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Mat_6:13. After the petition for forgiveness of sin, comes now the request to be preserved from new sin, negatively and positively, so that both elements constitute but one petition. Luke makes no mention whatever of the ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι , etc.
μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς , κ . τ . λ .] Neither the idea of mere permission ( μὴ παραχωρήσῃς εἰσενεχθῆναι , Euth. Zigabenus, Tertullian, Melanchthon), nor the emphatic meanings which have been given, first to the εἰσενέγκῃς ( μὴ καταποθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ πειρασμοῦ , Theophylact), then to the πειρασμός (Jerome, in Ezekiel 48 : “in tentationem, quam ferre non possumus”), and lastly, to the εἰς (Grotius: “penitus introducere, ut ei succumbas”), are in keeping with the simple terms employed; such interpretations are rationalistic in their character, as is also, once more, the case with Kamphausen’s limitation to temptations with an evil result. God leads into temptation in so far as, in the course of His administration, He brings about a state of things that may lead to temptation, i.e. the situations and circumstances that furnish an occasion for sinning; and therefore, if a man happens to encounter such dangers to his soul, it is caused by God—it is He who does it (1Co_10:13). In this way is solved, at the same time, the apparent contradiction with Jam_1:13, where it is a question of subjective inward temptation, the active principle of which is, not God, but the man’s own lusts.[424] In these latter are also to be found, in the case of the believer, and that in consequence of his σάρξ (Mat_26:41; Gal_5:17), the great moral danger which renders this prayer a matter of necessity.
ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ ] Rom_15:31; 1Th_1:10; 2Th_3:2; 2Ti_4:18. But ΤΟῦ ΠΟΝΗΡΟῦ may be neuter (Augustine, Luther,—see, however, Catech. maj. p. 532 f.,
Tholuck, Ewald, Lange, Bleek, Kamphausen) as well as masculine (Tertullian, Origen, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Erasmus, Beza, Maldonatus, Kuinoel, Fritzsche, Olshausen, Ebrard, Keim, Hilgenfeld, Hanne). In the former case, it would not mean “evil” in general (“omne id, quod felicitati nostrae adversum est,” Olearius), but, according to the New Testament use of πονηρός , as well as the context, moral wickedness, Rom_12:9. However, it is more in keeping with the concrete graphic manner of view of the New Testament (Mat_5:37, Mat_13:19; Joh_17:15; 1Jn_2:13; 1Jn_3:8; 1Jn_3:12; Rom_16:20; Eph_6:16; 2Th_3:3), to prefer the masculine as meaning the devil ( κατʼ ἐξοχὴν δὲ οὕτως ἐκεῖνος καλεῖται , Chrysostom), whose seductive influence, even over believers, is presupposed in the seventh petition, which also supplicates divine deliverance from this danger, by which they know themselves to be threatened ( ἀπό : away, from; not ἐκ , as in Rom_7:24; 2Co_1:10; Col_1:13; 2Ti_3:11; 2Ti_4:17; 2Pe_2:9). Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, I. p. 447; Krummacher in the Stud. u. Krit. 1860, p. 122 ff. For an opposite view of a by no means convincing kind, see Kamphausen, p. 136 ff.
[424] Comp. Köster, bibl. Lehre v. d. Versuch, p. 19 f.
REMARKS.
The Lord’s Prayer, as it stands in Matthew, is an example of a prayer rich and true in respect of its contents, and expressed in language at once brief and comprehensive; see on Mat_6:9. It is only in an indirect way that it presents itself in the light of a summary of the principal matters for which one is to pray (Nösselt, Exercitatt. sacr. p. 2 ff., Kuinoel, de Wette), inasmuch as Jesus, as matter of course, selected and connected with each other such leading requests as were appropriate to the solemn period when the establishment of His kingdom was at hand, that, by setting before us a prayer of so comprehensive a character, He might render the model thus supplied all the more instructive. Tertullian, indeed, correctly describes the contents of it as breviarium totius evangelii. According to Möller (neue Ansichten, p. 34 ff.) and Augusti (Denkwürdigk. IV. p. 132), the prayer before us is made up merely of the opening words of well-known Jewish prayers, which Jesus is supposed to have selected from the mass of Jewish forms of devotion as being eminently adapted for the use of His disciples. Wetstein already was of opinion that it was “ex formulis Hebraeorum concinnata.” But between the whole of the parallels (Light-foot, Schoettgen, Wetstein), not even excepting those taken from the synagogal prayer Kaddisch, there is only a partial correspondence, especially in the case of the first and second petitions; but lively echoes of familiar prayers would so naturally suggest themselves to our Lord, and any reason for rejecting them was so entirely wanting, that the absence of such popularly consecrated echoes, extending to the very words, would even have been matter for surprise.
Augustine divides the contents into seven petitions; and in this he is followed by the Lutheran practice, as also by Tholuck, Bleek, Hilgenfeld. On the other hand, Origen and Chrysostom correctly make six, in which they are followed by the practice of the Reformed church in the catechisms of Geneva and of the Palatinate, as also by Calvin, Keim. As to the division of the prayer in respect of form, it is sufficient to observe, with Bengel: “Petita sunt septem, quae universa dividuntur in duas partes. Prior continet tria priora, Patrem spectantia: tuum, tuum, tua; posterior quatuor reliqua, nos spectantia”. According to Calvin, the fourth petition is the beginning of “quasi secunda tabula” of the prayer. In regard to the matter, the twofold division into coelestia and terrena, which has been in vogue since Tertullian’s time, is substantially correct; and in the more detailed representation of which there follows—after the upward flight towards what is of highest and holiest interest for believers, and the specific nature of which, with the aim for which it longs, and its moral condition, floats before the praying spirit—a humble frame of spirit, produced by the consciousness of man’s need of God’s favour, first in the temporal and then in the moral sphere, in which the realization of that with which the prayer begins can be brought about only through forgiveness, divine guidance, and deliverance from the power of the devil. The division into vows and petitions (Hanne) is inaccurate; see on Mat_6:9.