And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one-(Matthew 6:13)

“And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13 NKJV)

Many people are troubled by this portion of the Lord’s Prayer because it sounds like Jesus is telling us to ask God not to entice us to sin. Yet we know from James 1:13 that God does not entice anyone to sin. God does, however, put people to the test, and the Greek term that Jesus uses here, peirasmos, can either mean entice to sin or test by means of a trial. Since Jesus knows that trials are a part of God’s plan for us, he can’t be telling us to pray that we never face any trials. Trials are good for us because they help us grow spiritually, morally, and even emotionally (Romans 5:3-4; James 1:2-4). God uses them to produce Christ-like character within us.

But Satan, identified here as the evil one, wants nothing more than for us to sin when we face trials. Consequently, he regularly entices us to sin and it is right, therefore, for us to pray regularly to be delivered from his enticements.

Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane helps us here. He asked, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39 NKJV). Clearly Jesus was praying to be spared from a time of temptation or testing. Who, after all, wants to go through a trial, especially one like Jesus was facing? Yet he wanted something even more than to be spared the trial. He wanted to do his Father’s will. If he had not gone through the trial of crucifixion and death then he would not have been delivered from the evil one. Sometimes the means of the deliverance is through the trial instead of exemption from it.

When we put this all together it appears that we might paraphrase the prayer something like this: “And do not lead us into really hard times, but if we must go through them, by all means deliver us from Satan’s enticements to sin.”

Temptations come our way every day. Through prayer we rely on God to help us to handle them in ways that keep us from sin and on the pathway to righteousness.