Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
the prayer which Jesus taught his disciples. (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) “In this prayer our Lord shows his disciples how an infinite variety of wants and requests can be compressed into a few humble petitions. It embodies every possible desire of a praying heart, a whole world of spiritual requirements; yet all in the most simple, condensed and humble form, resembling, in this respect, a pearl on which the light of heaven plays.”—Lange.
“This prayer contains four great general sentiments, which constitute the very soul of religion,—sentiments which are the germs of all holy deeds in all worlds. (1) Filial reverence : God is addressed not as the great unknown, not as the unsearchable governor, but as a father, the most intelligible, attractive and transforming name. It is a form of address almost unknown to the old covenant, now an then hinted at as reminding the children of
their rebellion. (Isaiah 1:2); Mali 1:6 Or mentioned as a last resource of the orphan and desolate creature, (Isaiah 63:16) but never brought out in its fullness, as indeed it could not be, till he was come by whom we have received the adoption of sons.”—Alford. (2) “Divine loyalty : ’Thy kingdom come.’ (3) Conscious dependence : ’Give us this day,’ etc. (4) Unbounded confidence : ’For thine is the power,’ etc.”—Dr.
Thomas’ Genius of the Gospels. The doxology, “For thine is the kingdom” etc., is wanting in many manuscripts. It is omitted in the Revised Version; but it nevertheless has the authority of some manuscripts, and is truly biblical, almost every word being found in (1 Chronicles 29:11) and is a true and fitting ending for prayer.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
LORD'S PRAYER, the name given to the prayer which our Lord himself taught his disciples, and which is recorded Matt 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4. "The Lord's Prayer is the Prayer of prayers, as the Bible is the Book of books and the Apostles' Creed the Creed of creeds. It is the best and most beautiful, the simplest and yet the deepest, the shortest and yet the most comprehensive, of all forms of devotion. Only from the lips of the Son of God could such a
perfect pattern proceed. An ancient Father calls it a summary of Christianity or the gospel in a nutshell. It embraces all kinds of prayer, petition, intercession, and thanksgiving, all essential objects of prayer, spiritual and temporal, divine and human, in the most suitable and beautiful order, commencing with the glory of God, gradually descending to man's needs, then rising to the final deliverance from all evil, and ending in thanksgiving
and praise, as all prayer must end at last, in heaven, where all our wants shall be supplied. It accompanies the Christian from the cradle to the grave. It can never be superseded. If we have exhausted the whole extent of our religious wants and the whole vocabulary of devotion, we gladly return to this model prayer as infinitely superior to all our own effusions. It may indeed, be abused, like every gift of God, and become a dead form — Luther
called it in this respect 'the greatest martyr on earth' — but this is no argument against its proper and frequent use. It is not intended, of course, to supersede other forms or extemporaneous prayers, but it should serve as a general pattern and directory to all our devotions, and breathe into them the proper spirit." — Schaff. The Lord's Prayer is divided into three parts — the address ("Our Father who art in heaven"), the petitions (six
or seven), and the doxology. The address or preface puts us into the proper filial relation to God as our Father, to our fellow-men as our brethren ("our"), and into the proper attitude of prayer as an ascension of the soul to heaven ("who art in heaven") as our final home. The petitions are divided into two classes. The first three refer to the name, the kingdom, and the will of God; the other three or four to the temporal and spiritual wants of
man till his final deliverance from all evil (or, better, from "the evil one" — that is, from Satan, sin, and its consequences). The doxology is wanting in Luke and in the oldest manuscripts of Matthew; it probably found its way into the margin and then into the text from the habit of the Christians, inherited from the Jews, to wind up their prayers with a doxology. It is certainly very ancient and appropriate, and will never drop out of use,
whatever critics may do with the text. The Lord's Prayer is intended for his disciples. He himself addressed God, not as "our Father," but as "my Father," or simply "Father," owing to his unique relation to him as the eternal and only begotten Son; and, being free from sin and guilt, he had no need to pray, "Forgive us our debts."