Friday
Friday
Deliver Us from Evil
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:13 KJV
These last two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are really one. They should probably be taken together as negative and positive aspects of the same prayer. But two problems confront us.
Firstly, the Bible tells us that God does not, even cannot, tempt us (James 1:13). So what is the point of praying that he will not do what he has promised never to do? Some answer by interpreting “tempting” as “testing.” But a better explanation is to unite the two clauses of the prayer: to understand “lead us not into temptation” in the light of its counterpart “deliver us from evil,” and to interpret “evil” as “the evil one.” That is, it is the devil who is in view, who tempts God’s people to sin, and from whom we need to be rescued.
Secondly, the Bible says that temptations and trials are good for us (James 1:2). If, then, they are beneficial, why should we pray not to be led into them? The probable answer is that this is a prayer more that we should overcome temptation than that we should avoid it. We could then paraphrase the petition: “Do not allow us so to be led into temptation that we fall to it, but rescue us from the evil one.”
Looking back now, we can see that the three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are beautifully comprehensive. In principle they cover all our human need—material (our daily bread), spiritual (the forgiveness of our sins), and moral (our deliverance from evil). When we pray this prayer we are expressing our humble dependence on God in every area of our human life. Moreover, a trinitarian Christian is bound to see in these three petitions a veiled allusion to the three persons of the Trinity, since it is through the Father’s creation and providence that we receive our daily bread, through the Son’s atoning death that we receive the forgiveness of our sins, and through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling power that we can be rescued from the evil one. No wonder some ancient manuscripts (though not the best) end with the doxology, attributing the kingdom, the power, and the glory to this triune God to whom alone they belong.
For further reading: 1 John 3:7–10