Lord's Prayer: Lead Us Not Into TemptationSample

This week we come to the part of the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus teaches his disciples to pray: “Lead us not into temptation.” It can be confusing. It makes it sound like God is setting us up for temptation and we’re asking him to stop. At times like this, it can be helpful to look at the Greek word being translated and its range of meaning.

The Greek word translated “temptation” is peirasmos. It’s used throughout the New Testament and Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament used by the NT writers).

1. One connotation of this word is to entice or seduce someone into wrong behaviors or beliefs. This is what the Devil did with Jesus in the wilderness and the kind of thing the Bible tells us to flee.
   
   It would be odd to think of God doing this. God wants to set us free from evil, and James 1 makes it clear that God does not entice people to sin. So the idea of asking God not to tempt us is off the table.
2. Another connotation is setting someone up to fail. This is what the religious leaders did to Jesus when they questioned him to “test” him, which was more of a trap than anything.
   
   Sometimes people think God does this, almost like he’s out to get us. Maybe he doesn’t tempt us directly, but that he’s secretly hoping for our demise. It’s a suspicion of his motives leading to a fear that God orchestrates situations to trip us up.
   
   It would be odd to think of God doing this as well. Given how harshly Jesus condemns the religious leaders’ motives, that in the very context of the Lord’s Prayer Jesus talks about how our Father wants to give us good things and not bad, not to mention the character of God himself, we can safely say Jesus is not implying that God sets us up to fail and we need to plead with him to stop. We can trust his motives.
3. Another connotation of peirasmos is to discover the quality of something by trial or testing. Is someone ready for the job? Is this substance pure? Does the person know the material? Are they ready? It’s captured by the word “test” in the best sense of the term.
   
   You will find plenty of examples when God tests people. Mark 1 says the Spirit of God thrust Jesus out into the desert, presumably to be tested. God tested Abraham when he called him to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22), and he tested Israel in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8). Paul will even tell the Corinthian church to test themselves to see whether they’re truly in the faith (2 Corinthians 13).

Given the possibilities, what might Jesus be telling us to pray? Perhaps it’s “Steer us away from temptation,” or maybe “When we’re tempted, don’t let us yield!” Or as someone who was no stranger to testing, Jesus may be saying: “Testing is hard. I’ve been there. And God will push you sometimes. He knows what you’re capable of. So despite the preparation God will form in you, ask him to be gentle. Share with him your fear. When you pray, ask the Father to spare you the test.

Consider this today…

In what ways are you being tested? Ask yourself how you view God’s motives in light of what you’re facing.