Lead Us Not Into Temptation – What Does it Mean?
Posted By admin on June 30, 2010
The phrase “lead us not into temptation” is familiar to most Christians. It is from the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer given to us by Jesus (Matthew 6:13). But it causes a lot of problems for people trying to understand it. Does God lead us into temptation, and, if He does, who are we to tell Him what to do?
The most popular opinion is that the Greek (which has three, rather than two, degrees of active/passive voice) suffered from a misinterpretation of the Aramaic, and that what Christ said actually meant “do not let us be led into temptation”.
There are direct Biblical contradictions in the idea that God might lead us to temptation. For example, St. James wrote: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone” (James 1:13). St. Augustine himself re-translated the passage, “Suffer [permit] us not to be brought into temptation”. If this interpretation makes sense to you or helps you in your prayer, by all means adopt it.
So the most popular interpretation is that the English version of the line is an incorrect translation of what Christ actually said. If that satisfies you, think of the meaning, “Help me not be led into temptation”, when you say it.
There is a second dispute over the passage which is a bit more arcane. Many people over the centuries have written that temptation is not necessarily bad for us. They argue that we must be tempted and overcome the temptation to build our character and strengthen our dedication to living well. It was the Holy Spirit, after all, who led Christ into the desert to be tempted by Satan. Again quoting St. James, ” Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:3-5).
People who think that we should welcome temptation make a distinction between two meanings of “temptation”: Being tempted, in the sense of having temptation before you, is different from being delivered to temptation. In other words, they do not avoid temptation, but do want to avoid giving in to it.
For example, picture a married man whose wife is out of town, when an attractive woman at work begins to flirt with him. He would face temptation; however, if he walked away, he would not be “delivered” to it. On the other hand, picture the same man going into a motel room with the woman. He has not yet committed adultery, although he might be “lusting in his heart” (perhaps we should use a former US President from the State of Georgia for our analogy). Yet, he would have delivered himself to temptation. He would have taken a step toward fulfilling his lustful desire.
But these theological questions, despite the enormous debate and trouble they cause, can themselves become a barrier to faith. I try not to get hung up on such small questions. I would rather not be tempted and I have no problem asking God not to tempt me or not to let me be tempted. He knows how stupid I am and He knows that I am trying to pray in the way Christ taught us to pray.
My own interpretation, when I pray this line, is that God not answer any of my prayers that will result in increased temptation to sin. For example, I might pray (directly or indirectly) for some worldly item, or to be cured of some physical ailment. But it might be that getting what I ask for would be bad for my soul and tempt me to sin. There is an old saying, “Be careful; you might get what you wish for.”
But the important point is this: Do not let theological questions come between you and God. When you say the line “lead us not into temptation”, God understands that you are praying not to sin and that you are worried that you might give in to temptation. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in theology to be a good Christian.
I am sure that when you pray the lines “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”, if you are sincere, it doesn’t matter what your interpretation is. You are praying for God to help you resist evil, and that is what is important.
Tags: God, Holy, Jesus
Comments
Leave a Reply