This is the doxology of the Lord's Prayer. A doxology is an expression of praise to God. In general it may be a short song attached to the end of a longer hymn or passage or sermon, but from what I've read that's not required. Perhaps the most famous example is commonly know as “The Doxology.” The real title is "Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow," if you know that little ditty. The doxology here in Matthew concludes the Lord's Prayer with praise for God as a confirmation that he will hear us.
Perhaps I should rephrase that. This doxology used to be in Matthew. It is still in some versions, but is now usually only mentioned as a footnote. It has fallen out of favor with most scholars these days because it is nowhere to be found in the oldest known manuscripts of the Bible. The oldest available usage is in the Didache (otherwise known as the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. didache means teaching) which is traced to the late first, early second century. For my tastes that's old enough to be worth mentioning even though Jesus probably didn't end his prayer with it.
The most confusing part of my pictorial representation may be the singing cornucopia. By process of elimination, I'm sure you figured out that it symbolizes glory. After mulling over several definitions of glory (none that were easy to draw), I found one directly referencing God as “adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving.” The cornucopia, being an ancient symbol of food and abundance, has come to be something of a school-age logo for the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving. Add some music behind it for praise, and BAM! You've got yourself some glory.
In closing out this series, I would like to brag about all this awesome commentary I came up with for the Lord's Prayer, but in truth, a lot of the general outline came from “God's Psychiatry” written by Charles L. Allen. It's a good read for fundamental principles of Christianity and includes three other famous passages from the Bible. I expect I'll be pulling from it for future posts.
If your cornucopia doubles as an mp3 player:
Perhaps I should rephrase that. This doxology used to be in Matthew. It is still in some versions, but is now usually only mentioned as a footnote. It has fallen out of favor with most scholars these days because it is nowhere to be found in the oldest known manuscripts of the Bible. The oldest available usage is in the Didache (otherwise known as the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. didache means teaching) which is traced to the late first, early second century. For my tastes that's old enough to be worth mentioning even though Jesus probably didn't end his prayer with it.
The most confusing part of my pictorial representation may be the singing cornucopia. By process of elimination, I'm sure you figured out that it symbolizes glory. After mulling over several definitions of glory (none that were easy to draw), I found one directly referencing God as “adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving.” The cornucopia, being an ancient symbol of food and abundance, has come to be something of a school-age logo for the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving. Add some music behind it for praise, and BAM! You've got yourself some glory.
In closing out this series, I would like to brag about all this awesome commentary I came up with for the Lord's Prayer, but in truth, a lot of the general outline came from “God's Psychiatry” written by Charles L. Allen. It's a good read for fundamental principles of Christianity and includes three other famous passages from the Bible. I expect I'll be pulling from it for future posts.
If your cornucopia doubles as an mp3 player:
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