A caller named Samuel asks Father Dave about the wording in the Our Father. “I don’t know if maybe I’m overthinking this, but in the Lord’s Prayer, there’s that part we say, ‘lead us not into temptation.’ Why do we say that?” Samuel asks. “I just took it as a given that there’s no circumstance in which God would deliberately tempt us to sin, and I was just wondering what the significance was of asking God to not lead us into temptation.”
Father Dave begins, “You’re not overthinking, Sam. I know I’ve talked to people over my years of being a priest for whom this is a real sticking point.” He first examines why we have to ask God for anything in intercessory prayer. “We see that in the Scriptures, and we claim and rely on that even before our heart – let alone our lips – can formulate a prayer, God knows what it is we need.”
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“We refer to God as a heavenly parent. The analogy doesn’t completely describe God, but this is a literary device that’s used in many places in the Scriptures,” Father Dave says, and notes how a parent knows what their child needs without them asking. “The idea is to say that even if [a human parent] could anticipate the needs of their children, then certainly a heavenly parent who is omnipotent absolutely can so.”
“If we take that as a given, we might ask, ‘Well, what’s the point of prayer?’ But we see Jesus frequently in the New Testament reminding us to ask, seek, and knock,” Father Dave continues. “We believe that God has promised to take care of our needs.”
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As for the wording of the Lord’s Prayer, Father Dave says, “I’d have to attribute it partially to translation and cultural use of language and rhetorical styles; some of which we still use today that were present in Jesus time.” He notes how saying “lead us not” is a “poetic style of saying something in reverse.”
“We’re asking God to even help a little bit more. Like if I’m going down that temptation route, or if the evil one – who is actually leading us into temptation – is tempting us, we say, ‘Lord, I’m trusting that you can help steer me away.’ We’re saying that in a slightly more poetic way.”
