Matthew 6:13

And lead (RV 'bring') us not into temptation] God does not Himself tempt (James 1:13), but He allows us to be tempted, and what God permits is often spoken of in Scripture as His act. The temptations here spoken of are not only the direct assaults of the evil one, but the trials and sorrows of life by which our souls are purified and refined, as gold and silver are purged from their dross in a furnace. We pray here that we may not be tempted 'above that we are able,' but that with the temptation God may also make 'a way to escape,' that we may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

But deliver us from evil] RV 'from the evil one' (omitted by Lk in RV). This is a prayer that God may keep us 'from all sin and wickedness, and from our ghostly enemy, and from everlasting death.' The translation 'evil one' in this passage is adopted by nearly all modern commentators: cp. Matthew 13:19; Matthew 13:38; John 17:15; Ephesians 6:16; 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (RV), especially 1 John 2:13; 1 John 3:12; 1 John 5:18; 1 John 5:19.

For thine is the kingdom] RV rightly omits the Doxology, which is a liturgical addition, dating, however, from an early age, for it is found in 'The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles' (cirMatthew 80-160 a.d., but probably before 100). It is Jewish in origin. In the Temple services the people did not respond 'Amen' to the prayers as they did in the synagogues, but 'Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom for ever.'

14, 15. Repeated in Mark 11:25 : cp. Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13. One of the weightiest precepts and warnings of the Christian religion, and one of the most neglected.