RESPONSE TO POPE FRANCIS’ SUGGESTED CHANGE IN THE LORD'S PRAYER

Recently, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that the verse in the Lord’s Prayer currently translated as "lead us not into temptation" is not an accurate translation. He reasoned that God does not lead us to sin and hence, suggested that the words be changed to “do not let us fall into temptation"

There are biblical grounds to support Pope’s view. One of them is James 1: 13 - 17

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

While there might be other biblical grounds to support the Pope’s position, it will be interesting to see how Pope Francis reconciles his view with such words in Matthew 4:1

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

We know for sure that God is not the tempter, Satan is. But can we look at scripture and conclude that God cannot lead someone into temptation? This is the issue that Pope Francis and other theologians have to wrestle with as we think about the accuracy or otherwise of current translations of the Lord’s Prayer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rev Joshua Amaezechi, an ordained Minister in the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA), is the President of the LEMA Institute. He works as the Lead Chaplain at the Kalamazoo County Jail, Michigan through the Forgotten Man Ministries.

The opinions and comments expressed in this blog are exclusively that of the author.The LEMA Institute or its Board and faculty is not responsible for any aspects of the information supplied by the blogger.