Posted on 06/05/2019 1:31:09 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Despite opposition from traditionalists, Pope Francis has officially approved a change to the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:13 that replaces "lead us not into temptation" with "do not let us fall into temptation."
The U.S. Catholic reports that the Vatican enacted the change on May 22 following 16 years of research by experts who found a mistake in the current translation "from a theological, pastoral, and stylistic viewpoint."
Pope Francis first signaled support for amending the "lead us not into temptation" part of the Lord's Prayer in 2017, arguing that it portrays God in a false light.
"A father does not lead into temptation, a father helps you to get up immediately," the pope said at the time. "It is not a good translation because it speaks of a God who induces temptation.”
"The one who leads you into temptation is Satan," he added. "That's Satan's role."
Pope Francis pointed out that other translations had already been changed to modernize the language. "The French have modified the prayer to 'do not let me fall into temptation,' because it is me who falls, not the Lord who tempts me to then see how I fall," he said.
The Lord's Prayer originates in Matthew 6:9-13. The key verse in question is 13, which, in the NIV translation, reads: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." It is a translation from the Latin Vulgate, which was translated from ancient Greek by Saint Jerome in the late fourth century.
Initially, the proposed change to the Lord’s Prayer received mixed reactions from the wider faith community, with most saying they trusted the pope and the process, the Houston Chronicle reported.
But others expressed concern over the change.
David W. Pao, chair of the New Testament Department at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, told The Christian Post that the change reflects the idea that "the Aramaic original" of the temptation petition "might have carried a permissive sense."
"This permissive sense is consistent with a similar petition in the Jewish prayer a first century Jew might be familiar with (cf. b. Ber. 60b)," explained Pao.
"Moreover, the petition that follows in the Lord's Prayer ('deliver us from the evil one,' Matthew 6:13b) clearly points to the devil as the one who leads people to sin."
Pao also told CP that the proposed new language "does not represent the best reading of the Greek text nor does it exhaust the meaning of this petition."
"First, this 'permissive' reading is not explicitly expressed in the Greek of Matthew 6:13a, and 'lead us not into temptation' remains the best and most natural rendering of this petition," continued Pao.
"Second, if 'temptation' is understood as 'temptation that leads to sin'' (see Galatians 6:1), then it is important to emphasize that God does not lead people into such 'temptation' (see James 1:13-14). Nevertheless, the underlying Greek word behind 'temptation' can also refer more generally to 'testing,' and the Bible does describe God bringing His people into times of 'testing' (e.g., Deuteronomy 8:2, 16)."
Pao added that "the petition likely assumes the presence (and the coming) of periods of testing, and this petition should then be understood as a call to God for protecting His people from falling into sin in the midst of such testing (Matthew 26:39, 41)."
Philip F. Lawler, editor of Catholic World News, told The New York Times that the pope's criticism of the traditional translation "isn't reasonable."
"Pope Francis has made a habit of saying things that throw people into confusion, and this is one of them," Lawler said. "It just makes you wonder, where does it stop, what's up for grabs. It's cumulative unease."
Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord's Prayer As a Manifesto for Revolution, called the changes "deeply problematic."
“I was shocked and appalled,” he told the Seattle Times. “This is the Lord’s Prayer. It is not, and has never been, the pope’s prayer, and we have the very words of Jesus in the New Testament. It is those very words that the pope proposes to change. It is not only deeply problematic, it’s almost breathtaking.”
So we have been praying to Satan this whole time?
I believe this alleged Catholic fascist should be more correctly referred to as Pope Lucifer!!
I guess it’d be easier to recite it in the original Aramaic.
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” – Matthew 4:1, KJV
“lead us not into temptation” implies: if led, we make the choice to commit.
“do not let us fall into temptation.” implies: we might slip and fall (like accidentally) but it is not OUR fault, God should not let us.
“But deliver us from evil”, I have been taught, is “deliver us from the evil (one)”
Which does not follow from the ‘do no let us fall’ philosophy.
If this is true, how much of the Latin Vulgate was incorrect for over 1000 years until the time of Luther and the rise once again of the Textus Receptus/Majority Text/Antiochian Text?
‘’lead us not into temptation’’ mean God is doing this?
How would you explain it otherwise?
Never heard that explanation in Catholic schools. Just how is God the tempter?
KJV? That’s a Protestant translation. Of course the Pope would not be familiar with it. Besides, this Pope disagrees with the Apostles, anyway. Why would he believe something in Matthew?
This whole thing has been overdone. From what I’ve seen, in 2017, France asked to see if the one line could be changed, I think Spain and Portugal already say it this way. The press likes to make it sound like he just decided to change/force Catholics to say it a new way. Nothing changes here in the US.
By the way, it doesn’t read in the bible the way it is said in Mass either!
The Lord’s Prayer.
9
* “This is how you are to pray:c
Our Father in heaven,*
hallowed be your name,
10
your kingdom come,*
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.d
11
* e Give us today our daily bread;
12
and forgive us our debts,*
as we forgive our debtors;f
13
and do not subject us to the final test,*
but deliver us from the evil one.g
The petitioner is asking “[You] lead us not into temptation.”
Who is this ‘you?’
Please find me one single ancient manuscript of the Book of Matthew written in Aramaic to back your "original" contention.
Sorry Gang, as much as I loathe this Commie, he is correct about the translation being misleading.
He is praying to God not to lead him into temptation.
How else can that be understood?
Matthew recounted it later - possibly originally in Aramaic but the only written versions we have (from the 3rd Century) are those in Greek.
If they actually change it, I’m going back to reciting it in Latin, in regular voice, versus the mumble that most give it currently.
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