Preface.

...teach them to pray. At that time, he answered them: "When (a) you pray, you shall not babble much like the heathens Original: Heiden. In this context, it refers to non-Christians or pagans whose prayer rituals the author characterizes as repetitive or lacking internal substance.. And he added the following reason: Your Father knows what you need before you ask.

If he had simply said, "you should not pray like the heathens," then I would also believe what is commonly imagined: that Christ Original: Christus., in this passage, is rejecting undevout, false, hypocritical, or otherwise improperly performed prayer Original: Bethen.. But no. He is not speaking here generally about everything that was evil in the heathens' prayer, nor does he mention these or similar other faults in particular with a single word. Furthermore, the reason for the prohibition would not fit that explanation—that "your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Indeed, perhaps his disciples Original: Jünger. did not even need such a reminder Neumann suggests the disciples were already sincere, so Christ's warning must have been about the length and style of prayer rather than their sincerity.. They merely requested a certain form for praying. That one

(a) Matthew 6:7-8.