On-Temptation-and-Testing

Article from Timing Revelation and More,
"On Temptation and Testing"

Does God Lead Us Into Temptation?

By Diane M. Hoffmann, B.Th., M.Th., PhD/Th., Ord./IAOG-Canada

Another article provided by Timing Revelation & more...

A lot of people ask: Why does it say "Lead us not into temptation" in the Lord's prayer? God does not tempt us!

True, the Lord's prayer in both Matthew 6, verses 9 to 13, and Luke 11, verses 2-4 say that indeed. However it does not mean what most people think.

The Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

Let's take a look at the puzzle

Most people will say something like, well God knows that we are going to be tempted, so He placed that in the prayer so that it would be a plea for God not to let us be tempted.

That's what I used to think too.

However, one day I was reading through the book of Revelation. A friend had just recently posed that question to me which I had answered somewhat as mentioned above.

But, praise His name, as I was reading on the churches of Revelation chapter 3, at that particular time, I came across verse 10 that says: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."

Notice "the hour of temptation". This word is the same word as in the Lord's prayer in both Matthew and Luke, “lead us not in temptation”. The word in the original Greek is "peirasmos", which means testing, trying or proving someone's faithfulness as in Revelation 3:10 that says:

"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation (peirasmos), which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."

In other words in this scripture the Lord tells the church that they won't have to go through testing (peirasmos) because they have already proven themselves through their steadfast holding on to His word.

Tested and tried

But we read in the Bible that many do go through tests and trials, for example:

Luke 4:13, "And when the devil had ended all the temptation (peirasmos), he departed from him for a season." Even our Lord was (peirasmos) by the devil.

Luke 8:13, "They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation (peirasmos) fall away.

Luke 22:40, "And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation (peirasmos)." Now here, the Lord actually tells them to pray to God that they do not enter into temptation. This scripture confirms well the prayer for God to "lead us not into temptation", that our Lord told us to pray.

In the Liberty Bible Commentary is says: "Lead us not into temptation is a plea for the providential help of God in our daily confrontation with the temptation of sin. James 1:13-14 makes it clear that God does not tempt us to do evil, but rather that we are tempted of our own lusts. However, God does test us in order to give us the opportunity to prove our faithfulness to Him. It is never His desire to lead us into evil itself. Therefore if we resist the devil, we are promised that he (the devil) will flee from us."

So that is the answer from scriptures on that common question "Why does it say Lead us not into temptation in the Lord's prayer?

/DMH