Thine is the Kingdom!

For Tuesday, January 31, 2023:

Matthew 6:13b NIV: “For thine (yours) is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

This ending for The Lord’s Prayer wasn’t included in many of the original texts. Some modern translations include it; others do not. The words were perhaps added by scribes, those who copied Bibles by hand. If you wanted to use Jesus’ prayer-example as a stand-alone prayer, there was no suitable ending. The prayer begins by praising the Lord, so it’s appropriate that we should also conclude in that manner.

There is evidence that these ending words are ancient and were used by Jewish Christians. Therefore it seems appropriate to include them as we recite The Lord’s Prayer. Confidence in praising the Lord reinforces the eternal hope we have through his Son Jesus!

As children attend Sunday School, one of the first things they memorize is The Lord’s Prayer, probably the traditional version we all know and love. Current translators have modernized the language, but we continue to use the older version we have already memorized. It’s difficult to retrain humans!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship