Looking back in history, it’s apparent that God’s people utilized set times of prayer to habituate and enrich their prayer lives.
Historical Foundations of Set Times of Prayer
We know that “Judaism prescribed prayer three times a day: after daybreak, before sunset, and after dark.” These were prescriptions based on Daniel 6:10 and Psalm 55:16-17. It appears that the Qumran community (one of the Jewish parties that existed around the time of Jesus) also added more prayer times during the night.
But perhaps most importantly, we know that Jesus also withdrew for intentional times of prayer. In Luke 4:42, we read that Jesus “went out and made his way to a deserted place.” The Greek word for “deserted place” is eremos, and it can also be translated as “wilderness” (e.g., Luke 1:80; 3:2, 4; 4:1). Why is Jesus withdrawing to this lonely place – the wilderness? Luke tells us it was so that Jesus could pray; and he says that Jesus did this “often” (Luke 5:16). All throughout Luke’s gospel account, we see that this retreat to pray “was an important part of [Jesus’] way of life.” However, one could also argue that Jesus prayed “according to the temple rhythm.” Scot McKnight claims that “Jesus prayed within the sacred rhythms of Israel, and he knew firsthand their formative influence.” The church in Acts seemingly continued in this as well (e.g. Acts 3:1; 10:9).
The Practice of Set Times of Prayer in Early Christianity
Biblical and Historical Practices
Furthermore, based on letters from Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan in the first century, we know that the early church gathered together daily, once in the morning for prayer and once in the evening for a meal (Pliny the Younger, Epistle 96.7). Tertullian suggests a similar thing but adds more set times. He notes that believers pray at 9am, noon, and 3pm, but these are additional to those “regular prayers, which are due, without any admonition, on the entrance of light and of night” (On Prayer 25, ANF 3.690). You have five set times to pray there.
Moving into the 3rd century, we have extensive prayer instructions from the document The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus 35-36.
Let all the faithful, whether men or women, when early in the morning they rise from their sleep before they undertake any tasks, wash their hands and pray to God; and so they may go to their duties. But if any instruction in God’s word is held, everyone ought to attend it willingly, recollecting that he would hear God speaking through the instructor and that prayer in the church enables him to avoid the day’s evil. . . .
But if on any day there is no instruction, let everyone at home take the Bible and read sufficiently in passages he finds profitable. If at the third hour thou art at home, pray then and give thanks to God; but if thou chance to be abroad in that hour, make thy prayer to God in thy heart. For at that hour Christ was nailed to the tree. . . . At the sixth hour likewise pray also, for, after Christ was nailed into the wood of the cross, the day was divided and there was a great darkness. . . . And at the ninth hour let a great prayer and a great Thanksgiving be made. . . . At that hour, . . . Christ poured forth from his pierced side.
Certain hours were prayed, accommodations were permitted, and they were seen as tangible ways to be reminded of the gospel.
Applying Set Times of Prayer in Modern Life
Benefits of Regular Prayer Intervals
The fourth century brought about a lot of changes. Whereas Christians suffered persecution by the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries, the fourth century brought a reversal. Constantine ended persecution and made Christianity the official religion of Rome. The organic movement morphed into an organized institution. However, set hours of prayer remained. Some sources only mention morning and evening, and others document multiple hours throughout the day as well. This was taken most seriously in monastic communities. Gonzalez notes, “the practice of setting aside particular times for prayer became a mark of monastic life.”
Moving into the sixth century, “Saint Benedict of Nursia prescribed seven precise times for prayer during the liturgical day for his monastic order,” and these became known as “the Canonical Hours” or “Daily Office.”
- Matins (midnight) and Lauds (3am)
- Prime (6am)
- Terce (9am)
- Sext (noon)
- Nones (3pm)
- Vespers (6pm)
- Compline (9pm)
These set times became difficult outside of the monastic community; so, in response, the reformer Thomas Cranmer set out to provide a resource for ordinary people with a full day of work. He penned the Book of Common Prayer, simplifying prayer times to morning and evening. This amended Protestant version of the daily office has remained to this day.
Conclusion
There you have it: the scriptural and historical wisdom of keeping set times of prayer. You may combat this and say: Wait, isn’t prayer supposed to be a way of life? Isn’t it supposed to be spontaneous, without ceasing (as Paul said)? This is true. However, as Tim Keller commented, “We will never develop [this kind of constant prayer] unless we take up the discipline of regular daily prayer.” As pastors who can easily be swept into the hurried pace of our culture, set times of prayer can aid us in becoming people who carry a non-anxious presence into God’s world.
Taylor Terzek is a pastor in Lake Norman, NC, a Doctor of Ministry student in New Testament Context at Northern Seminary, and the co-creator of “The Learning Laborers” podcast. He completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees in biblical studies from Liberty University. He is married to his wife Stephanie, and they have three wonderful children: Hudson, Emmy, and Eden.
Links
LearningLaborers.Wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/taylor.terzek
Gregory L. Linton, “Time,” in Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical & Post-Biblical Antiquity, Logos (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2014), 278.
Martin G. Abegg, “Liturgy: Qumran,” in Dictionary of New Testament Background: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship, Logos (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 649.
For more on the significance of eremos, see the fantastic article in Christopher A. Beetham, ed., Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, Logos Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2021).
R. T. France, Luke, Logos, Teach the Text (Ada, MI: Baker Books, 2018), 194.
Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2022), 195.
Scot McKnight, Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today (Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2006), 31.
Justo L. González, Teach Us to Pray: The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church and Today (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2020), 9. See also Linton, “Time,” 278–79.
Hippolytus, The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus 35–36, trans. and ed. Burton Scott Easton (Cambridge: The University Press, 1934), 54–55. Cited in Gonzalez.
González, Teach Us to Pray, 14.
Linton, “Time,” 279.
Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2016), 240.
