6:10 May your kingdom come (ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου). The second God-oriented petition is concerned mainly with the eschaton (末世). The God-petitions are all tied together in the sense that they all reflect a desire for the coming of the final kingdom (cf. 1 Cor 16:22; Rev 22:20). God’s name will never be finally honored until Christ’s return.
Yet there is also an ABA pattern in the sense that the eschatological element is primarily in this second petition, surrounded by two that are perhaps primarily related to the present community. So while this second petition includes a desire that the kingdom come upon unbelievers (i.e., evangelism) and that God’s people experience the kingdom in a new way (i.e., spiritual growth), it primarily centers on a desire for this world to end. The Jews said that any prayer that fails to ask for the kingdom is not a true prayer. So this prayer asks for the present kingdom to manifest itself in new ways, but especially asks that God end this present order and bring the kingdom in fullness.[1]
耶穌在主禱文教導基督徒禱告父神的時候,要祈求“你(父)的國降臨”。這包含:祈求天國臨到不信的人(就是藉着福音是他們成為信徒——神在他們內心中掌權)、祈求神的子民以新的方式體驗天國(即屬靈的成長,表明神在他內心中掌權日漸增長)、祈求這個罪惡世界成為過去,讓現今的天國(神掌權)以新的方式顯現出來,尤其是祈求父把現今的次序給終結,讓天國完全降臨。
[1] Osborne, G. R. (2010). Matthew (Vol. 1, p. 228). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.