Mt 6:5-6 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.” (NET)
Jesus’ words here have been interpreted by many to mean vocalized prayers in public settings should be avoided. The only acceptable form of prayer in a public setting is silent prayer. Is this what Jesus meant? No, as Biblical examples of prayer make clear.
The first thing to observe is that Jesus went on to instruct the disciples how they should pray. He told them they should say, “Our Father, who is in heaven…” (6:9) Jesus’ use of the plural possessive implies that this prayer would be prayed aloud in a community setting. There would be no need for a single person praying alone, or a single person praying silently in a group to use “our.” In both cases “my Father” would be more appropriate.
In Acts 4:24-30 we read of a corporate prayer uttered by the early believers. Luke tells us “they raised their voices to God with one mind” (4:24). Not only was this a corporate prayer meeting (no private prayer closet), and not only was the prayer vocalized rather than silent, but the plural form indicates that multiple believers were vocalizing prayers simultaneously.
In Acts 12:12 we read of a corporate prayer meeting on behalf of Peter.
Finally, when Jesus was about to suffer the fate of the cross he took Peter, James, and John with Him to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. He asked them to pray as well, presumably corporately. Furthermore, it’s clear that Jesus vocalized His prayer, otherwise the contents of His prayer would not be known to us.
Jesus’ point was not that we should not pray in groups, or that if we do we should not allow the contents of our prayer to be heard, but that our motivation for praying should be to be heard by God, not to be admired by men for our religious devotion.
Thinking to Believe 
July 1, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Jason,
If that is so, why did Jesus say that when you pray, go into your closet and pray in secret? I agree that the first part of Jesus’ words could mean one of two things: (1) public group prayer is wrong or (2) public group prayer should be done for the right reasons. But Jesus clarified his meaning in the second part by saying you should pray privately.
The Bible also teaches against vain repetition prayers, and those are common in group prayers in all denominations, especially charismatics who repeat words while while praying “in the spirit.”
Arthur
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July 1, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Arthur,
Do you mean to suggest that you think Jesus literally meant that our prayers should never be public and vocal? If so, then what do you do with the other Biblical data I mentioned? Do you admit a contradiction (or admit that Jesus’ own disciples failed to practice what Jesus preached), or do you try to harmonize it?
I think it’s clear from the context of Jesus’ own teaching that he did not mean to imply that prayer must be private to be virtuous, otherwise the use of “our Father” in the Lord’s prayer makes no sense. Jesus’ point in his teaching on giving, prayer, and fasting was that you should be doing these things to be seen by and praised by God rather than to increase your “holiness” profile among your fellows. So long as one’s motives are right, it does not matter whether their prayers, giving, and fasting is known to others. What determines whether they receive their reward on Earth or in heaven is their motive for doing these things in a public setting. That’s not to say it may not be necessary for some people to do these things in total secrecy. It may. Some people cannot give, pray, or fast in a public context without doing it for the purpose of self-glory. Those people should do those things in private lest they lose their reward. But for those who can pray, give, and fast publicly without doing so for self-glory, they can. For example, there have been times when I am fasting that I get asked to go to a restaurant. I decline. When asked why, I will say it is because I am fasting. I was not trying to draw attention to it, but when asked, I’m not going to lie or make up some lame excuse either. I wasn’t telling people so they could think I was spiritual, and thus I did not lose my reward.
I agree that many Christians–especially Pentecostals–are guilty of vain repetitions. But that problem remains whether the context of the prayer is public or private.
Jason
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July 2, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Another verse that would support public prayer is when Jesus speaks of agreement between believers when asking God for something. Matt 18:19
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July 4, 2011 at 12:52 am
Like your post and the way you are explaining.but i personally thinks and believe that there are no restrictions on the prayer.Jesus just want to love Him.If we pray from our true heart and soul then there in no question where we are pray or in what position.He here all the prayers of our heart and know them already.I just visit many
christian churches in california where they just teach and lead people to find and follow God and not the controversies about the prayers.
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July 6, 2011 at 5:57 am
Interesting.
While I don’t disagree with you Jason, could the “our Father” not merely be used to signify that God is the disciples’ and our Father rather than just Sesus’ Father?
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July 6, 2011 at 7:45 am
Agree totally! In fact the church was born out of a corporate prayer meeting.
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July 6, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Scott,
That’s not beyond the realm of possibility, but given the fact that Jesus was providing a model prayer for his disciples to pray on their own (and the parallel in Luke makes it clear that Jesus intended for them to actually say the words of the prayer), this doesn’t seem likely to me. It seems that Jesus is telling them, “When you pray, say this: XXXX….”
Jason
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July 6, 2011 at 2:32 pm
css,
Another good example. Those verses don’t actually mention corporate prayer, but the back-story in Acts 1 does:
1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
1:24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen 25 to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
Jason
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January 24, 2012 at 11:54 am
Jesus gives very specific instructions on how to pray: go to your room, close the door, pray in secret! Pretty clear. Those other inferences imply that secret is preferred, public is allowed. Customary doesn’t equal righteous.
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September 16, 2013 at 6:20 pm
We know Jesus was praying in the company of Disciples when He spoke His words in Matthew 6:5-6 because of Luke 11:1-2. Jesus was not alone when He was praying and He does not command us to pray exclusively in private. Jesus instruction at Matthew 6:5-6 is that we are not to pray like the hypocrites who would make long public prayers because they wanted to appear as though they were of God. To go to your room is to illustrate the opposite of the hypocrites empty public prayers. Matthew 23:13-14 makes this especially clear in Jesus words. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”
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December 2, 2013 at 7:08 pm
You realize that Jesus did not speak English, right? The translation to “Our father, who is in heaven” is not an accurate translation of the actual biblical or spoken text.
The justification that it directly translates to the plural possessive form (Our Father) which is adopted by many in today’s church is misguided and incorrect and the two scriptures that you reference (both from the book of Acts) are not prayers involving Jesus.
I do think that prayer is about your intention but I don’t think there are any direct examples mentioned in the Bible of Jesus praying in public with others.
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December 4, 2013 at 11:58 am
Joel,
Yes, I am aware that Jesus did not speak Greek. He spoke Aramaic, and most of his words are preserved for us in Greek.
You say that “Our Father, who is in heaven” is a mistranslation. How so? Do you care to parse the Greek for us?
What does it matter that the prayers in Acts do not involve Jesus? They are examples of corporate prayer.
Jason
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December 4, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Jason,
Here is the version from Luke:
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]’”
Not plural possessive in this version. And either way, this is not proof of Jesus praying a corporate prayer – he was instructing others how to pray. He specifically instructed followers to pray in private.
There are no direct examples of Jesus praying in public with others or of Jesus leading our partaking in a group prayer with others.
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December 4, 2013 at 6:39 pm
Joel,
Someone who claims a mistranslation should be dealing with the Greek. In Luke 11:2, there is a textual variant. In the Byzantine Greek texts, the plural personal pronoun “our” (humon) is used. The Critical text lacks it. In Mt 6:9, however, there is no textual variant. Matthew definitely has Jesus saying “our Father.”
The fact that we don’t have an example of Jesus Himself praying in a corporate setting would hardly matter…if it were true. We have so few instances of Jesus praying, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we have no record of Jesus praying in public. And what would it matter? Jesus’ instruction on prayer assumes that those praying are praying in a public, corporate setting. But it’s not true that Jesus never prayed in public. He prayed in public at Lazarus’ raising, in the presence of those who rolled the stone away at the very least (Lk 11:41-43). He prayed in public at His baptism (Lk 3:21). Jesus did not seem to believe that His prayer would be invalid if heard by someone else.
Jason
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August 4, 2014 at 11:58 pm
Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation
I thought us was plural too…… Anyway, He prayed in corporate and private and we are to follow Him and try to do both as He did and the Apostles did. They were continually in prayer. Together and alone. Peter was released from the answers of the others praying together continually for Him.They were still in the prayer meeting when He was knocking for them to let HIm in. Paul and Silas were a group of two praying together. When you pray alone with the Holy Ghost, its still two gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. Let God lead you, but I believed He went off by Himself alot for a good reason. No one to interrupt His prayer flow or He would not distract others in what The Father was leading Him to pray about etc. He already knew how to pray though so it was all good : ) Just pray without ceasing alone and with the family of God.
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October 4, 2016 at 4:52 pm
It seems funny to me that most of the above discussion is focussed on plural possessive pronouns as evidence for or against Jesus’ teachings on corporate prayer. Like most of what Jesus taught He asks us individually to explore our heart. In this case Jesus uses the Jewish spiritual leaders as an example of a dishonest heart. They chose to flaunt religious actions(public prayer) to prove their spiritual worth. Jesus taught the disciples that they have no reward with God, but only with man. So, He also taught it is better to have no reward with man, and pray privately to God. But even privately you should explore your heart.
As for the scripture listed in the book of Acts. The beginning of the Church was a powerful time in history. It was the pinnacle of God’s revelation to mankind, which He prepared for thousands of years. The world was finally ready for the Messiah. Through this faith in what God did, to bring salvation to mankind, there was one accord. This has little to do with what churches experience today with corporate prayer in mind.
If corporate prayer is defined by two or more gathered together, then I suggest individuals spend more time checking their hearts than actions among other Christians involving prayer. After all, the scripture has much to say about pleasing man or pleasing God. And Jesus makes it clear, His congregation should not utter words for the sake of being heard.
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October 5, 2016 at 11:47 pm
Dan:
which He prepared for thousands of years. The world was finally ready for the Messiah.
You’ve got to be kidding….the world was finally ready for the Messiah?
The religious world is never ready for a Messiah; this would usurp their authority and they’ll never let that happen….
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