"Lead Us Not Into Temptation" on Matthew 6:13 by Neil and Virginia Lettinga - August 3 2025

We're going to talk more about prayer today. In particular, we're going to talk more about some of the instructions that Jesus gave for prayer in Luke 11:

"¹One of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. ³ Give us each day our daily bread.⁴ Forgive us our sins,for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

Matthew shares a slightly longer version that is a regular part of many church services. (And our Lord's Prayer.)

A couple of weeks ago we focused on the line: "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us."

Jesus clearly wants his disciples to think about forgiveness as they pray. We receive it and we give it. Not that we earn forgiveness from God by forgiving others. His forgiveness is freely given. BUT God's forgiveness changes our hearts so that we learn forgiveness. Which sounds neat, but forgiving others is still awkward and still difficult, so we think of it as a hard line to pray. But Jesus gives it to us in the Lord's prayer. It is the next line in this prayer that often gives Jesus' disciples a serious pause. "Lead us not into temptation."

Not that any of us want to stumble into temptation. Of course not! But surely God doesn't need to be asked not to lead us into temptation!

Someone might feel like shutting their mouth tightly as the rest of the congregation said, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation." It would seem reasonable because "God never tempts us or leads us into temptation!" That's a real point. Scripture tells us that "...God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone." (James 1:13)

But Scripture also shares the Lord's Prayer in which Jesus tells us to pray "Lead us not into temptation." Both Matthew and Luke share that prayer lesson: "Lead us not into temptation." Matthew adds the words "and deliver us from the evil one" as well.

Q: So is the Bible contradicting itself?

What do we do with this line in the Lord's Prayer? That's our question for this morning.

But before we dig into these words, let's think about what to do when we discover something that feels like a "problem" in the Bible. What do you do when a teacher or a preacher or a podcaster -- or the Bible itself -- says something that surprises you? Something that doesn't fit with other things that you have read? Or that you have been taught or that you feel? Personally, when I meet an idea or a teaching that makes me ask questions or feel uncomfortable, I squirm a bit. Maybe you do to. And I think that's OK. Or even GOOD.

But what I think is BAD and what I'm sure you shouldn't do is to give up on it or ignore it. We shouldn't give up on a worrisome or troublesome Bible text. "Wrestle with it till it gives you a blessing. Study it. Think about it in different ways. Wrestle with it till it gives you a blessing." That's a phrase from the Black Church in the U.S. and we heard it from Esau McCaully. The black preachers were thinking of an Old Testament story about Abraham's grandson Jacob. Jacob wrestled with a stranger in the night and was left limping. But Jacob held on to the stranger and would not let him go until the stranger gave him a blessing. That stranger was God's representative. (or maybe God himself?)

When things in the Bible challenge or surprise us, don't let go of it. Wrestle with it till it gives you a blessing. The petition "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” irritated and offended some. Maybe it feels awkward to you as well? It has to me. And some wanted to drop the Lord's Prayer out from worship gatherings.

BUT this line is given to us by Jesus.

And it has now been prayed aloud by Jesus' followers for centuries. If we're uncomfortable with this line -- or uncomfortable with other parts of Scripture -- it is worth wrestling with until it gives us a blessing.

So for the rest of this little talk, we're going to tell you how we wrestle with Scripture in general, and then what we've found in wrestling with this particular text.

We counted and decided that there are at least 5 ways we wrestle with Scripture (perhaps you can think of things we should add?)

1.  read the text with its surrounding bits AGAIN

2.  pray through it ("meditating on it")

3.  read it in a variety of translations

4.  read and talk about it with others (or in books)

5.  read other parts of the Bible that connect to it.

One woman felt upset about the line "lead us not into temptation..." because she clung to another part of the Bible and gave that verse priority. In the letter to James Chapter 1 verse 13 he writes ¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

That seems blunt and clear, doesn't it? But if we keep wrestling with Scripture and look at the broader section of what James is writing, things quickly begin to look different, or less simple.

In James chapter 1 verses 2 & 3, right after the formal opening and greetings, listen to what James writes,

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face TRIALS of many kinds, ³ because you know that the TESTING of your faith produces perseverance.

"Pure joy...whenever you face trials of many kinds" !?

Wow. Pure joy?

Trials. Tests. Temptations??

Do you wonder what it going on?

The words we read here as TRIALS and TESTING in English are all the same one Greek word: "peirasmos."

And the word that is translated as TEMPTATION in the Lord's prayer and in James 1:13 is also "peirasmos". It's all the same word.

The NIV translators are trying to help us recognize that in Greek, the word "peirasmos" isn't always evil or negative. Some tests are very useful and good, aren't they? You test you bike brakes before you go mountain biking. And that's good! While learning French, I don't like the tests and quizzes, but they help me understand what I know and what I've got to go back and work on more. There is a subtlety about the challenges that we can face through trials, tests or temptations. Otherwise, how can James tell us to consider it pure joy to face trials of many kinds? And just ten verses later he announces that God doesn't tempt anyone? Using the same Greek word in each case.

So now we're looking hard at our question for this morning. What do we think we are praying when we ask God to "Lead us not into temptation"?

Misunderstandings about this question actually led the Catholic church to update the English language version of the Lord's prayer about 5 years ago. Francis, Pope at the time, said “The words ‘Lead us not into temptation’ mistakenly lead some to think that this means it is God who tempts us to sin." That was exactly the problem for some. In French, the translation of that line had been changed to “Let me not fall into temptation,” and the Pope thought that would also be a clearer translation in 21st C English."

As we wrestle with the line "Lead us not into temptation," I find it helpful to know that other Christians also wrestle with it -- and helpful to know that a Bible scholar like Pope Francis felt it was good to have a translation that reworded it to make it clear that God doesn't tempt us to sin. I was amused when I realized that the 21st century Catholic tweak to the translation for the "Our Father Prayer" matches closely the Heidelberg Catechism of the Reformed Churches. A catechism created in the 16th century! In the Catechism, Q & A 127 this line of the Lord's Prayer is quoted in words that parallel Pope Francis! Listen to how the Catechism translates the words we typically say as "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” And then listen to the encouraging way that the Catechism understands it. According to the Heidelberg Catechism, “And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one” means that by ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment... And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory.”

As I wrestle with what I am praying in the Lord's prayer, I am happy to think that I am asking the Lord to uphold [you and me] and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory. It is reassuring to know that thinking this way is in line with centuries of other Christians. Though I am an older person and since I have been praying "Lead us not into temptation" for over 65 years, I expect that is what I'll keep saying. But after wrestling with this, I am reassured by other layers to it.

And there is another twist that came out for me as we wrestled with this text. Jesus gives us the prayer to "Lead us not into temptation" as someone who WAS led into temptation. He was led into the desert to be tempted by Satan. Jesus knows what testing and trials and temptation are all about.

Personally. Deeply. And Jesus gives us the prayer to "deliver us from the evil one" as the Saviour who does the delivery! Jesus delivers us from Satan by letting go of his life through great pain and suffering, betrayal and death.

When we pray "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil," I find it helpful to know that though I ask this, when I meet tests and trials and temptations I am following Jesus. Jesus prayed this -- and still his path lead through tests and trials and temptation. And is our Saviour and the great Victor.

There are a lot of other things about the Lord's Prayer and about just these lines that we could explore and wrestle with. We encourage you to reread the chapters in which the prayer is given to us: Luke 11 and Matthew 6. And perhaps reread the first chapter of James' letter. There is a lot there!

We'd like to close with a prayer adapted from one by John Henry Newman. He echoes some of our thoughts and we pray this for ourselves -- perhaps for you as well.

My dear Lord,

I fear trials and temptations. I am so very weak that I have not strength to ask you for suffering as a gift, but at least I will beg from you grace to meet suffering well when you in your love and wisdom bring it on me. Let me bear pain, reproach, disappointment, slander, anxiety, suspense, as you want me to,

O my Jesus, and as you by your own suffering have taught me, when it comes.

Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory. Now and forever. Amen.