Matthew 6:11

ἄρτον, ‘Bread,’ primarily in a literal sense, subsistence as distinct from luxury; but the spiritual meaning cannot be excluded, Christ the Bread of Life is the Christian’s daily food.

The address to God as Father influences each petition—to feed, to forgive and to protect his children, are special acts of a father’s love.

ἐπιούσιον. This word is unknown to the Classics and in N.T. occurs in the Lord’s Prayer only. For a full discussion of the meaning and history of this word see Bp Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revision of the N.T., Appendix 195. His ultimate decision is, “that the familiar rendering ‘daily’ … is a fairly adequate representation of the original; nor indeed does the English language furnish any one word which would answer the purpose so well.” Dr McClellan has also written an exhaustive treatise on ἐπιούσιος (Notes on the Four Gospels, p. [632]); he translates, ‘give us to-day,’ and ‘give us day by day [Luke] our bread of life eternal.’

Two derivations have been given. A. ἐπὶ and οὐσία. B. The participle of ἐπιέναι, either masc. ἐπιών, or fem. ἡ ἐπιοῦσα (ἡμέρα).

A. The principal meanings which rely on this etymology are: (1) ‘for subsistence,’ so ‘necessary,’ ‘needful,’ or (2) ‘supersubstantial,’ i.e. above all essences, so ‘excellent’ or ‘preeminent.’ Both these renderings are open to exception; for οὐσία is very rare in the sense required by (1), and (2) belongs to a much later theological terminology, and is foreign to the simplicity of the Lord’s Prayer. But the form of the compound ἐπιούσιος rather than ἐπούσιος affords the most conclusive argument against any interpretation founded on a derivation from οὐσία. περιούσιος, sometimes adduced in support of such a form, is not to the point (for the ι in περὶ regularly remains unelided), nor are ἐπιανδάνω, ἐπιεικής, ἐπίορκος, and the like (see Bp Lightfoot’s Dissertation); for the words which here follow ἐπὶ originally began with a digamma.

B. (α) Derived immediately from the masc. participle ἐπιών, as ἐθελούσιος from ἐθέλων, ἑκούσιος from ἑκών, the adjective has received the meaning of ‘coming,’ ‘succeeding’ or ‘future,’ ‘futurus,’ ‘veniens,’ ‘adveniens,’ a meaning which by a very early interpretation of the word is extended to ‘belonging to the future, eternal life,’ so ‘heavenly’ or ‘spiritual.’

Against this meaning of the noun and adjective it may be argued: (1) A word made for the occasion could not have received the succession of meanings implied by this sense; (2) There would be no need to coin a word to express a meaning already conveyed by ἐπουράνιος, αἰώνιος, &c.; (3) ἐπιὼν implies the nearer future as distinct from μέλλων which relates to a more distant future; (4) The one petition for the supply of simple temporal wants is essential to this, the model of all Christian prayer. Therefore, though the spiritual sense is not excluded, it is present as a secondary and not as a primary meaning.

(β) Another line of interpretation connects ἐπιούσιος with the quasisubstantive ἡ ἐπιοῦσα (ἡμέρα) and gives the following meanings: (1) ‘for the morrow,’ ‘crastinum’; (2) ‘daily,’ ‘quotidianum’ of the Vetus Itala and of the Vulgate in Luke (not in Matthew where Jerome renders the word ‘supersubstantialem’); (3) ‘continual,’ ‘assiduum,’ perhaps from the notion of succeeding days.

Of these, (1) and (2) approach very nearly to the true meaning of the word, but against all these the same objection holds which was urged above, viz. that the ideas were expressed by existing adjectival forms. The necessity of a new word arises from the necessity of expressing a new idea, and the new idea expressed by ἐπιούσιος and by no other Greek adjective is that of the closely impending future, the moment, the hour, or the day that succeeds the present instant. Translate therefore ‘bread for instant need.’ For this precise thought no other adjective exists but ἐπιούσιος; but it is the thought that distinguishes ἡ ἐπιοῦσα from ἡ αὔριον. ἡ αὔριον implies the interval of a night, it implies delay, it excludes the present and is contrasted with it; ἡ ἐπιοῦσα (ἡμέρα, νύξ [Acts 23:11] or ὥρα) implies absence of interval and immediate succession. See Bp Lightfoot’s Dissertation, p. 203, where this distinction is clearly shown, and comp. the following instances: Hdt. III. 85, ὥρη μηχανᾶσθαι καὶ μὴ�; Polyb. III. 42. 9, παρασκευαζόμενοι πρὸς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν χρείαν, ‘ad instans negotium’ (Schweighäuser). ἡ ἐπιοῦσα occurs once only in the LXX., Proverbs 27:1 and in N.T. in the Acts only, where in three instances out of five it is used of pursuing a voyage on the ‘succeeding’ day, in one, ch. Matthew 23:11, of the Lord appearing to Paul τῇ ἐπιούσῃ νυκτί, i.e. without an interval.

Thus this interesting word ἐπιούσιος beautifully and alone expresses our dependence, each succeeding day and hour, on our Father for the supply of needs temporal, and in a secondary sense, of needs spiritual. It is the thought expressed by Dr Newman:

‘Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene, one step enough for me.’