Matthew 6:10
Encyclopedia
Matthew 6:10 is the tenth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew
in the New Testament
and is part of the Sermon on the Mount
. This verse is the second one of the Lord's Prayer
, one of the best known parts of the entire New Testament. This verse contains the second and third petitions to God.
In the King James Version of the Bible
the text reads:
The World English Bible
translates the passage as:
For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 6:10
The opening of this verse, like the end of the last ones, echoes the Jewish Qaddish prayer. That prayer contained a call for the Kingdom of God to begin in one's lifetime.
"Thy will be done" is not found in Luke's version of this prayer, and Hill speculates that it may have been introduced by the author of Matthew to give the prayer a pleasing triple structure.
Kingdom is a metaphor for the Kingdom of God
that the Jewish messiah was meant to bring. At several places in the New Testament Jesus states that he has brought the kingdom, and that this kingdom is the Christian faith, not the worldly empire that had been expected. Fowler notes that some have thus argued that this prayer is out of date, that it was intended for a pre-Christian audience not one where Christianity is already established. One response to this is that Christianity is far from universal, and that this phrase is a call for the Kingdom of Christ to spread to those who do not yet believe. Even those who do believe are never perfect Christians, and some part of their heart is always left untouched, and this verse can thus be read as calling for the full adoption of Christianity. Alternatively it is common to see kingdom as having more than one meaning in the New Testament, and that while Jesus did inaugurate and new kingdom, this verse is eschatological and looking forward to the final end times.
There is also debate over how eschatological the third petition is. The will of God could refer to the power of God, the manifestation of his reign, and the last petition is simply an addendum to the second calling for God's power to be made manifest on Earth as clearly as it is in heaven, a clear reference to the end times. The second interpretation is that the petition is a call for humans to obey God's will, his commandments and ethical teachings. A call for proper human behaviour, rather than for divine intervention.
In the original Greek the phrase "in earth, as it is in heaven" is ambiguous. Either it can mean that things on Earth should become as they are in heaven, or it could be read as stating that these things should be done in both Earth and heaven. The first interpretation is the most common, and this gives us rare information about heaven, making clear that in that realm God's will is fully enacted. It is uncertain whether this phrase is intended to only modify the last petition, or all three.
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and is part of the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
. This verse is the second one of the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
, one of the best known parts of the entire New Testament. This verse contains the second and third petitions to God.
In the King James Version of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
the text reads:
- Thy kingdom come,
- Thy will be done in
- earth, as it is in heaven.
The World English Bible
World English Bible
The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...
translates the passage as:
- Let your Kingdom come.
- Let your will be done, as
- in heaven, so on earth.
For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 6:10
The opening of this verse, like the end of the last ones, echoes the Jewish Qaddish prayer. That prayer contained a call for the Kingdom of God to begin in one's lifetime.
"Thy will be done" is not found in Luke's version of this prayer, and Hill speculates that it may have been introduced by the author of Matthew to give the prayer a pleasing triple structure.
Kingdom is a metaphor for the Kingdom of God
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
that the Jewish messiah was meant to bring. At several places in the New Testament Jesus states that he has brought the kingdom, and that this kingdom is the Christian faith, not the worldly empire that had been expected. Fowler notes that some have thus argued that this prayer is out of date, that it was intended for a pre-Christian audience not one where Christianity is already established. One response to this is that Christianity is far from universal, and that this phrase is a call for the Kingdom of Christ to spread to those who do not yet believe. Even those who do believe are never perfect Christians, and some part of their heart is always left untouched, and this verse can thus be read as calling for the full adoption of Christianity. Alternatively it is common to see kingdom as having more than one meaning in the New Testament, and that while Jesus did inaugurate and new kingdom, this verse is eschatological and looking forward to the final end times.
There is also debate over how eschatological the third petition is. The will of God could refer to the power of God, the manifestation of his reign, and the last petition is simply an addendum to the second calling for God's power to be made manifest on Earth as clearly as it is in heaven, a clear reference to the end times. The second interpretation is that the petition is a call for humans to obey God's will, his commandments and ethical teachings. A call for proper human behaviour, rather than for divine intervention.
In the original Greek the phrase "in earth, as it is in heaven" is ambiguous. Either it can mean that things on Earth should become as they are in heaven, or it could be read as stating that these things should be done in both Earth and heaven. The first interpretation is the most common, and this gives us rare information about heaven, making clear that in that realm God's will is fully enacted. It is uncertain whether this phrase is intended to only modify the last petition, or all three.