The Contextual Meaning of the Lord's Prayer

This prayer is from the Gospel books on the life of Jesus (1), and can be referred to as The Lord's Prayer. It is often referred to as the "Our Father" which is a nickname based on the Latin term "Pater Noster", given to it by the religious empire of Christendom (not known for it's theological accuracy) :

(first century Aramaic translation of the "Pater Noster")

Abwûn 

"Oh Thou, from whom the breath of life comes," 

d'bwaschmâja 

"who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration." 

Nethkâdasch schmach 

"May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest." 

Têtê malkuthach. 

"Your Heavenly Domain approaches." 

Nehwê tzevjânach aikâna d'bwaschmâja af b'arha. 

"Let Your will come true - in the universe (all that vibrates)just as on earth (that is material and dense)." 

Hawvlân lachma d'sûnkanân jaomâna. 

"Give us wisdom (understanding, assistance) for our daily need," 

Waschboklân chaubên wachtahên aikâna daf chnân schwoken l'chaijabên. 

"detach the fetters of faults that bind us, like we let go the guilt of others." 

Wela tachlân l'nesjuna 

"Let us not be lost in superficial things (materialism, common temptations)," 

ela patzân min bischa. 

"but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose." 

Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l'ahlâm almîn. 

"From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act, the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age." 

Amên. 

"Sealed in trust, faith and truth. (I confirm with my entire being)"

Since Jesus was Jewish he would have grown up learning and citing the 'Kadish' from the Talmud (2), which his female and male disciples would have also been familiar with. The fact that the prayer Jesus teaches is very similar to the 'Kadish' indicates that Jesus was theologically elaborating on it to make the significance of the 'Kadish' more accessible to his disciples. 

However, as you can see from both the original Hebrew Kadish as well as the Aramaic version Jesus taught, there is no indication in either that Jesus perceives God specifically or exclusively as male:

"Our Parent which art in heaven, be gracious to us, O Lord, our God; hallowed be thy name, and let the remembrance of thee be glorified in heaven above and in the earth here below. Let thy kingdom reign over us now and forever. The holy men of old said, Remit and forgive unto all men whatsoever they have done against me. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil thing. For thine is the kingdom, and thou shalt reign in glory for ever and for evermore." (3)

The terms used to portray God in both the 'Kadish' and The Lord's Prayer indicate ancestry and use the term Abwun or Parent in a similar way to how we would use the term "fore-father" or "fore-mother".

Although such terms really refer to an ancestor of either gender, it is easy to see how the term "fore-father" replaced "ancestor" in common language under patriarchal rule, treating the concept of fore-mother as taken for granted and included in the term "fore-father"; it's also easy to see how the term "fore-father" was similarly shortened to "father" in common language for convenience sake. And there we get oversimplified and inaccurate terms like "Our Father" to represent a term that originally referred to our maternal and paternal ancestry.

And this is how easy it is to corrupt theological concepts by ego-centrically projecting our cultural comfort zones onto concepts like "God" which were not meant to be culturally exclusive. Let's keep our personal comfort zones separated from public talk about God out of respect for each individual's opportunity to develop a culturally-independant and personal relationship with this universally-relevant and un-see-able Being.

"God who is blessed and the only Sovereign One, the ruler of rulers, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see." (4)

For more cultural context on this prayer, please see http://www.thenazareneway.com/lords_prayer.htm.


1) Matt. 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4
2) English scholar Dr. Hardwicke says: "The so-called 'Lord's Prayer' was learned by the Messiah as the 'Kadish' from the Talmud."

3) The Kadish, translated by Christian scholar, Rev. John Gregorie

4) 1 Timothy 6:16