The God who leads us into temptation
December 9, 2017 § 2 Comments
You’ve been praying the Lord’s Prayer all wrong—at least according to the Pope.
This week some media outlets were astir with the news that Pope Francis wants to change the Lord’s Prayer.
To be completely fair, Pope Francis didn’t actually say the Lord’s Prayer is wrong; rather, he said the way it is most popularly recited is a “bad translation.” He is hardly the first to suggest that the phrase “lead us not into temptation” ought to be translated “let us not fall into temptation” or something similar.
As a Protestant evangelical pastor, I am aware that some scholars both within and without my tradition have suggested the same thing for centuries. God, they argue, does not lead people into temptation because he is good and caring. They point to passages like James 1:13, which clearly says God “tempts no one.” This is, indeed, sound biblical theology: God does not tempt us or cause us to sin.
My problem with this “controversy” is that it actually has nothing to do with bad translations but bad theology. Jesus straightforwardly says in Matthew 6:13, καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν—“and do not lead us into temptation.” There is simply no way to make this “do not let us fall into temptation” because the verb εἰσφέρω means “to lead or to bring into”; it even carries (no pun intended) the idea of being carried into a place. This is no room for falling anywhere here.
In reality, the issue the Pope and others like him have with “lead us not into temptation” is one of theology, not translation. They object to the classic English translation because it doesn’t fit their theology; they think it implies that God knowingly lead us into a situation or place where we are tempted, and to do so is inconsistent with what they believe about his goodness and kindness.
What, then, do they make of the fact that the Scripture says that, after he was baptized by John, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1, ESV)? The use of the even stronger verb (ἀνάγω) leaves no doubt that Jesus’ being tempted was God’s clear intention. Yes, it was the devil who did the tempting—but it was God who led Jesus to his scheduled tempting.
God does, in fact, lead us into places and situations where we are tempted. More than this, there isn’t anywhere in this world where God can lead us where we won’t be tempted because, as James clarifies, “…each person is tempted when he lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:4, ESV). The problem isn’t where we are led (and even less who does the leading) but what we take with us wherever God leads us: our sinful hearts. The only way not to be led into temptation is to be led out of the world.
That is why the petition in question has a second part: “…but deliver us from evil.” The faithful disciple realizes that God may indeed lead us into places where we may be tempted; he realizes that God, for his own wise, good, and perfect reasons, may indeed answer the first part of the petition, “No.” It is then that the second part of the petition applies: “Deliver us from evil…”—even the evil desires of our own hearts that tempt us away from trusting and obeying God.
But have those who object to the traditional (and correct) language really changed anything? In the end, aren’t they still asking God to keep them away from temptation—and doesn’t that imply that God could answer “No”? What is kinder and gentler about God, who could prevent me from “falling” into temptation, still letting me “fall” into it anyway? Don’t I still have the same problem before me: Why would a good God let me be tempted?
I suspect that Pope Francis and those in his tribe believe their preferred language lets God “off the hook” and keeps him from sounding harsh—which it in fact doesn’t. That’s ok—because God isn’t on the hook to begin with. We are.
Again, the problem isn’t temptation—the problem is the sinful human heart. When I understand that God, who is not merely sovereign but also wise and has my ultimate sanctification in his view, I will pray with that knowledge in my view. Yes, I will pray, “Lead me not into temptation”—but if God, who knows me better than I know myself, has decided to lead me where I will in fact be tempted, I know further to pray “…deliver me from evil” because I also know that he has given me everything I need to stand firm in that temptation:
…let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:12, 13, ESV)
Ultimately, the petition “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” calls me to repent of thinking I have the power within myself to resist temptation and instead to look outside of myself to God’s promise of deliverance in Christ, who in every respect—and by God’s leading—has been tempted as I am, yet without sin, which makes Jesus a fully sympathetic Savior (cf. Hebrews 4:15, ESV).
In God’s design of my total redemption, the Lord’s Prayer in part teaches me that God in may indeed lead me into temptation so I may learn that sin isn’t “out there” in bad places but in my own heart; he may in lead me into temptation so I may know my weakness and his strength. Most importantly, it teaches me that the God who leads me also delivers me.
Amen to that.
Roblog 
[…] Florida Presbyterian Pastor Rob Looper said that he, for one, planned to keep the current translation in his church — and he […]
Rem acu tetigisti, Pastor Rob – you’ve put your finger on the nub! The authority of the Lord Jesus is over all, and Proverbs 21 touches on this: “The heart of the king is as channels of water in the hand of the LORD, and He turns it wherever He wishes.” And Jeremiah, even at the end of a lengthy complaint about his situation, starts the wrap up of Lamentations 3 with this related thought: “For the Lord will not reject forever, for if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men. To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the land, to deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High, to defraud a man in his lawsuit— of these things the Lord does not approve. Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?” Lamentations 3:31-38
The LORD Jesus, according to Matthew 28:18, has been granted ALL authority on heaven and on earth, and certainly His wording of the prayer to His Father is accurate!
Thanks for your courageous words.
Tim Connor, Ocala, Florida