“But Deliver Us From Evil”
Most of us are probably familiar with the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “But deliver us from evil.” Just as many of us are probably familiar with Luther’s explanation for it, from the Small Catechism. In the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer we are asking God to “deliver us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation.” That’s simple enough: we all know what it means. One question is created by the Seventh Petition, however: ‘why do we need to be delivered from evil?’ A common presumption among Christians is that no evil should befall them. ...
