LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL
Author: Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me asking, how do I understand the first section of Matthew 6:13, because God will not lead us into temptation.
This is how I understand the first section – We read:
MAT 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
(Note: Matthew 6:13 Or from evil; some late manuscripts one, / for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen)
MAT 6:13 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.. (AKJV – Authorized King James Version)
The person who wrote to me, had a problem with the first section of the verse, namely:
MAT 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, …”
The first thing we certainly know, is that our Lord will never lead us into temptation / committing a sin.
JAM 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
So, how should we interpret the first section of Matthew 6:13?
Maybe someone will say that it has wrongly been translated from the original writings.
Now, I am in no way an expert/linguist of the original language it was written in, but I have the greatest respect in those who our Lord intrusted with the translation into Afrikaans.
For the sake of the many people who are skeptical about this translation, I have through the grace of our Lord the privilidge to have several other translations, which have been translated by a number of different translators and their translations are almost identical.
The translations that I did consult, because I have them in my posession, are as follows:
Afrikaans Bibles –
1983 Vertaling (1983 Translation).
Die Lewende Bybel (The Living Bible).
Die Nuwe Lewende Vertaling (The New Living Translation).
English Bibles –
King James Version.
Living Bible.
Modern Language.
Revised Standard.
So, although I already knew this, these different versions, by a variety of different translators, only confirms that that part is not mistranslated.
If the translation is correct and our Lord is not to lead us into temptation, how must we interpret it?
Because it is written..
MAT 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
After contemplating the question that was asked of me regarding this matter, how do I portray that which I believe and understand the matter, the following picture comes to mind:
Like a Shepherd, Jesus comes to me during this lifetime that I am walking, which is a narrow path/road, or even, a small path/road that leads to Heaven.
JOHN 10:4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Yes, I listen to His voice and I follow Him.
JOHN 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I did say that it is a narrow path/road, or a strait and narrow way on which I am following Jesus.
MAT 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
MAT 7:14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
However there is, right up to the side of this narrow, or even, small path/road all sorts of temptations/distractions/rubbish from satan, which he has placed there, with the soul purpose of distracting me from listening to our Lord’s voice.
Satan manages to distract many Christian’s attention from Jesus and from His teachings, that many Christians stray from the narrow path/road and then according to their own viewpoint they are still following Jesus but in actual fact they are walking next to the narrow path/road strugling through all of satan’s rubbish/distractions.
They rationalise in the following way:
They have been baptized/christeaned. Some can also add that they have been catechised.
Acording to the people around them they live nice ordered lives.
They are regularly in church, etc, etc. but in truthfulness there is no difference between their lifestyle and those people around them who do not confess to be Christians.
There are even some theologians that travel next to this narrow/small road/path who struggle through the rubbish/distractions which satan has placed there, through for example the rubbish which is preached under the guise of the cloak of the Gospel of Jesus.
Also I heard the other day of a ‘Shepherd’ who forced his wife to watch pornography with him.
So, I believe that in actual fact Jesus is saying to us, and this is how I lead and live my life –
We must pray to our Lord, that while He is leading us, HE inspite of everything that He created us with a will of our own, that He must not allow us to use our own will to stray from the narrow path/road and plod through all satan’s rubbish alongside the path/road, while we are under the impression, that we are still following Jesus.
Because, we, the people, are inclined, as my great hero Paul said regarding himself:
ROM 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Therefore when I get to this section of the “Lord’s Prayer/Our Father” the intention in my heart is that our Lord, while He is leading us, that He in spite of my own free will which he gave me, that He does not allow me through my own will, to stray from His path/road to end up in the rubbish/distractions satan has placed alongside the road/path – but that He deliver/release me from that evil.
Also those evil ‘urges’ that may arise in me to leave the path/road to plod along through satan’s rubbish/distractions.
I know that He has the power/authority to do this for me. Because He is the Lord of universe and and all the power and glory in this creation is His for eternity.
MAT6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
The Authorised King James Version reads as follows (AKJV):
MAT 6:13 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.
Greetings,
Sakkie