Re: Matt. 6:3//Lk. 11:3 Another Lord's Prayer Question!

From: Jonathan Robie (jonathan@texcel.no)
Date: Sun Feb 15 1998 - 18:50:31 EST


Jeffrey,

You continue to be a very original and interesting thinker. After much
thought, I'm wavering on this one.

On the one hand, it would fit many themes of the Sermon on the Mount
nicely: the idea of daily bread is a lot like manna, which is directly
related to ideas like taking no thought for the morrow, not thinking that
by worrying we can add to our span, God knows what we need, etc. And the
implication of utter trust in God, who knows better than we do what we
need, is very attractive.

The idea that PEIRASMOS may be refer to testing God by grumbling makes
sense, since (1) PEIRASMOS is a pretty rare word, and (2) it is used in
Deuteronomy in the passages you mention, which would be pretty familiar ones.

But I have a few questions due to the context:

(1) Why do we have the intervening verse asking God to forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us? Doesn't this break up the thought?
Your interpretation would be more cogent if this verse were not there.

(2) How would you relate this intepretation of the use of PEIRASMOS to Luke
11:5-13, which comes right after the Lord's Prayer, in fact, the ONLY other
pericope directly associated with it in Luke, and which tells us to pound
on the door until our friend gives us what we need because of our
persistence? This doesn't feel like a warning not to grumble and ask too much.

You've certainly got me thinking!

Jonathan
___________________________________________________________________________

Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com

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