Westminster Larger Catechism (Q 196)

Dear Church Family,

This past Sunday, in our weekly Sunday school lessons in the Westminster Larger Catechism (WLC), we studied and discussed question 196. Here is a brief review.

WLC 196  What doth the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer teach us?
A. The conclusion of the Lord’s prayer (which is, For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen,) teacheth us to enforce our petitions with arguments, which are to be taken, not from any worthiness in ourselves, or in any other creature, but from God; and with our prayers to join praises, ascribing to God alone eternal sovereignty, omnipotency, and glorious excellency; in regard whereof, as he is able and willing to help us, so we by faith are emboldened to plead with him that he would, and quietly to rely upon him, that he will fulfil our requests. And, to testify this our desire and assurance, we say, Amen.

The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer is not found in the earliest manuscripts (mss) of the Gospels. Leon Morris helpfully explains the textual issues:

“In the form in which the prayer is commonly used it concludes with the doxology ‘for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.’ This is lacking in the oldest MSS (in Luke as in Matthew), though it has considerable early attestation. But it may be argued that it is unlikely that a first-century Jewish prayer should conclude without a doxology and that its absence in many MSS may be because it was simply assumed, while in others it was explicitly included. On the whole it seems probable that it was a liturgical addition made early in the life of the church, but we should not regard this as certain. The case for the doxology is stronger than many students assume.” (Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, 149)

The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us four general things:

1. To enforce our petitions with arguments taken from God (Romans 15:30-33; also, see Daniel 9:1-19 for a good example of proper argumentation in prayer).
2. To join our prayers with praises to God (Philippians 4:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10-13).
3. To be emboldened in our prayers that He will fulfill our requests (2 Chronicles 14:11).
4. To testify to our desire and assurance by saying ‘Amen’ (1 Corinthians 14:16; Revelation 22:20-21).

Conclusion

Having concluded our study of the Westminster Larger Catechism, we rounded out our final lesson by reviewing the historical setting of the origin of the Westminster Standards as well as the usefulness of creeds and confessions. This coming Sunday, March 23^rd, we will begin a new study called, “He Gave Us Prophets.” This is an eight-part series of video lessons and discussion in which we will “examine the role and function of biblical prophecy and learn how to responsibly interpret and apply that prophecy to the modern world.”

I hope you will join us for our new study which begins this Sunday at 9:15 am!

The Lord be with you!
Pastor Peter M. Dietsch