Question:  Dear Greg,

            Could you explain why in Jesus’ teachings on prayer in what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” we are told to ask God to “not lead us into temptation”?  Thanks!

            Sue

Answer:  Dear Sue,

            “Lead us not into temptation” does not carry the meaning that we sometimes give it—something like “do not seduce us with evil.”  James 1:14 tells us that we humans are tempted by our own sinful nature.  God does not tempt, entice or seduce us, but he does, at times, put humans to the test (see Genesis 22:1—God did not “tempt” Abraham as we would understand the use of this word, but “test” him).

            In fact, the next phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, following “lead us not into temptation” modifies this prayerful request so that no one misunderstands.  What does it say?  “Deliver us from evil.”

            We humans are seduced by our own lusts.  We have sinful human nature, and sometimes that already present downward pull (since Adam—see Romans 5:12-14) is aided and abetted by Satan’s influences, giving us a formidable foe.  See Paul’s account of his spiritual struggles in Romans 7:7-25.  But the good news is that once we accept and believe in Jesus Christ we are new men and women in whom Christ lives his life (Galatians 2:20).  He delivers us, he rescues us, and he empowers us.  We can be “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht