Lord's Prayer and meaning of PEIRASMOS
Paul S. Dixon (dixonps@juno.com)
Mon, 30 Jun 1997 15:59:50 EDT
If Jeff Gibson is right that the overwhelming evidence for the meaning
of PEIRASMOS is "a trial which puts (someone of something) to the
proof ... a test or trial of faithfulness," and if we are told in James
that
we should count it all joy when we encounter various PEIRASMOIS,
"knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance ... in order
that you may be perfect and complete" (1:2-3), then does it not seem
strange that we should pray that God would not lead us into such
testings? Certainly, they are for our good.
Is this, coupled with the fact that the verbal form does consistently
mean "tempt" (Mt 4:1, Js 1:13-14, for starters), explain why translations
have traditionally rendered it "temptation"?
On the other hand, might Christ's prayer in the Garden, "let this cup
pass from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done" parallel
and support Gibson's thesis?
Paul S. Dixon