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In Matthew 6:13, we open to the sixth petition of the Lord’s Prayer. This part of the prayer model of Christ Jesus left us sometimes puzzling. It is something we have said all our life and perhaps puzzled over from time to time.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT TEMPTATION MEANS. RIGHT?
We all have experienced being tempted to do, say, or think something and have struggled with that temptation. But what does it mean when we are told by Jesus to ask God daily, or even more frequently, to “lead us not into temptation”?
Does that mean God sometimes does lead us to temptations, and we are somehow supposed to ask Him to stop doing that? Sounds strange when we think of it that way.
So, this is a challenging passage. How do we come to the correct, proper, orthodox, sound interpretation of Matthew 6:13? The answer to that question is also the same answer to every hard passage, every problem passage, and every so-called discrepancy in the Bible.
Each time we study the Bible we are confronted with the doctrine of Bible interpretation or what theologians called “hermeneutics”. We can consider three simple elements to understand this verse: the problem, the passage, and the prayer.
UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL TEMPTATION
Temptations and God not “leading us into” them is a strange combination of thoughts about our perfect and holy God. Does God tempt people? No, and yes, depending on how you use the word tempt. Does God ever tempt anyone to evil? Never. But is there another meaning for “temptation” that is not always evil? Yes.
So there are trials and temptations presented in God’s Word. Trials are positive, temptations are negative. The word Jesus used here is a neutral word. It is neither positive or negative. It just means a hard time that can become either good or bad for us.
But before we jump into a Biblical word study of this phrase we’ve said all our life, step back and look at the whole concept of understanding the Bible.
I’ve spent most of my life studying the Bible, and seeking to come to a proper understanding of the interpretation God intended for each passage of the Bible. As we study any portion of the Word of God we must pause to remember that: God is the Author of all the Bible.
Every Verse is Part of Scripture
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