The Phrase
"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." This doxology, appended to the Lord's Prayer in the Textus Receptus and reproduced in the King James Bible (Matthew 6:13), gave English one of its most resonant triadic formulas for supreme authority. The phrase "kingdom, power, and glory" has structured coronation ceremonies, state liturgies, and political rhetoric for four centuries.
Biblical Origin
The doxology is not found in the oldest Greek manuscripts of Matthew's Gospel and was likely added in liturgical use before the second century, reflecting the Jewish practice of concluding prayer with praise rather than petition. Its language echoes 1 Chronicles 29:11 - David's great prayer: "Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all." The doxology transforms the Lord's Prayer from a sequence of petitions into a full liturgical unit that opens with address ("Our Father"), moves through petition, and closes with praise.
The triad - kingdom, power, glory - is theologically complete. Kingdom names the sphere of divine sovereignty. Power names its mode of operation. Glory names its self-disclosure, the way God's nature is made visible in the exercise of sovereignty and power. To ascribe these three to God is to make a comprehensive claim about the character of ultimate reality.
Semantic Drift
In English, the phrase "kingdom, power, and glory" has become a shorthand for absolute sovereignty. Political speeches invoke it; coronation services quote it; military oaths echo it. The triadic rhythm itself has influenced political rhetoric: the tendency in English oratory to group authority into three ascending terms ("life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"; "liberty, equality, fraternity") owes something to the habituation of English-speaking audiences to such formulas.
"The glory" as a phrase for transcendent splendor - distinct from mere fame or reputation - carries in English a specifically biblical coloring. When journalists or novelists reach for "glory" to describe something that exceeds ordinary categories of excellence, they are drawing on a vocabulary shaped by this phrase and its biblical context.
Cultural Presence
The doxology is said or sung at the close of the Lord's Prayer in virtually every Christian tradition, making it one of the most frequently repeated sentences in the English-speaking world. It appears at the close of presidential inaugurations, in parliamentary prayers, in school assemblies, and at sporting events. The triadic formula has been so thoroughly absorbed that many who use it have no conscious awareness of its liturgical origin.