The Lord's Prayer #3

This is the final part of our study of the Lord's prayer

The Lord's Prayer #3                                                                                              06/1/12

The last two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are “And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from evil”. The first part is common to both Luke and Matthew, the final clause is found only in Matthew.

The word for trial is peirasmos which can be translated as either “temptation” or “trial”. Temptation has an element of desire, whereas trial implies suffering and struggle not necessarily connected to virtue. Temptation can be understood as a trial of your virtue, an attack on your moral self – so in this sense they are connected.

Mt uses the word peirasmos elsewhere. In Mt 26:36-41, Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane brings to mind the Lord’s prayer. “Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial” (v.41) and in v.43 “Your will be done”. Jesus is praying in a situation of extreme trial. Early in his ministry Jesus was conscious enough of the trial coming upon him that he prays in the Lord’s Prayer that his disciples not be led there.

So does God really want to lead us into trial or temptation? In the Old Testament God tests both Abraham and Job – perhaps the Lord’s Prayer reflects this. A better understanding is that God does not desire to lead us into trial or temptation, rather that we are being led by God to witness or live in ways that may lead us into times of trial or temptation. James 1:13 states “No one, when tempted, should say ‘I am being tempted by God’, for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one”.

The word peirasmos recalls the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. In Mt 4: 1-11 the verb form of the same Greek word is used twice. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted/tried by the devil” (v.1). Here it is not God but the devil who tries/tempts Jesus – but the leading is done by the Spirit who leads him into the wilderness – the situation where temptation takes place.

In reply to Satan’s second temptation Jesus answers “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”. He is quoting Deut 6:16. The Exodus story tells of the people testing God with complaints and demands.

The phrase “deliver us from evil” or “deliver us from the evil one” is traditionally understood as relating to Satan – as in be careful because the devil is waiting to get you. In the Greek, however, the phrase is actually “deliver us from the evil” – with an article but no pronoun. The word evil changes from a descriptive adjective to a noun. Many translations add the word “one” after “evil” because of the existence of the article “the”. They do this because it seems to make better sense – as though Matthew forgot to finish his sentence. However, Matthew does exactly the same thing elsewhere in his Gospel. In Mt 5:33-37 “let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil”. Again the translators often add on the word “one”.

An evil one implies another enemy, adversary or rival. “The evil” is less personalized. It can be understood in terms of violence, rivalry, hostility and desire. Jesus' teaching about swearing and oaths is one in which he recognizes the mouth as a potent tool for constructing and inflicting violence. It is from this that Jesus is praying for deliverance.

Again in Mt 5:38-39 the word translated as “evil doer” is actually again “the evil”. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. But I say to you, do not resist the evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile”.

So why would Jesus teach us not to resist the evil? It is because we understand resistance in worldly terms. As soon as we try to resist we begin to act mimetically. Instead we need to break the cycle of violence. Our focus should be completely on the Kingdom. Deliverance from the evil has an apocalyptic tone which fits with the rest of the prayer – a waiting for and working towards the in-breaking of the Kingdom.