Can We Properly Call The Lord's Prayer "The Lord's Prayer"?

Solidarity with Christ

Can we call the Lord's Prayer "the Lord's Prayer" or should it be more properly called "the Disciple's Prayer"? I maintain that we should call it the Lord's Prayer. Here is why I think this way. There is a way to confess sin that is not your own.

1) We Have Solidarity with Christ and He with us. Although He had no sin, yet He took upon himself our sin, and made confession as our Head, our Leader, and Savior of our sin. He became a human being.

There are examples in the Old Testament where leaders repented on behalf of their people even though the leaders themselves were not individually guilty. Here are the ones I have found:

Daniel Repents

Daniel 9:3-5 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.


Ezra Repents

Ezra 9:6-7 saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.

Hosea Repents

Hosea 6:1-3 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.
Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”

Joshua Repents

Joshua 7:6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.


Moses Repents

Exodus 34:9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Nehemiah Repents

Nehemiah 1:5-7 And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned.
We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

Solomon Repents

1 Kings 8:30 And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

There are statements by Christ that I think can be read as confessions. Where Christ makes confession of the sins of others by out their sins. I call these confessions because although he is confronting the sin of others, he does not condemn. He only speaks the truth. Why would he do this? To demonstrate his role as The Servant; (Isa 53:11) Not only by confessing sin but by actually bearing it.

A good example of this is found in Mark 10:38-45 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Luke 23:34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

John 13:27 Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

Mark 14:30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

John 4:16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

John 18:23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

Matt 3:15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

2) There is a certain aspect of being in solidarity with others that makes me responsible even if I am not guilty.

In a marriage husband and wife are legally one. The debt of one is the debt of both. So I confess my guilt because of my wife's actions because I consider us one. As a nation I am a member of society. I have solidarity with my countrymen. If they fall under God's judgment I am guilty along with them. This is the condition Daniel found himself in. Today as I think about the abortion laws in the USA I confess "Lord we are a wicked people" "Cleanse our sin and restore our land" Although I have never committed an abortion, I still ask God to forgive us. (not just them) As an American, as a constitutional republic WE are partially responsible WE have allowed it. (I am not suggesting that Christ is taking responsibility for our sin, making himself a cause of it. Rather that Christ as a human being is in solidarity with us in our sin.)

3) A Thought Experiment:

Imagine you are in a locked room and everyone in there with you is an AIDs patient all in various stages of the disease. Every day a man with keys walked past the room. What would you say to him? Would you cry out "Help me!" or "Help us!"?

Jesus was in a similar situation living among us. Here is what he asked the man with the keys (The Father) Jn 17:2 you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And verse 9; I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And verse 21; that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, And verse 26; that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

In this thought experiment I confess, I would be crying out to the man with the keys "Help me, Get me out of here!" Jesus on the other hand prayed "give them eternal life, make them one with me, lets share our love with them" Christ had solidarity with us as a human being but here in John 17 he is asking for solidarity with us in glory! Is it a small thing for Christ to be with me in my confession of sin? It was "to fulfill all righteousness" in order that I might be with Him in glory. Jn 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.