Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
13and do not bring us into testing, but rescue us from the evil [one].
It is quite appropriate, after a serious consideration of our own need of forgiveness and our forgiving others, to turn immediately and plead for rescue! Truly born-again people inwardly mourn over their own sinfulness. We are all too aware of the pain we find struggling against our selfishness, against our horridly deceptive pride, and against our seemingly constant ignorance of even what is right. Sin is a horrible master. Our salvation freed us from it, yet sometimes it feels those old chains are still there, waiting for the smallest opportunity to wrap their icy links around us.
Then there is this whole issue of forgiving others. People may regularly hurt us, disappoint us, betray us, and just generally make our lives miserable. As if that were not bad enough, we then have to confront this whole business of our own sinfulness and our unwillingness to forgive them.
It is all a very painful process in our hearts and lives. No wonder the next line is “Rescue us!” The Apostle Paul came to this exact same place and exclaimed, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:24). And what was his answer? “Thanks be to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Just as we learn here in the Lord’s prayer, the answer to it all is to take it to that Throne of Grace, “that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb.4:16).
And so, for us believers, keenly aware of how painful is this whole business of life in a fallen world, we go to our Lord and beg, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
All that said, I definitely want to take the time to think more deeply what this line of the Lord’s prayer is saying. Right off the bat, I have to admit that first line does give us all some trouble. “Lead us not into temptation…” Several thoughts I want to remember. First of all, as James tells us, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (1:13,14). That states very clearly what we are all quite sure of – that the Lord has nothing to do with evil or even the temptation to succumb to it.
Interestingly, the Greek verb behind “Lead us” is not actually a strict imperative, as it appears in our English translation. Instead it is what grammarians call a “subjunctive.” We really have no other way to translate it into English, but suffice it to say it is at best a very weak imperative. Also, the word doesn’t really mean “lead.” It might be better translated something like “bring,” but then that doesn’t translate well either. Bottom line is just to note this “lead” is a very weak imperative. Definitely more of a request, like Jesus’ words, “If it be possible…”
Also, the word translated “temptation” is actually a word for testing, with no natural positive or negative connotation. It is the same word for the kind of testing someone might do in a factory’s quality control lab. They bring in one out of so many products and “test” it. If it passes, that batch is assumed good. If not, something needs to be checked or changed.
We are all keenly aware that the Lord allows us to be “tested” in that sense. The problem is, since we are all sinners with wills of our own, every test becomes a temptation. For instance, as we pass through each day, we interact with all kinds of people. The Lord wants us to love each of them. Depending on how they treat us, we may be tempted to respond unkindly. Whether we’ll love each one is a test. It’s our pride and selfishness that tempts us not to.
So, perhaps we could translate this line as “Please don’t bring us into testing.” While that would certainly express the intent of the passage, it leads us to another problem. I’m thinking most of us would probably say to ourselves, “That doesn’t sound like something we should be praying – not to be put through trials or testing.” However, we have a number of very clear instances in the Bible where someone asked to be spared from testing. Above them all, we have those words of Jesus Himself, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me” Then we have the Apostle Paul with his “thorn in the flesh,” asking three times for the Lord to take it away (II Cor. 12:7-9). Then we have Jesus telling His disciples, “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).
The real clincher for me is the prayer of Jabez. In I Chron. 4:9,10, we’re told, “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers…Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory, and that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from trouble, that I might be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” Here, even deep in the Old Testament, we have a man praying, in essence, these exact words, “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil,” and the Lord Himself tells us he was an “honorable” man.
So, yes, this is a perfectly good prayer to pray. “Lord, deliver me from evil – spare me from trouble.” The fact is life in this fallen world is very hard and the Lord knows it. He knows our frame that we are but dust, so He allows us this grace of asking to be spared from trouble. Of course, Jesus added, “Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done,” and, when God’s answer to Paul was, “No, I won’t take it away,” he responded, “Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me…”
In a sense this circles back to the beginning of the prayer, acknowledging Him as our Father and praying His will be done. We can ask for almost anything, but always, always, always leaving the answer in His wise and good hands. If I could add one more thought to all of this, while I pray to be spared from testing and trouble, I realize I have a responsibility in it. In Psalm 32:8,9, we read, “Let Me instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. Let Me counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you.”
I take that to mean we have two options in life – we can just blunder on in our Christian life and make the Lord have to clobber us every time He wants to teach us anything, or we can sincerely strive to be teachable – to be often in the Word, listening intently in church, staying close to the Lord in prayer, and allowing Him to teach us without having to first clobber us. I would much rather have Him show me His will right out of the Word, than to have to resort to painful trials just to get my attention. Because I’m a sinner, there will always be things He can only teach me (burn out of me), by putting me through pain, but what I’m saying is, I believe we can minimize it all, just by very deliberately being teachable.
The last thing I want to record about this passage is in the final line, when we pray, “but deliver us from evil.” Some translations render it “but deliver us from the evil one.” Actually in Greek it can be either. Personally, I don’t think it matters. Evil is evil, whether it is Satan seeking to devour me or just my own evil heart, or the evil of this world we live in. We need to be delivered (lit. “rescued”) from it all!
So then let us pray prayers like this, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” knowing full well what we are asking for, and rising assured we’ve done right and that our wonderful Lord will answer according to His perfect wisdom and kindness.
That is an honorable prayer.
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