Prayer

Is not the Lord’s Prayer upon kingdom, rather than Church ground?

It is undeniable that the Lord’s Prayer so-called (Disciples’ Prayer would be a more accurate designation), is a prayer upon kingdom rather than upon Church ground. (1) It is not in Christ’s name. (2) It makes human forgiveness the ground for expecting divine forgiveness. This is righteousness, not grace. In Ephesians 4:32 the Church ground is stated. The Christian is exhorted to be forgiving, not that he may be forgiven, but because he has been forgiven. The prayer, in these two respects, partakes of the character of the time of our Lord’s personal ministry — intermediate between law and grace.

Is the Lord’s Prayer one for the believer of this dispensation to offer?

There is no sense in which a believer, since the crucifixion, can pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” First, the believer is already forgiven (Eph. 1:7; 4:32; Col. 2:13; 1 John 2:12). Secondly, the measure of the believer’s forgiveness is not according to the degree or measure of his forgiveness of his debtors. It was so under law; but under grace the measure of the believer’s forgiveness is according to something in God. “The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7). “For his name’s sake” (1 John 2:12). The other petitions in the Lord’s Prayer he may fitly offer.