Is there any Verse in the New Testament that forbids Gentiles from saying the Lord’s Prayer? I tell you that in the Bible, all roads lead to anyone allowing to say the Lords Prayer and to benefit from doing so.
Some have rationalized the Lord’s Prayer being limited to the Jews, since it was to the Jews that Jesus and his disciples such as Paul the Pharisee had spoken when preaching the Word of God. Some of those and some others have said something along the lines of ‘You need only harken back to the Old Testament to find that the Lord forbids Jews from mingling with gentiles.’ They may mention Deuteronomy 7:3 which says Jews should not intermarry with non-Jews, but they disregard the context of that Law, which, like God requiring a certificate for a divorce, imposed that Law to deal with a particular occasion. In the case of Deuteronomy 7:3, God instructed the Hebrews who were preparing to take over the Promised Land, of the Law to reduce any influence the non-Jews would have in persuading Jews to worship other Gods. Also consider Leviticus 19:33-34 in which God permits the Hebrews to allow strangers to not only live among them, but to love them as they would love themselves.
And also consider Matthew 28:19 in which Jesus says to his disciples “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” Does anyone believe that God would not want everyone to mention the Lord’s Prayer when they pray to Him?
To the point of Jesus and his disciples preaching only to Jews, John 3:14–17 says “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." Does anyone believe there are qualifiers on what is meant by the “world”?
Would not the world include everyone?
Jesus had a mission to spread the Word to everyone. Paul, being one of Jesus’ disciples, shared that mission. Both started out with the Jews, but Paul especially had spread the Word far and wide to different peoples. The book of Thessalonians is often referred to, and that’s the people that Paul spoke to. There was a prominent Jewish presence in Thessalonia, but Paul spoke to the Jews and the other Thessalonians alike.
Meanwhile there lived a Roman centurion name Cornelius, who is mentioned in Acts 10. He wasn’t a Jew per se, but he and his family were devout worshipers of God. Through a series of visions referred to Acts 10 that he and Jesus’ disciple Peter experienced, they spread the Word to the Gentiles. Did God approve? Well, as it says in Versus 44 and 45, that while Peter spoke of everyone receiving forgiveness from God if they believe in Him, “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.”
The Lord’s Prayer…not for everyone? Cornelius would probably have something to say about that!
Some have rationalized the Lord’s Prayer being limited to the Jews, since it was to the Jews that Jesus and his disciples such as Paul the Pharisee had spoken when preaching the Word of God. Some of those and some others have said something along the lines of ‘You need only harken back to the Old Testament to find that the Lord forbids Jews from mingling with gentiles.’ They may mention Deuteronomy 7:3 which says Jews should not intermarry with non-Jews, but they disregard the context of that Law, which, like God requiring a certificate for a divorce, imposed that Law to deal with a particular occasion. In the case of Deuteronomy 7:3, God instructed the Hebrews who were preparing to take over the Promised Land, of the Law to reduce any influence the non-Jews would have in persuading Jews to worship other Gods. Also consider Leviticus 19:33-34 in which God permits the Hebrews to allow strangers to not only live among them, but to love them as they would love themselves.
And also consider Matthew 28:19 in which Jesus says to his disciples “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” Does anyone believe that God would not want everyone to mention the Lord’s Prayer when they pray to Him?
To the point of Jesus and his disciples preaching only to Jews, John 3:14–17 says “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." Does anyone believe there are qualifiers on what is meant by the “world”?
Would not the world include everyone?
Jesus had a mission to spread the Word to everyone. Paul, being one of Jesus’ disciples, shared that mission. Both started out with the Jews, but Paul especially had spread the Word far and wide to different peoples. The book of Thessalonians is often referred to, and that’s the people that Paul spoke to. There was a prominent Jewish presence in Thessalonia, but Paul spoke to the Jews and the other Thessalonians alike.
Meanwhile there lived a Roman centurion name Cornelius, who is mentioned in Acts 10. He wasn’t a Jew per se, but he and his family were devout worshipers of God. Through a series of visions referred to Acts 10 that he and Jesus’ disciple Peter experienced, they spread the Word to the Gentiles. Did God approve? Well, as it says in Versus 44 and 45, that while Peter spoke of everyone receiving forgiveness from God if they believe in Him, “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.”
The Lord’s Prayer…not for everyone? Cornelius would probably have something to say about that!
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