Christ Asks Early in the Gospels to avoid His Trial

Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

One of the things that has always confused me is why the last phrase, "For thine is..." appears in some Bible versions and not others. We will leave that to the historians. My interest is language. Here we have some interesting stuff.

First, the word translated as "temptation" is peirasmos, which literally means a trial with a secondary meaning of worry. Again, sin is not the central issue here. It is the trials and tribulations that all human suffer. Paul referred to his bodily condition as a trial or test using this word, clearly referring to some type of infirmity. Certainly temptations are one form of such trials, but the phase is asking to be preserved from all such trial.

This is especially interesting because Christ himself was the perfect example for someone who accepted the ultimate such trial.

I also like the world used for "deliver," which is rhoumai, which means rescue or deliver, but in the specific sense of "drawing to oneself." So this prayer asks God to rescue us from evil (poneros, hardships) by drawing us to him. So Christ is portraying hardship as being cause by our distance for God. This distance, however, is necessary to give us freedom of choice.