The Lord's Prayer

A Bible study on the true meaning of the Lord's Prayer. A crucial interpretation unknown to most churches and people!

The Lord's Prayer, from the Bible:

Matthew 6:9-13 NIV Jesus said:

This then, is how you should pray:

Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

According to the Bible, God only sees us as one of these, nothing in-between:

Sins forgiven daily = Righteous

Flooded with God's blessings!

Sins not forgiven daily = "Evildoer"

No matter how nice a person you are!! Living in a world in random motion.

CONTENT

The Lord's Prayer Is Severely Misunderstood
What Does "Believe In Jesus" Really Mean?
Why didn't Paul Preach the Lord's Prayer?
We're Good People, What Sins?
Biblical Sin-Redemption Chronology
Christianity & Judaism - A Parallel
Was Jesus' Teaching only for the Jews, and Paul's for the Gentiles?

1. The Lord's Prayer Is Severely Misunderstood

Summary: Churches, theologians, and internet sources went in all kinds of wrong directions misinterpreting the Lord's Prayer. The most essential part of God's new covenant has been ignored and destroyed over the years by completely missing the meaning! In this page, strong biblical references showing how precious every word of this prayer is.

Examples of missed meanings:

The "daily Bread" - is the sacrifice of Jesus, the Bread of life that God gives us by faith, for the forgiveness of our sins.

- John 6:35: Jesus declared, “I am the Bread of life..."

- John 6:32 Jesus: "...my Father gives you the true Bread from heaven."

- 1 Corinthians‬ ‭10:17 Paul said: "... there is one Loaf… we all share the one Loaf."

"Your kingdom come" - means "give us the Holy Spirit". Jesus said it in these verses:‭‭

- Luke‬ ‭18‬:‭17‬ “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”.

- Luke 17:21 "...the kingdom of God is within you."

- Luke 11:13 "...how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

"As we forgive those who trespass against us" - God strictly means it; it is not negotiable! If we don't forgive everyone, He won't forgive us!

- Matthew 6:15 Jesus: "But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, your Father will not forgive your sins."

- Mark 11:25 Jesus: "...if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

The Lord's prayer involves all 3 Persons of the Trinity, and is essential for our proper daily relationship with God as He intended, and our spiritual sustenance - We ask God the Father, to send the Holy Spirit to reside in us, and to give us the Bread of life, Jesus Himself, for the forgiveness of our sins.

1.1 The Daily Bread of Life

Jesus said that His sacrifice on the cross turned into a redemptive "Bread of life" that we need daily, by faith, in order to become forgiven of our sins and remain righteous in the eyes of God, receive His blessings, and truly be saved.

Question: Why did Jesus tell us to pray His prayer for the forgiveness of our sins daily? If we're covered by the blood, saved by grace, born again, and predestined, nothing else to do, why did He say to ask God the Father for the forgiveness of our sins every day?

Answer: Our sins are only forgiven on a daily basis and when asked properly as Jesus commanded. Covered by the blood, saved by grace, and predestined, are only true if we've been praying the Lord's Prayer daily.

No blanket forgiveness for life! Yes Jesus paid the price once and for all, which meant no more sacrifices needed. But asking God for forgiveness of sins is still required daily, according to Jesus.

1 John‬ ‭2:4‬

“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

What are "His commands"? Here's one of them, the Lord's Prayer:

Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus said:

This then, is how you should pray:

Three main problems with Christians and churches today:

Most think the "bread" is our earthly needs, or both earthly and spiritual needs. It's not! "Spiritual needs" could mean many things. Jesus here had only one meaning in this prayer - the "Bread" is the "Bread of life" for the forgiveness of our sins. Only one specific precise meaning!!!
Most are not praying the Lord's Prayer "daily" as Jesus commanded, "Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our sins". The Bible says God renews us day by day. And He also desires to hear from us daily, and properly. If you think Jesus gave us the pattern to pray, see Section 1.6 below.
Protestants think this page is a Catholic thing and doesn't concern them. I want to cry! So many are lost! Protestant theologians explained this as, "Jesus meant it only for the Jews". But they missed this verse from Jesus, Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, ... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. "Go to all nations and teach them to obey everything I commanded you!" But Protestant churches cannot obey this verse. Because to pray the Lord's Prayer daily would be contradicting to their "by faith alone" theology!!

This part is 1 sentence, not 2:

“Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

There was no punctuation in the original Aramaic Bible version. Verse-numbering and punctuation were added later. And in this case, they were added based on the "bread" = earthly needs.

The forgiveness of sins is the result of receiving the Bread for that day!!!

The Bread represents the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf - the spiritual Bread of life that God gives when we ask Him:

John 6:33-35:

33 For the bread of God is the Bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this Bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the Bread of life..."

The Lord's Prayer daily is one of Jesus' commands - John 14:15: If you love me, keep my commands.

Jesus word-smithed the words in the Lord's Prayer perfectly. Which is consistent with what God did throughout history:

After the fall God was the One that taught Adam and Eve how to present a sacrifice fitting to Him so He could forgive their sins.
God was the One that crafted the Leviticus law to Moses that had to be executed precisely for the daily forgiveness of sins.
And finally God was the One that word-smithed the Lord’s Prayer for the daily forgiveness of sins.

Is "The Bread" our Basic Earthly Needs?

NO!! Jesus, God Himself in the flesh, comes to earth and walks among us, the grandest event in the history of humankind, and He teaches us how to pray for food?!! As in we didn't know how to ask God for food; He had to show us?!! And then most people ignored it as, "Jesus is showing us how to be humble and just ask for the basic necessities of life..." So most people and churches are not praying this prayer! Even the Catholic church, although they recite it in their mass, would not acknowledge "the bread" = "the Bread of life". Obviously because, it makes it a DIY version of their Eucharist. Which would belittle their bishops' and priests' roles - if people can receive the Bread of life at home by directly praying to God, then they won't come to church and donate! Catholics, see Section 1.8 below on how the Lord's Prayer relates to the Eucharist / Communion.

John 6:26-27 [after the miracle of feeding the 5,000, the next day:]

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you...”

Jesus always used the word "Bread" to mean His flesh. He would never instruct us to pray for earthly bread. Examples, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:31-33: “[...don’t worry about earthly needs], but seek God first…”. And in John 6:26-27: "... Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you...". Also see all the Biblical references below, in this section.

If you're not praying this prayer with the Bread meaning the Bread of life for the forgiveness of sins, then you're just asking God for lunch! And you remain in your sins!

Is "The Bread" Both Earthly & Spiritual Needs?

NO IT IS NOT! Trying to include more meanings into it, as in, one of them will hit it right, shows lack of understanding of the scripture! Only one meaning - the Bread in this prayer is strictly the redemptive "sacrifice of Jesus" that we must "eat" by faith, daily, for the forgiveness of sins.

In Bible terminology, the scripture for our learning is not "the bread". There are many references in the Bible precisely pointing to "the Bread" as the sacrifice of Jesus. We can't go off getting creative and confusing people!

So how Exactly do we Receive this "Bread of life"?

It is not actual bread to chew on, it is a spiritual Bread, that we receive by faith, representing the physical suffering and death of Jesus' on the cross on our behalf. It is this part: "Jesus' substitutionary death on our behalf" that mandates eating the "Bread of life" daily in order to be forgiven and receive the Holy Spirit daily - John 6:53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. We eat this Bread by faith when we genuinely pray the Lord's Prayer and mean it correctly - when we mean it in our hearts that the Bread is indeed the "Bread of life", Jesus Himself for our forgiveness. This will "renew us day by day" 2 Corinthians 4:16. Which is the same way God commanded the Jewish priests, in the old covenant, to eat the sacrifice daily for the forgiveness of the people's sins. See my page on Christianity & J udaism - A Parallel.

For Catholics, see Section 1.8 below on how the Lord's Prayer relates to the Eucharist / communion.

1.2 Must Forgive Others - Those who Don't Forgive Others Are Not Forgiven = "Evildoers"!!

Pay attention "by-faith-aloners", "Catholic confessions penalty prayers", and "Calvinist TULIPers", Jesus did not just casually tell us to pray His prayer, he went on stressing that if we don't forgive others then God would not forgive us. The prayer specifically says to forgive others, then Jesus re-stressed it in this verse:

Matthew 6:14-15

For if you forgive other people when they trespass against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Notes: It doesn't get any clearer than this! This verse needs no explanation. If we don't forgive others we remain as "evildoers" in the eyes of God - there is no such thing as "I'm not that bad".

We must forgive others in order to receive forgiveness and God's blessings!! God singled-out this one common human behavior as a non-negotiable condition. Did Jesus mean this for the Jews only? Obviously not! How many people do you know that truly forgive everybody? And how many therefore are forgiven by God and have the Holy Spirit? Every day we're not forgiven, we distance ourselves from God. And when we distance ourselves from God, we will not receive His blessings. The longer we go without forgiveness, the worse it gets.

Then Jesus further kept stressing "forgiving others" by dedicating a whole parable to it, in Matthew 18:21-35!

And also in this reference where Jesus was explaining to His disciples why they could not perform a certain miracle:

Mark 11:24-25

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

No wonder there is no peace on earth! All we have today is Christianity people's way, not God's way!!

Why would anyone want to pray to Mary and other dead people? Why is this prayer not preached in churches today? Why do we ignore Jesus, OUR GOD, and not pray it daily?

1.3 Your Kingdom Come

"Your Kingdom Come" means "Give us the Holy Spirit"

Luke 17:20-21

Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.

‭‭

Luke‬ ‭18‬:‭17‬ “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

In this verse, Jesus used the term "kingdom of God" with 2 meanings: (1) Something we receive - the Holy Spirit, and (2) a place to enter.

God the Father gives us the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, and only when we ask Him!

Before you frown on this because your church does not explain it this way, take a moment to look at the strong Bible references I provide here.

Jesus explained it a few verses after the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:2-4:

Luke 11:13

Jesus said: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

Notes: This, "...your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" is a clear reference to the "your kingdom come" in the Lord's Prayer a few verses before; Jesus in this verse was continuing His explanation of His Prayer in Luke 11:2-4. So, God is giving the Holy Spirit, “to those who ask Him”. This is how we become filled with the Holy Spirit; it's daily!! And only when we ask!!! No wonder no one is filled with the Holy Spirit anymore!

2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul said: …our inner Person is being renewed day by day.

Notes: "Our inner Person" is the Holy Spirit!! We receive Him day by day!! How? By praying to God and asking for Him, daily!

Another example of the kingdom of God = the Holy Spirit - In this verse when Jesus sent the 72, filled with the Holy Spirit, to perform miracles:

Luke 10:8-9

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

The Holy Spirit - one of His roles as revealed to us, is to reside in bodies as a representation of God within us. So receiving the kingdom of God, is equivalent to entering it. Jesus said don't look for it, the kingdom of God is within us. When we're truly filled with the Holy Spirit, it feels as if we're in heaven!

2 Corinthians 5:5
...God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

1.4 Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil

We ask you not to allow the devil to tempt us, and keep him away from us

God does not tempt us.

James 1:13

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone

But God may lead us into temptation, that is allow the devil to tempt us. He led His own Son into temptation:

Matthew 4:1

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

This was God, "the Spirit", "leading Jesus into temptation!" - So "a Holy God does not lead people into temptation?" Think again, He does. If He did it to His own Son, He'll do it to you. Jesus did not fall in the devil's trap, but we likely would! So pray that God does not lead you into temptation, as Jesus instructed us.

God may choose to test us, by "leading us into temptation". Our life on earth is test ground for God. He started testing people all the way back at Adam and Eve times. He put the tree there and led them into temptation - He allowed the devil to tempt them. The devil in a snake form tempted them, and they failed; fell into his trap.

Sure God already knows the results. He may choose to lead people into temptation to show them what He already knows. There are two cases for this:

The case of Jesus - The Spirit led Jesus to temptation. Why would God do this? Jesus is a part of Him! God did it to show us, that Jesus in His human form, did not fail. And that Jesus is indeed the sinless Messiah; the perfect first born sacrifice for our sins.
The case of the rest of people on earth - We, being not Jesus, will always fail. Although God already knows the results, He may choose to lead us into temptation to show us that we failed. This also saves Him any arguing from people on judgement day. This is why He selectively leads some into temptation. But obviously according to Jesus, we may be able to change His mind when we ask Him not to.

Note, the Bible says there will be arguing with God on judgement day. Where does it say this? Here is an example reference:

Matthew 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Notes: This is Jesus showing us an example of how He will respond to "nice people" by earthly standards, declared "evildoers" by God, arguing with Him on judgement day.

"Temptation" is the temptation to leave God and get lured into the world and its ungodly ways.

Jesus used the term "fall into temptation" in another place, which helps us understand the meaning better.

Matthew 26:40-41

Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” He asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation...”

Jesus asked Peter to keep praying to stay 100% focused on God in this crucial hour Jesus was going through. However, Peter fell into temptation later by giving into the worldly scene around him, denied Jesus 3 times shortly after!

This is why we renew our pledge to God daily, in this world, which is full of worldly scenes all around us.

1.5 The Complete Lord's Prayer Explanation Summary

Our Father who are in heaven:

Getting God's attention with a respectful parental term of endearment.

Hollowed be Your Name:

May Your name always be Holy and respected.

Your Kingdom come:

Give us the Holy Spirit to reside in us. (Interpretation unknown to most)

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven:

We submit to your will.

Give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our sins:

Give us our daily "Bread of Life" for the forgiveness of sins, so we "wash our robes" and become "righteous". Because we repent of our sins.

(Interpretation unknown to most)

As we forgive those who trespass against us:

We promise to forgive others. Acknowledging that unless we forgive everyone, we would not be forgiven. Meaning we would not become "righteous" for that day and would not receive the Holy Spirit. (Interpretation unknown to most)

Lead us not into temptation:

We ask you not to allow the devil to tempt us.

But deliver us from evil:

Keep evil away from us. Don't let it find room in us, or grab hold within us, but instead fill us with the Holy Spirit.

How Fast Should We Pray This Prayer?

No less than 10 to 15 minutes. It is not about "recite it and be done with it!" You're visiting with God during this prayer! All 3 Persons of the Trinity are involved! If you meet with the president of the company you work for, how proper and attentive would you be? Take that and multiply by a hundred. That's how you should be while praying this prayer - You're standing in the presence of God!!

Start by clearing your mind from all the noise of today's world. Take your time, meditate on each loaded-word that Jesus took the time to put together for us. Sometimes I find myself having to repeat the prayer once or twice because my mind wonders off; we're humans; this happens to all of us. I make sure my visit is properly completed with the prayer words all genuinely meant in my heart.

And here's what not to do. I recall when I was younger, the Catholic priest saying this prayer in less than 5 seconds!!! It would have been better for him to go work at the auctions, than be a church misleader!

1.6 Did Jesus Give Us the Pattern to Pray? Or We Should Use His Words?

You may be thinking, "Surely God did not want us to recite these exact same words every day?" And you want to use your own wording? Yes you can use your own words, but why?

When you fully understand the meaning of each word, you wouldn't want to say it any other way!

As you can see, the prayer is loaded with precious meanings directed to God. Every word in this prayer is perfectly worded by Jesus, so that "He remains in us and we remain in Him". Without these exact prayer-words we'd be leaves on the Vine that wither and die (spiritually), as Jesus explained in His parable. We need to learn that Christianity is not "be creative" and "anything goes". God demands respect. He commanded to pray this prayer. You ignore it and get creative, shows arrogance - makes you the opposite of the humble person God is interested in.

Which of the words do you want to modify? Or find synonyms for and say differently? Or which part of the prayer do you want to omit today?

You see, you cannot receive God's Kingdom (the Holy Spirit) for today, unless your sins have been forgiven through the Bread of life?

And you will not be forgiven of your sins and receive God's blessings, unless you forgive others!

How do YOU prefer to say it? Anything you answer this question with, will make you an arrogant person not genuinely seeking God. But rather seeking to look sophisticated and different, so people admire you. The focus is on God, not on you! And God loves the prayer exactly as He said it.

We need not think of this prayer as a legal requirement, as in the law of Moses. It is rather a "pure love" prayer, and "proper worship" directed to our heavenly Father. It is the minimum we should do, springing from within as a true believer, to obey Jesus' commands.

The Lord's Prayer prayed once a day is not a repetitive "babbling on" prayer. Look at what Jesus said:

Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Those who tell you it is repetitive and against Bible teaching are still trying to defend their church!! This format of the Lord’s Prayer once a day, is 100% consistent with the Bible teaching and God’s previous plan for the Jews, which was sacrifices daily, that they also had to eat for the forgiveness of their sins. For thousands of years, every day, God had them repeat this same process daily. For what? For the forgiveness of their sins. And they did it! Without complaining!! And now, for us, Jesus' sacrifice is final; no more daily sacrifices, instead we have the same daily prayer.

Jesus said in the Bible (not me), that His sacrifice turned into a Bread of life that we ask for daily. Then how did the people of today receive this amazing news? They don't want it! I keep getting emails from people complaining about it!! - "Do I have to keep saying the same words every day?!" and "Are you basing your whole website on the Lord's Prayer? Really?" Listen to me. God in the Bible is basing His whole redemption plan on the Lord's Prayer!! and I clarify accordingly!! I hear His words and I explain them, to those who have ears that hear.

Regardless of whether we use King James Bible version that says, "...in this manner you should pray...", or NIV Bible version that says, "... this is how you should pray...", the "daily" requirement to pray is still Jesus command. He said "daily", you want to change it to "monthly" because King James said "in this manner"???!!! Who is even preaching to pray the Lord's Prayer in any manner today? It is completely ignored!!! No one is even close to praying it "in this manner". This is Christ's prayer, are we Christians??!!

1.7 The Overlooked Commandment

What do you want to say? "Why did Jesus do it this way? using tricky terms etc..." Why so perplexed? Jesus used this method of speaking throughout the Bible. There are parables He told that are still not fully understood!

God in His infinite wisdom did not give us a simple fully explained Bible written in precise chronology etc. Instead, He purposely kept it vague - Jesus spoke in parables giving hints of what He meant without giving the full message. Old Testament prophets embedded crucial messages within long chapters of prophesying. Example Isaiah would include 2 sentences about the Messiah in a completely unrelated paragraph (example, they pierced His hands). God chose to make us work for it:

Proverbs 8:17

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

And Jesus gave us enough hints to interpret the Lord's Prayer properly!! We must forget the years of church brainwashing. Set that aside for a moment and look close at all the undisputable Bible references I provided here. Your church did not go there because it contradicts their theology and business-agenda!! Act wisely before you send yourself to hell.

Jesus commanded us to pray this prayer daily as God's new covenant. It does not matter when He did it or to whom He gave it. THIS IS GOD! telling us what to do to be reconciled to Him on a daily basis, and truly be saved!!

1.8 How Does the Lord's Prayer Fit with the Catholic Eucharist / Communion?

The Eucharist is not the requirement for forgiveness of sins, it is a commemorating activity. The Lord's Prayer daily, is required for forgiveness of sins.

The term "Eucharist" does not exist in the English Bible. It is a Greek word that simply means, "thanksgiving". But the Catholic church used "Eucharist" (instead of thanksgiving) to sound sophisticated and mysterious. It was based on the Bible reference below from Luke. Although Matthew and Mark also reported similar scripture from the last supper, Luke further clarified what Jesus said about this being a commemorating event:

Luke 22:14-19

14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

What is the Eucharist? It is based on the above Bible reference. Jesus meant the "breaking of bread and drinking of wine" as a commemorating event for generations to come. He specifically said, "...do this in remembrance of me." It is to be similar to Passover and Christmas. It is not THE required steps for forgiveness of sins! But the Catholic church misunderstood as always, like they did with the Purgatory and "Mary mother of God" doctrines.

How do I know the Eucharist is not the requirement for sin-cleansing? 3 reasons:

God's new covenant is 100% faith-based - He would not re-introduce a physical requirement, Moses-law-style!! As in, you must find a priest to give you bread to chew-on to become forgiven!! What if the priest got stuck in traffic and did not arrive in time to give that dying man his last communion?! Will that man then go to hell as a result of a traffic jam?!!!
Because it is not in line with the Lord's Prayer - Jesus instructed us to ask for the Bread of life for forgiveness of sins daily, spiritually by faith. And daily is the method consistent with God's previous covenant. And consistent with other scripture from Paul, example, "renewed day by day."
Because God's condition for forgiveness is, you have to repent & forgive others. Not the penalty the priest gives you at confessions - of reciting Hail Mary 20 times. The Lord's Prayer words are the key to daily renewal, sin-forgiveness, and receiving the Holy Spirit.

Commemorating the last supper as Jesus asked, is a Holy event that we should all do. Although Paul seemed to do it with the early church on Sundays to keep them focused on the newly learned Gospel, Jesus did not give any guidance on how often. I believe a commemorating activity can be yearly - at Easter celebration for example, is the perfect time for it. And we can do it in our own gatherings as explained in How to Be True Christians, just as Jesus did with His disciples. Someone in the group can read the Luke 22:14-19 scripture, break bread and divide among the rest and have a cup of red wine with it, in remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice. But it is to be understood as such, not the requirement for sin-cleansing.

The Catholic church confused people about this whole subject, monopolized the Bread of life, and made it a requirement to come to church to receive it through their "mysterious" Eucharist, to boost donations. But Jesus offered it freely in His prayer! The proper way to receive the spiritual Bread of life is daily; DAILY is the exact frequency Jesus commanded. You don't need to chew on anything to become forgiven!

1.9 Closing Notes

Are you thinking "this interpretation of the Lord's Prayer can't possibly be right; could it possibly be that churches and millions of people have missed this truth for hundreds of years?" Yes, it is very possible. Don't look at people around you; look at God in the Bible. It is not about how many intelligent people were involved. The question is, who had wisdom from God? Here is a nice, related story about Elijah in this link on my website. And also consider this reference:

Matthew 7:13-4

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Notes: What is the "narrow gate that leads to life"? It means only a small percentage of people are truly seeking God, and will make it into heaven. Are you in that number? Don't be angry with me for pointing this out. All I'm doing is poke everybody to look again. Herd mentality is the "wide gate", it is not the way to God.

Related Subjects:

Jesus for Jews & Paul for Gentiles?

1.10 Bible references supporting this clarification of the "daily Bread"

“Bread” = "Bread of life" = "the sacrifice of Jesus"

1 Corinthians‬ ‭10:17 Paul said:
... there is one Loaf… we all share the one Loaf.

2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul said:
…our inner Person is being renewed day by day.

Notes: "Our inner Person" is the Holy Spirit!!

Paul did not reference the Lord's Prayer verbatim because the New Testament was not written yet in his days, but he alluded to it in these 2 verses above.

I reluctantly highlighted the above verses from Paul; I know some would not accept it unless Paul said it. So sad that people allowed their protestant church to brainwash them like this. Don't they know that Jesus is God and Paul is His apostle? And not the other way around?!!

John 6:57
Jesus: …the one who “feeds” on me…

Notes: Using the term “feeds” implying continual. As in [… give us this day our daily Bread…]

John 6:32-33, John 6:51

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” “For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Notes: "my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." and "The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh", the world, not just to His Jewish disciples!

John 15:5
Jesus said: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Notes: The branch is continually nourished by the Vine. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. Without the Lord’s Prayer daily, a branch will wither and die.

Luke 11:13

Jesus said: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Notes: Jesus said this right after he taught them His prayer, in Luke 11:2-4.

John 6:26-27

(After the miracle of feeding the 5000)

Notes: Jesus said this after they had been looking for Him all day because they were hungry, then found Him. Another big evidence that the "earthly bread", is not it in the Lord's prayer.

John 6

(The entire second half of Chapter 6 from John is all about this. And this was before His death on the cross. Example verses here.)

"51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."

Notes: The Jews did not get it then. Jesus knowing they did not get it, kept drilling it in with more of actual eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood throughout the chapter. And today you'd think we got it! But most churches and people still don't understand it. At best some churches just call it: "basically He died for our sins..." or some other high-level statement like that to shut those who keep asking. But no one knew to link it to the "daily Bread" in the Lord's prayer! You see, God requires that we eat the substitution-sacrifice in order to be forgiven - see my page on Christianity & Judaism - A parallel. Jesus said, "real flesh" and "real blood", meaning representing His physical suffering and death, which then became "the Bread of life" that we eat when we pray the Lord's Prayer and mean it correctly.

If you can't understand what Jesus said in John chapter 6, and you can't follow this explanation of it, then you're not capable of true Christian faith. This is so big, a crucial Biblical scripture that now has become correctly interpreted, not to be taken lightly.

The above references in John and Luke were all before Jesus' death on the cross. So, Jesus before the cross was clearly already using the term "Bread" to mean His body in all these references, and therefore also in His Prayer.

2. What Does "Believe In Jesus" Really Mean?

- It means believe in everything He said; study His parables and understand them.

- It means learn His commands and keep them!

1 John‬ ‭2:4‬

“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and yet doesn’t keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

John 14:15-16

[Jesus:] If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever

If you are only following the "high-level" verses that Protestant churches preach, you are not saved!! You did not look at the details. "Believe in His name and you shall be saved" is a loaded statement. You missed the details of "how to."

Notice Jesus said in John 14:15-16 above, only when we keep His commands, He will then ask the Father to give us " another advocate", the Holy Spirit! Not everybody gets the Holy Spirit - we must keep His commands first!

Who is keeping Jesus' commands today? And who therefore has the Holy Spirit? People are going by "faith alone" and doing nothing!! Just singing hymns in church!! So many good people are spiritually lost due to their church stubbornness. I'm extremely sad to the point of crying. And the rest of other churchgoers are even worse. Praying to Mary and saints, or "God already decided we have no say"!

"Accept Jesus as your personal savior?" is meaningless if you don't obey Jesus' commands! And if you don't forgive others!

Before declaring belief in Jesus you have to learn what Jesus said. Do you know all what He said? Do you know all His commands, teachings, parables, and their meanings?

If you're a lip-service believer, God has a verse just for you:

Matthew 15:8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

What does believe in Jesus mean? Keep His commands. What are His commands? They're all spiritual and attitudinal; no "works of the law" commands. They're scattered throughout the New Testament. A number of them are in the Sermon on the Mount, examples seek God always, the Lord's Prayer, and the good-hearted shall see God... Then there were other commands embedded in His parables, which mostly reiterated the need to mature spiritually by continually increasing our knowledge of God, and make sure our sins are forgiven daily through receiving the daily Bread of life.

2.1 Some of Jesus' Commands:

Jesus' commands are all spiritual, no "works of the law". Here are some of them:

Seek God and His righteousness - Matthew 6:33. God and His ways and personality are in the Bible. He shines through both the New and Old Testaments. We can learn so much about Him by reading the scripture, including the parts contradicting to your Church's theology!!

The Lord's Prayer - Matthew 6:9-13. Prayed daily to receive the daily Bread of life for forgiveness, receive the Holy Spirit, and remain "Righteous" in the eyes of God.

Forgive others so God forgives you. Matthew 6:12. This one was stressed several times by Jesus. It is in the Lord's Prayer, and Jesus kept stressing it further in several other parts of the New Testament. The key message is, don't expect to receive God's blessings and salvation if you're holding hate and grudge against any other human. God sees our innermost self - Forgive them all!

Become born again in the spirit - Baptists, Evangelicals, and the rest of the protestants only follow this command and ignore the rest of this list!

Continue to mature in the knowledge of God or face spiritual death - By diligently studying the whole Bible. Many parables from Jesus explain this clearly, examples, John 15:6 "branches that wither and die", Luke 13:6 "cut the fig tree down", and Matthew 25:30 "cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness".

Enter through the narrow gate... Matthew 7:13-14. Details here: The Narrow Gate.

Love God and all people on earth including your enemies - Matthew 22:34-40 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Don't be hypocrites - Example shooting arrows at abortion doctors and homosexuals, ignoring how big of a sinner you yourself are!! God knows the hearts. Matthew 7:4-5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

The good-hearted shall see God - Matthew 5:8

And many other commands embedded in Jesus' parables, that most people don't know nor understand!

2.2 And Here is What "Believe in Jesus" Does Not Mean:

It does not mean pray to Mary and saints. The whole Bible stresses to pray to God only!!
It does not mean God already mysteriously picked from the humans for His pleasure!! He gave us freedom to choose; He doesn't want robots!
It does not mean ignore Jesus' commands and directly skip to singing hymns, loud Christian music, and waving of hands. “By faith alone” means you still have to obey His commands!!

No, I'm not overreacting, and everything is not ok! Devil-worshippers drive latest model SUVs too, and live in nice homes!! The question to ask in this post-Jesus time is, "will I be in the I-never-knew-you line at judgement?" I beg you to re-examine the scriptures, and not just rely on your church.

2.3 Continuously Shouting "I Love You Jesus", Is not Good Enough?

NO IT IS NOT!! It is meaningless if you don't obey Jesus' commands!

I listen to church sermons, podcasts, and social media quotes all over the internet. A popular pastor shouting for example "give me an 'I love you Jesus'". And all people shout it out loud... I have bad news for you. God can't hear you!! For these reasons:

Who is this Jesus you're shouting for? What did He teach? What are His commands for you? Do you think He likes this and wants you to keep doing it? Then your Jesus is different than our Jesus Christ of the Bible!

You say "all I need to know is He died on the cross for my sins". Did you also bother to look at what He wants from you?

Jesus specifically said “If you love me, keep my commands." John 14:15. Are you keeping His commands? No? Then all your shouting is landing on deaf ears!!! It is meaningless. It is just lip service.

You ask, how do I know you're not keeping His commands? If you're keeping His commands you wouldn't be shouting this with the rest. You would be doing something different. What is it? GO LEARN JESUS' COMMANDS!!! HE IS GOD!!! HE DEMANDS RESPECT!!!

Here is a similar situation from the Bible that confirms what I'm saying:

Acts 16:17-18

A woman followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

This woman is exactly the same as today's Protestant, and particularly Pentecostal churches. Kept repeating words that seemed right, but were empty words and a disgrace to God; it is not God's ways!! Paul had to drive a demon out of her!!

If you only believe in Jesus as in "the existence of Jesus as the son of God", then even the devil himself believes that much:

Mark 3:11

Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”

Mark 5:6-8

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Acts 19:15

But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

James 2:19

You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that— and shudder.

Notes: James here takes it a step further and mocks those who are giving lip-service declaration of belief.

2.4 By Faith Alone?

By faith alone does not mean "do nothing" and "just sing & wave hands"!

Faith in Jesus is not the same as faith in Santa Clause!!

"By faith alone" meant no added works of the law of Moses. It is in the Bible but your church missed it:

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2‬:‭16

“know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

So, "by faith alone" is not "do nothing" - Learning Jesus' commands and keeping them is not "works of the law"! Spiritual maturity is not "works", seeking God in the whole Bible is not "works", and praying the Lord's Prayer daily as He commanded is not "works"!

Paul introduced Jesus to the Gentiles. But Protestants ran with the "intro" as the complete message!!

1 Corinthians 3:1-2 Paul said:

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

Today's Evangelicals, Baptists, and the rest of Protestant churches, remained forever "milk, not solid food". If they could collect 10% tithing with that, why complicate it? But the innocent church-members are the duped victims!!

Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ Paul:

13 “for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
‭‭
Protestant churches and their people, MEMORIZED verse 13 but have no idea that verse 14 even existed!!

👉 Verse 14 - How can they call on His name without knowing Him??!! Do they know His commands? No. Do they understand His parables? No. Their church convinced them these were meant for the Jews!!!

Do you have a favorite verse? Please stop that!

- Romans 10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

- Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven...

The Bible is contradicting? No!!! You have to read the whole Bible to understand. You can't pick and choose your favorite verses and run with them! If anybody asks you this popular question, "what is your favorite verse in the Bible?" Start running the other way. No one understands!! No one cares to truly seek God!!

A guy emailed me recently asking, how is it that the thief on the cross next to Jesus was saved instantly, and we have to go through a different process to be saved? I answered, "that thief had minutes to live. He declared belief in Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus granted him salvation. Had the thief lived a full life after that, he would have been required to be renewed day by day like the rest of us." I never heard back from him.

Are you a "Do Nothing" Believer?

Please stop the "do nothing", because you've become spiritually dead; "did not mature". A big difference between "Works of the flesh" and "Spiritual Activities":

Works of the law: Also called "works of the flesh", means earthly efforts or still trying to apply the Jewish law - Circumcision, tithe 10%, animal sacrifices, refrain from certain foods, dress a certain way, do a lot of good deeds to offset the bad, etc.

Not works of the law / flesh: Spiritual activities like seek God, study the Bible, obey Jesus commands, and pray the Lord's Prayer daily.

Hosea 6:6

I don’t want your sacrifices - I want your love; I don’t want your offerings - I want you to know me

Going to church every Sunday and singing hymns is only the icing on the cake; you've ignored the cake and focused on the icing!

Or you may be in a Christian band, singing or writing songs titled something like "the blood of Jesus". Belonging to a big church with thousands of members, and making a lot of noise on Sundays... and thinking "what's this one guy here talking about?" Despite the grand picture you're in, the fact remains, unless you keep Jesus' commands, your sins are not forgiven. Again, what you're doing is icing on the cake; Jesus did not command any of this. He gave us simple commands like pray the Lord's Prayer daily and seek God always to keep learning about Him and mature spiritually. Are you doing these? If yes, you're on the right path. If no, you're not reconciled with God because you're doing things your way, not His way, not as He commanded. I'm not judging; I'm only pointing out God's view in relation to what I see going on in the Christian world today. Only He knows the hearts.

True Christianity is not "be creative" and "anything goes." First obey Jesus' commands. Then do your other creative fluff. You're ignoring Jesus' commands, the most essential part of salvation!

Declaring belief in Jesus is the beginning of a relationship with Him; a journey of getting to know Him. It goes in this order:

1. Birth of the flesh - first birth.

2. Birth of the spirit - born-again.

3. Spiritual growth - maturing with more knowledge about God/Jesus

It is the 3rd item that most churches and people ignore. If you declare you believe in Jesus and then move on with your life, and just keep telling everybody "I'm covered by the blood", you're not!! Because all you know about Jesus is that sentence. The Bible says you're spiritually dead; did not mature in the knowledge of God, like one of these people in the verse below, "choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures":

Luke 8:14

"The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature."

==> "they do not mature" <==

Spiritual maturity, is more of an attitude. Being a true born-again believer would result in interest springing from within for wanting to grow that relationship with God.

Mark 16:17-18 Jesus said:

"And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

John 14:12-14

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

3. Why didn't Paul Preach the Lord's Prayer?

Summary: Many profound parables and commands from Jesus, including the Lord's Prayer were not shown in Paul's writings. Does that mean they were meant only for the Jews? NO!!

Some key facts:

Paul's writings in the Bible were mostly his followup letters to the churches!

Paul said he gave the gentiles "milk, not solid food" and pointed them to Jesus and to the scriptures to mature in the knowledge.

Paul did not have access to the details in the 4 books of the New Testament in his day; they were not written yet.

No one followed Paul around and documented everything he said and did! But for Jesus, 4 disciples did!

There are some references to the Lord's Prayer in Paul's letters. See below.

3.1 Most of Paul's Writings were Follow-up Letters not the Complete Message

Four of the disciples who followed Jesus wrote everything Jesus said and did. But Paul, no one did that! We don't have all the details that Paul preached in those churches. All we have are his follow-up letters! Here's an example reference:

Acts 20:7

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.

Does anyone know what Paul preached that whole day until midnight? Is it anywhere in the Bible?

The letters to the churches were mostly limited to the controversial issues of those days and that culture, which Paul had to address in followup letters after he had spent long times preaching in person at those churches. These issues were mostly Jews wanting to continue mixing in works-of-the-law, and Gentiles confused by the two messages from Paul and from the Jews. The book of Hebrews, an exception, was completely directed to the Jews who did not believe Jesus was the awaited Messiah. Paul told them, "You missed it in the desert with Moses, then wandered for 40 years. And now you missed it again, not recognizing God's Messiah!"

3.2 Paul's References to the Lord's Prayer

Although Paul did not specifically write about the Lord's Prayer verbatim in his letters because the New Testament was not written yet, we can still find the references he made to it. Examples:

"Your Kingdom Come" and "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins":

2 Corinthians ‭4:16: Paul: "... Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day". (our Inner Person is the Holy Spirit).

1 Corinthians 10:17: Paul: "Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf".

Paul also referred to the Jewish eating of sacrifices when explaining the new covenant of Jesus to the gentiles:

1 Corinthians 10:18 Paul: "Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?"

"As we forgive those who trespass against us":

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭ Paul: “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Paul got the basic message across and pointed them to Jesus. Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer, which showed us how to accomplish this spiritually. Jesus is God and Paul is His apostle, and not the other way around! The complete how-to message is in what Jesus said:

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬-‭3

Paul: "These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing."

3.3 Other Key Facts about Paul

We can gather enough references from his letters to fully re-construct the main message of Paul:

1. Paul's main objective was to find a way to introduce the gospel of Jesus to the gentiles. The concept of an invisible God with a redemption plan through a son named Jesus who died on the cross, was already very strange and unusual for these people to accept; as they freshly came off their idol worshipping ways. So Paul knowing this, focused on explaining the basics, which may not have included all Jesus' commands and parables:

1 Corinthians 3:1-2

Paul said: Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

2. Paul pointed them to Jesus for the full message, and instructed them to mature:

Jesus is God. Everything He said is precious to all of us. Paul pointed to Jesus. So go learn every precious word Jesus said!!

Hebrews 6:1

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity

2Corinthians 13:11

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature,...

Colossians 1:28

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

3. One new covenant, one salvation plan, and one message - not one for Jews and one for Gentiles:

As evident in this reference from Paul, we are all to mature in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His teachings:

Ephesians 4:11-15

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

4. Paul also digressed into other matters with the gentiles, like how to conduct themselves in public, the "oughts" and "ought nots", how gifts of the Spirit are distributed, and body parts talking to each other (if the ear said to the eye I can't see...) etc. And spent a good part of His writing convincing the Jews to get off their "works of the flesh" law, and get into the spiritual faith in Jesus.

5. Paul did not have access to the details in the 4 books of the New Testament in his day; they were not written yet. The Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written and published about 100 years after Paul died. So he did not have any new-testament scripture to read, or reference. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he did the best he could to evangelize these regions, without Bibles. He had to stand up in each church and talk to people about the Gospel of Jesus, then rush to the next church. Here is an example of Paul at the church of Corinth; indicating he had no time to spare: "To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless." 1Corinthians 4:11. So reciting the whole new testament to these churches, even if he did know all the words, would have been an impossibility due to shortage of time. Therefore he had to keep it high-level.

4. We're Good People, What Sins?

Summary: For God, there are only 2 categories of people - "Righteous" or "Wicked." He does not have in-between impressions of us, like, "nice guy", "not that bad", "churchgoer who helps others", etc.. Hindus are also nice temple-goers who help others! For our God of the Bible, a person is either righteous: "has their sins forgiven", or wicked / evildoer: "sins not forgiven".

Bible terms:

"Wicked" - refers to the person whose sins have not been forgiven.

"Righteous" - refers to the person whose sins have been forgiven.

Even in unlikely extreme cases, you could be the best person on earth, but if your sins are not forgiven, then in the eyes of God you are "wicked".

Or you could be the worst person on earth, but if your sins are forgiven, then in the eyes of God you are "righteous".

The above statements are from many verses in the Bible. Examples:

"Wicked" example:

Psalm 10:4

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek Him.

Does not seek God = sins not forgiven = wicked

"Righteous" example:

Matthew 5:20 Jesus: "For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

The Jewish scribes and Pharisees were the role models in perfection and living sinless all their lives. But Jesus told them it's not good enough!! He said we need to exceed that level of sinless perfection! How do we achieve that? We do, by having our sins forgiven through the daily praying of the Lord's Prayer.

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

4.1 We're All Equally Sinners and in Need of a Redemption Plan to Reconcile with God

You may ask, "but if one is the best person on earth, how can he also be a sinner?" Being the best person on earth doesn't automatically mean the best person in the eyes of God. There are sins that became accepted in today's cultures, but are offensive to God. And there are inner sins that only God sees.

Matthew 5:28

Jesus: But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

1 John 1:8-10

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

James 2:10

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

Since before the foundations of the world, the main objective of God has always been to provide a redemption plan for our sins. This was the reason for the Jewish and Christian religions (old-testament and new-testament)!

It is all about the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins is the main pillar of our Christian faith. It was the only reason for Jesus' miserable suffering and death on the cross. Without it there is no relationship with God.

It is very clear throughout the scripture that God’s main focus was always on providing a solution for sins. Because it is the only way to reconcile us to Him; without it we're all doomed to hell. He knew this since before creation, then devised His plan and executed it perfectly throughout history. What was the whole purpose of the Jewish religion and the Mosaic law? Redemption (old covenant). What was the main purpose of the coming of Jesus and dying on the cross? Redemption (new covenant). He chose to do it in two parts over time like this; we may not have all the answers as to why, but we trust His infinite wisdom.

Many Christians today are thinking, we’re good people, never hurt anyone, keeping to ourselves… what sins do we need forgiven? But the reality is, we all start sinning the moment we wake up in the morning. The brain takes us in all kinds of directions:

Mark 7:21-23

For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Matthew 5:28

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Notes: In today's world, movies, TV shows, social media, are all filled with images causing people to sin. All sexual immorality is sin. Just because the world made it norm, doesn't mean God accepted it!

The Bible says we are sinners by nature, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve. So Christians and non-Christians, all sin. But for true-Christians, as long as they genuinely repent, always seek God in the Bible, and pray the Lord's Prayer daily (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke11:2-4), they remain in Jesus, and Jesus remains in them. And those Christians remain belonging to Jesus:

John 15:4

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

But if a person keeps on sinning without praying the Lord's Prayer, eventually God gives up on her/him. This person would become spiritually dead, equivalent to atheists and the likes. Then this person becomes "wicked" in the eyes of God.

Isaiah 57:21

“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Today's world is full of unbelievers, sadly including so called "christians", who's sins have not been forgiven, called "wicked" by God. And therefore, no peace on earth. And getting worse as time goes by and more and more are staying in churches with evil theologies, or leaving churches and becoming atheists. The Bible says it will continue in this direction until the "abomination of desolation" happens. This term is mentioned in many places in the Bible; it is related to the anti-Christ. See my link on End Times.

5. Biblical Sin-Redemption Chronology

God's main focus had always been on providing a solution for our sins, so He could reconcile us to Him. Thus His redemption plans:

- Old covenant - Jewish - Animal sacrifices & other offerings.

- New covenant - Christian - Jesus the Christ, perfect and final sacrifice.

Both covenants provided a substitutionary atonement for our salvation. God made it clear throughout the Bible that the person that sins must die. God in His nature cannot be a Holy God without this requirement being met. So He devised a substitutionary plan to keep people from death when they sinned. It's a substitutionary redemption plan.

In the old covenant, a perfect unblemished animal had to be killed in place of the human that sinned. Before you start complaining about killing animals, note that the sacrificed animals provided food for the Jewish priests and their families. This substitutionary redemption started with a provisional implementation using animals as substitution. Then later the final substitution plan came through the death of Jesus the only perfect sinless human. God Himself provided the way for us to reconcile with Him. The prophet Isaiah prophesied this thousands of years before the coming of Christ:

Isaiah 59:16

He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

5.1 Summarizing from the Bible, with focus on the sin-redemption parts:

Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - Animal sacrifices & other offerings.
Moses - Animal sacrifices and other offerings; the Law defined on tablets.
Jesus - The perfect sacrifice on the cross - The Lord's Prayer daily to receive the Bread of life.

In the old covenant, God started His sin-redemption drive with Adam and Eve after they were expelled from the Garden. He showed them how to present animal sacrifices to Him for the forgiveness of their sins, then made clothes for them from the sacrificed animal skins. Genesis 3:21, The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Implying that animals had to be killed instead of them, as sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sins. That was when the provisional redemption plan started, and lasted until Jesus came, who provided the real and final redemption plan.

The old-covenant endured all the way through the days of Noah, Abraham, and Jacob. Then God further legalized it by giving Moses more specific and detailed instructions on how to present sacrifices as a substitution for all types of sins. Hundreds of commandments, that Moses documented in the old-testament books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. This was the official proxy provisional law of God in preparation for the final covenant through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Jesus came, and died on our behalf once and for all. And eliminated the need for old-covenant sacrifices etc... Then, only 10 commandments remained because Jesus' death fulfilled the rest of them. And now we live in the new-covenant with God, as described in the New-Testament books of the Bible. We, Christians view the Old Testament as the first part of Christian history. Although the Old-Testament is actually the Tora, the book of the law for the Jews, we consider it as a part of the Christian Bible. Jesus Himself often referenced scripture from the Old-Testament. The Old Testament is also filled with stories that teach us about God's personality and His ways of dealing with people.

6. Christianity & Judaism - A Parallel

God's personality and ways of dealing with His people have been very consistent throughout history, from the Jewish days to the Christian days. Aside from the fact that Jesus fulfilled the old covenant law, there are clear parallels in God's ways that carried over to the new covenant. The Biblical facts pointing to this parallel between the Jewish and Christian covenants are highlighted in this section. They provide further evidence that the underlying basic ways of God have not changed now that we are Christians. Which further explains the significance of the Lord's Prayer and its perfectly designed wording.

Churches got too carried away with declaring which parts of the Old Covenant Jesus fulfilled.

These 2 requirements carried over to the New Covenant, but churches don't know that:

Daily renewal
Eating of the sacrifice

The 1st Parallel - God's Old and New Covenants

Jews Old-Covenant:

God chose to start with an old-covenant before Christ using a proxy redemption plan of substitutionary offerings and sacrifices, paving the way for the final plan, the coming of the Messiah. Several verses in Exodus and Deuteronomy clearly stated that the Jews were God's chosen people. Example:

Exodus 19:5 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine.

Christians New-Covenant:

The new-covenant, Jesus the perfect and final sacrifice fulfilled the old law and nailed it to the cross - He purchased those who believed in Him with His blood, and they became His, meaning saved.

Galatians 3:13 Christ bought us with His blood and made us free from the Law.

John 14:15-16 [Jesus:] “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.

The 2nd Parallel - The Daily Requirement

Jews Old-Covenant:

When the Jewish people sinned, God's instructions were to present daily sacrifices to the Lord to atone for their sins. In other words, although sin separated them from God, the Jewish people that sinned did not stop being God's chosen people. They remained God's chosen people as long as the daily sacrifices were presented as instructed (Exodus 29:38-39). No blanket forgiveness for life.

Christians New-Covenant:

When the Christian believers sinned, Jesus having completely fulfilled God's substitutionary requirement, provided the perfect spiritual prayer for the forgiveness of sins, the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke11:2-4). As long as this prayer is prayed daily as He instructed, a Christian remains in Jesus, and Jesus remains in him. And only then those Christians remain forgiven and belonging to Jesus. Still no blanket forgiveness for life:

John 15:4

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Yes, Jesus paid the price once and for all, meaning no more sacrifices required. But we are still required to ask for forgiveness of our sins daily, as He commanded in the Lord's Prayer. This fact is so misunderstood in the Protestant world!!!! They keep saying things like "...what?... What are you talking about "daily"?... Jesus paid the price once and for all... nothing else to do..." So misunderstood! They're brainwashed; not seeing clearly; not listening to everything Jesus said.

Note, the big difference is the Jews performed works of the flesh as required by the "law", by repeating new sacrifices daily. The Christians pray the Lord's Prayer in their hearts as Jesus commanded, which is not works of the flesh nor repeating sacrifices! It is not "law"; it is a spiritual act of daily praying for forgiveness based on the same perfect sacrifice. It is part of God's spiritual design. He turned Jesus' sacrifice into "Bread of life" that He gives to people daily, when we pray the Lord's Prayer and mean it correctly.

Both the old and new covenants accomplished the same 2 objectives for God:

Daily forgiveness of sins
Keep the relationship with God daily.

The 3rd Parallel - The Eating of the Sacrifice

The Jewish priests ate the sacrificed offerings, and the Christians eat the Bread, the spiritual Bread of life, Jesus Himself.

For God's redemption design to work, the sacrifice (on our behalf) must be eaten to receive forgiveness of sins:

Old-covenant: Jews ate the sacrifice for forgiveness; they physically ate it.
New-covenant: Christians eat the Bread of life for forgiveness, we spiritually eat it by faith, when we pray the Lord's Prayer.

Jews Old-Covenant:

Most animal sacrifices and grain offerings served as food for the priests and their families as instructed by God (see the last section at the bottom of this page). God's instructions to the Priests in Leviticus were to present part of the sacrifice as burnt offering to the Lord, and the majority remainder of it to be eaten by the Priests and their families that same day as atonement for sins. So the eating of sacrifices started back in those days. Then

Jesus did the same by informing us He's the sacrificial Bread we must eat for forgiveness of sins.

Exodus 29:31-33

“Take the ram for the ordination and cook the meat in a sacred place. At the entrance to the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration...

Leviticus 6:25-26

“Tell Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before the LORD; it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it; it must be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.

Leviticus 10:17

Moses asked them, “Why didn’t you eat the offering for sin in the holy place? It is very holy and was given to you to take away the sins of the congregation and to make peace with the Lord for them.

Christians New-Covenant:

Jesus as the perfect and final sacrifice, said His sacrifice on the cross turned into a "Bread of life" that God the Father gives us when we ask, and we should eat for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord's Prayer provides the spiritual method of eating this Bread. And no, you don't have to go to a Catholic church and chew on their Eucharist bread. It is a spiritual Bread, effective only when the Lord's Prayer is genuinely prayed daily and properly with the correct Bread meaning.

John 6:33, 6:51
Jesus said: "...my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

John 6:57
…the one who “feeds” on me…

Paul also referred to the Jewish eating of sacrifices when explaining the new covenant of Jesus to the gentiles:

1 Corinthians 10:18

Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

The 4th Parallel - How to Approach God

Jews Old-Covenant:

In the old covenant, there was always a strict and proper protocol for approaching God. Example, Moses had to remove his sandals when at the burning bush. The Jewish people when Moses was talking to God, had to stay a distance away from the foot of the mountain. And in the Jewish law only the high priest from the tribe of Levi, could enter the inner room the Holy place with God's presence, and only after executing the requirements precisely.

Christians New-Covenant:

Today the death of Jesus on the cross gave us direct access to speak to God and call Him "our Father", but this does not mean that God is now your bestie. There is still a proper spiritual protocol to approaching God. Jesus' prayer shows us exactly how to do it. And note, God will hear you better if you pray this prayer on your knees in private. Kneeling is a symbol of humility, worship, and reverend to God. "Kneeling" was mentioned hundreds of times in the old-testament about the Jews "bending their knees" to other gods, which grieved God tremendously. This teaches us about God's personality, for example how much the act of "kneeling" means to Him; it is the perfect gesture for worshiping. Our relationship with God is, He is our God and we are His children, not His friends as in equal. Learning this, is part of the spiritual growing that God expects of us.

The Jews had a long list of strict commandments, detailed and sometimes difficult requirements, to execute twice a day, and all for what? Forgiveness of their sins! All this work, daily, for the forgiveness of sins, so they remain reconciled with God.

Then Jesus came and fulfilled all this, and turned it into a simple spiritual prayer to be prayed daily. Although Jesus fulfilled all the old-covenant requirements, we are still on the daily schedule with God!! You see, there is no blanket statement like "covered by the blood" and move on in life. God would never do it this way.

God's personality has always been the same - reconcile with Him on a daily basis. Thus the Lord's Prayer to accomplish this.

7. Was Jesus' Teaching only for the Jews, and Paul's for the Gentiles?

No! Both of their teachings were for the whole world.

And whenever there is discrepancy between the two, Jesus who is God in the flesh, would be my reference point for correctness.

Paul said exactly the same thing here:

1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬-‭3

"These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing."

Former Jews who became Christians and Gentiles who became Christians have the exact same salvation plan from God, not two new covenants, one, with the exact same commands from Jesus that apply to all. Keep reading below for biblical references on this.

The problem with Protestant doctrine is they could not reconcile what Paul said with what Jesus said resulting in a domino effect of missing so many crucial truths. Example of differences between Jesus' and Paul's teachings:

- Jesus gave us many commands and parables, including praying the Lord's Prayer daily.

- Paul's main message was: "by faith alone", nothing else to do. Which meant no added works of the law of Moses, but Protestants reject this explanation.

7.1 Jesus' teaching was for the whole world

Jesus said in Matthew 28:20: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..., and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." That was Jesus after resurrection.

There are two distinct periods / roles in Jesus' ministry:

- Pre-Resurrection

- Post-Resurrection

7.1.1 Pre-Resurrection

Before His death on the cross, Jesus was God's promised Messiah to the Jews. He had to limit His preaching and miracles to the Jews. But the Protestants ran with these misunderstood Bible references as final answer:

Matthew 10:5-6

Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 15:24

He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

7.1.2 Post-Resurrection

Jesus was given "all authority in heaven and on earth..." Effectively, He was no longer only a Jew! He became the Messiah for the whole world.

Matthew 28:17-20

When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Notes: This was Jesus after resurrection, telling His Jewish disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations" (not just the Jews), "and teach them to obey everything Jesus had commanded them".

This reference provides a strong undisputable answer to all those who misunderstood the Scripture, thinking Jesus' teaching was for the Jews, and Paul taught the gentiles! With this clarification there is no excuse for protestants to continue in their ways anymore.

Everything God the Son, Jesus Christ, said as documented in the 4 Gospels, applies to the whole world. Everything! No exception! From the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, to the Lord's Prayer with the "bread" meaning His flesh, to the rest of the scripture in the 4 Gospels, all apply to the whole world, including Christians and non-Christians - "all nations"!

His helper, the human Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, taught the same Jesus message, but making high-level statements because he did not have access to the details in the 4 Gospels, which were written and published after his death. Therefore Paul could not even reference verses from the New Testament.

Related Subjects:

Are We True Christians?

God's Perspective

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The Lord's Prayer

A Bible study on the true meaning of the Lord's Prayer. A crucial interpretation unknown to most churches and people!

CONTENT

1. The Lord's Prayer Is Severely Misunderstood

1.1 The Daily Bread of Life

Is "The Bread" Both Earthly & Spiritual Needs?

So how Exactly do we Receive this "Bread of life"?

1.2 Must Forgive Others - Those who Don't Forgive Others Are Not Forgiven = "Evildoers"!!

1.3 Your Kingdom Come

1.4 Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil

1.5 The Complete Lord's Prayer Explanation Summary

How Fast Should We Pray This Prayer?

1.6 Did Jesus Give Us the Pattern to Pray? Or We Should Use His Words?

The Lord's Prayer prayed once a day is not a repetitive "babbling on" prayer. Look at what Jesus said:

1.7 The Overlooked Commandment​

1.8 How Does the Lord's Prayer Fit with the Catholic Eucharist / Communion?

1.9 Closing Notes

Related Subjects:

1.10 Bible references supporting this clarification of the "daily Bread"

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2. What Does "Believe In Jesus" Really Mean?

2.1 Some of Jesus' Commands:

2.2 And Here is What "Believe in Jesus" Does Not Mean:

2.3 Continuously Shouting "I Love You Jesus", Is not Good Enough?

2.4 By Faith Alone?

Do you have a favorite verse? Please stop that!

Are you a "Do Nothing" Believer?

3. Why didn't Paul Preach the Lord's Prayer?

3.1 Most of Paul's Writings were Follow-up Letters not the Complete Message

3.2 Paul's References to the Lord's Prayer

3.3 Other Key Facts about Paul

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4. We're Good People, What Sins?

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4.1 We're All Equally Sinners and in Need of a Redemption Plan to Reconcile with God

5. Biblical Sin-Redemption Chronology

5.1 Summarizing from the Bible, with focus on the sin-redemption parts:

6. Christianity & Judaism - A Parallel

The 1st Parallel - God's Old and New Covenants

The 2nd Parallel - The Daily Requirement

The 3rd Parallel - The Eating of the Sacrifice

The 4th Parallel - How to Approach God

7. Was Jesus' Teaching only for the Jews, and Paul's for the Gentiles?

7.1 Jesus' teaching was for the whole world

7.1.1 Pre-Resurrection

7.1.2 Post-Resurrection

Related Subjects:

1.7 The Overlooked Commandment