To Affirm Use of “Deliver Us from the Evil One”

WHEREAS, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16); and

WHEREAS, No one should ever add to nor take away from God’s Holy Word (Rev. 22:18–19); and

WHEREAS, St. Paul makes it clear that our struggle is not “against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil” (Eph. 6:12); and

WHEREAS, St. Peter in forms us that our enemy is the devil, and that he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8); and

WHEREAS, Our Lord Jesus, in teaching his disciples to pray, said in the prayer that we commonly call The Lord’s Prayer, that we should pray to our Father in heaven to “deliver us from the τοὐ πονηροὐ (tou pone rou),” which translated from the Greek text literally means “the evil one,” of course referring to the devil (Matt. 6:13); and

WHEREAS, Jesus in John 17:15 prays to his heavenly Father asking Him to protect his disciples from τοὐ πονηροὐ (tou pone rou, the evil one), and St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:3 assures the Christians in Thessalonica that the Lord would protect them from τοὐ πονηροὐ (tou pone rou, the evil one); and

WHEREAS, Martin Luther has written in the Large Catechism in the explanation of the Seventh Petition, “but deliver us from evil,” these words: “In the Greek this petition reads, ‘Deliver or keep us from the Evil One, or the Wicked One.’ The petition seems to be speaking of the devil as the sum of all evil in order that the entire substance of our prayer may be directed against our archenemy.” (Book of Concord, ed. Tappert, 435); and

WHEREAS, This is also supported by such texts as Genesis 3:1– 5, Job 1–2, Matthew 4:1–11, Mark 1:12–13, Luke 4:1–13, Matthew 13:39,Luke8:12,John13:2, Acts10:38,Ephesians4:27,2Timothy 2:26, Hebrews 2:14, James 4:7, 1 John 3:8, Revelation 2:10, Matthew 16:23, and Luke 22:3, all of which show that our fight is not against some vague, metaphysical concept called evil, but against a very real and dangerous enemy and entity known as the evil one, the devil, Satan, Lucifer, and/or Beelzebub; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod in convention affirm that our struggles are not merely against some abstract, nebulous thing called evil, but against a very real entity and enemy known as the devil; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod in convention recognize that the best theological rendering and most accurate and literal English translation of the Seventh Petition of The Lord’s Prayer is for our Father in heaven to deliver us from “the evil one”; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod be encouraged, from this day forward, to translate and print in all of its publications/letters/documents/etc. which include a printing of The Lord’s Prayer, a translation of the Seventh Petition which literally reflects the words of Jesus as printed in the Greek text of Matthew, thus rendering τοὐ πονηροὐ (tou pone rou) as “the evil one”; and be it finally

Resolved, That the Synod in convention encourage all of its pastors to make this linguistic and theological change in the individual congregations and ministries which they serve and to instruct their members as to the legitimacy and the theology of this linguistic change/correction.