The Lord's Prayer
When teaching his followers how to pray, Jesus gave them a form of words (recited across Christian traditions to this day), and the instruction inside it names its addressee before the prayer begins. The teaching is here in full.
The teaching
Matthew 6:5-13
5“When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7In praying, don’t use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking. 8Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him. 9Pray like this: “‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 13Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
What Matthew 6 explicitly directs
- The instruction names its recipient three times before the prayer begins: “pray to your Father who is in secret” (6:6), “your Father knows what things you need” (6:8), “Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven’” (6:9).
- Every petition that follows (bread, forgiveness, protection) continues to address that same recipient. The Father is the explicit addressee of the prayer Jesus teaches here.
- The closing doxology (“For yours is the Kingdom…”) carries a manuscript note: the WEB's own footnote records that the earliest critical editions (“NU”, the Nestle-Aland/United Bible Societies text) omit it, and it plays no part in any argument on this page.
When Jesus explicitly teaches his followers whom to address in prayer, he directs them to the Father, who knows their needs, and from whom they are to seek provision, forgiveness, and protection. That is positive instruction, and it is the only prayer instruction of its kind in the Gospels.
It is not, by itself, a prohibition on prayer addressed to Jesus. The Lutheran (LCMS) position is that “Christians may offer their prayers to any or all of the three persons of the Trinity, each of whom is ‘true God’” (LCMS Doctrine FAQ ↗). Christians point to texts such as Stephen's dying appeal to Jesus in Acts 7:59 and the disputed wording of John 14:14. Those texts deserve examination, not dismissal.
But the precise question stands: where Jesus himself instructs, the instruction points to the Father. And Jehovah's Witnesses build their published case on exactly this observation: “while teaching his followers how to pray, Jesus said: ‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified’” (jw.org ↗). If prayer is equally due to Father, Son, and Spirit, the reader is entitled to ask where Jesus gives the parallel instruction naming himself. The full argument sits on the question page.
A bridge, kept separate from the argument
Muslims also open every prayer with a short fixed passage addressed directly to God: Al-Fatiha, seven verses of praise, dependence, and a request for guidance. The two prayers share their themes: praise of God's name, His will, daily provision, forgiveness, protection from evil. The address is importantly different (Islam does not use “Father” as a name for God), and this similarity is offered as recognition, not as evidence for either side. A Christian who prays Matthew 6's prayer privately, directly, to God in heaven is doing something a Muslim recognizes. The comparable Muslim prayer is written out verse by verse: Al-Fatiha, the seven verses.