Mat 6:10 Your kingdom come...
Mat 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as in heaven.
Alternative: Your rule is under way. Your desires are coming into being as in the universe and on the world.
The alternative above follows the word order of the Greek and highlights the main ways in which the words were understood before the NT.
In the last post, we pointed out how, according to Christ, only God is true "being." Everything else, both heaven and earth, is "becoming. In this verse, Christ made the second part of this idea explicit. The word translated as "done" (from "your will be done") is ginomai, which means "to become" not "to do." A literal translation of this phrase would be "Your will is becoming [real] on earth and in heaven."
(Note: the "as" in the common translation that indicates that God's will is more manifest in heave, is simply wrong. In Greek, the word is kai, which is "and.") The tense of the verb is not the past, or the perfect, indicating something completed. It is the "aorist" tense (I am not making this up!), which indicates activities begun or finished or continuing at a certain point. The important thing is that action in the aorist tense cannot be said to take place specifically in either the past, present, or future, kind of like God.
Those who read the Bible literally and say it doesn't allow for evolution. While that is certainly true for undirected Darwinian evolution, the idea of the unfolding and becoming of nature and our lives is a big part of the Bible. Our physical "evolution" is a relatively minor issue compared to spiritual becoming, which is one of the main focuses of Christ's teaching. Since Christ doesn't teach that there is a big separation between the spiritual and temporal, physical change might be assumed.
However, more intriguing is this whole idea of becoming in heaven. Certainly this has a physical side (after all, stars continue to explode, black hole collapse, and perhaps even new star and planets form). However, Christ also indicates that it has its spiritual site. as well. He doesn't describe heaven as a static reward, but a place where we continue to change and grow. This infers the presence of time in heaven, since becoming requires a before and after.
Also interesting here is the word used for God's will, thelema, which means what one wishes or has determined shall be done. It also means a desire or a choice. So both earth and heaven reflect what God wishes, chooses, and has determined will happen. Where is free will in this? Assumable, even our choices are part of God's choices, if not individually, in the sum of the whole. This line is the first mention of God's plan for us both individually and for the universe as a whole.
"Kingdom" is from basileia (basileia), which means "kingdom," "dominion," "hereditary monarchy," "kingly office," (passive) "being ruled by a king," and "reign."
"Come" is from erchomai (erchomai), which means to start," "to set out," "to come," "to go," and any kind of motion. It means both "to go" on a journey and "to arrive" at a place.
"Will" is from the noun, thelêma (thelema), which means "will" and "pleasure."
"Done" is from gignomai (ginomai), which means "to become," "to come into being," "to be produced," and "to be."
"As" is from hôs (hos), which means to "thus," "as," "how," "when," "where," "like," "just as," "so far as," "as much as can be," "that," "in order that," "nearly (with numbers)," and "know that."
"Heaven" is from the Greek ouranos (ouranos), which means "heaven as in the vault of the sky," "heaven as the seat of the gods," "the sky," "the universe," and "the climate."
"On" is from epi, (epi) which means "on," "upon," "at," "by," "before," "across," and "against."
"Earth" is from gê (ge), which means "the element of earth," "land (country)," "arable land," "the ground," and "the world" as the opposite of the sky.
