Matthew 6:11 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Give us this day our daily bread— 4. The word επιουσιον rendered daily in our version, is nowhere else to be found; neither in the LXX, nor in any Greek author, nor in any place of the New Testament, except in this part of the Lord's Prayer. Commentators differ much in their interpretation of it. That in Etymol. Magna, seems as just as any: 'Επιουσιος,— 'Ο επι τη ουσια ημων αρμοζων: "that which is sufficient to our life;" and so Theophylact explains it: "What will strengthen us from day to day, for serving God with cheerfulness and vigour." Bread, accordingto the Hebrew idiom, signifies all the provisions of the table. See Genesis 18:5 and inthe present petition it signifies raiment also, with convenient habitation, and every thing necessary to life. See Agur's Petition, Proverbs 30:8. Since then we are not allowed to ask provision for rioting and luxury, but only for the necessaries of life, and that not for many years, but from day to day, the petition forbids anxious cares about futurity, and teaches us how moderate our desires of worldly things should be; and whereas not the poor only (whose industry all acknowledge must be favoured by the concurrence of Providence, to render it successful), but the rich also, are enjoined to pray for their bread day by day. This is on account of the great instability of human affairs, which renders the possession of wealth absolutely precarious; and because, without the divine blessing, even the abundance of the rich is not of itself sufficient to keep them alive, far less to make them happy. This petition contains a most excellent lesson, says Dr. Doddridge, to teach us, on the one hand, moderation in our desires; and, on the other, a humble dependence on divine Providence for the most necessary supplies, be our possessions or our abilities ever so great. But this petition seems to include something farther; and accordingly Erasmus, Heylin, and many others, understand it, after the Fathers, in a spiritual sense also. Bread, says Heylin, here signifies all things needful for our maintenance; the maintenance of the whole man, both body and soul; for each of these have their proper sustenance; to one belongs the natural bread, to the other the spiritual, and both are included in this petition: the natural bread means all things needful for the assistance of the body; the spiritual bread, the grace of Christ, which must also be our daily bread for the maintenance and growth of our souls in holiness. The petition, therefore, may be paraphrased: "Give us, O Father; for we claim nothing of right, but only of thy free mercy;—this day; for we take no solicitous thought for the morrow;—our daily bread; all things needful for our souls and bodies; not only the meat that perisheth, but thy grace; the food which endureth to everlasting life."