The main theme of the general council is known to many Christians from the Lord's prayer. It forms its festive conclusion. It is the statement of thanksgiving (doxology). The kingdom is the kingdom of God (paragraph 1); the power means the creative power of God (Is 40.26; Psalm 104; Rom 1.20), which is spoken of in the context of the expected coming of the new aeon and the resurrection of man (Mk 13.26 and others; compare 1 Cor 6.14; 15.43) and above all in the setting of the accomplished resurrection of Jesus (Rom 1.4; 1 Cor 1.24). The goal of the work of God's power is encounter with God (paragraph 1.4; compare Mt 5.8; 1 Cor 13.12). The glory is not fame in the sense of popularity which passes so quickly. In the Bible, glory is chiefly the dynamic sovereignty of God, the fact that his goodness is acknowledged. God already has his glory "in heaven," but the alienated world as a whole does not participate in it. Only in the confession of the faithful does it break into this world.

When the praying person praises God in this way, it is an expression of his confidence that God is able to fulfil his request, even though it may be in another way than one might have imagined. God's power creates a new space while we still could see nothing other than death, destruction, and the end of life. We pray "Thy kingdom come" with confidence because we also confess "Thine is the kingdom," which means, Thou art able to establish Thy kingdom. The great power of faith consists of the fact that one becomes involved in something which holds the future, which God already has in his hands now. According to John Calvin, it is an expression of believing trust.

One might object here that human activity is thereby weakened. But in reality the reverse is true, something which dialectical philosophy has discovered; we prefer to become involved in something about which we know that it has a future even without our involvement, which "supports" us when we perhaps fail.

The biblical text and the traditional text

For many Christians it was a surprise to find in newer Bible translations that the words, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory," are put in brackets or in the footnotes. These words do not belong to the oldest text of the Lord's prayer according to Mt 6.13b. In the early Christian treatise, "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" (early second century), this doxology is first cited, and then only in the two-part form, Thine is the power and the glory. This is the reading we find in the old Syrian and Egyptian (Coptic) translations. The first manuscripts of the New Testament which contained the threefold doxology derive from Byzantium and rose in the fifth century. We must admit that our Catholic brothers and sisters pray the Lord's prayer in its more original form, without the doxology at the end.

Does that mean that the major theme of our general council is unbiblical? We cannot say that in such a way. This doxology can be found almost literally in the Old Testament, in 1 Chr 29.11-13, where we read these words in David's prayer. In our oral tradition, they belong to the context of the Lord's prayer.

The confession of faith as a living Christian tradition

Protestantism declared the Bible to be the only standard of faith. This was already formulated by the Bohemian Reformation in the Agreement of Cheb (Eger) in 1432. That was correct, for the biblical canon is a witness which the church produced. And yet one also needs in the church a confession of faith which helps us to orient ourselves in the Bible. We have the Apostles' Creed and the various confessions which help us to find the centre of the biblical message. In the period of their emergence, the confessions articulated the gospel understandably. Today, we have to interpret the classic confessions. However, in terms of content, our understanding of Scripture is dependent upon them. The new witness must be prepared by the interpretation and the explanation of the old documents of the faith and the liturgical texts.

The more we deal with relevant themes today, the more urgent is the need to orient ourselves in our own tradition, for without that tradition we cannot retain our own identity, and we become defenceless against external influences (compare paragraph 4.2). But one should not glorify tradition as is done in some parts of the oikumene. Not every tradition is the true tradition of confession.

The false traditions must be uncovered and rejected through comparison with the gospel (for example 1 Cor 15.3b-5) as the core of the authentic ecumenical tradition. As Protestants, we should then add: ...and the best interpretation of the gospel is the Pauline doctrine of the justification of the sinner. However, in recent years it has become progressively clearer that the gospel is also to be found in the pre-Pauline formulations of faith and in the testimony of the various written gospels, and so, with reference to our major theme ("Thine is the kingdom..."), we shall do our interpretation from that direction. The gospel as both message and witness thus helps us to find the centre of Scripture, and the binding nature of Scripture is then formulated and testified to in the confessions. Without a personal confession, as the most living tradition of all, one cannot authentically pass on the Bible. The alternative between Scripture and Tradition was a formulation which was conditioned by a specific period of time. The more important question is whether it is the gospel which has been passed on as the centre of Scripture and as the norm for all other traditions in the church.

The sentence, "Thine is the kingdom and the power and Glory forever," belongs as a doxology to the liturgical tradition which is very close to the centre of Scripture. It is a part of the tradition which relates the Reformation to the eastern churches, and which is not alien to Catholicism. The praying person expresses in this way his certainty that Jesus was competent to teach "Thy kingdom come," because through Jesus' personal history he revealed and opened up the kingdom of God to us (paragraph 2.2). And that is virtually the same content as the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This traditional epilogue to the Lord's prayer protects the petition for the coming of the kingdom from being understood as an exorcism, which we derive from the Jewish prayer, the Kaddish, which belonged at the time to the synagogical liturgy. The praying person who sincerely says "Thine is the kingdom" knows that God is God and that he can still address him as Father, because of his grace.

Critical research and faith

The critical investigation of the biblical text began in the earliest days of the church, and it is therefore the oldest discipline of contemporary scientific research of the Bible. Today, for example, text criticism is carried on ecumenically, and most of the great churches acknowledge its results. Our Bible translations are based upon the critical editions of the Hebrew and Greek texts. In some circles of the church, scientific research of the Bible meets with suspicion. This is partially understandable, since secular research also has its secular roots. We often hear, thus, that this research (a) weakens the faith and (b) is not in agreement itself and thus fluctuates in its judgments.

The first objection derives from experience with those critics for whom the kingdom of God has become an idea or an eternal principle. These opinions are not, however, the results of scientific research but are rather ideological prejudices of the researcher concerned. Their error was and is not their critical stance but rather their inadequate critical stance which is not capable of subjecting their own prejudices to criticism. Basically, scientific criticism is a part of human self-criticism, or repentance. Among other things, it is supposed to set aside the human barriers which separate us from Jesus. It is a means of remembrance, appropriate to our possibilities, which has its firm place in the church's life (see the Lord's supper, paragraph 2.1) as the consequence of the incarnation of God. The solution is not to flee from criticism, but rather it is the consistent criticism which "tests the spirits' (1 John 4.1) and seeks the real Jesus (Phil 2.7f; compare 1 Jn 4.2). It is the temptation of critical research to become arrogant and to deteriorate into an end unto itself. But that is an abuse which can be avoided in faith, while the rejection of criticism must lead necessarily to superstition.

The second objection is based upon a superficial observation. The results of research do sometimes contradict themselves, and they are often revised. But research is not going in circles. There is always a part of the results which remains and cannot be reversed. Critical research has confirmed that some texts are reports (beginning with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist) while others are churchly interpretations, which express primarily the significance of Jesus (the discourses of Jesus in John's gospel). Research has also testified to the relative reliability of the biblical text. There are very few variants which alter the meaning of the text.

Scientific research can obviously not replace the decision of faith, but it contributes to the clarification of our situation. By setting aside the false supports, the decision of faith is focused. The gospel does not need to have any fear of the truth. Thus, the critical examination of the preserved biblical manuscripts has not threatened faith. Rather, it has rescued our common Bible. Otherwise, the unintentional and also intentional alterations of the text would have led to the emergence of different Bibles. That was in fact happening towards the end of the fourth century when Jerome began to translate the Bible anew into Latin.

The scientific research of Scripture is only a part of its interpretation, the interpretation of the gospel which belongs to mission. The examination of the biblical text helps us not only to repeat the biblical statements but also to interpret them, which is to confront the contemporary church, and through it, contemporary mankind with the Bible's concern.

There are many methods of biblical exposition, for reality cannot be grasped in one single universal way. We should not regard the varying methods as opposites, as long as the various researchers are aware of the preliminary and temporary nature of their work (compare paragraph 1.2). The church should remind them of that fact. In his love, God is ahead of our ideas and our theology, and the kingdom of God in its fullness is still beyond the horizon we can see, but we can and should point out the direction of the way and avoid false turnings, through critical examination of our prejudices.

I know that there are Christians living in countries where there is hunger or brutal racial discrimination, and where learned exegesis would be a luxury. They need bread and justice, and they are often robbed of these by nations which are externally both Christian and scholarly. It would be hypocritical if we were to underestimate them as theologically less educated. Sometimes in their charismatic way they find texts which truly speak to their situation (for example, Is 61.1f; Lk 6.20). However, much of our future depends upon whether we will be able to interact with specialized biblical exegesis, to understand its methods, and to receive its results. This is one of the great tasks of contemporary Christendom. Faith without self-examination (without "testing the spirits") deteriorates into superstition; research without the hope of faith leads to despair.

Questions

How do you understand the relationship between "Thy kingdom come" and "Thine is the kingdom," when you pray the Lord's prayer?
Does your Bible somehow indicate that the doxology does not belong to the oldest text of the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6?
How do you look upon the contribution of scientific exegesis to the oikumene? Do you use some Bible commentaries, textbooks, lexica? Have you read anything about the historical periods in which the biblical accounts took place?
Where are the theological students of your church educated? What do you expect from your theological faculties or seminaries?