What Does Luke 11:2 Mean?
And he said to them, When you pray, say, Our Father in the heavens. Let your nature be set apart. Let your governance come. Let your will be done, as in the heavens, so on the ground.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.THE KEY
The prayer asks that the Father’s nature be recognized as set apart and heaven’s governance take shape on earth.
THE MEANING
You address the Father in heaven, asking that his nature be recognized as set apart. You ask for heaven’s governance and will to take form on earth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that heaven’s governance belongs only to a remote elsewhere: the prayer asks for that will to be done here, on earth.
THE ROOT
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνοματ-
onomat-
Name, designation, recognized identity.
English “name” can sound like a label, but ὄνομα can point to the identity and character made known. In this prayer, the Father’s nature is what is regarded as set apart.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: To name or call.
ὀνομάζω
This branch shows the name as something spoken to identify who is being addressed.
onomastos: Named or renowned.
ὀνομαστός
This branch connects a name with the identity and reputation by which someone is recognized.
ἁγιασθήτω
hagiasthētō
GROWS FROM
ἁγ-
hag-
Set apart, distinct as sacred.
The verb asks that the Father’s name be set apart. Its word family holds both the quality of being set apart and the act of setting something apart, giving “hallowed” the sense of recognizing the Father’s distinct nature.
ALSO GROWS
hagios: Set apart, sacred.
ἅγιος
This adjective names the distinct quality the prayer asks to be recognized in the Father’s name.
hagiasmos: Setting apart, consecration.
ἁγιασμός
This noun carries the action of setting apart, echoing the prayer’s request that the Father’s name be hallowed.
βασιλεία
basileia
GROWS FROM
βασιλ-
basil-
Royal rule, reign, governance.
βασιλεία can name a reign or royal rule, not only a territory. Asking for it to come is asking for the Father’s governance to take hold on earth, as the next line says of the Father’s will.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: King.
βασιλεύς
The king is the source of the authority whose governance the prayer asks to come.
basileuō: To reign or rule as king.
βασιλεύω
This verb makes the kingdom’s active dimension visible: rule taking effect.
THE PATTERN
Heaven’s governance is asked to become visible in earthly life.
The LORD sets his throne firm in the heavens, and his governance rules over all.And let his weighty name be blessed for the ages, and let the whole earth be filled with his weight. Amen, and amen.And I hear a great voice from the throne, saying, Look, the tent of God is with humankind, and he will pitch his tent among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.THE THREAD
I have made your nature visible to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have guarded your word.Luke and John use the same Greek word, ὄνομα (onoma), for “name.” Here Jesus says he has made that name manifest, opening “hallowed be thy name” as the Father’s nature becoming recognizable.
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