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Is “The Kingdom, the Power, and the GLory” Part of the Lord’s Prayer

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A number of years ago, a friend of mine attended the funeral for a work colleague’s family member and had something embarrassing happen to him. This funeral was in a Catholic church, and since my friend grew up in a Protestant church, he was unfamiliar with many of the different elements of the liturgy in the service. Thus, he was excited when it came time to recite the Lord’s Prayer (or the “Our Father” as it would be called in that church), as it was something that he knew was an element shared by Catholics and Protestants. But rather than an encouraging moment in the service, it turned into an embarrassing moment for him, as he and his wife were the only ones in the congregation who said the line “For thine (or yours) is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever, Amen.” Many Protestant churches include this line when reciting the Lord’s Prayer, while some Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church do not. Therefore, it seems wise to explore the dispute that surrounds this phrase as we finish up our journey through the Lord’s Prayer.

The Origin of this Difference
There is a sense in which this variation in the Lord’s Prayer stems from the impact different Bible translations (in different languages) have made on each respective tradition. 

While there are many differences between the particular denominations in the Protestant tradition, one thing that united various English speaking Protestants for hundreds of years was the 1611 King James Version of the Bible. The King James Version of Matthew 6:13 includes the phrase “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen” as the conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer. Therefore, this phrase was part of the Lord’s Prayer used in church service and memorized by these Protestants.

A different translation has exhibited tremendous influence on Catholic Churches – the Latin translation from the fourth century known as the Vulgate produced by a man named Jerome. This version does not include a translation for the line “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever. Amen,” so this phrase did not make its way into the Latin liturgy of the church nor into its eventual translation of the liturgy into English.

It is probably not surprising that modern English translations of the Bible done by the Catholic scholars like the Douay-Rheims Version, Jerusalem Bible, and New American Bible, follow in Jerome’s footsteps in not including the phrase. But what might be more surprising is that almost all contemporary English translations – including those worked on exclusively by Protestants – agree with the Vulgate rather than the King James Version and do not include the words “for thine/yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen” (the one major exception is the New King Jesus Version; all the others include the line in a footnote but not the text). What could possibly account for this phenomenon?

Digging into the Text
What happened between the translation of the King James Version and the plethora of modern Bible translations that led to translators not including this phrase was the discovery of many manuscripts (copies) of the New Testament that did not feature this phrase. While the majority of manuscripts we currently possess include the phrase, many of the earliest manuscripts available (which were not known at the time of the translation of the King James Version) do not include it. These early manuscripts missing the phrase helps to explain why Jerome did not include it in his Latin translation. It appears that the Greek manuscripts he used in the translation included the phrase, but he knew of a dispute about them with some claiming they were a later addition to the text (if wondering why it would have been added, see below). 

We don’t have space (and you probably don’t have the interest!) to go into the detailed debates about how scholars seek to decide what was original (this is a field known as textual criticism), but I want to give some of the overarching factors considered to help us understand. While at first glance it might seem logical to go with whatever reading is found in the majority of manuscripts, the majority reading may not be correct for a couple of reasons. First, you could have an error get copied repeatedly, so that the error becomes the majority. Second, the manuscripts we have are the only ones that have been preserved (as ancient writing materials were very perishable), so it is only the majority of what we have, not the majority of all that has been. Another option is to go with the oldest manuscripts. While I think it is the better route to go, we need to recognize this alone may not be sufficient reason, as once again, it could just be that the few early manuscripts that happened to survive were the ones that featured a copyist oversight or error (leaving out a word or accidentally adding the phrase). 

One should also be able to explain why a phrase was added or omitted in the process of copying the text. In this case, something many point out is that Jewish prayers of the time would often end with some sort of concluding phrase (similar to how we often will close a prayer by saying “we ask in Jesus’s name” or “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”). Therefore, it is very plausible that when people started to say this prayer taught by Jesus in worship gatherings, they added such a closing phrase to indicate the prayer was finished. Interestingly enough, this reference to the kingdom, power, and glory is reminiscent of passages like 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, so this closing line could have been an addition that drew upon biblical language to make it easier to pray together. Copyists may have then thought it was missing and added it, or added it as they went into “auto-piloting” when they encountered a prayer they had memorized. While one could make the counterargument that Jesus may have included such a closing blessing in his prayer, the presence of multiple forms of this closing line in texts (for example, an early Christian writing known as the Didache quotes this prayer with a blessing that only references power and glory, omitting kingdom) which would seem less likely to be the case if it was there originally.  

Deciding What to Do Today
My research leads me to the same conclusion you see in most Bible translations and by Jerome – that these words were not likely in Matthew 6:9-13, but came to be found in copies as the church prayed this prayer and added a conclusion that both draws upon Scripture and fits the context. If that is the case, does it mean that we should not say them when we say the Lord’s Prayer? 

My thought on this phrase is that we can say it with some proper nuance. While these words do not seem to appear in the passage that teaches the Lord’s Prayer, we need to remember that what we have in that passage is likely a summary (and also a translation) of Jesus’s own words. Thus, there could have been a blessing attached to it (as was common in tradition of the time), but it was not recorded here because it was not teaching something new or profound like the other items. In addition, the words themselves are not problematic, as they contain expressions appearing elsewhere in Scripture and also connect back to the beginning of the prayer as it focuses on God’s glory, honor, and kingdom like the phrases, “Hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.” In fact, this phrase reminds us, after making some petitions, that our prayers ultimately are focused on what God wants, not what we want. It could be viewed as another way of saying, “not my will but yours be done” – the way that Jesus himself concluded his prayer in Matthew 26:39.

That said, because we aren’t sure if these words appear in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, I think we are wise to be leery of introducing the prayer, as commonly happens, as “the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples.” If we do frame the prayer as such, we may want to consider having some sort of way of indicating that this is not part of the prayer proper, but rather a corporate response to the prayer. I recognize I might be overly literalistic with this judgment, and would not judge others who differ; it is just where my admitting sensitive conscience is bound at the moment. 

My hope is that examining the background and history of these disputed words does not diminish them or this prayer that the church has used and been shaped by. In fact, I hope it enhances our understanding by digging deeper into something that may be familiar to us and thus we might not ponder much. And above all, may we remember – in this closing doxology traditionally attached to Jesus’s words in Matthew 6:9-13 – that we only come to God because of His grace to us, that He deserves all glory because of His power and good rule, and that He most certainly hears our prayers.

Questions about the Bible or theology? Email them to Pastor Brian at Theology@WeAreFaith.org. You can also request to receive weekly emails with our blog posts by filling out the information on the right side.

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