On God’s name being hallowed and its relationship to Malachi 1:11:
This happens when sinners reject their false idols and
sins and begin to recognize the living and true God, believe in Him, hope in Him,
love Him with all their heart, praise Him, glorify Him, proclaim Him, and
worship Him. In this way, Malachi’s prophecy would one day be fulfilled, “From
the rising of the run to its setting, my name will be great among the nations”
(Mal 1:11). (Robert Bellarmine, An Explanation of the Our Father [trans.
Christian D. Washburn; Praxedes Press, 2025], 48)
There is only one objection to the third interpretation:
the Greek word επιουσιος
(epiousios), which is found in Matthew and Luke, does not seem to refer to the
corporeal or material reality at all. The Greek word επιουσιος means
either “supersubstantial”, or “excellent, extraordinary, or outstanding”. The
same is true, as St. Jerome says, with επιουσιος and περιουσιος
(periousios). The term περιουσιος
means “special”, as is clear from Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2, and 26:18 and from Titus
2:14 where the chosen people are said to be a “special” people, λαος περιουσιος (laos periousios).
To this objection, I reply that the term επιουσιον, if one considers the parts of the word,
means “supersubstantial.” If one considers, on the other hand, the underlying
reality. it means the same as “substantial” or “essential.” This obviously refers
not so much to the sublimity as to the necessity of bread. The Greek Fathers,
who knew the meaning of the Greek words the best, such as St. Bail the Great in
the Shorter Questions, St. Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth discourse of The
Lord’s Prayer, and St. John Chrysostom, Theophylact and St. Euthymius in
their commentaries on the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, think that αρτον επιουσιον (arton epiousion) means “the
substantial bread,” that is, the bread which nourishes our substance. The
ancient interpreter also agrees with this, rendering it as “daily,” i.e., what
we need daily.
You might respond that the Vulgate in Matthew 6:11
translates the word as “supersubstantial”, which in Latin can only refer to
sublimity. To this I First reply that there are many ancient manuscripts of the
Vulgate which do not have “supersubstantial”, but “daily”. It is certain that
St. Cyprian also read it this way. Indeed the entire Latin Church, following
the Gospel of Matthew, has always prayed and still prays today, “Give us this
day our daily bread”. Second, just as the Greeks read επιουσιον (epiousion) and nevertheless interpret
it in the sense of “substantial” despite the prefix εκ or super, why cannot the Latins also read “supersubstantial”
so that one word corresponds to the other word, and yet also interpret it as “substantial”
despite the preposition? Third, the Latin Vulgate renders the same Greek term επιουσιον in Luke as “daily”, but in Matthew as “supersubstantial”.
The term “supersubstantial” must be translated in such a way that it
corresponds aptly with the term “daily.” The agreement of these two translations
of GK will now be obvious if we say that “supersubstantial” refers to that
bread which is necessary “daily” for the nourishment and maintenance of our being.
Finally, “supersubstantial” can also mean the same as “very substantial”, just
as we speak of “superabundant” and “supereminent”, meaning “to flow very
abundantly” and “to be above”. In this sense, the “supersubstantial” and “daily”
bread will be identical, because bread is necessary daily because it is very substantial.
(Robert Bellarmine, An Explanation of the Our Father [trans. Christian
D. Washburn; Praxedes Press, 2025], 68-70)
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