Let’s continue our thoughts on the Lord’s Prayer

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Let me start by saying what this is not. It is not a bargain we are striking with God, that He will forgive us because we forgive others, or when we forgive others, or as much as we forgive others. We are asking God’s forgiveness for our sins, confident that because of our trust in the death of Jesus as payment for all our sin, we are indeed forgiven. The phrase as we forgive those who trespass against us is not the reason we are forgiven, but rather a promise on our part to be forgiving towards our brothers and sisters just as God has been forgiving toward us.  We forgive because He first forgave us.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

And lead us not into temptation.

The first words of Luther’s explanation to this petition are revealing: God indeed tempts no one.  We recognize that God is not a source of evil for us, but only good. He is not the one who leads us to sin. What we are asking here, then, is that He would guard and protect us so that we do not give in to the temptations of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. Temptations will and do come to us daily. Each time you are tempted, you must make a choice either to give in to sin or to resist and follow God’s desire for your life. Our prayer is that we would draw upon the strength God offers to us to resist the temptations that do come to us. That this strength is available to us is without question.

God is faithful.  He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

No matter what the temptation may be that comes to you, there is a way out with God’s help. You do not have to give in.

But deliver us from evil.

The Lord ’s Prayer is recorded for us in Matthew 6 and in Luke 11. This last petition does not appear in Luke’s Gospel. It is a kind of summary of the last two petitions. All of the parts of the prayer we are looking at today are asking for a deliverance from evil of some sort. We have already asked that our sins be forgiven and that we would draw upon God’s strength to resist further temptations to sin. In addition to these greatest evils, we are now asking that God would deliver us from every other evil that might come to us.

When you look at the Lord’s prayer in Matthew (and the footnote in Luke), many of the modern translations have “deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew’s Gospel has a footnote that says “or from evil.” The oldest copies of the bible in the original languages, what we call the “biblical manuscripts” are divided–some have “evil” and some have “the evil one”. it really does not make a lot of difference whether we speak of evil in general or of the “evil one” in particular. We know there are forces working against us in our lives that invite us to sin. Luther spoke of evil as a trio: The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. This petition covers all of them. This prayer is that we may be protected from all evil.

The fact that we ask for this does not necessarily mean that these things will not come to us. Many times they will. As long as you are in this world, you will have to endure many evils which are the consequences of sin. But part of God’s deliverance from evil is the final deliverance that He gives to those who have recognized their sin, repented, and believed in the one and only Son of God as their Savior. This final deliverance is the forgiveness of all sins and eternal life with God. This final deliverance from evil is given to all who trust in Jesus Christ.

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. …  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:19, 21)

You will be delivered from evil, you will be taken from this vale of tears to the joy of heaven, where you will live in peace forevermore with your Savior. That should be part of what you are thinking when you pray this petition, “But deliver us from evil.”

We’ll finish our look at this prayer tomorrow.