Westminster Divines Held Matt. 6:13 as Canonical
We at Mission Bible Church like to point out to you, the lay person, where the counterfeit Greek text, known as the Critical Text (CT), directly impacts doctrine. One passage not in the CT, and thus not in many modern translations, is Matthew 6:13, the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, which reads: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
In Reformed circles, usually a minister must take an oath of adherence to some written standard (i.e., the Bible) as expressed in that church's doctrinal substandard (e.g., the Westminster Confessions, or WCF). Any exceptions the minister takes must be acknowledged in advance to the ordaining body, so that such can be examined. Nearly all ministers I've encountered will accept the entire WCF "without exception" yet will not preach on Matt 6:13 nor teach it, since they don't believe it's in the Bible. This is disingenuous at best, or as deceptive as a wolf.
Why? Because the Shorter Catechism (SC) Q#107 states thus –
"Q. 107. What doth the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer teach us?
A. The conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, which is, For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever, Amen. teacheth us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only [a], and in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to him [b]; and, in testimony of our desire, and assurance to be heard, we say, Amen. [c]"
The doctrinal point hinges on Matthew 6:13. By removing this verse, an entire doctrinal standard is removed. Isn't it just like the devil, to nip away at the very last confessional statement, where men will be tempted to say, "nah, it doesn't matter." Yet God through the Apostle Paul says all scripture ... is profitable for doctrine. That includes Matthew 6:13.
Furthermore, the WCF SC original edition ends with a listing of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20), the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6), and the Apostle's Creed. They justify the insertion of the Creed by acknowledging it "ought not to be esteemed canonical scripture, as the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer ... but because it is a brief sum of the Christian faith." If they deemed Matthew 6:13 as canon, so ought we. Learn more about this at http://holdingfast.net/ESV-Corrupts-Doctrine/.
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