The Lord's Prayer - 4

And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
   For thine is the kingdom,
   and the power,
   and the glory, forever and ever.  Amen.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13 NIV).

   Scripture teaches we can trust God.  He has never led anyone into sin!  “…God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5 NIV).
   But we humans are, to use a nice term, human.  We need deliverance from evil.  Jesus is willing to do so for you and me.

   The conclusion is referred to as a doxology, giving praise to God.  Many Bible translations do not contain this verse, while some do.  This is a rare instance where there is a major discrepancy in earlier manuscripts.  Yet the earliest manuscripts do not contain it.
   If not in the original autograph of Matthew, and I do not think it was, this doxology still may have been expressed by some Christians early on.  “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” (also coined the Didache), is an anonymous Christian writing possibly written in the early second century.  The complete copy we have is from 1056 A.D., but could have corruption, yet there are a number of fragments.  And in that old manuscript, the eighth chapter contains the Lord’s Prayer, and there is a similar version of the doxology, though lacking the word “kingdom.”
   For me this debate is a reminder the Lord’s Prayer was not meant to be the official prayer practice.  Jesus was giving us a foundation.  And how appropriate to conclude by giving God the glory.
   To God be the glory indeed!
Hunter Irvine