Bible Synapse
Does Jesus commend persistence in prayer or forbid repetition?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
The widow keeps coming to the judge; men “ought always to pray, and not to faint”.
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. …
The friend at midnight gets his bread “because of his importunity”: ask, seek, knock.
And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
“Use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do”, who think they are heard for their many words.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
In Gethsemane Jesus prays a third time, “saying the same words”.
And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
The objection
In Luke, Jesus praises a widow who keeps pestering a judge and a man who keeps knocking at midnight, and teaches that people should always pray and not give up. In Matthew he forbids “vain repetitions”, because the Father knows what we need before we ask. Should we keep on asking or not?
The answer
Jesus forbids empty words, not persistent asking. The Greek battalogeō in Matthew 6:7 means to babble, to pile up words without meaning, and Jesus explains what he has in mind: the heathen “think that they shall be heard for their much speaking”. That is prayer as a technique, as if God could be worn down by sheer quantity, like the prophets of Baal, who called on Baal “from morning even until noon” (1 Kings 18:26). Jesus himself repeated a request in Gethsemane, “saying the same words” (Matthew 26:44), so repetition as such is not the fault.
The parables in Luke draw a different lesson from the same truth about God. They argue from the lesser to the greater: if an unjust judge gives way to a widow who keeps coming, “shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him” (Luke 18:7)? Persistence is the trust of a child who keeps coming to a Father he knows is good (Luke 11:13); babbling is the anxiety of someone who thinks God must be pressured. Matthew’s “your Father knoweth” and Luke’s “ought always to pray” come from the same confidence in God.
From the classic commentators
‘Babble not’ would be a better rendering, both for the form of the word—which in both languages is intended to imitate the sound—and for the sense, which expresses not so much the repetition of the same words as a senseless multiplication of themJamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on Matthew 6:7 (1871)
as the Heathens do, as the worshippers of Baal, from morning till noon, 1 Kings 18:26.John Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Matthew 6:7 (1746–1763)
Sources
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Matthew 6 (1871), at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 6 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Luke 18 (1871), at Bible Hub