A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 37

Chapter 37 – Temptation

 

And lead us not into temptation…. (Matthew 6:13)

 

Do we really think that God is leading us into temptation? “How easy is it to blame someone else when we’re tempted to sin. It’s “his” fault, “her” fault, or when all else fails, it’s God’s fault.” (Bad Girls of the Bible, p. 57)

 

God does not lead us into temptation. That’s ridiculous. This is not something God would ever do. Leading us to temptation is Satan’s work. That’s why Pope Francis called for this particular line of The Lord’s Prayer be changed. In 2019, Pope Francis called for the traditional translation “Lead us not into temptation” be changed to “Do not let us fall into temptation”. Francis explained, “I am the one who falls; it’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen.” (www.desiringgod.org/articles/reading-the-bible-upside-down)

On page 234, N T Wright says that there are three levels of meaning in the verse “lead us not into temptation”:

1.      “Let us escape the tribulation”

2.      “Do not let us be led into temptation that we will be unable to bear”

3.      “Enable us to pass safely through the testing of our faith”

In the more modern Lord’s Prayer, it states, “Save us from the time of trial.”

There are so many ways we can look at this verse without thinking that God is leading us towards temptation. It is more likely that God wants to walk with us through temptation, helping us to get through whatever trouble we find ourselves in.