Lead us not into temptation?

[Puritan Sailor]

Just pondering something here.

We are told to pray in the Lord's Prayer "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." (Matt. 6:13)

Yet we are told in James 1:13 that God does not tempt anyone.

So if God won't tempt us, then why do we pray that He will not lead us into temptation?

 

[Scot]

Patrick,

I believe that the word "lead" in this verse can be translated "bring" if I'm not mistaken. Another usage of the word "temptation" is found in Revelation 3:10:

[i:f9a53592c7]"Because thou has 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 (same word) them that dwell upon the earth."[/i:f9a53592c7]

I believe this verse (Rev. 3:10) is speaking of judgment day when the unsaved will be "tried" or "brought to trial." This is the "trial" that we wish to avoid when we pray.

I think what we call "The Lord's Prayer" is ultimately a prayer for salvation ("Forgive us our debts", "Deliver us from evil").

I think we could read the phrase "lead us not into temptation" as "bring us not into trail" (the trail being judgment day).

my :wr50:

 

[Ranger]

Temptation in the Matt. 6 passage is the same word translated "trial" in James 1:12.

The word in James 3 is different though, it refers to the trials and testing of Satan and the Pharisees. It is in this way that God will not test us.

Plus, the word for lead most literally means to "bring in (or into)." It is eisphero

Cool question.