Lord, Teach Us To Pray

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we join a chorus that stretches across centuries and languages. At its heart, the prayer begins with words Jesus likely spoke in his native Aramaic: Abun d’bashmaya, which has been translated as “Our Father who art in heaven,” carrying layers of meaning that invite Christians to listen with both mind and heart.

Abun is the Aramaic term for “our Father.” The root “Ab” means “father,” and the suffix “-un” makes it “our.” The opening word is sometimes reconstructed as Abba, a vocative form meaning “Father!” or “O Father!”—a term Jesus is remembered for using in prayer across the Gospels. The next phrase, d’bashmaya, means “who is in the heavens,” echoing the Semitic idiom for God’s transcendence and sovereignty rather than a physical location.

Much has been written about Jesus’ use of Abba. Joachim Jeremias famously argued that Abba was a child’s word, similar to “Daddy,” and that Jesus’ use of it for God was unprecedented. However, later scholarship has shown that Abba was used by both children and adults as a respectful, intimate address that was more like “dear Father” than “Daddy.” Jesus’ consistent use of Abba for God, while not unique, was distinctive, signaling a relationship of trust and closeness, yet always reverent. Paul’s letters preserve the Aramaic Abba alongside the Greek “Father” (pater), showing how early Christians treasured the address.

The phrase “who art in heaven” (d’bashmaya) does not suggest that God is far away. In first-century Jewish idiom, “heaven” was a way of speaking about God’s majesty, holiness, and sovereignty. To say “our Father in the heavens” is to acknowledge both God’s nearness as Father and God’s otherness as the Holy One. The Greek, Latin, and Luther’s German translation all preserve this tension: God is both intimately present and gloriously transcendent.

A question that arises is whether Jesus was teaching a form or pattern for prayer. The New Testament gives us two versions of the Lord’s Prayer. In Matthew 6.9, Jesus says, “Pray then in this way” (Οὕτως οὖν προσεύχεσθε), suggesting a model or pattern. In the Lukan version, Jesus says, “When you pray, say…” (Ὅταν προσεύχησθε, λέγετε), which sounds more like he is establishing a set form for prayer. The differences in wording between Matthew and Luke suggest that Jesus is offering the prayer as a flexible template, not a rigid formula.

The Didache, a first-century Christian manual, instructs believers to pray the Lord’s Prayer three times daily, indicating its early use as a fixed liturgical text. Church Fathers such as Tertullian called it a breviarium totius evangelii—a summary of the whole gospel—yet also encouraged believers to build upon it in their words. Augustine taught that the prayer’s words are important, but their purpose is to shape the hearts and minds of those praying.

Luther, in his Small and Large Catechism, taught the Lord’s Prayer as a text to be memorized and recited but also as a “garden of devotional material” to be pondered and expanded. In A Simple Way to Pray, Luther advised his barber to meditate on each petition, letting it inspire further prayer. For Luther, the Lord’s Prayer was both a gift to be received and a pattern to be lived, thus becoming a foundation for all Christian prayer, not a limit.

"But I want the heart to become excited about what kind of thoughts lay in the Lord’s Prayer. Such thoughts the heart can, if it’s properly aroused and inclined to pray, express in many other ways, either briefly or at length. For I do not bind myself to use the same expressions, but rather, today in one way, tomorrow in another, just as my heart is warmed and inclined to pray. But I do stay as close as possible to the thoughts and content." — Luther, A Simple Way to Pray

Luther’s celebrated translation work was guided by the conviction that Scripture must be accessible in the language of the people. In his 1530, Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen (“An Open Letter on Translating”), he insisted, “Scripture must be poured into the mother tongue.” He prioritized clarity and natural expression over literalism, famously writing, “We must be guided by the mother in the home, the children on the street, the common man in the marketplace.” Luther’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer into German (Vater unser im Himmel) was revised repeatedly between 1522 and 1545, always seeking greater clarity and resonance.

For Luther, the heart of the gospel was not tied to a fixed form of words but to the living message of Christ. He argued that translation is a human act under God’s grace, not a matter of preserving a sacred formula.” Even our Evangelical Lutheran Worship continues this tradition, adopting contemporary translations such as “save us from the time of trial” and “sins” instead of “debts” or “trespasses,” following ecumenical scholarship and the English Language Liturgical Consolation (ELLC) common text. The ELW introduction affirms, "The language of worship is always being renewed so that the gospel may be heard afresh in every generation.”

Our Lutheran doctrine holds that the Lord’s Prayer is authoritative in its message, not in any single linguistic form. The Small Catechism teaches the meaning of each petition, encouraging believers to understand and pray the prayer in their own words as well as in the traditional forms. The use of contemporary language in worship is not only permissible but necessary for the ongoing proclamation of the gospel.

To pray Abun d’bashmaya is to stand with Jesus and all who have called upon God as Father. The Lord’s prayer is a treasure handed down and a living wellspring. Its Aramaic roots remind us of Jesus’ own voice; its journey through Greek, Latin, German, English, and beyond shows the church’s care to make its meaning clear in every age.

Luther’s legacy is not a frozen text but a living tradition—one that trusts the Spirit to guide our words, our hearts, and our communities. Whether we pray “Our Father who art in heaven,” “Vater unser im Himmel,” “Abu d’bashmaya,” or another interpretive translation, we enter into the same relationship of trust, reverence, and hope.