petition is set in the forefront, to show that the hallowing of God's name is to be preferred before all things. It is to be preferred before life... It is to be preferred before salvation." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"The petition, Hallowed be thy name, is placed first in order, because it comprehends the end and design of all the rest, inasmuch as the glory of God should be the end of all our affairs, actions and prayers." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"The name of God signifies... God himself... and... all his attributes and works, in which his majesty shines." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"To hallow, is to set apart a thing from the common use, to some sacred end. As the vessels of the sanctuary were said to be hallowed, so, to hallow God's name, is to set it apart from all abuses, and to use it holily and reverently." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"The sum of the whole is, It must be our desire that God may receive the honour which is his due: that men may never think or speak of him without the greatest reverence." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"We hallow and sanctify God's name... When we ascribe the honor of all we do, to him... transferring all honor from ourselves to God." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"In the first petition, (which is, "Hallowed be thy name,") we pray, That God would hallow and glorify his own name, by magnifying himself in the world, and by disposing all things for his own glory." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
IV. The Second Petition: "Thy Kingdom Come"
"Thy kingdom come; that is, rule us so by thy word and Spirit, that we may submit ourselves more and more to thee; preserve and increase thy Church; destroy the works of the devil, and all violence which would exalt itself against thee, and also all wicked counsels devised against thy holy word, until the full perfection of thy kingdom takes place, wherein thou shalt be all in all." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"God reigns when men, in denial of themselves and contempt of the world and this earthly life, devote themselves to righteousness and aspire to heaven... Thus this kingdom consists of two parts; the first is, when God by the agency of his Spirit corrects all the depraved lusts of the flesh... and the second, when he brings all our thoughts into obedience to his authority." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"Though the kingdom of grace be already come into us—yet still we must pray, "Your kingdom come," that grace may be increased, and that this kingdom may flourish still more in our souls." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"In the second petition, (which is, "Thy kingdom come,") we pray, That Satan's kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
"We are to pray that the church may be purged from those corruptions... that God, by his providence, or rather by his Spirit, poured out from on high, would refine and purify his church..." [Thomas Ridgley - A Body of Divinity]
V. The Third Petition: "Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven"
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; that is, grant that we and all men may renounce our own will, and without murmuring obey thy will, which is only good; that so every one may attend to, and perform the duties of his station and calling, as willingly and faithfully as the angels do in heaven." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"heaven is expressly contrasted with earth, because... the angels 'do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word,' (Ps. 103:20). We are, therefore, enjoined to pray that... the earth may be brought under his authority, all rebellion and depravity having been extinguished." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"What is meant by the will of God? There is a twofold will. (1) God's secret will, or 'the will of his decree'. We pray not that God's secret will may be done by us..." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"In praying, therefore, that the will of God may be done, we desire that all these duties may be properly discharged, and that every one may abide in the calling which has been assigned him..." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"when we pray that the will of God may be done on earth as in heaven, the word as, does not refer to and signify the degree, but the kind of obedience, here alluded to; viz. the beginning of it..." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"In the third petition... we pray, That God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
"When we pray that the will of God's providence may be done, we request that ourselves and others might have compliance of will with the will of God, so as thankfully to accept merciful providences, and patiently submit unto afflictive providences." [Thomas Ridgley - A Body of Divinity]
VI. The Fourth Petition: "Give us this Day our Daily Bread"
"we pray in general that God would give us all things which the body requires in this sublunary state, not only food and clothing, but everything which he knows will assist us to eat our bread in peace." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"Christ having regard to our infirmities, placed this fourth petition respecting our daily bread, as it were in the middle of the prayer... that the obtaining and receiving of temporal benefits might confirm in us more and more a confidence of obtaining spiritual blessings." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"We believe that we shall obtain from God the temporal blessings which we ask at his hand, if they contribute to our salvation, and do not desire to be heard, if they would be injurious to us." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"Bread here, by a synecdoche, [the particular for the whole class], is put for all the temporal blessings of this life, food, fuel, clothing, etc. [Whatever serves for our well-being.]" [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"Learn to be contented with the allowance which God gives. If we have the necessities of life-let us rest satisfied. We pray but for bread, 'Give us our daily bread;' we do not pray for superfluities..." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"In the fourth petition, (which is, "Give us this day our daily bread,") we pray, That, of God's free gift, we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy his blessing with them." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
VII. The Fifth Petition: "Forgive us our Debts as we Forgive our Debtors"
"In this prayer there is but one petition for the body, 'Give us our daily bread,' but two petitions for the soul, 'Forgive us our trespasses, lead us not into temptation—but deliver us from evil.' Observe hence, that we are to be more careful for our souls than for our bodies, more careful for grace than for daily bread..." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"Christ comprises under the term debts all our sins, original as well as actual... They are called debts, because they make us debtors to God both in respect to the obedience which we have failed to render, and also to the punishment which we are bound to pay in consequence thereof..." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"Sin being forgiven, clearly implies we cannot satisfy for it!" [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"If a man prays to be forgiven, he confesses that he is a sinner, and if a sinner, he is not free from sin or perfect. And therefore, the use of the Lord's prayer by all Christians, is an acknowledgment that no Christian in this life is perfect." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology]
"as we spare and pardon all by whom we are in any way offended... We can voluntarily divest our minds of wrath, hatred, and revenge, and efface the remembrance of injuries by a voluntary oblivion. Wherefore, we are not to ask the forgiveness of our sins from God, unless we forgive the offenses of all who are or have been injurious to us." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"the particle as, as used in this petition, does not signify the degree of forgiveness... but it signifies the kind of forgiveness, or the truth and sincerity of the forgiveness which we and God extend..." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"In the fifth petition, (which is, "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,") we pray, That God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
VIII. The Sixth Petition: "Lead us not into Temptation, but Deliver us from Evil"
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; that is, since we are so weak in ourselves that we cannot stand a moment: and besides this, since our mortal enemies, the devil, the world, and our own flesh, cease not to assault us, do thou, therefore, preserve and strengthen us by the power of thy Holy Spirit, that we may not be overcome in this spiritual warfare..." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"Do not allow us to be overcome by temptation, but rather bring assistance to our frailty, and deliver us that we may not fall." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"By this we are reminded that we not only have need of the gift of the Spirit inwardly to soften our hearts... but also of his assistance, to render us invincible by all the wiles and violent assaults of Satan." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"In general, when we pray, 'Deliver us from evil,' we pray to be delivered from the evil of sin. Not that we pray to be delivered immediately from the presence and indwelling of sin, for that cannot be in this life—we cannot shake off this viper." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"In the sixth petition, (which is, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,") we pray, That God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
IX. The Conclusion: "For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory"
"For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever; that is, all these we ask of thee, because thou art our King, and Almighty, art willing and able to give us all good; and all this we pray for, that thereby not we, but thy holy name, may be glorified forever." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"The second reason is drawn from the power of God. Hear us, O God... since thou art able, and thou alone... The third reason is from the end or final cause. We ask these things for thy glory." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"THINE IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOR EVER. Here is the calm and firm assurance of our faith. For were our prayers to be commended to God by our own worth, who would venture even to whisper before him?" [John Calvin - Institutes]
"The first thing which this conclusion of the Lord's prayer doth teach us, is, to take our encouragement in prayer, not from ourselves, or any worthiness of our own, but from God only, who having the kingdom and eternal sovereignty, the power and eternal all-sufficiency, the glory for ever..." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
"Amen signifies it shall truly and certainly be; for my prayer is more assuredly heard of God than I feel in my heart I desire these things of him." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"We are to say, 'Amen,' which signifieth so be it, or, So shall it be, in testimony of our desires and assurances to be heard." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]