The Lord’s Prayer at issue: Does God lead us into temptation?

Last updated on: December 19, 2017 at 10:26 am by Richard Ostling

The Lord’s Prayer at issue: Does God lead us into temptation? 2017-12-19T10:26:45-05:00 Richard Ostling

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The memorized “Lord’s Prayer” is so frequently recited by countless Christians that it can be easy to slide past what the familiar words are saying. For instance, how do we understand its most puzzling phrase: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13 per the King James Version and many other English translations. A condensed wording for the prayer also appears in Luke 11:2-4).

So, does God lead us into temptation? Why would He? After all, the New Testament tells us elsewhere, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13, also King James wording).

Pope Francis delved into this in December during a series about the Lord’s Prayer on the Italian bishops’ TV channel. “It is not a good translation because it speaks of a God who induces temptation,” he said. Rather, “I am the one who falls; it’s not Him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen. . . . It’s Satan who leads us into temptation; that’s his department.”The pontiff suggested this colloquial paraphrase: “When Satan leads us into temptation, You, please, give me a hand.” More formally, he embraced the wording recently adopted by the church in France: “Do not let us fall into temptation.”

U.S. Catholics’ New American Bible formerly read “subject us not to the trial,” while the 2011 revised edition says “do not subject us to the final test.” An official footnote explains, “Jewish apocalyptic writings speak of a period of severe trial before the end of the age, sometimes called the ‘messianic woes.’ This petition asks that the disciples be spared that final test.”

Some scholars adopt that end-times interpretation, but there are other choices. Experts also disagree on whether believers ask delivery from abstract “evil” or from a personal “evil one,” namely the Devil. Here The Religion Guy will bypass that one.

Other modern translations:

“Keep us from being tempted” (Contemporary English Version). “Do not cause us to be tempted” (New Century Version. “Don’t allow us to be tempted” (God’s Word). “Do not bring us to hard testing” (Good News Translation). “Keep us clear of temptation” (J.B. Phillips paraphrase). “Keep us safe from ourselves” (The Message paraphrase). “Keep us from sinning when we are tempted” (New International Reader’s Version). “Don’t let us yield to temptation” (New Living Translation). “Rescue us every time we face tribulation” (The Passion Translation).

Roughly similar, but those different shadings are the sort of thing that keeps theologians up nights.

The Pope’s approach drew dissent from Anthony Esolen at the strictly Catholic Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. He defended the old “lead us not” rendition at firstthings.org as a stickler on grammar and translation. “The words of Jesus are clear” and “the ancient Greek has not changed,” he declared. The translator’s task is “to render what the words mean, literally, even (perhaps especially) when those words sound foreign to our ears.”

Esolen noted that Jesus himself prayed to be spared from the cross, just as we pray that God will spare us from the tests we all know are inevitable in life.

M.J.C. Warren, Bible lecturer at Britain’s University of Sheffield, likewise thought the Pope “ignores the plain meaning of the Gospel text.” She stated at theconversation.org that the biblical God “is implicated in both temptation and its avoidance,” as “uncomfortable” as that might make modern-day Christians. She cites God’s bargain with Satan in the Book of Job, God testing Abraham with a fearsome command to sacrifice his son, or the Holy Spirit leading Jesus himself into temptations in the wilderness.

Another Brit, the late John R.W. Stott, combined the ideas of “testing” and the personal “evil one” to yield a concept like that of Francis: “It is the devil who is in view, who tempts God’s people to sin, and from whom we need to be rescued.”

In his classic “Hard Sayings of Jesus,” the late F.F. Bruce of Britain’s University of Manchester proposed tht Jesus meant that “when surrounded by temptation, may we not be overpowered by it.” He doubted the prayer would have asked “do not let our faith be tested” because Jesus — and we –know testing is inevitable. Rather, the believer asks to avoid “tests so severe our faith cannot stand up to them.”

Bruce’s onetime American student Donald Hagner at Fuller Theological Seminary offers this paraphrase in his Matthew commentary: “Do not lead us into a testing of our faith that is beyond our endurance, but when testing does come, deliver us from the Evil One and his purposes.”

Many words in the Lord’s Prayer echo ancient Jewish devotionals. A rabbinic commentary on the Gospels by Samuel Tobias Lachs of Bryn Mawr College notes this prayer in the Talmud: “Do not accustom me to transgression, and bring me not into sin, or into iniquity, or into temptation, or into contempt. And may the good inclination have sway over me and let not the evil inclination have sway over me. And deliver me from evil . . .” (Berakhot tractate, 60b).

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 6, 2017

Was Mary a teenager when she gave birth to Jesus?

Next Post

January 8, 2018 A miracle in reverse: Why did Jesus curse a fig tree?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who wrote the most letters in the New Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter Paul James John