“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” is the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer. The will of God is used in two senses in scripture: God’s secret will (that is, his counsel or decrees by…

“Thy kingdom come.” The second petition of the Lord’s Prayer is about the ultimate hope of God’s people—the coming of the kingdom of God. As devout Jews in the first century were waiting for the kingdom of God, they prayed earnestly…

    The Lord’s Prayer has six petitions: three thy petitions and three us petitions. The first three petitions have in view God’s name, God’s kingdom and God’s will; the last three petitions, our bread, our forgiveness and our deliverance. 

The Lord’s Prayer may be divided into three sections (cf. LC 188). It begins with an invocation, “Our Father in heaven.” The middle section consists of six petitions. It ends with a doxology, “For yours is the kingdom and the…

Since the beginning of the Christian church, the Lord’s Prayer has been used as a guide for daily prayer. The treatises of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Origen on the Lord’s Prayer bear witness to this. The earliest witness, however, is the…