The Layman Foundations of the Faith
Lead us not into temptation
Robert P. Mills, Posted Monday, Feb 17, 2003
Suggested Scripture Readings: Matt. 3:16-4:11; 6:13; Heb. 4:14-16; James 1:12-18 |
At Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Immediately, Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, where he was tempted by Satan (Matt. 3:16-4:11). Upon his return from the desert, Jesus went up on a mountain to teach his disciples. That teaching included the Lord’s Prayer.
The leading of the Spirit and the close connection between Jesus’ temptation and his teaching give us important insights into the meaning and significance of the final petition of this prayer, which begins “Lead us not into temptation.”
God’s leading
Does God tempt his people to do evil? If not, why pray “Lead us not into temptation?”
In answering such questions, recognizing the distinction between the Spirit’s leading and the devil’s tempting is crucial. God does not tempt his people. He never tries to lure us into sin. As James reminds and warns 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 one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (James 1:13-14).
God does, however, allow us (and at times may lead us) into places where our faith will be tested and tried. He may even permit Satan to tempt us as he did with Job and Jesus. But since God is all powerful and Satan is not, what Satan intends as a tool for leading Christians into evil, God can use to strengthen.
While some may find such distinctions confusing, much can be clarified by taking a closer look at the word “temptation.”
Testing and trial
In the Lord’s Prayer, the Greek word translated “temptation” is peirasmos, which may be translated “temptation,” “testing” or “trial.” Peirasmos derives from the root peira, which means “experience.” And, as William Barclay observes, “like all Greek nouns which end in – asmos it describes a process.”
That peirasmos can mean temptation, testing or trial helps us see how these concepts are related. Consider, for example, the training of soldiers. Before they are sent into battle, soldiers are taught about weapons and tactics. They engage in rigorous physical conditioning. Their knowledge and conditioning then are tested and tried in battlefield simulations before they are ordered to engage in real warfare.
Most trainees, I suspect, find this a trying experience. During the process, some doubtless experience various temptations, including misusing their weapons and dropping out of the program altogether. But those who submit to the training and resist the temptations are then suited for military service.
Although it is no longer politically correct to say so, the Christian life is a spiritual battlefield. The New Testament writers did not shy away from the language of spiritual warfare. Neither should we.
Part of our training in the life of faith, part of the experience Christians must acquire if we are to be of service in God’s kingdom, involves learning how to recognize, resist and ultimately reject temptation.
Rejecting temptation
Austin Farrer offers a concise summary of how Christians are to deal with temptation:
“To reject a temptation, we need only recognize the wrongness of it. Afterwards we can take the wrong to pieces, if we like, and see how many different principles of right it violated. Then a wrongness which made a single impression on us may be seen to have been many-sided.”
Farrer helps us see that beneath the act of temptation lies the fact of good and evil, the reality of right and wrong. If evil did not exist, neither would temptation. If there were no distinction between right and wrong, the concept of temptation would be meaningless.
These distinctions are especially important for postmodern Christians. For if we mindlessly accept our culture’s contention that right and wrong are merely matters of personal preference, we will have no reason to reject temptation. And if we no longer believe that evil exists, we will see no need to pray “Lead us not into temptation.”
Again quoting Farrer, “Is it not characteristic of Christ’s simplicity, of his humanness, that he lets us pray against what recent experience reminded him we must often undergo?”
Temptation is not sin. Jesus was tempted just as we are, yet did not sin (Heb. 4:14-16). Temptation turns to sin only when we yield to evil desires already within us.
May we therefore learn to pray as Jesus taught, “Lead us not into temptation.”
Additional Resources William Barclay, The Lord’s Prayer (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998); Austin Farrer, The Triple Victory: Christ’s Temptation According to St. Matthew (Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 1965). |