Matthew
6:13 (ESV) reads, “
And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” On December 8
th of last year, the
New
York Times reported the following:
“In a
new television interview, Pope Francis said the common rendering of one
line in the prayer — “lead us not into temptation” — was “not a good
translation” from ancient texts. “Do not let us fall into temptation,” he
suggested, might be better because God does not lead people into temptation;
Satan does.”
““A father doesn’t do
that,” the pope said. “He helps you get up right away. What induces into
temptation is Satan.”
My comments will show several things:
1. The Pope’s manuscript criticism of the text is
ill-founded. The original manuscript is
clear and the translation is accurate;
2. The Pope has failed to understand the breadth and scope
of the biblical word “temptation”;
3. The Pope, who leads the largest Arminian organization in
the world, has an impoverished and anaemic view of God’s sovereignty;
4. The Pope has largely dismissed the clear emphasis of the
text, i.e., the leadership of God in the lives of his people;
5. The Pope has robbed the Church of any hope and
encouragement in time of testing.
One of the words at the center of the debate is the word “temptation”. It is the Greek word πειρασμός pronounced, pi-ras-mos’,
and most lexicons will show that the word could mean testing, trials or even
temptation. Normally the context
determines the meaning. We also
understand that the word often does double duty. For example, what Satan may determine to be
our temptation, God determines to be our testing. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet
trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces
steadfastness” (James
1:2–3, ESV).
No better example can be found than in the temptation of
Jesus. In
Matthew
4:1 it is unmistakable that the agency leading Jesus to his temptation is
the Holy Spirit of God. It is clear that Satan meant it for Jesus’ moral
failure, but the Holy Spirit meant it for good. That God leads his people into testing and
trials is clear in Scripture (
Genesis
22:1; Deuteronomy 8:2; 1Peter 4:12; 1Peter 1:6; etc.)
To agree with the Pope’s translation (Do not let us fall
into temptation) is to remove an important element from the equation, that is,
that God sovereignly and providentially is involved in every aspect of our
lives. It means that God, although free
from impeachment, is behind every event of our lives. The Pope needs to read
Calvin’s great commentary entitled, “The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, while He Continues Free
from every Taint”, where he writes,
“The sum of the whole is this,—since the will of God is said to be the
cause of all things, all the counsels and actions of men must be held to be
governed by his providence; so that he not only exerts his power in the elect,
who are guided by the Holy Spirit, but also forces the reprobate to do him
service.”[1]
Dan Wallace, a renowned Greek
scholar clarifies the other word in the debate: “The verb in the petition “lead” is an aorist active subjunctive (eisenegkes); with the
negative particle, “do not lead” is the idea. The pope wants it to mean “allow”
which speaks instead of God not permitting something rather than him actively
leading us.”
Jesus who is undoubtedly familiar with the Old Testament was
aware of the general ethic of Hebrew theology.
Throughout the Old Testament we are aware that even behind the hand of
evil was the omnipotent hand of God. Dr. Joseph R. Nally writes,
“God has sin, evil,
deception, and all their means incorporated into his perfect ordained plan. At
times God ordains a lying spirit. See Ahab's experience in 1
Kings 22:21-23 (KJV): "Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also:
Go forth, and do so." (cf. 2 Thess
2:11-12). Note the use of the term "persuade." We have the story
of Job where God asks Satan, "Have you considered my servant...? In this
case, God used Satan to help Job mature (Job 1:8).
God is the one that raised up Pharaoh, who kept Israel enslaved for years just
so he could later reveal his glory in destroying the Egyptians. Indeed, God
even hardened his heart! See Romans 9:15-22.
And as we already discussed, consider the death of Christ, which God ordained (1 Pet 1:18 ff),
but which was carried out by wicked men (i.e. morally responsible) who were
persuaded by events, their fallen natures, etc. (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28).
The fact that God has ordained our trials and temptations is
no excuse to not pray for deliverance.
Paul prayed for deliverance (three times) (
2
Corinthians 12:8). Jesus
prayed for deliverance in the Garden (
Matthew
26:39). And in
Psalm
59:1–2 (ESV) we read, “
1 Deliver
me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; 2
deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.”
“To adopt the Pope’s
translation is to lose the precious truth that God does exercise agency over
our trials. His loving providential care extends over every area of our lives,
from our deepest joys to our most profound pain. His sovereign hand over all of
these things is what gives us the confidence that he has the ability to hear
and answer prayer in the first place.”
“When I’m in a bad situation, I want to
know that God is truly in control—not reacting but directing (Gen 50:20). I
must accept that God is allowed to lead me into temptation without himself
sinning—or tempting me. That takes a big God. That’s the kind of God I want
when I’m facing temptation. I want to know that even the bitter cup was measured out by his hand.”
So the Pope is trying to solve a
problem that is not a problem. His
solution strips God of his active involvement in our lives. Seeking to defend God from evil, the Pope
actually diminishes God’s sovereignty and glory. The interpretative key is found in Genesis 50:
“As for you,
you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that
many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:20, ESV)
When we pray this petition, included in it is the phrase: “and
deliver me from evil.” “
The phrase
translated ‘evil’ (Gk. tou ponērou)
can mean either ‘evil’ or ‘the evil one,’ namely, Satan.”[3] This phrase helps us understand the prayer and we
cannot divorce it from the main clause.
The point is that in the circumstance that God leads us into, he means
it for good and Satan means it for evil.
The prayer is essentially saying, “When you lead me into trials intended
for my testing and my good, deliver me from Satan who intends them for my
failure and my harm.”
Therefore, whatever
men or Satan himself devise, God holds the helm, and makes all their efforts
contribute to the execution of his judgments[4]
