If you want to get people in a tizzy, start talking about the alleged omissions in modern Bible translations. If you compare a Bible published in the King James Version with the NIV, NET, CSB, ESV, NASB, and nearly every other translation from the last 70 years,1 you’ll notice a handful of verses that do not appear within the main body of the text.2
I’m not a big conspiracy theory guy, especially where there is nothing nefarious at work. These verses, which appear in the footnotes of many translations, aren’t included in the main text because they’re not found in the oldest manuscripts we have available to us. They seem to be additions. In general, I appreciate this approach to these contested verses. But even so, there’s a value to reading these—especially when one in particular adds to our experience of the text.
Where did the Doxology in the Lord’s Prayer Come From?
While working on an assignment for my seminary program, I spent some time researching and reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). This passage also includes what some see as a missing verse:
“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matthew 6:13b NKJV).
This phrase is a doxology, an expression of praise, paraphrasing 1 Chronicles 29:11 (“Yours,Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,for everything in heaven and earth is yours” [NKJV]).3 While that might not be all that surprising to many of you reading this, it’s a fact I hadn’t considered until recently. Why would later manuscripts, like those found in the Textus Receptus, include this doxology?
The short version? Because the early church did. They didn’t add it to the text of Scripture, as far as we know. But they did make the connection in the Didache, a first-century summary of the Apostles’ teaching.4 There, believers are commanded to pray the Lord’s Prayer three times daily—including this doxology:
“Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, as in Heaven so also upon earth; give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into trial, but deliver us from the Evil One, for thine is the power and the glory for ever” (Didache 8.2).
So it seems reasonable to say that the doxology found its way into later manuscripts of Matthew because of this tradition.
The Doxological Nature of Prayer
Even though this early appearance doesn’t mean that it should be considered canon, the doxology’s presence is a reminder of the overall nature of the prayer. From beginning to end, the Lord’s prayer is a call to “hallow” the Lord’s name. Its thought, structure, and composition center our hearts on a desire to see God’s holiness made known to all people, everywhere.5
Rather than reading each line of the prayer as independent clauses, we should see the prayer as a whole. Every “your” statement builds one on top of the other, doubling down on the holiness of God, with every petition serving the greater end of declaring that all power and glory and honor belong to him.
How the “Missing” Verse Leads Me to Worship
This class assignment came at just the right time for me. I’ve shared elsewhere that 2024 has been one of the most challenging years we’ve had in a long time. Multiple deaths. Health scares. The interpersonal earthquakes caused by people we love being sent out to follow their calling. It’s been a lot. There have been many days when I haven’t had more than a groan for what I can pray.
Reading the Lord’s Prayer with this in mind takes my focus off my needs. It makes the prayer a gateway for worship. To focus less on my “daily bread” and more on God’s will being done. And while I don’t always have the words I need to pray, I do have these words. And so I’ve found myself praying these words Jesus taught and the Holy Spirit inspired. For God’s name to be hallowed. For his kingdom to come, and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I need him to provide for our needs. I want to be a conduit of grace. And I want the testing of my faith would lead to his name being hallowed ever more.
This is the perspective I need in this particular season. And that’s the gift that this “missing” verse gave me.
Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash
- The most notable exception is the New King James Version, which used the same manuscript collections as the KJV as its foundation. ↩︎
- These include Mathew 17:21; 18:11; 23:14; Mark 7:16; 9:44; 9:46; 11:26; 15:28, Luke 17:36; John 5:4; Acts 8:37; 5:34; 24:7; 28:29; and Romans 16:24. ↩︎
- Doxologies appear all over the Bible, in places like the Psalms (Psalm 41:13;72:19;89:52;106:48), Paul’s epistles (Romans 11:33–36; 16:27; Ephesians 3:21;1 Timothy 1:17) and the end of Jude (Jude 24-25). ↩︎
- While non-canonical, the Didache is another example of the historical credibility and consistency of Christian doctrine and practice. ↩︎
- Charles Talbert, “Lord’s Prayer,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. Chad Brand et al. (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1050-51. ↩︎
