What is The Bread that God Daily Gives?
By Jonathan Mitchell
When Jesus gave His disciples instructions about what to say when speaking to our Father concerning our having goodness, ease and well-being (i.e., when praying), what is the Bread to which He referred? We will begin our investigation in Luke's version of "the Lord's Prayer," in Lu. 11:
2. So He said to them, "Whenever you may be [other MSS: are] normally focused on having goodness, ease and well-being (or: praying), habitually say,'Our Father [other MSS: O Father] - [You] within the midst of the heavens (or: centered in the atmospheres)! Let your Name be separated, set-apart and kept holy (or: regarded as sacred)! Let Your reign, kingdom and sovereign influence come at once! Let the effect of Your will, purpose and intent be birthed (come to exist) at once - as in heaven (or: within [the] atmosphere), so also upon the earth (or: Land)!
3.Repeatedly give to us our bread - the one that has been made upon Being and gives added existing (or: Keep on giving in us this full-being bread from us, and which is us), the one that corresponds to, is on the level of, and accords with [the] Day.
4. Also, at once send away (divorce and cause to flow off; forgive) for and in us our failures and mistakes (sins; times and occasions of missing the target; deviations) - for we, ourselves, are also habitually sending away (causing to flow off and forgiving) for everyone continually owing and being indebted to us. So would (or: may) You not at any point lead, bring or carry us into a [time or situation of] examination, testing or trial where we are put to the proof; but to the contrary, at once drag (rescue) us out of danger, away from the misery-gushed, worthless person, or the one of malicious intent or who has bad and unprofitable qualities (or: the bad situation; the wicked person; the miserable condition; the painful labor; the unprofitable endeavor).'"
He gave this as a response to His disciples' request, in vs. 1,
"Lord (Master), teach us [how] to be normally thinking and speaking toward having goodness, ease and well-being (or: praying)..."
We suggest that what He told them should be understood as an example, not as a formula. In other words, this was not meant to be just a religious text to recite (although there is nothing wrong with doing this, or, with memorizing His words). Observe that Matthew's Gospel offers a slightly different version of this prayer. Our point is that we should meditate upon this as a picture of an ongoing relationship and of a habitual, personal conversation with our Father, while listening to the Spirit, within us, as new insights into these words are revealed to us. It also unveils the broad range of topics - the varied issues of our daily lives - that should make up our dialogues with God. Mat. 6:12 adds this topic:
"And then, send away the results of our debts for us (let the effects of our obligations flow away in us; cancel the condition of our indebtedness), as we also dismiss and send away for, and give release to, those who owe us (let flow away for those in obligation to us; cancel the situations and conditions of our debtors)."
Now before considering what He said about bread, let us observe the immediate context. It starts with a relational affirmation,
"Our Father (or: O Father!),"
and then immediately moves to speaking about our desire concerning the place of His Name, with the implied association being that of our world of government, culture, society and just everyday life, which is then to be expressed in the imperative to Him,
"Let your Name be separated, set-apart and kept holy."
This should be our primal heart-cry! My wife, Lynda, points us to what the hosts in the atmosphere said, in the presence of the shepherds, following the birth of Jesus:
"[This is] a reputation for God, in the highest places! (or: Glory to God, in the midst of the highest [realms];
or: [It is] a manifestation which call forth praise with God, among the highest [peoples]; or: An assumed appearance and a manifestation by God, within the midst of a most elevated location; or: A notion and an imagination within [the] highest places in God);and upon earth - among humanity (or: within mankind; in union with people) - a peace and a joining having the qualities and characteristics of well-thinking and goodwill
(or: harmony [= shalom] whose source is good opinions and imaginations of well-being; or: a peaceful joining which is a manifestation and a reputation of good and ease; or: a peace which belongs to good pleasure; joining from a disposition of goodness)!" (Lu. 2:14)
Here, she adds:
"[This is] acknowledging first God's honor, position, etc. (which the prayer does)... Peace on earth is who He is. Goodwill toward man - the flow, the holy anointing from the Head (i.e., Aaron high priest) down to the whole Body. The ministry and the majesty of goodness, ease and well-being is from on high, peaceful and orderly - toward those who are made in His image, who will steward the earth, disciple all nations and manifest the new commandment 'love God and your neighbor as yourself.' [Consider] the examples of Jesus 'breaking Bread,' i.e., multiplication (in the feeding of the multitudes) and the revelation (they didn't know who He was until He broke bread, and then disappeared - Lu. 24:30-32)."
From this top priority concerning His Name, we are directed to affirm the realization and manifestation of His Name being regarded as sacred:
"Let Your reign, kingdom and sovereign influence come at once!"
We are to thus express our desire to have His sovereign influence reign over our lives and our world. We are to affirm that we want HIM to be both known and experienced as being the King of His universe.
This leads directly into what we should desire to follow from the reality of Him being our King: "Let the effect of Your will, purpose and intent be birthed (come to exist)... upon the earth." These are the grounds, context and focus upon which our communications with our Father are to be based. This is our very starting point of our relationship and communications with He/She who is our Father/Mother - our divine source and Parent. This is our primal origin - His Name, which in turn leads unto His will/purpose for all of creation and all of humanity. This grandest of contexts sets the stage for us to speak an imperative to our Father, actually telling Him to act in accord with our need for sustenance (vs. 3, the verse of our investigation). Couching these words in the imperative voice is striking, and at the same time, revealing: "Repeatedly give to us..." This does not express a fawning, subservient request. It could be taken as being almost demanding, were it not for the affirming preamble of vs. 2. Context always gives nuance to text. But remember, these are Jesus' instructions to us, in an affirmed relationship with our divine Parent.
The indirect object, "us," is in the dative case, with no expressed preposition. Therefore, on offer is an alternative rendering to the clause, "Keep on giving in us..." This reading of the Greek text takes us to another level of understanding - beyond the realm of physical provision. Now looking to our Father for physical provision is a wonderful, and blessed, way to live. This admonition by Jesus may be an allusion to Israel's history - the provision of manna during her wilderness wandering. At the same time, we find the risen Christ offering to the overcomer the "hidden manna" (Rev. 2:17), which might be an allusion to the pot of manna that was at one time kept within the ark of the covenant, in the holy of holies (Heb. 9:4). Jesus made a symbolic application of manna to Himself, in Jn. 6:
57. "Just as (or: In corresponding accordance as) the continuously-living Father sent Me off (or: forth) as an Emissary (or: commissions Me as a Representative and sends Me on a mission), and I Myself am continuously living through (or: because of) the Father, likewise the person who is habitually eating (repeatedly chewing and feeding [on]) Me, that person will also continue living, through (or: because of; by means of) Me.
58. "This is (or: continuously exists being) the Bread: the One stepping down (or: descending) from out of the midst of heaven (or: [the] sky and atmosphere) - not according as the fathers ate and died. The person habitually eating (continually chewing and feeding [on]) this Bread will continue living [p66 & others read middle: will in (or: of) himself continue living; D reads present: is continuously living] on into the Age."
With this in mind, let us continue, in vs. 3, above: "our bread - the one that has been made upon Being and gives added existing." Here, the word "bread" is qualified by the adjective epiousia. Scholars have debated the meaning of this word that is used in the NT only here, and in the parallel passage of Mat. 6:11. It is not found in the canonical Greek version of the OT (the LXX). Thus, translators have guessed at its meaning, arriving at a tentative conclusion from the immediate context of the remainder of vs. 3,
"the one that corresponds to, is on the level of, and accords with [the] Day."
However, by simply observing the elements of the Greek word, we see a common present participle (ousia) of the verb which means "to be" or "to exist." Prefixed to this participle is the common preposition epi-, which has a root meaning of "upon," and, in composition, means "added." However, and extended function (in composition with a noun or verb) is that of an intensifier, thus: "accurate, complete or full." A common example of this use of epi- is when prefixed to the noun and verb, gnosis/ginos to give us epignosis/epignosko, which modify the simple noun and the simple verb to where each is speaking of "added knowledge, accurate knowledge or full/complete knowledge," depending upon the context. From all this, epi-ousia should simply be rendered "made upon Being," or, "gives added existing." Here I capitalized "Being" as an implied reference to God.
Also on offer, in the parenthetical expansion, is another rendering of the adjective, along with an alternate rending of the genitive/ablative personal pronoun which is first given as "our," and next as an ablative rendering, "from us," and then as a genitive of apposition, "which is us." This yields the compound phrase to read:
"this full-being bread from us, and which is us."
Now if this seems a bit strange, consider Paul's statement in 1 Cor. 10:17a,
"Because we, The Many, are (exist being) One Bread (one loaf of bread), One Body..."
So within the context of vs. 3, above, the imperative to our Father would say that He should
"Keep on giving IN us..." that which He has both placed within us, and which will now come from us (just as, e.g., the Living water that He is within us - Jn. 7:38), and then, from being joined to Him, now "is us." Jesus told His disciples, "I, Myself, continually have (or: hold) food to eat which you men have not seen and hence do not know or perceive" (Jn. 4:32).
Then later, in Jn. 6:35, He said,
"I, Myself, am (or: exist being) the Bread of 'the Life' (or: the bread which is the Life, and which imparts the Life)."
The final prepositional phrase of vs. 3 uses the preposition kata, for which I have offered three functions, so as to read: "the one that corresponds to, is on the level of, and accords with [the] Day." I chose to capitalize the word "Day" as being an allusion to the Day of the Messiah, or the Day of the Lord - the Day which came as the Light which entered into the Darkness (Jn. 1:4-9).
So, "What is The Bread that God Daily Gives?" We submit that it is Christ, the Bread of the Life of the Messiah." It is the "Hidden Manna" that resides within the holy of holies of the new temple, i.e., within the cores of our beings - within the midst of our hearts (1 Cor. 6:19). It is the Sap (Life Spirit) of the Vine that flows from out of the Vine and into Its (His) branches - us (Jn. 15:1ff). It is the "added Being" of His Anointing that abides upon us (1 Jn. 2:20); it is the "added and full-being" of the Christ Life that is both given to us, and that continuously dwells within us, and in union with us, making us one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).
You see, this Bread is the substance of the reign of God, as we bear His Set-apart Name (Rev. 3:12). Our friend John Gavazzoni has offered the following response to this article:
"In regard to verse 3a, I resonate very much to the alternate rendering: 'or: Keep on giving in us this full-being bread from us, and which is us.' This fits with the principle that what God gives IN us, is also meant to be FROM us to others, as Jesus said in Jn. 6, that He's the Bread from heaven to give life TO THE WORLD. That 'arising from within' correlates to His descent from heaven. In union with Him, His Being is our being, and we descend and ascend with Him as the Bread of Being. They are two perspectives of the same dynamic. His ascent in us comes by His descent to us, and from us to the world. I think we could affirm that they continuingly operate concurrently."
Lynda again offers us insights:
Jonathan
"Then there is the pot of Manna UNDER the Mercy Seat. Now since the resurrection, the Manna, as Living Bread, is seated UPON the throne (we are seated WITH Him - Eph. 2:6).
"He is GOOD, and His Mercy ENDURES - a lasting throne, a lasting Kingdom, a lasting meal, a lasting supply of Life! Unlike the old manna which got moldy, the New Bread is for the ages. You might say it's the 'whole (holy) enchilada' ... the whole loaf!"
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