For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Summary: The way we are taught to say the Lord’s Prayer depends on the translation of the Bible that the prayer was taken from. The King James Version and others add a kind of post script to the prayer that affirms our respect and love for our God.
I am tempted to avoid this post altogether, but somehow that doesn’t feel right. So, without further ado, here we go…
The King James Version of the Bible is considered by many to be the “gold standard” of Bible translations. I do not want to argue that point here because it does us no good. The hallmark of the fellowship of believers is unity (John 17:23), so it reflects well on our Lord Jesus if we avoid contention when possible.
However, the KJV includes a tidbit of text that is not in some translations. In fact, of all English translations of the Bible, they split about half and half on this issue. About half end the Lord’s prayer with “deliver us from evil,” and the other half add some form of postscript or “PS” that reads, “… for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”
So what are we to do?
Since the hallmark of Christian fellowship is unity, I think it best to leave this passage to personal preference. If you are a lover of the KJV (And there are many things about the translation that I love!), then his added line is for you. When I worship with you, I will have no problem using these words. In fact, this is how I was originally taught the prayer.
That said, I have to confess that after studying the prayer in the NIV and other translations, including the original Greek, I am somewhat enamored with the shorter version.
Some commentaries suggest a reason these words are included in the KJV. Centuries before the KJV was written, the phrase, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” may have been a kind of congregational response to the priest’s reading of the prayer. This makes sense to me because of my personal history of liturgical worship.
Also, as a writer, I am sensitive to the form, flow, and cadence of words. From my perspective as a writer, these words seem out of place with the rest of the prayer. My main argument is that the prayer is structured around the two great commandments; love God above all else and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). The postscript seems to revert to the first commandment, bringing our focus back to glorifying God. This is fine, but structurally inconsistent with the pattern in the commandments.
In conclusion, my suggestion is this:
For now, focus on the prayer without the “PS” at the end. When you pray as our Lord instructed us (See Mathew 6: 5-8), use the shorter version of the prayer. Let it end with “deliver us from evil” or the “evil one,” depending on your translation. It will feel strange at first, but there is a benefit to be had. The strangeness heightens our awareness of the words and makes them new all over again.
If, after a month or so of praying the prayer this way, you feel led to use the whole prayer as written in the KJV, then do so. In any case, if it feels wrong to leave it off, don’t. Honor the Spirit’s leading in your life and respect the fact that, for some reason, the Father has allowed this difference in translations.
Application: Pray through the prayer as the Lord instructed us, alone in your room (Matthew 6:6).
Food for Thought: What spiritual benefit is there to having different translations of the Bible to read?
What spiritual benefit is there to having different translations of the Bible to read?
I know that there have been times that I read a particular passage in one translation that I didn’t fully comprehend, and read it in another and then I understood how to apply it in my life. A recent one for me was this:
1 Corinthians 6:13, NIV: You say, ‘Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.’ The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
1 Corinthians 6:13, NLT: You say, ‘Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.’ (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:13, KJV: Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
Reading them side by side, you can see that they are close, and can gleam the meaning in what Paul is saying. When I read (NIV) this passage the first time it left a question in my mind. Reading the different translations helped me to understand it.
I have found that the Word is very consistent in it’s message throughout. If God’s Word were a dart board, then His intension, His meaning would be the “bullseye.” Some translations, depending on your upbringing or original language, can be a bit “off-center” to you. Reading different translations can help the Holy Spirit help you bring back to center.
Chris,
I like the ‘bullseye’ application and the focus on allowing the Holy Spirit to guide the meaning of the text to the bullseye. Well said!
What spiritual benefit is there to having different translations of the Bible to read?
Sometimes, I think it’s like having 4 different accounts of Jesus’ ministry. They highlight different aspects. Using different words allows us to understand the scope that is covered by the Hebrew language (okay, and Greek). It would be difficult to have an exact 1 for 1 translation of anything in any language.
I knew a Japanese girl who was mind blown by the phrase “fearfully and wonderfully made” because that Psalm is translated so differently in Japanese because the language is so very different. I wish I could remember how she described her translation. I think having multiple languages to study scripture through would be eye opening.
As for the few sections that are not in all versions of the scriptures…. I don’t know. It’s good to have them and keep the footnotes that explain why we are not certain about those. We don’t want to put words in God’s mouth, but can it be just as harmful to take words out of his mouth? Just like people still read the texts that were not made cannon. There’s something to learn, but those lessons need to be subject to the scrutiny of the Bible we can be confident in. Which, is actually a lot.
People are so set on disproving the Bible that they would say, “if you’re unsure about that half a sentence, then none of it can be true, ha!” But things they would trust in, there’s a whole lot more they can’t be sure of and a lot less solid truth to back them up.
Granted, I know very little on the subject of old texts, just that the Bible is the one I’d trust out of all of them.
Angela,
You remind me the the retired missionary who attends our church. She worked on Bible translations for a very small and localized tribe in the Brazilian jungle. (I hope I have that right!) She wrote down a book of her memories and she explains in there what it was like to try and understand the native language and then (a) develop a written form for that language (they had none) and (b) translate the Bible into their native tongue in the newly developed written language.
I think we are spoiled in our culture by the amount of biblical study helps, including the many versions of translation. I am thankful for most of them, as they give us a wider range of meaning of the original Hebrew and Greek. I have friends whose first language is Spanish and they bemoan that they only have a couple of versions. Some languages still don’t have a full Bible translated into their heart language. I am thankful for those people who have devoted their lives to accurately translating scripture into various languages. God will get His word out and it will not return void. Isaiah 55: 10 – 11.
Rich,
The Isaiah 55 passage is important!! Thank you for sharing that. It reminds us that God’s Word is God’s. While people are involved in translations and publishing, God retains all rights and will be certain to make sure it gets where it is supposed to go in a form that is the way it is supposed to be.
01-27-2023, What spiritual benefit is there to having different translations of the Bible to read?
I was a 33 year old man, from a non believer, anti christian family, and had never opened a bible, when God called me out of the world. I understood every word He said, and had no doubt I was headed for hell if I did not follow His direction. He arranged for me to get into a mens Bible Study group with a King James Bible. I did not understand a word it said and had to get a children’s bible to help me understand KJV for my studies. I still have that Bible, wrapped in duct tape with notes written in most the pages.
I have a collection of different translations but find myself most comfortable reading the AMP version which just seems to fit my thought process the best and is comfortable reading..
My wife is Chinese, her bible is in Mandarin, its the Chinese version. I can tell you we both believe in the same Jesus, the same Triune God, and have no conflict in our walk with God. In a lot of ways I think she is a better Christian than me.
Our Bibles are critical for keeping us in line with God’s will for all mankind, our source of reference for verifying revealed truths, and contain more than we will ever fully comprehend in a thousand lifetimes. My wife and I both study our Bibles each day and enjoy every moment in private teaching sessions with God. But we do not carry and refer to our bibles as we many times a day send arrow prayers to God, or receive guidance from Him as He points us in the right direction. We do not refer to our bibles as we daily open our hearts to Him in our deepest prayers for His guidance and protection as we walk in this foreign land.
We exist IN our Omnipresent God who sustains all life, beyond what we can see or possibly comprehend. READ JOHN 16:8-15, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is with each of us every moment of every day. He reveals and empowers each of us to live our lives in God’s truth’s every moment of every day. There is only one version of the Holy Spirit, one version of Jesus Christ, one version of Truth. We study and apply God’s word in whatever version we are comfortable with and one day we will eat meat as He speaks directly to our hearts, and by His power we will respond and live in His will rather than our own.
Ron,
You make a great point when you write, “There is only one version of the Holy Spirit, one version of Jesus Christ, one version of Truth.”
At the end of the day, the Bible is not going to save us. It is our hand written invitation from God to meet with him personally.