This is a series of blogs that I will be collaborating with my friend, Stephen Brown. It is based on the Lord’s Prayer as it is found in Matthew. The link to his blog/blogs is below. I will update this blog as his is updated.
Οὕτως οὖν προσεύχεσθε ὑμεῖς: Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου,
Therefore, this is how you pray:
Our Father, who is in the heavens,
Hallowed be your name. Matthew 6:9
If you were to line up the words of the beginning of the prayer in english, you will get a surprise.
Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς
Father our the in the heavens
Does this make any sense? Not in english. The greeks inferred many “to be” verbs in their language. Note ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. The article ὁ normally means “the,” but in this case, it is showing the reader that a “to be” verb is to be inferred. That ὁ is also referring to the previous noun, Father. So, the translation is “who is”. This is in front of a prepositional phrase “in the heavens”. Most translations render “heavens” as “heaven”. I can only speculate as to why, but in my studying of the Greek New Testament, I’ve found that the singular and plural forms of heaven are used interchangeably.
ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου,
ἁγιασθήτω is a present passive imperative verb of ἁγιάζω. The definition is below. The imperative can act as a demand. In this case, it is not demanded from God for his name to the hallowed, but it is demanded that his worshippers hallow his name.
ἁγιάζω,v \{hag-ee-ad'-zo} 1) to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow 2) to separate from profane things and dedicate to God 2a) consecrate things to God 2b) dedicate people to God 3) to purify 3a) to cleanse externally 3b) to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin 3c) to purify internally by renewing of the soul |
More to come on this. Below is Stephen’s Blog on the same subject.
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