The Sermon on the Mount · Matthew 6:5-15

The Lord's Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5 to 7 · Jesus’ greatest sermon, the manifesto of the kingdom

At the heart of the sermon, Jesus teaches His followers how to pray. He warns against praying to be seen and against empty repetition, then gives the model prayer the whole church has prayed ever since: Our Father which art in heaven. Because The Living Bread has a full, line-by-line study of the Lord's Prayer, this page introduces its setting in the sermon and sends you there to go deeper.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV)

What Jesus said

Before He gives the prayer, Jesus corrects two ways of praying. Do not pray like the hypocrites, who love to be seen praying on street corners; instead go into your closet, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And do not heap up empty phrases like those who think they will be heard for their many words, for your Father knows what you need before you ask.

Then, after this manner therefore pray ye, He gives the words: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. He adds a solemn note: if we forgive others, our Father forgives us, but if we will not forgive, neither will we be forgiven.

What it meant then, and what it means now

Prayer in Jesus' day could drift toward performance or toward mechanical length, as if God were moved by an audience or worn down by volume. Jesus cuts through both. Prayer is not a show for people, and it is not magic words for God; it is a child speaking to a Father who already loves and already knows.

That reframes prayer for us. We come not to inform God or to impress Him but to trust Him. The prayer is stunningly short, ordered around His name, His kingdom, and His will before our bread, our forgiveness, and our rescue. It teaches us that prayer begins by lifting our eyes to God before it ever turns to our needs.

How it goes to the heart

The line about forgiveness that Jesus underlines shows how prayer works on the heart. We cannot hold God's mercy in one hand and a grudge in the other. To pray forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, is to ask God to make us as merciful as we hope He will be, and to release the wrongs we are clutching.

The whole prayer is a training of desire. It teaches us to want God's name honored, His kingdom come, and His will done, and to depend on Him for the day's bread, the day's pardon, and the day's protection. Prayed slowly and meant, it reshapes what we love.

Go deeper into the Lord's Prayer

Because each line of this prayer opens into so much, The Living Bread offers a full study that walks through it phrase by phrase, from Our Father which art in heaven to For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. There you will find the meaning of hallowing God's name, praying thy kingdom come, asking for daily bread, seeking and extending forgiveness, and being delivered from evil.

Rather than repeat that study here, this page simply sets the prayer in its place at the center of the sermon. The best next step is to pray it, slowly, and then to read the fuller study to let each petition sink in.

The shape of the prayer

Even in brief, the shape of the prayer is worth seeing. It opens by lifting our eyes to God: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Before a single request for ourselves, we are drawn to want God’s name honored, His reign advanced, and His will accomplished. Prayer begins by getting our world the right way up.

Only then does it turn to our needs, and it does so with beautiful simplicity: daily bread for the body, forgiveness for the soul, and deliverance from evil for the road ahead. Provision, pardon, and protection, one day at a time. The prayer teaches us to depend on God for the ordinary and the eternal alike, as children who trust their Father.

The petition Jesus underlines, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, He then repeats outside the prayer for emphasis. We cannot clutch a grudge in one hand and reach for God’s mercy with the other. To pray this line honestly is to release the wrongs we are holding, asking God to make us as merciful as we hope He will be.

Praying it today

The best way to learn this prayer is to pray it, slowly, letting each line open into your own life. Prayed thoughtfully rather than rushed, it becomes a training of desire, teaching us over time to want what God wants and to trust Him with what we need.

Because each petition contains so much, The Living Bread offers a full, line-by-line study rather than crowding it all here. Pray the words first, then walk through that study to let their depth sink in, and let this prayer at the center of the sermon become the pattern for all your praying.

One thing is worth carrying away before we move on. Jesus set this prayer between two warnings, against praying to be seen and against praying with empty, heaped-up words, and together they teach that prayer is neither a performance for people nor a technique for wearing God down. It is a child speaking to a Father who already loves and already knows what we need before we ask. That frees us from both stage fright and superstition; we do not have to impress God or inform Him, only to trust Him. Held in that spirit, even the shortest and plainest prayer is fully heard, and this model becomes not a formula to recite but a doorway into a lifelong conversation with the One who calls us His own.

How it points to Christ

Only Jesus could teach us to call God our Father, because He is the Son who brings us into that family. Through Him the distant Creator becomes our Father, and the prayer He gives is the language of the children He has adopted. Every petition rests on the relationship He opened by His death and resurrection.

He is also the answer to the prayer. He is the King whose kingdom we ask to come, the bread of life who feeds us, the one whose blood secures the forgiveness we seek, and the deliverer who rescues us from evil. To pray this prayer is to lean the whole weight of our lives on Him.

A note for every tradition: the Sermon on the Mount is honored across the whole church as the heart of Jesus’ teaching. This is faithful, mainstream exposition, holding the hard sayings with both honesty and grace. Above all it points to Christ, who alone lived this sermon perfectly and gives grace to all who follow Him.

Continue in the sermon: The full Lord's Prayer study · Giving to the needy · Fasting · The whole Sermon on the Mount