And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

People's New Testament

11:1-4 Rebuking the Pharisees

SUMMARY OF LUKE 11:

Teaching the Disciples to Pray. Parable of the Three Loaves. Earnestness in Prayer. The Charge That Jesus Cast Out Demons by the Aid of Beelzebub. The Sign of Jonas. Dining with a Pharisee. The Pharisees and Lawyers Denounced.

Praying in a certain place. Luke neither tells where nor when.

Teach us to pray. Mt 6:9-13 gives the Lord's prayer, but does not say that the prayer was taught in response to a request. See the notes on Matthew.

Wesley's Notes

11:1 Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples - The Jewish masters used to give their followers some short form of prayer, as a peculiar badge of their relation to them. This it is probable John the Baptist had done. And in this sense it seems to be that the disciples now asked Jesus, to teach them to pray. Accordingly he here repeats that form, which he had before given them in his sermon on the mount, and likewise enlarges on the same head, though still speaking the same things in substance. And this prayer uttered from the heart, and in its true and full meaning, is indeed the badge of a real Christian: for is not he such whose first and most ardent desire is the glory of God, and the happiness of man by the coming of his kingdom? Who asks for no more of this world than his daily bread, longing meantime for the bread that came down from heaven? And whose only desires for himself are forgiveness of sins, (as he heartily forgives others,) and sanctification.

Scofield Reference Notes

[1] teach us to pray

This is the central N.T. passage on prayer. In the Sermon on the Mount Christ had announced the new basis of prayer, viz.: relationship Mt 6:9,28-32. The believer is a child of God through the new birth. See Scofield Note: "Jn 3:3". The clear revelation of this fact at once establishes the reasonableness of prayer; a reasonableness against which the argument from the apparent uniformity of natural law shatters itself. God is more than a Creator, bringing a universe into being, and establishing laws for it; more than a decree-maker determining future events by an eternal fiat. Above all this is the divine family for whom the universe with its laws exists Col 1:16-20 Heb 1:2 2:10,11 Rom 8:17".

When ye pray, say, Our Father." What God habitually does in the material universe concerns the reverent investigator of that universe. What He may do in His own family concerns Him, and them, and is matter for divine promise and revelation. Science, which deals only with natural phenomena, cannot intrude there 1Cor 2:9.

Christ's law of prayer may be thus summarized:

(1) He grounds prayer upon relationship, and reveals God as freely charging himself with all the responsibilities, as His heart glows with all the affections of a Father toward all who believe on Jesus Christ Mt 6:25,32 7:9-11. Prayer, therefore, is a child's petition to an all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful, Father-God.

(2) In the so-called Lord's prayer Christ gives an incomparable model for all prayer. It teaches that right prayer begins with worship; puts the interest of the kingdom before merely personal interest; accepts beforehand the Father's will, whether to grant or withhold; and petitions for present need, leaving the future to the Father's care and love. Used as a form, the Lord's prayer is, dispensationally, upon legal, not church ground; it is not a prayer in the name of Christ (cf) Jn 14:13,14 16:24 and it makes human forgiveness, as under the law it must, the condition of divine forgiveness; an order which grace exactly reverses (cf) Eph 4:32.

(3) Prayer is to be definite Lk 11:5,6 and,

(4) importunate, that is undiscouraged by delayed answers.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 11

Lu 11:1-13. The Disciples Taught to Pray.

1. one, &c.-struck with either the matter or the manner of our Lord's prayers.

as John, &c.-From this reference to John, it is possible that disciple had not heard the Sermon on the Mount. Nothing of John's inner teaching (to his own disciples) has been preserved to us, but we may be sure he never taught his disciples to say, "Our Father."

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-4 Lord, teach us to pray, is a good prayer, and a very needful one, for Jesus Christ only can teach us, by his word and Spirit, how to pray. Lord, teach me what it is to pray; Lord, stir up and quicken me to the duty; Lord, direct me what to pray for; teach me what I should say. Christ taught them a prayer, much the same that he had given before in his sermon upon the mount. There are some differences in the words of the Lord's prayer in Matthew and in Luke, but they are of no moment. Let us in our requests, both for others and for ourselves, come to our heavenly Father, confiding in his power and goodness.