Comments on: Lead Us Not Into Temptation

By: Patricia DeWitt

Patricia DeWitt — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:55:51 +0000

Our greatest growth comes from temptations and sufferings we encounter, so it would not make sense that Jesus would have us ask God to “lead us not into temptation.” In Matthew we find that Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And God gave the devil permission to tempt Job.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov (www.prosveta.com) has a book titled “True Meaning of Christ’s Teachings” which addresses this in chapter 1 as he discussed the Lord’s Prayer. At the bottom of p. 25 he states, “You will certainly be shocked if I tell you that I am not at all sure that what Jesus really said was “lead us not into temptation…:

P. 26: If the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted, we must conclude that it was necessary.
“This is something you must realize: it depends entirely and only on you whether or not you agree to be influenced. Even the devil cannot force you against your will…. God has given [evil] the power to do this, but only if you are weak and ignorant…. They are only being themselves and doing what they are allowed to do: tempt you….
“Yes, if the forces of evil destroy a man, it is because he has allowed them to do so. It all depends on him: if he refuses to let them in to take possession of him, they are powerless.”

P. 27: When someone replies to [the devil's] suggestions with irrefutable arguments, [the devil] realizes that he will be unable to seduce him and leaves him alone.

P. 29: “We need to be tempted in order to measure our true capabilities and become stronger. When we are tempted it is like having a problem to solve or an exam to pass: it makes us put our best foot forward and show what we are capable of. So we should not pray to be spared temptation, only to be capable of resisting…”

Aivanhov also has a book titled “New Light on the Gospels.” He penetrates and reveals the many wondrous mysteries in the Bible, and I recommend any of his books.

By: David Str

David Str — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:24:31 +0000

The order of the words in Greek is,
“And not leading us into temptation…”

This suggests (to me) that we know and affirm that he is not leading us into temptation and away from evil.

By: Shane

Shane — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:15:35 +0000

God will lead us into trials. that is to be expected. However we are asking God to take us only as far as we can go. Not so far as to lead to temptation.

By: JEC

JEC — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:44:38 +0000

Struggling with the apparent conflict between your understanding of the nature of God and this passage? Jesus tells us to pray to God in this manner: “Lead us not into temptation.” Would God lead us into temptation if we didn’t ask him to not do it? James 1:13-15 says “no.” James says that God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. I wish James had taken a crack at harmonizing this with Job 2:3 in which God tells Satan “. . . you incited me against him [Job] to ruin him without any reason.” Sounds like God, at least on one occasion, was susceptible to temptation and Job paid the price for it.
So, is “Lead us not into temptation” a reference to the story of Job? Is it a plea for God to not do to us what He did to Job, i.e., unleash Satan on us, our families, and our possessions? So far, I like the dramatic reading explanation (above) that suggests the reader should pause after reading “Lead us . . .” and combine as one phrase “not into temptation but away from evil [in so many words].” That salvages some sense out of the text and still allows James to make his claims. What you do with Job, well that’s for another discussion.

By: Gary Hausman

Gary Hausman — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:05:15 +0000

Might it be helpful to consider punctuation ?
the total context of the disciple’s prayer ?

Our Father …
may your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…

lead us…( pause ) not into temptation/trial but deliver us from Evil …

for…
Thine is the Kingdom ( where your will is done ) and the Power and the Glory Forever

The emphasis then shifts to be one seeking His leadership – and then away from our own weakness to temptation, to His deliverance; because Evil is real.

Consider our Lord’s temptation as the Son of Man ( Matt.4:1ff ,) His comments in Gethsemane as
He cautioned watch,pray lest we fall into temptation; be watchful for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak …
Jesus takes ‘temptation’ seriously for His followers.
Evil is real, we are weak, safety is in our Father’s leadership, Power. Our destiny is Forever – His will.
Thus is it necessary to play with the words or the phraseology?

I don’t know Greek I thus may be way off. Yet even the KJV when pausing after ‘and lead us …’ then using ‘not into temptation but deliver us from evil’ as a complete commentary phrase seems for me to dissolve the conundrum.

All your thoughts have been very helpful.
thk u
blsgs
glh

By: embee

embee — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:10:45 +0000

I’ve always struggled with this line as well — it made me teach myself NT Greek so I could figure out what is going on. The verb form is a bit of a strange one — subjunctive mood (sometimes translated with “would” in English) which has a variety of different possible translations. One possibility that works for me is: “You would not lead us into temptation, but you deliver us from evil”.

Bottom line – the mood of this verb (subjunctive) is not so straightforward that you would automatically translate it as “do not lead”. While it is true that when the subjunctive is negated, it is often translated as an an imperative, this does not always have to be the case.

[This is very helpful! thank you! - PB]

By: M. Lara

M. Lara — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:49:44 +0000

You make an excellent point. As usual. Plus, I always find that “not into temptation” is a teenie bit of a tongue-twister for me. Is it just me?

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:31:55 +0000

There’s a lot of scriptural tradition that says that God does “test” us or allow us to be tested. And the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where he was tempted. Be that as it may, I prefer the contemporary-language version in our Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (1979): “Save us from the time of trial.” Yeah, that’s what I pray for.

By: Kevin Holsapple

Kevin Holsapple — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:45:04 +0000

Hello Fausto,
I am delighted that you remember me (could you tell me your former “nom de plume?) I am no longer “down east”; I am in a parish on the Gulf Coast of Florida. As you can see, I still “slum” in the UU blogosphere. “Peacebang” has a catholic streak, whether or not she recognizes it.

By: will shetterly

will shetterly — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:35:44 +0000

I just came across this, in James 1:

13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.