Give us this day our daily bread.....
Conclusion of Part 1 ~~ Since the actual meaning of the Greek word epiousios, which English scholars have traditionally translated daily, is unknown, how do we resolve the problem of what daily bread means?
Here's what Kenneth Bailey suggests:
The early fathers of the church had two basic solutions to the mystery of this word's meaning, and each solution contained two alternatives.
Solution 1:...some early Christian writers suggested that this word referred to time. But what kind of time?
1a. Some interpreted epiousios to refer to today.
That's how our English versions have translated it
and Cyril of Jerusalem in the 4th century, and others, held this view.
1b. Some interpreted epiousios to refer to time, but to tomorrow, not to today. So their translation would be "Give us our bread of tomorrow." Latin scholar Jerome, who said he had a Gospel of the Hebrews, written in Hebrew, endorsed this view.
This view works well with the story of the Hebrews in the wilderness and their gift of manna from God. And later it came to mean the bread we will eat with Messiah in the promised great banquet of all believers at the end of history. With this interpretation, the bread of tomorrow became the bread of the Lord's Supper.
Solution 2:...Other church leaders concluded that the phrase had nothing to do with time at all. It had to do with amount. So how much bread should we pray for?
2a. Some said the faithful should ask for just enough to stay alive, the bread of subsistence.
That is the way most Arabic-speaking Christians in the Middle East pray the Lord's Prayer today. Origen himself leaned toward this interpretation, as did Chrysostom, the great 4th-century Greek preacher of Antioch.
2b. The Syriac Church of the Middle East agreed that epiousios has to do with amount, not time, but
opted to translate the word to mean the bread we need, not just the amount we need to stay alive.
This would mean that we might need just a small amount to stay alive, but for our sense of well-being we would be better off if we had some more in the pantry. This alternative is found in the 4th-century Syriac translation of the Gospels, call the "Peshitta."
So from no solution to understanding epiousios we now have four possibilities:
1. the bread of today (time)
2. the bread of tomorrow (time)
3. just enough bread to keep us alive (amount)
4. the bread we need (amount)
Since each of these ideas was found in the early church, how do we choose?
[I remember listening to a missionary to Korea many years ago. He had served in Korea following the Korean Conflict on the 1950's. His ministry was to the vast numbers of Korean orphans. He founded many orphanages for them, and, as a part of that great ministry, formed them into choirs and they toured the US for years as "The Korean Orphan Choir."
Anyway, I remember he said that they gathered up the children from the streets, brought them into the orphanages and fed them immediately. Most were literally starving to death.
The missionaries noticed that the children were still anxious, and slept poorly. They decided to give each child a small loaf of bread to clutch in their hands when they tucked them into bed each night. Holding that piece of bread was security for them-- they knew they had food for the next day -- and they began to sleep peacefully!]
Solution 1:...some early Christian writers suggested that this word referred to time. But what kind of time?
1a. Some interpreted epiousios to refer to today.
That's how our English versions have translated it
and Cyril of Jerusalem in the 4th century, and others, held this view.
1b. Some interpreted epiousios to refer to time, but to tomorrow, not to today. So their translation would be "Give us our bread of tomorrow." Latin scholar Jerome, who said he had a Gospel of the Hebrews, written in Hebrew, endorsed this view.
This view works well with the story of the Hebrews in the wilderness and their gift of manna from God. And later it came to mean the bread we will eat with Messiah in the promised great banquet of all believers at the end of history. With this interpretation, the bread of tomorrow became the bread of the Lord's Supper.
Solution 2:...Other church leaders concluded that the phrase had nothing to do with time at all. It had to do with amount. So how much bread should we pray for?
2a. Some said the faithful should ask for just enough to stay alive, the bread of subsistence.
That is the way most Arabic-speaking Christians in the Middle East pray the Lord's Prayer today. Origen himself leaned toward this interpretation, as did Chrysostom, the great 4th-century Greek preacher of Antioch.
2b. The Syriac Church of the Middle East agreed that epiousios has to do with amount, not time, but
opted to translate the word to mean the bread we need, not just the amount we need to stay alive.
This would mean that we might need just a small amount to stay alive, but for our sense of well-being we would be better off if we had some more in the pantry. This alternative is found in the 4th-century Syriac translation of the Gospels, call the "Peshitta."
So from no solution to understanding epiousios we now have four possibilities:
1. the bread of today (time)
2. the bread of tomorrow (time)
3. just enough bread to keep us alive (amount)
4. the bread we need (amount)
Since each of these ideas was found in the early church, how do we choose?
[I remember listening to a missionary to Korea many years ago. He had served in Korea following the Korean Conflict on the 1950's. His ministry was to the vast numbers of Korean orphans. He founded many orphanages for them, and, as a part of that great ministry, formed them into choirs and they toured the US for years as "The Korean Orphan Choir."
Anyway, I remember he said that they gathered up the children from the streets, brought them into the orphanages and fed them immediately. Most were literally starving to death.
The missionaries noticed that the children were still anxious, and slept poorly. They decided to give each child a small loaf of bread to clutch in their hands when they tucked them into bed each night. Holding that piece of bread was security for them-- they knew they had food for the next day -- and they began to sleep peacefully!]
A really remarkable answer - see Part 3
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