Dr Paul Allen

In Matthew 6:13 Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Wait for a second—what’s God’s relationship to temptation we face? Although the Greek of this sixth petition of the Lord’s Prayer is unambiguous, its meaning is certainly elusive and has exercised the minds of Christians for centuries. The keyword is 'peirasmos', which may mean “temptation” in the sense of “enticement to do wrong.” But against this possible meaning, James 1:13 states a truth that admits no exceptions: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘I am being tempted by God.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.”  Consequently, it is impossible for God actively to lead people into wrongdoing; he cannot contradict his nature. Testing of faith This prompts the interpreter to consider the other, the more common meaning of 'peirasmos'—“trial,” “test,” or “testing.” Thus the NAB translates the verse, “Do not subjec...

We have a tendency to read these words and to conclude that they are part of the address, that they are simply an acknowledgment of an existing truth. That is, we believe we are saying: “Our Father in heaven, Your name is holy.” But that’s not the format of the prayer. This line of the Lord’s Prayer is not simply an assertion that God’s name is holy. Rather, it’s a petition. Everyone knows what a petition is—it’s a piece of paper that people pass around for others to sign in hopes that this written evidence of agreement on an issue will induce the government or the ruling body of some association to change the rules of the game. A petition, then, is a request. For this reason, those specific requests Jesus gave His disciples in the Lord’s Prayer are known as the petitions. These are the priorities that Jesus indicated His disciples should ask for in their prayers. And the very first thing that Jesus told them to pray for was that the name of God would be regarded as holy. What does ...

What is the correct ways to pray? Are there many ways? Is the Lord prayer a formula to memorize and simply repeat without thinking? Let's look at the Lords prayer line by line. Matthew 6:9   Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” 5 implications of calling God our Father God likes to be called Father The opening words of this prayer would have jolted the Jews like an offensive electric shock. Addressing the Almighty Adonai with familiarity and intimacy would have seemed highly distasteful, if not disgraceful. In the entire 39 book corpus of the Old Testament God is referred to as “Father” only fifteen times, and none of those are addressed directly to God in prayer. To these religious Jews , the words, “Our Father,” would stick in the throat like a splintered chicken bone. But after Jesus arrived, the name Father is used 165 times in the four Gospels alone! And in every prayer of Jesus he always addresses God as Fath...

Last week, The New York Times  reported that Pope Francis wishes to change the English translation of the Lord’s Prayer. From the article: Pope Francis said the common rendering of one line in the prayer — “lead us not into temptation” — was “not a good translation” from ancient texts. “Do not let us fall into temptation,” he suggested, might be better because God does not lead people into temptation; Satan does. “A father doesn’t do that,” the pope said. “He helps you get up right away. What induces into temptation is Satan .” In essence, the pope said, the prayer, from the Book of Matthew, is asking God, “When Satan leads us into temptation, You please, give me a hand. ” French Catholics adopted such a linguistic change this week, and the pope suggested that Italian Catholics might want to follow suit. I think the exegetical case for this change is pretty weak. The words and phrases simply don’t mean what Pope Francis wants them to mean. I agree with Tony Esolen , who write...

Shortly before Christ was received up into heaven, having committed the preaching of the gospel to His disciples, He laid upon them this very solemn charge concerning the beginning of the great work He had committed to their hands: “Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high .” (Luke 24:49, R. V.) There is no doubt as to what Jesus meant by the “promise of my Father” for which they were to wait before beginning the ministry which He had intrusted to them; for in Acts 1:4, 5, we read that Jesus “charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father ” which, said he, “Ye heard from me: for John indeed baptized with water: but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”  “The promise of the Father,” through which the enduement of power was to come, was the Baptism with the Holy Spirit . (Comp. Acts 1:8). Christ then strictly charged His discipl...

Can I live a holy life?  If it were not possible to live a holy life, God would not have commanded it. He said, "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2). To be holy means to be separated to God. God’s nature itself defines holiness. Being set apart to God makes us holy. We are not made holy by doing good things. We are made holy by faith in Christ , Just as we are saved by faith. Little by little, as we grow and live with the Lard we become more like Him (2 Cor. 3:18). As we look to the Lord Jesus , think about Jesus, study about Jesus, pray to Jesus, and seek to follow His example, we become like Him We begin to think like Him and act like Him. We become like Him because we are set apart to Him. This is true holiness. If you are a Christian , ten years from now your life should be considerably different from what it is now. Your motives and desires, as you draw closer to Him should be continuously more holy. Jesus said, "Blessed a...

English: Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In The Lord’s Prayer we ask, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Have you ever wondered what that means? Lead into temptation? James 3:13-14 ( ESV ) says, Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God ,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. We must know God’s intentions before we dive any further. God does not create temptation. He tempts no one. However, He does allow us to encounter it. Let’s look at why. First, without temptation we would never know our weaknesses. If you lived in utopia where you never experienced anything but ecstatic bliss, you would never be able to pinpoint the places in your life that required the hand of God. In Romans 3:23 we are...

You probably admire someone in your life for the love they have for Jesus . You hear it in their voice, see it in their smile, and feel it in their love for you. You know this person has communed with God — personally, intimately, regularly. You assume they have a vibrant and consistent prayer life, even though you’ve never seen their private prayers. And you wish your relationship with God was more like theirs. It’s obviously no surprise that Jesus’s disciples experienced such closeness with him. Luke writes, “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’” (Luke 11:1). We can safely assume that Jesus prayed with his disciples, probably regularly. They had heard him pray. Yet this was different. “ Teach us to pray ,” really meant, “Tell us what happens when you are alone with God.” What Jesus says in the next few verses are the boldest, and most important, words to take with us into prayer. Pray then li...

Christ Blessing Little Children (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Author: Venettha Rendell.  "Don’t take this wrong, but we prayed before our children were born, and all of them were born healthy.” I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to take that. We had just told a new acquaintance that our infant son, Paul, had died several years earlier, after we had already grieved three difficult miscarriages . I felt judged. According to this person speaking to me, Paul’s death and my miscarriages were easily preventable. It was simple. We hadn’t prayed enough. We had neglected to do our part. In short, we were to blame. This attitude wasn’t new to me. I had felt this mixture of judgment and pressure from the day I learned of Paul’s heart problem four months into the pregnancy. Concerned friends had rallied around, assuring me of healing for my unborn son. “Pray, believing you will receive,” they urged from James 5, “and he will be healed.” So I prayed. I fasted. I recited set prayers. I rea...

The Lord's Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God ; and all these things shall be added unto you.” ( Luke 12:31 ) In these days of financial worries and rampant materialism, it does us good to reflect on Christ ’s teaching concerning our priorities.  In this passage, He was teaching His disciples not to be troubled over temporal things (v. 22), but to rest in the fact that He will supply our needs. “If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (v. 28). We are not to have our mind set on material things (v. 29), neither are we to be “of doubtful mind” wavering between hope and fear of the future. We are to be different. We are children of the King and are in His care. The “nations of the world seek after” (v. 30) these things.  Our Father knows that we have need of certain things, and since He loves us and has our bes...