COMMANDMENT 20: When You Pray (Pt. 2)

“. . . use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do.” Mt. 6:7

At first glance, we might take this as a denunciation of liturgical prayer, but the next verse clearly shows the target of our Lord’s instruction: “for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” It is clearly a reproof of the idea that God must constantly be reminded of our wants and needs.

This may have been a practice of the spiritual leaders of Jesus’ time, hence the instruction to avoid such things. There is historical evidence that the early disciples had a liturgy that they followed in the service, but this was more of a united confession of their beliefs and probably not meant to be a structure for prayer.

Adam Clarke wrote the following in his commentary on Matthew 6 verse 7:  

“It was a maxim among the Jews, that he who multiplies prayer, must be heard. This is correct, if it only imply perseverance in supplication; but if it be used to signify the multiplying of words, or even forms of prayer, it will necessarily produce the evil which our Lord reprehends: Be not as the heathen - use not vain repetition, etc. Even the Christian Churches in India have copied this vain repetition work; and in it the Roman Catholic, the Armenian, and the Greek Churches strive to excel.”

For the extreme example of this, we need only to look at the Buddhist practice of emptying the mind and heart through the repetitive chanting of 'Ommmm'. Though this may indeed provide a sense of inner peace with self, it cannot give us peace with God. When we pass out of this life and stand before the Holy God in judgment, inner peace will not be the topic of discussion. It is sin that separates us from God, not a lack of inner peace. God’s Solution to the problem is the blood of Christ; the Sacrifice of the Pure and Innocent Lamb of God.

We are reconciled to God by the blood of his son Jesus. As the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews concluded, “. . . without the shedding of blood there is no remission (of sins).” (Heb. 9:22b)

Prayer to the God of the Bible is not the practice of reconciliation, it is a privilege extended to those who have already been reconciled.  Christian prayer is not about emptying ourselves of impurity, it is communion with the One who is himself pure. Prayer renews the hope of God’s promises and invites the Holy Spirit to inspect the heart of the believer. King David wrote:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. 139:23, 24)

Jesus taught his disciples the process of prayer telling them it was not a repeating of some complex regimen of chants, or a voluminous oratory for others to hear. Neither was it a chance to tell God something he did not already know about their personal situation. Instead, Jesus presented prayer as recognition of the holiness, authority, per-eminence, and beneficence of Almighty God; an acknowledgment of the believer’s obligation to do for others as God has done for us, and a confession of belief in the coming eternal Kingdom of holiness and peace. We pray for the mercy and guidance of Almighty God and for protection from the temptations of the world and from the evil one himself.

Religion always seeks a formula. Thus, some light candles or do penance hoping to move God through their devotion and sacrifice. The bigger the problem, the more candles they light or the larger their penance must be. Roman Catholics repeat ‘Hail Marys’ or ‘Our Fathers’ hoping to appease God’s anger. The bigger the sin, the more times the formula must repeated.

Though there may be genuine contrition expressed through these practices, God has a better way: come into the Holy Place and open your heart to God in prayer. Overmuch speaking is not required; neither do we need to fear getting the formula wrong. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Ps. 51:17  

*As a side note, this may also have implications in the misuse of the gift of tongues, which we see in some Pentecostal or Charismatic meetings when the use of tongues is not according to scripture. The word translated here as 'vain repetitions' is the Greek word battologeō (bat-tol-og-eh'-o) from the root word Battos (a proverbial stammerer) to stutter, that is, (by implication) to prate tediously: to use vain repetitions. (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance).  The ecstatic flurry of tongue speaking during a religious service has little support in scripture, and it is wise to have elders established in the congregation who can judge these things properly for the benefit of the church and those who may be visiting. To this effect Paul writes, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” (1Co 14:18.19)