There is a Christian proverb as expressed by a pagan: “Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano,” which means: “One ought to pray that there be a healthy soul in a healthy body.” This is in agreement with John’s wish expressed to Gaius: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 2). How delightful is this testimony addressed to Gaius! In general we must now reverse this and say, “I wish that your soul may prosper as your body prospers.” For we observe in this that we also are to care for the body, for if we are to hallow God’s Name, edify the congregation, and do the will of God, we are in need of a soul and a body which are both in health. If the one is not healthy, the other will be hindered and the entire man cannot function properly.
The Relationship Between Soul and Body
The soul influences the body. A healthy soul benefits the body, whereas a troubled soul has an ill effect upon the body. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Prov 17:22). The body also influences the soul and is irritated by ill health. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Rom 6:12). This is also evident in the following passage: “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Rom 7:23). The apocryphal book Wisdom has a splendid proverb in chapter 9:15: “For the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that nurseth upon many things.” Therefore, we must take care that both soul and body are brought and kept in good health in order to be fit for the service of the Lord. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor 6:20). If the health of both is to be maintained, they are in need of nourishment. The soul, being an immortal spirit, has no need of anything for the maintenance of its existence except the preserving influence of God. However, for its spiritual well-being it is in need of spiritual food in this life—which is the Word of God applied by faith. The Word of God is the incorruptible seed of her regeneration (1 Pet 1:23). The Word of God is her nourishment, resulting in the growth of her spiritual life. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet 2:2).
The body is also in need of food. It has its origin in the earth and its nourishment proceeds from the earth, whereby both its essence and motions are maintained. Unconverted men, who have nothing in view but earthly things, are very desirous for that which is earthly, wishing to gratify and entertain themselves therewith. In this respect, they almost resemble the irrational animals, for it is as if they live in order to eat, whereas they ought to eat in order to live. “From men which are Thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure” (Ps 17:14).
A believer does not wish to have earthly things as his portion—they are beneath him. He does not desire earthly things for their own sake, but as a means unto something else: to maintain the body in a fit condition in order to serve the Lord. He knows that it is only the Lord who causes bread to come forth out of the earth—that “He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry” (Ps 147:9); also giving man his food and raiment: “The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season” (Ps 145:15). He knows that the Lord must also render the food efficacious to be nourishing, and therefore a believer looks unto the Lord and prays, “Feed me with food convenient for me” (Prov 30:8). It is this which the Lord Jesus teaches us to pray in the fourth petition.
The Position of This Petition
Many have investigated why the Lord Jesus places the petition concerning the maintenance of the body in the fourth place and wills that there be prayer for the welfare of the soul in the fifth and sixth petition. It cannot be easily ascertained who has most closely approximated the reason for this. All agree that this prayer is perfect—not only in regard to the matters it contains, but also as far as the order is concerned. In applying this to this petition some say that the Lord Jesus adjusts Himself to human weakness, which causes man to be very concerned about food and raiment for the body. He would therefore teach us first to pray for the body, so that we, being freed from anxiety concerning the body, would have that much more freedom to pray for the welfare of the soul. Others insist that the Lord Jesus wishes to guide us step by step from the physical to the spiritual. Others divide the petitions into two divisions, maintaining that the first four petitions are requests for that which is good, whereas the last two petitions are invocations for the averting of evil. They then divide these benefits into heavenly (which precede in the first three petitions) and temporal benefits which, being least important, follow in the fourth petition, upon which the invocations follow. Again, others divide the petitions as follows: In the first three petitions God is the immediate object of the requests; the most eminent petition has the primary position. In the last three petitions, however, man is the immediate object, and that which is least important is listed first; one has to exist before he can be well. However, who shall be able to advance an infallible argument regarding the order which will be satisfactory so as not to be subject to counter-argumentation?
We shall now proceed to consider the petition itself. In this petition we must consider individually 1) the matter which is requested: our daily bread; 2) for whom we pray: us; and 3) the manner in which we request the receipt of bread: not by way of purchase, but as a gift; and not once and for all, but every day. “Give us this day.”