Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ James

[Knight]

If James says that God does not tempt us. Why does the Lord’s Prayer say “and LEAD us not into temptation”?

[jimwalton]

Matthew 6.13 carries the idea that the pray-er is asking that God protect him/her from some temptations, not that God is responsible FOR the temptations.

A.T. Robertson, a Greek grammarian, says, "Here we have a 'permissive imperative,' as grammarians term it. The idea is 'Do not allow us to be led into temptation.'"

Sydney Page writes, "What is clear from the text is that in some sense God is involved in the trials or temptations that believers experience. It is consistent with the prologue of Job and the account of the temptation of Jesus. God no more desires the failure of the followers of Jesus, however, than He desired the failure of Jesus Himself. It is His will that believers experience temptation, and He uses Satan as an instrument through which temptation comes, but His intentions are radically different from those of the one who is called 'the tempter.' When James says that God tempts no one, he is not claiming that God has no connection with the temptation or that it falls outside the realm of His control. More likely, he wants his readers to know that no one can evade responsibility for moral failure on the grounds that God willed that they should do evil. Note that James immediately goes on to say that one is being tempted by his own desires. James clearly intends this as an alternative to the idea of being tempted by God."

And F.F. Bruce: Does God preserve us from temptation, or in temptation? Probably the latter. When we find ourselves surrounded by temptation, may we not be overpowered by it. That is the prayer Jesus is counseling here. We all know that our faith is going to be tested, but we pray that we can endure it, find the way of escape, and glorify our God through it. Grant that we may not fail in the test.