Back in my adolescent years in the Sixties, I often served as pianist or organist for worship services in my then-RLDS congregation. Two of our most gifted vocalists at the time were a married couple, Norm and Evelyn. One of our go-to pieces was the familiar Albert Hay Malotte arrangement of “The Lord’s Prayer.” The high notes required in that wonderful piece of music tended to favor Evelyn’s soprano somewhat over Norm’s rich baritone, but I recall both could pull out all the stops when required.
Leading up to the big climax at the end of the song were the words, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (drawing out that “eee-vil” for maximum effect). But, of course, because this was the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we usually substituted the words from our Bible, the “Inspired Version.” That required the keyboardist to hold on to a chord so the vocalist could get all the extra words in.
LDS folks generally prefer the title “Joseph Smith Translation” or simply JST. The official name of the publication on its title page, however, is “The Holy Scriptures,” and has been published by the RLDS, now Community of Christ, since December 1867 through its own Herald Publishing House. It’s my understanding Joseph’s changes are included as footnotes in the official LDS printings of the Bible. Please correct me if I’m wrong on that. As a Herald House editor beginning in 1985, I soon learned we shipped to Deseret Book Stores an enormous number of copies of the Inspired Version as well as a separate volume showing the IV changes to the King James in parallel columns.
This short scripture emendation to Matthew’s Gospel is arguably the best-known change made by Joseph Smith Jr. when he undertook to revise—and correct—the Bible from 1830 to 1833 (the Enoch story in Genesis is a pretty close second). He made a few additional changes later on, of course. But his manuscript is probably remembered today for his wife Emma’s heroic effort to hide it under her skirt as she and other Latter Day Saints escaped Missouri Governor Boggs’s infamous Extermination Order in 1838.
Eventually she handed the manuscript over to her son, Joseph Smith III, who became RLDS prophet-president in 1860. Three years after that he assumed the added role of managing editor of the publishing house. Although the Inspired Version has remained the official version used by the denomination ever since, in recent decades more and more members have shown a preference for the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) and the New International Version (NIV). Given its close historical connection with Emma Smith, the IV/JST manuscript is unlikely to end up being sold anytime soon to the LDS church, as was the Book of Mormon Printer’s Manuscript recently for $35 million.
In any event, Joseph’s theological rationale centered on the idea that God would not deliberately lead human beings into temptation. That would be Satan’s job.
And so, here we are all these years later and who should now agree with the Prophet Joseph but none other than Pope Francis himself! Here’s a part of the BBC news report:
The current wording that says “lead us not into temptation” is not a good translation because God does not lead humans to sin, he says.
His suggestion is to use “do not let us fall into temptation” instead, he told Italian TV on Wednesday night.
The Lord’s Prayer is the best-known prayer in Christianity.
The pontiff said France’s Roman Catholic church was now using the new wording “do not let us fall into temptation” as an alternative, and something similar should be used worldwide.
“Do not let me fall into temptation because it is I who fall, it is not God who throws me into temptation and then sees how I fell,” he told TV2000, an Italian Catholic TV channel.
“A father does not do that, a father helps you to get up immediately.”
It’s safe to say the Pope was probably not channeling Joseph Smith Jr. and came to this inspired understanding on his own. But still. The temptation here would be a certain degree of smugness. As they say, the “Devil’s in the details.”
The English wording that we use when we pray the Lord’s Prayer comes from Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible from the late 1300s. Matthew 6:13 reads “and leede us nat in to temptacioun.” That, too, was a translation from the Latin Vulgate, a 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible, which itself was translated from ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic.
The Pope’s recommended change is pretty close to the way it reads in several modern translations used extensively by Protestants. Here’s how it reads in the NRSV, for example: “And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”
My personal favorite, though comes from Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message:
“Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You’re in charge!”
Here’s a few questions for starters:
- On whom should we blame temptation: God or Satan, or is humanity simply inherently susceptible?
- Is there such a thing as “humble smugness” or “smug humility”?
- Anybody else notice the irony in the fact that although the Community of Christ still holds the copyright on the IV (or JST, if you prefer), it’s fallen into fairly widespread disuse among current CofC members?
- Given the choice, would you as an LDS member prefer your church adopt the JST as its official Bible?
“It’s my understanding Joseph’s changes are included as footnotes in the official LDS printings of the Bible.”
Mostly true, especially for small changes. In the case where Joseph greatly expanded the verses (the story of Joseph in Genesis for example), those don’t easily fit in the footnotes and are added as an appendix. The Book of Moses is located in the Pearl of Great Price. I believe the Book of Moses is part of the Inspired Version of the RLDS Bible.
Ever since my switch from RLDS to LDS, I have used nothing but the JST (Inspired Version) in my Ward. Song services I’ve authored with Biblical narration always use the JST. No one has attempted to dissuade me or confiscate my copy of the JST; which some RLDS seem to think would happen. It’s been very helpful in Gospel Doctrine class also.
I noticed, even 25 years ago, that the RLDS were not using the Inspired Version very much. Almost all of the articles in the Herald magazine referenced the RSV of the Bible. It might be part of the trend to get out from under Joseph Smith’s shadow, but that’s just speculation
Actually, Rich, the corrected Lord’s prayer is NOT in the LDS Bible footnotes. I’m not sure why.
When I gave a Sacrament Talk on the JST, I said I hoped for the day when the LDS Scripture Quad would included the JST. Could it be that the Inspired Version is too big a seller to the LDS for the CofChrist to release the copyright?
The Enoch story is included in Genesis, totally screwing up normal versification there (a pet peeve of this former Herald House editor, by the way). I don’t know what else is in the Book of Moses, as that book, along with the Pearl of Great Price, was never canonized in the RLDS/CofC.
That’s very interesting Rich. I interviewed Jim Vun Cannon of the Remnant Church and he said their church used Book of Moses in their Inspired Version of the Bible. (I joked, “The SIX books of Moses.” Do you know if they have a different version of the Bible?
I always thought it weird to “Lead us not into temptation.” The JST (and pope) makes much more sense.
I have long viewed the Lord’s Prayer as a petition to bring this world into alignment with “that world” (aka, the kingdom of God). It is asking for God’s kingdom to come to this world; for God’s will to be done here as it is in heaven (in other words, not only a physical coming of God’s kingdom but one which sees this world’s desires align with those of heaven); for us to receive the nourishment we need today; to forgive us of our debts/sins as we do others; and lastly, to help us avoid any confrontation with evil by hastily coming to make this all so.
I’m not sure if that is a proper reading, but it feels right to me. I think the Greek can support it and it fits with the expectation of the coming kingdom of God.
MH and Rich:
The Book of Moses actually concludes in the Inspired Version in Genesis chp 8 v.18.
As for the rest of the PGP, the CofChrist recognizes the Joseph Smith Matthew excerpt, and the Joseph Smith History and the Articles of Faith are part of its historical accounts. The Book of Abraham is also historically mentioned but never accepted as authoritative Scripture. The Articles of Faith were modified over the years as the RLDS statement of Belief.
Good post. I tend to see this as more of a question of semantics. If God is sovereign so that He chooses when I am “suffered to be led” or “suffered to not be led” into temptation, it still feels like God is somewhere behind the temptation.
I was reminded of one scripture anecdote that seems to throw a wrench into the thought behind the OP. 1 Kings 13 recounts the story of one prophet from Judah sent to Jereboam to condemn Jereboam’s actions. The prophet is charged not eat or drink until he returns to Judah. He delivers his message, Jereboam invites him to dinner and he refuses. On the way home, he encounters a second prophet who invites him to dinner, claiming that an angel of God instructed him to do so. The first prophet is persuaded to accept the invitation, eats, and is killed by a lion on his way home as punishment.
The standard translations of the Bible indicate that the second prophet was lying when he said that an angel had instructed him to issue the dinner invitation, more in keeping with the “suffer us to not be led into temptation” line of thinking. However, the JST (according to the LDS KJV publication footnote) indicates that Joseph Smith changed the text so that the angel was genuinely from God sent to test the resolve the first prophet.
Thoughts or reactions or corrections or…?
The follow up “but deliver us from evil” provides a nice context.