Pope Francis says God doesn’t lead us into temptation. What does the Bible say?
Who tests Abraham, or Jacob, or Jesus—and why?
Last week Pope Francis made news by suggesting a change in the wording of the Lord’s Prayer. In both English and Italian, the traditional version of the prayer petitions God to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” A loving divine parent would not impose temptation upon us mortals, says Francis. A better translation of the original Greek would read, “Do not let us enter into temptation.”
French Catholics are already using the new translation. A parish priest in Paris said that the old one “made some people think God threw banana peels in front of people to see if they would slip and fall, but that is absolutely not the biblical view of God.”
Scholars debate whether or not the Greek text presupposes that God causes testing. The Epistle of James echoes Matthew's Gospel at many points, especially the Sermon on the Mount, where we find the Lord’s Prayer. James insists that God tempts no one; we suffer temptation due to our own desires (1:13-14). Pope Francis may be correct.
