The Lord’s Prayer · piece 15 of 26
Introduction
From Luther’s Small Catechism, 1529
Practice mode shows the first letter of each word. Say the line, then tap it to check.
Our Father, Who is in Heaven. (Matthew 6:9)
What does this mean?
In this introduction, God invites us to believe that He is our real Father and we are His real children, so that we will pray with trust and complete confidence, in the same way beloved children approach their beloved Father with their requests.
In plain words
When you say “Our Father,” God is inviting you to believe that God really is your Father. You really are God’s child. So you can pray with trust and confidence. You can ask God for things the way a loved child asks a loving parent.
Our summary of Luther’s explanation, for reading after his words, not instead of them.
Where Jesus says it
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Matthew 7:9–11 Jesus says that if human parents give good things to their children, the Father in heaven gives even more.
Read Matthew 7:9–11
9 Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Translated by Robert E. Smith for Project Wittenberg (revised 2004) and placed in the public domain by the translator. How we checked it, and the whole Catechism on one page