SKANDALON 1: 'Trip' and 'Trap' (d): [i] 'peirazo', 'peirasmos'

Both these images describe the stratagems Satan uses to divert and deflect us from our walk of faith with the Lord. The ‘trap’ tempts us to turn aside, lured by something attractive, some guilty pleasure which will lead us into the snare of sin. The ‘trip’ tests us by confronting us with something unpleasant or off-putting that will deter us into turning back. Both to ‘tempt’ and to ‘test’ are the same word in Greek – ‘peirazo’ – just as its associated noun – ‘peirasmos’ – means both ‘temptation’ aimed at our inner urges, and ‘trial’ imposed by external pressures, such as persecution or suffering. Both senses are well exemplified in the first chapter of James’s Epistle. Verse 2 tells us, surprisingly, to “consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds”; and then, in verse 14, he says: “each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed”. Since James also tells us in the same passage (v. 13) that “God tempts no one”, the familiar petition in the Lord’s prayer “lead us not into ‘peirasmon’” (the accusative case-ending) more probably refers to testing by external circumstances, a “time of trial”, as some versions translate it. But possibly, since Jesus himself was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan, it is his own experience that he has in mind when he tells us to pray this prayer.