by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921)

This is the central New Testament passage on prayer. In the Sermon on the Mount Christ had announced the new basis of prayer, namely: relationship (Mat 6:9 ); (Mat 6:28-32). The believer is a child of God through the new birth.

The clear revelation of this fact at once establishes the reasonableness of prayer; a reasonableness against which the argument from the apparent uniformity of natural law shatters itself. God is more than a Creator, bringing a universe into being, and establishing laws for it; more than a decree-maker determining future events by an eternal fiat. Above all this is the divine family for whom the universe with its laws exists; (Col_1:16-20); (Heb_1:2); (Heb_2:10); (Heb_2:11); (Rom_8:17).

When ye pray, say, Our Father." What God habitually does in the material universe concerns the reverent investigator of that universe. What He may do in His own family concerns Him, and them, and is matter for divine promise and revelation. Science, which deals only with natural phenomena, cannot intrude there (1Co_2:9).

Christ's law of prayer may be thus summarized:

(1) He grounds prayer upon relationship, and reveals God as freely charging himself with all the responsibilities, as His heart glows with all the affections of a Father toward all who believe on Jesus Christ (Mat_6:25); (Mat_6:32); (Mat_7:9-11). Prayer, therefore, is a child's petition to an all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful, Father-God.

(2) In the so-called Lord's prayer Christ gives an incomparable model for all prayer. It teaches that right prayer begins with worship; puts the interest of the kingdom before merely personal interest; accepts beforehand the Father's will, whether to grant or withhold; and petitions for present need, leaving the future to the Father's care and love. Used as a form, the Lord's prayer is, dispensationally, upon legal, not church ground; it is not a prayer in the name of Christ (cf) (Joh_14:13); (Joh_14:14); (Joh_16:24) and it makes human forgiveness, as under the law it must, the condition of divine forgiveness; an order which grace exactly reverses (compare Eph_4:32).

(3) Prayer is to be definite (Luk_11:5); (Luk_11:6) and,

(4) importunate, that is undiscouraged by delayed answers.