Lead Us Not Into Temptation

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By Paul Thigpen on September 12, 2012 ,

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Of all the petitions in the lord's prayer, perhaps the most perplexing is the phrase "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil". The prayer's preceding requests for a holy and loving father to forgive us and feed us no doubt would flow naturally from our understanding of his character. But would a holy, Loving God consider leading us into temptation in the first place?

Historical records show that from as early as the second century Christians were already asking this obvious question. The African theologian Tertullian, commenting on the lord's prayer in about A.D 192, bristled at the notion that God could not tempt us, "Far be the thought that, " he wrote ", that the lord should seem to tempt, as if He were either ignorant of (the limits) of someone's faith, or else eager to overthrow (that faith). . .

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Paul Thigpen

Author

Paul Thigpen is the editor of TAN Books and was appointed as a lay representative on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Advisory Council, speaking frequently at conferences and scholarly gatherings in the U.S and abroad. He earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from Yale University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Emory University. A best-selling author, Dr. Thigpen has published forty-two books, including Manual for Spiritual Warfare and Saints Who Battled Satan: Seventeen Holy Warriors Who Can Teach You How to Fight the Good Fight and Vanquish Your Ancient Enemy, and more than five hundred articles for both scholarly and popular audiences. His work has been translated into twelve languages.

 

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