By teaching us to otter this petition our Lord teaches that God is ready to forgive all our debts. But a condition is laid down. Those who praj' for forgiveness must be ready to forgive. On this Jesus placed great emphasis, so great that He does for the fifth petition what He does for no other, adding at the end of the prayer (vv.i-*-!^) a sen- tence of exiilanation and enforcement, in which He makes it perfectly clear that if we will not forgive those who have trespassed against us, neither will our Father in heaven forgive our trespasses.!
(^7) Sixth Petition. — ' Bring us not into tempta- tion, but deliver us from the e-\dl one.' This peti- tion follows naturally after the fiftii, for tlie recol- lection of past falls makes us conscious of weakness and fearful of future possibilities. But is it not an impracticable petition ? How can we hope to escape from being tempted? The world and the flesh and the devil are ever with us, and still ' in the midst of the garden ' ; just where all life's daily cross-paths meet, tlie tree of temptation gi'ows and the Tempter himself lies waiting. And is it not also a mistaken petition? Is not temptation a means of grace, an oijportunity of ' winning our souls ' ? Does not St. James write, ' My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers tempta- tions ' ? (Ja 1-). Yes, but there is another side to
* In support of this interpretation see A. N. Jannaris in Contetnp. Jier., Oct. 1894 ; ExpT vi. [1894] p. 51. Cf. also the preceding article.
t If the view is taken that vv.i^-is have been imported here by the Evangelist from another connexion such as IS*' (so Mever- Weiss and Bruce; cf. Holtzmann in Hand-Corn.), the words testify at all events to the fact that Jesus was accustomed to lay stress on the relation between human and Divine forgive- ness ; see ilk 1125. 26, Lk 637, and esp. the parable of the Un- merciful Servant, Mt 1823-35.
LORDS PRAYER
LORD'S SUPPER
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tlie question. Temptation is a means of gi-ace, but it may prove to be an occasion of stumbling and even of utter destruction. Blessed is the man that endureth it (Ja li-) ; but what of him who is drawn away by his own lusts and enticed, and so falls into the snare of the devil ? By putting this petition into our lips Jesus reminds us that the hour of temptation is always a dangerous hour. He hangs out a red lamp of wai-ning on the dark and crooked road alonf^ which we have to pass, and summons us to ' watch and pray ' (cf. Mt L'G" = Mk 14*-").
And yet temptations must come, we cannot hope to escape meeting them, and this petition, like every other in the Lord's Prayer, is subject to the rule of the guiding petition of all, 'Thy will be done.' But 'Deliver us from the evil one' is a prayer that Satan may not gain the victory over our souls. That ' the evil one ' is the right render- ing of ToO irovr)pov is now commonly accepted by scholars on grounds of exegesis. It is in keeping, too, with our Lord's teaching about the presence and influence in the world of a hostile and male- volent will, an • enemy ' of God"s Kingdom and its King (cf. i\It 1.3^- 3'-'). From him we may well pray to be delivered. Jesus Himself prayed for Simon that in the hour of Satan's sifting his faith might not fail (Lk 22 -if). And we know that faith need never fail. God will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able (1 Co lOis), and this petition is an appeal to Him for strength in the evil day to endure and to overcome.
4. Uses. — (1) This is a breviary of Christian prayer, in which all Christian petitions are sum- marily comprehended. As the commandments of the moral law are all gathered up in the two tables of duty to God and to man, so the petitions of the gospel are all represented in the two divisions of this little prayer. Apart from requests of a per- sonal and particular kind, everj'thing that the uni- versal Christian heart need ask for is exi^licitly stated or implicitly enfolded here, whether things on earth or things in heaven, things human or Divine, things of the body or the spirit, things of the life that now is or of that which is to come.
(2) It is a modr-l ov directory of prayer. Accord- ing to Mt.'s account. Jesus, when He gave it, had just been warning His disciples against the for- malisms of hypocrites and the vain repetitions which the Gentiles use (vv.^"*), and it was in con- trast with these that He said, 'After this manner pray ye.' Looking at the manner of tlie prayer we are struck by its direct sincerity, its brevity, its simplicity, its calmness and quietness of spirit, its entire submission to the will of God. It teaches us that we are not heard for our much speaking, that long and elaborate prayers are unnecessary, that a simple request like that of a child to a father is enough. It teaches also the right relation and proportion in prayer between what belongs to God and what concerns ourselves. The earthly has its claims, but the heavenly comes before it ; and all requests must be matle in subordination to the Divine will.