Today’s phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, “But deliver us from the evil one,” is the continuation of the sentence that we looked at last week in Matthew 6:13: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
The conjunction (“but”) at the start of this phrase implies that it’s the opposite of the previous one. Instead of leading us into temptation, we pray for God to deliver us from the evil one. But what exactly does that mean?
The verb used here for “deliver” could mean to spare from, save from, preserve against, protect against, rescue from, or deliver out of. All of those have the same general idea; rescue us from something where we cannot rescue ourselves. The specific meaning here somewhat depends on how we interpret the previous phrase; see last week’s post for more on that.
The next important phrase here is “the evil one.” While the Greek noun here is not specifically the name of Satan, it is clear that this is who is meant if this word refers to a person. There are multiple other occasions in the New Testament where this same word clearly has the context of referring to Satan specifically. Many English translations also simply leave it as “evil” rather than “the evil one.” The Greek isn’t clear on that, as the same form of the word could either mean a person (the evil one) or a thing (evil in a generic sense). Either way, we need to be delivered from evil or the evil one; we cannot do it ourselves.
We as humans don’t like to consider ourselves as helpless, but that’s exactly what we’re implying in this phrase. If we could save ourselves from the evil one, why would we need to ask the Lord to do it for us? Without God’s power working in us, we as humans are powerless to deliver ourselves from the evil one. We are powerless to resist the temptations of evil. We are selfish human beings and we want the pleasure that comes with sin, the way of the evil one. After all, if sin weren’t enjoyable, we wouldn’t do it!
But does God really have the power to deliver us from the evil one? Remember, this prayer is ultimately addressed to “Our Father in heaven,” so that’s who we’re asking for this deliverance. For evidence of that, read about when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness in Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus was fully human, just like us, so He truly felt the devil’s temptations. But Jesus turned to the Word of God and the power of His Father to be able to resist the devil. Jesus needed the Word of God to deliver Him from the evil one.
We, too, have this same power available to us! We have the whole Bible to use to resist the temptations of the evil one. We can’t do it on our own; we need Jesus (the Word) to deliver us from the evil one through His power. Without this power of God, we are powerless against the evil one.
Needing God’s deliverance is definitely not a new concept in the Bible. We see that need as early as Genesis 3, right after the first humans disobeyed God. While Adam and Eve may not have specifically acknowledged that need, God was already making a plan for their deliverance (and the deliverance of all humanity) through the person and work of Jesus. Every human who has ever lived since then had needed God’s deliverance. We have all sinned and disobeyed God. We cannot rescue ourselves, because we know that the penalty for our sin is death, and a dead person cannot raise themselves.
But by God’s grace, He gives us the opportunity for salvation, for deliverance! Remember Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We should be amazingly thankful that Jesus was and is God’s plan to deliver us from the ultimate evil, the death penalty that we deserve for disobeying God. It is because of Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection that we may have life instead of the death we deserve, and we may be delivered from evil.
When you pray “deliver us from the evil one,” remember who it is that is doing the delivering - it’s God, not us! We can’t deliver ourselves even from temptation, must less from the penalty after committing sin. Be thankful today that we can pray this prayer, knowing that God’s power is available to deliver us from any evil that may come in our lives.
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