1. JAMES 1 13-27 COMME TARY EDITED BY GLE PEASE 13 When tempted,
no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by
evil, nor does he tempt anyone; BAR ES, "Let no man say when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God - See the remarks on the previous
verse. The apostle here seems to have had his eye on whatever there
was in trial of any kind to induce us to commit sin - whether by
complaining, by murmuring, by apostacy, or by yielding to sin. So
far as that was concerned, he said that no one should charge it on
God. He did nothing in any way with a view to induce men to do
evil. That was only an incidental thing in the trial, and was no
part of the divine purpose or design. The apostle felt evidently
that there was great danger, from the general manner in which the
word temptation was used, and from the perverse tendency of the
heart, that it would be charged on God that he so arranged these
trials, and so influenced the mind, as to present inducements to
sin. Against this, it was proper that an inspired apostle should
bear his solemn testimony; so to guard the whole subject as to show
that whatever there was in any form of trial that could be regarded
as an inducement or allurement to sin, is not the thing which he
contemplated in the arrangement, and does not proceed from him. It
has its origin in other causes; and if there was nothing in the
corrupt human mind itself leading to sin, there would be nothing in
the divine arrangement that would produce it. For God cannot be
tempted with evil - Margin, evils. The sense is the same. The
object seems to be to show that, in regard to the whole matter of
temptation, it does not pertain to God. Nothing can be presented to
his mind as an inducement to do wrong, and as little can he present
anything to the mind of man to induce him to sin. Temptation is a
subject which does not pertain to him. He stands aloof from it
altogether. In regard to the particular statement here, that God
cannot be tempted with evil, or to do evil, there can be no doubt
of its truth, and it furnishes the highest security for the welfare
of the universe. There is nothing in him that has a tendency to
wrong; there can be nothing presented from without to induce him to
do wrong: (1) There is no evil passion to be gratified, as there is
in men; (2) There is no want of power, so that an allurement could
be presented to seek what he has not; (3) There is no want of
wealth, for he has infinite resources, and all that there is or can
be is his Psa_50:10-11; (4) There is no want of happiness, that he
should seek happiness in sources which are not now in his
possession. Nothing, therefore, could be presented to the divine
mind as an inducement to do evil. Neither tempteth he any man -
That is, he places nothing before any human being with a view to
induce him to do wrong. This is one of the most positive and
unambiguous of all the declarations in the Bible, and one of the
most important. It may 2. be added, that it is one which stands in
opposition to as many feelings of the human heart as perhaps any
other one. We are perpetually thinking - the heart suggests it
constantly - that God does place before us inducements to evil,
with a view to lead us to sin. This is done in many ways: (a)
People take such views of his decrees as if the doctrine implied
that he meant that we should sin, and that it could not be
otherwise than that we should sin. (b) It is felt that all things
are under his control, and that he has made his arrangements with a
design that men should do as they actually do. (c) It is said that
he has created us with just such dispositions as we actually have,
and knowing that we would sin. (d) It is said that, by the
arrangements of his Providence, he actually places inducements
before us to sin, knowing that the effect will be that we will fall
into sin, when we might easily have prevented it. (e) It is said
that he suffers some to tempt others, when he might easily prevent
it if he chose, and that this is the same as tempting them himself.
Now, in regard to these things, there may be much which we cannot
explain, and much which often troubles the heart even of the good;
yet the passage before us is explicit on one point, and all these
things must be held in consistency with that - that God does not
place inducements before us with a view that we should sin, or in
order to lead us into sin. None of his decrees, or his
arrangements, or his desires, are based on that, but all have some
other purpose and end. The real force of temptation is to be traced
to some other source - to ourselves, and not to God. See the next
verse. CLARKE, "Let no man say - Lest the former sentiment should
be misapplied, as the word temptation has two grand meanings,
solicitation to sin, and trial from providential situation or
circumstances, James, taking up the word in the former sense, after
having used it in the latter, says: Let no man say, when he is
tempted, (solicited to sin), I am tempted of God; for God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth he (thus) any man. Thus the
author has explained and guarded his meaning. GILL, "Let no man say
when he is tempted,.... Here the apostle uses the word "tempted",
in another sense than he did before. Before he speaks of
temptations, as matter of joy and boasting, here of temptations,
which are criminal, and issue in shame and death; the temptations
he before makes mention of, being patiently endured, denominate men
happy, but here such are designed, which are to be deprecated, and
watched against; before he treats of temptations, which were the
means of trying and exercising grace, and of purging away the dross
of sin and corruption, but here of temptations to sin, and which
are in themselves sinful; before he discourses of temptations in
which God was concerned; but here of temptations which he removes
from him, and denies of him, as being unworthy of him: wherefore,
when any man is tempted to sin, whether when under adversity, or in
prosperity, let him not say, I am tempted of God; for God is holy,
and without iniquity, nor does he delight in sin, but hates and
abhors it; nor can he commit it, it being contrary to his nature,
and the perfections of it; whereas no one can tempt another to sin,
unless he is sinful himself, and delights in sin, and in those that
commit it, nor without committing it himself; and 3. yet sinful men
are apt to charge God with their sins, and temptations to them, in
imitation of their first parent, Adam, when fallen, Gen_3:12 who,
to excuse himself, lays the blame upon the woman, and ultimately
upon God, who gave her to him; and suggests, that if it had not
been for the woman, he should not have ate of the forbidden fruit,
nor should he have had any temptation to it, had not God given him
the woman to be with him, and therefore it was his fault; and in
this sad manner do his sons and daughters reason, who, when,
through affliction, they murmur against God, distrust his
providence, or forsake his ways, say, if he had not laid his hand
upon them, or suffered such afflictions to befall them, they had
not been guilty of such sin: he himself is the occasion of them;
but let no man talk at this wicked rate, for God cannot be tempted
with evil; or "evils", He was tempted by the Israelites at Massah
and Meribah, from which those places had their names, who by their
murmuring, distrust and unbelief, proved and tried his patience and
his power; and so he may be, and has been tempted by others in a
like way; he may be tempted by evil men, and with evil things, but
he cannot be tempted "to evil", as the Ethiopic version renders it;
he is proof against all such temptations: he cannot be tempted by
anything in himself, who is pure and holy, or by any creature or
thing without him, to do any sinful action: neither tempteth he any
man; that is, to sin; he tempted Abraham, to try his faith, love,
and obedience to him; he tempted the Israelites in the wilderness,
to try them and humble them, and prove what was in their hearts;
and he tempted Job, and tried his faith and patience; and so he
tempts and tries all his righteous ones, by afflictions, more or
less: but he never tempts or solicits them to sin; temptations to
sin come from another quarter, as follows. HE RY, "I. We are here
taught that God is not the author of any man's sin. Whoever they
are who raise persecutions against men, and whatever injustice and
sin they may be guilty of in proceeding against them, God is not to
be charged with it. And, whatever sins good men may themselves be
provoked to by their exercises and afflictions, God is not the
cause of them. It seems to be here supposed that some professors
might fall in the hour of temptation, that the rod resting upon
them might carry some into ill courses, and make them put forth
their hands unto iniquity. But though this should be the case, and
though such delinquents should attempt to lay their fault on God,
yet the blame of their misconduct must lie entirely upon
themselves. For, 1. There is nothing in the nature of God that they
can lay the blame upon: Let no man say, when he is tempted to take
any evil course, or do any evil thing, I am tempted of God; for God
cannot be tempted with evil. All moral evil is owing to some
disorder in the being that is chargeable with it, to a want of
wisdom, or of power, or of decorum and purity in the will. But who
can impeach the holy God with the want of these, which are his very
essence? No exigence of affairs can ever tempt him to dishonour or
deny himself, and therefore he cannot be tempted with evil. 2.
There is nothing in the providential dispensations of God that the
blame of any man's sin can be laid upon (Jam_1:13): Neither
tempteth he any man. As God cannot be tempted with evil himself, so
neither can he be a tempter of others. He cannot be a promoter of
what is repugnant to his nature. The carnal mind is willing to
charge its own sins on God. There is something hereditary in this.
Our first father Adam tells God, The woman thou gavest me tempted
me, thereby, in effect, throwing the blame upon God, for giving him
the tempter. Let no man speak thus. It is very bad to sin; but is
much worse, when we have done amiss, to charge it upon God, and say
it was owing to him. Those who lay the blame of their sins either
upon their constitution or upon their condition in the world, or
who pretend they 4. are under a fatal necessity of sinning, wrong
God, as if he were the author of sin. Afflictions, as sent by God,
are designed to draw out our graces, but not our corruptions.
JAMISO , "when ... tempted tried by solicitation to evil.
Heretofore the temptation meant was that of probation by
afflictions. Let no one fancy that God lays upon him an inevitable
necessity of sinning. God does not send trials on you in order to
make you worse, but to make you better (Jam_1:16, Jam_1:17).
Therefore do not sink under the pressure of evils (1Co_10:13). of
God by agency proceeding from God. The Greek is not tempted by,
but, from, implying indirect agency. cannot be tempted with evil,
etc. Neither do any of our sins tempt God to entice us to worse
things, nor does He tempt any of His own accord (literally, of
Himself; compare the antithesis, Jam_1:18, Of His own will He begat
us to holiness, so far is He from tempting us of His own will)
[Bengel]. God is said in Gen_22:1 to have tempted Abraham; but
there the tempting meant is that of trying or proving, not that of
seducement. Alford translates according to the ordinary sense of
the Greek, God is unversed in evil. But as this gives a less likely
sense, English Version probably gives the true sense; for
ecclesiastical Greek often uses words in new senses, as the
exigencies of the new truths to be taught required. CALVI , "13Let
no man, when he is tempted. Here, no doubt, he speaks of another
kind of temptation. It is abundantly evident that the external
temptations, hitherto mentioned, are sent to us by God. In this way
God tempted Abraham, (Genesis 22:1,) and daily tempts us, that is,
he tries us as to what are we by laying before us an occasion by
which our hearts are made known. But to draw out what is hid in our
hearts is a far different thing from inwardly alluring our hearts
by wicked lusts. He then treats here of inward temptations which
are nothing else than the inordinate desires which entice to sin.
He justly denies that God is the author of these, because they flow
from the corruption of our nature. This warning is very necessary,
for nothing is more common among men than to transfer to another
the blame of the evils they commit; and they then especially seem
to free themselves, when they ascribe it to God himself. This kind
of evasion we constantly imitate, delivered down to us as it is
from the first man. For this reason James calls us to confess our
own guilt, and not to implicate God, as though he compelled us to
sin. But the whole doctrine of scripture seems to be inconsistent
with this passage; for it teaches us that men are blinded by God,
are given up to a reprobate mind, and delivered over to filthy and
shameful lusts. To this I answer, that probably James was induced
to deny that we are tempted by God by this reason, because the
ungodly, in order to form an excuse, armed themselves with
testimonies of Scripture. But there are two things to be noticed
here: when Scripture ascribes blindness or hardness of heart to
God, it does not assign to him the BEGI I G of this blindness, nor
does it make him the author of sin, so as to ascribe to him the 5.
blame: and on these two things only does James dwell. Scripture
asserts that the reprobate are delivered up to depraved lusts; but
is it because the Lord depraves or corrupts their hearts? By no
means; for their hearts are subjected to depraved lusts, because
they are already corrupt and vicious. But since God blinds or
hardens, is he not the author or minister of evil? ay, but in this
manner he punishes sins, and renders a just REWARD to the ungodly,
who have refused to be ruled by his Spirit. (Romans 1:26.) It hence
follows that the origin of sin is not in God, and no blame can be
imputed to him as though he took pleasure in evils. (Genesis 6:6.)
The meaning is, that man in vain evades, who attempts to cast the
blame of his vices on God, because every evil PROCEEDS from no
other fountain than from the wicked lust of man. And the fact
really is, that we are not otherwise led astray, except that every
one has his own inclination as his leader and impeller. But that
God tempts no one, he proves by this, because he is not tempted
with evils (105) For it is the devil who allures us to sin, and for
this reason, because he wholly burns with the mad lust of sinning.
But God does not desire what is evil: he is not, therefore, the
author of doing evil in us. 13. Let no one, when seduced, say, By
God I am seduced; for God is not capable of being seduced by evils,
and he himself seduceth no one. BE SO , "James 1:13. Let no man
say, when he is tempted To commit sin, in whatever way it may be; I
am tempted of God God has laid this temptation in my way; for God
cannot be tempted with evil It cannot appear desirable, or
otherwise than detestable, in Gods eyes; nor can he be inclined to
it in any degree, through any external object, or any internal
motion; neither tempteth he any man He does not persuade or
incline, much less constrain any one to sin by any means whatever.
The word , to tempt, as we have seen, often signifies to try, in
order to discover the disposition of a person, or to improve his
virtue, James 1:12. In this sense God is said to have tempted or
tried Abraham and the Israelites. ot that he was ignorant of the
dispositions of either of them. In the same sense the Israelites
are said to have tempted or proved God. They put his power and
goodness to the trial, by entertaining doubts concerning them.
Here, to tempt, signifies to solicit one to sin, and actually to
seduce him into sin, which is the effect of temptation or
solicitation. See James 1:14. In this sense the devil tempts men.
And because he is CO TI UALLY employed in that malicious work, he
is called, by way of eminence, , the tempter. It is in this sense
we are to understand the saying in the end of the verse, that God
is incapable of being tempted, that is, seduced to sin by evil
things, and that he seduces no one to sin. God having nothing
either to hope or fear, no evil beings, whether man or angel, can
either entice or seduce him. Further, his infinitely perfect nature
admitting no evil thought or inclination, he is absolutely ( )
incapable of being tempted. Macknight. BARCLAY 13-15, "At the back
of this passage lies a Jewish way of belief to which all of us are
to some extent prone. James is here rebuking the man who puts the
6. blame for temptation on God. Jewish thought was haunted by the
inner division that is in every man. It was the problem which
haunted Paul: "I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I
see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, and
making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members"
(Romans 7:22-23). Every man was pulled in two directions. Purely as
an interpretation of experience the Jews arrived at the doctrine
that in every man there were two tendencies. They called them the
Yetser (Hebrew #3336) Hatob (Hebrew #2896), the good tendency, and
the Yetser (Hebrew #3336) Hara' (Hebrew #7451), the evil tendency.
This simply stated the problem; it did not explain it. In
particular, it did not say where the evil tendency came from. So
Jewish thought set out to try to explain that. The writer of
Ecclesiasticus was deeply impressed with the havoc that the evil
tendency causes. "O Yetser (Hebrew #3336) Hara' (Hebrew #7451), why
wast thou made to fill the earth with thy deceit?" (Sirach 37:3).
In his view the evil tendency came from Satan, and man's defence
against it was his own will. "God made man from the BEGI I G and he
delivered him into the hand of him who took him for a prey. He left
him in the power of his will. If thou willest, thou wilt observe
the commandments, and faithfulness is a matter of thy good
pleasure" (Sirach 15:14- 15). There were Jewish writers who traced
this evil tendency right back to the Garden of Eden. In the
apocryphal work, The Life of Adam and Eve, the story is told. Satan
took the form of an angel and, speaking through the serpent, put
into Eve the desire for the forbidden fruit and made her swear that
she would give the fruit to Adam as well. "When he had made me
swear," says Eve, "he ascended up into the tree. But in the fruit
he gave me to eat he placed the poison of his malice, that is, of
his lust. For lust is the beginning of all sin. And he bent down
the bough to the earth, and I took of the fruit and ate it." In
this conception it was Satan himself who succeeded in inserting the
evil tendency into man; and that evil tendency is identified with
the lust of the flesh. A later development of this story was that
the beginning of all sin was in fact Satan's lust for Eve. The Book
of Enoch has two theories. One is that the fallen angels are
responsible for sin (85). The other is that man himself is
responsible for it. "Sin has not been sent upon the earth, but man
himself created it" (98: 4). But every one of these theories simply
pushes the problem one STEP further back. Satan may have put the
evil tendency into man; the fallen angels may have put it into man;
man may have put it into himself. But where did it ultimately come
from? To meet this problem, certain of the Rabbis took a bold and
dangerous step. They argued that, since God has created everything,
he must have created the evil tendency also. So we get Rabbinic
sayings such as the following. "God said, It repents me that I
created the evil tendency in man; for had I not done so, he would
not have rebelled against me. I created the evil tendency; I
created the law as a 7. means of healing. If you occupy yourself
with the law, you will not fall into the power of it. God placed
the good tendency on a man's right hand, and the evil on his left."
The danger is obvious. It means that in the last analysis a man can
blame God for his own sin. He can say, as Paul said, "It is no
longer I that do it, but sin which dwells in me" (Romans 7:15-24).
Of all strange doctrines surely the strangest is that God is
ultimately responsible for sin. THE EVASIO OF RESPO SIBILITY (James
1:13-15 CO TI UED) From the BEGI I G of time it has been man's
first instinct to blame others for his own sin. The ancient writer
who wrote the story of the first sin in the Garden of Eden was a
first-rate psychologist with a deep knowledge of the human heart.
When God challenged Adam with his sin, Adam's reply was, "The woman
whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I
ate." And when God challenged Eve with her action, her answer was,
"The serpent beguiled me, and I ate." Adam said, "Don't blame me;
blame Eve." Eve said, "Don't blame me; blame the serpent" (Genesis
3:12-13). Man has always been an expert in evasion. Robert Burns
wrote: Thou know'st that Thou hast formed me With passions wild and
strong; And list'ning to their witching voice Has often led me
wrong. In effect, he is saying that his conduct was as it was
because God made him as he was. The blame is laid on God. So men
blame their fellows, they blame their circumstances, they blame the
way in which they are made, for the sin of which they are guilty.
James sternly rebukes that view. To him what is responsible for sin
is man's own evil desire. Sin would be helpless if there was
nothing in man to which it could appeal. Desire is something which
can be nourished or stifled. A man can control and even, by the
grace of God, eliminate it if he deals with it at once. But he can
allow his thoughts to follow certain TRACKS, and his steps to take
him into certain places and his eyes to linger on certain things;
and so foment desire. He can so hand himself over to Christ and be
so engaged on good things that there is no time or place left for
evil desire. It is idle hands for which Satan finds mischief to do;
it is the unexercised mind and the uncommitted heart which are
vulnerable. If a man encourages desire long enough, there is an
inevitable consequence. Desire becomes action. 8. Further, it was
the Jewish teaching that sin produced death. The life of Adam and
Eve says that the moment Eve ate of the fruit she caught a glimpse
of death. The word which James uses in James 1:15, and which the
King James and the Revised Standard Versions TRA SLATE brings forth
death, is an animal word for birth; and it means that sin spawns
death. Mastered by desire, man becomes less than a man and sinks to
the level of the brute creation. The great value of this passage is
that it urges upon man his personal responsibility for sin. o man
was ever born without desire for some wrong thing. And, if a man
deliberately encourages and nourishes that desire until it becomes
full-grown and monstrously strong, it will inevitably issue in the
action which is sin--and that is the way to death. Such a
thought--and all human experience admits it to be true--must drive
us to that grace of God which alone can make and keep us clean, and
which is AVAILABLE to all. COFFMA , "The purpose of this verse is
to take away from men any excuse for their yielding to sin. There
is not any need for the commentators to dig up references in the
Talmud, or in Wisdom, or in Sirach, or in mythology for something
which might have led to James' inclusion of this admonition. The
book of GE ESISrecords the fact of Adam's blaming Eve for his sin,
with the implied element of blaming God also, "the woman thou
gavest me"; and from that day until now, man has loved to blame the
Creator for all of his troubles. And yet it is a fact that God
allows temptation. Punchard has this regarding God's use of
temptation: Trials and temptations are permitted to strengthen us,
if we will, for God's mightier service. Compulsory homage would be
worthless to the loving Lord of all; so voluntary must be found
instead, and proved, and perfected. Herein is the Christian's
conflict, and the secret of God's ways with men.[34]SIZE> There
are all kinds of ways of shifting the blame to God. After all, did
not God create those fleshly appetites which we seek to control;
are we not surrounded from the very BEGI I G of life with all kinds
of temptations; and did not God make all of these things which
tempt me? James' words here were given for the purpose of
destroying such fallacious reasoning. Surely, of all the evil
doctrines ever advanced by Satan, that of blaming God himself for
human transgression must be one of the worst. E D OTE: [34] E. G.
Punchard, Ellicott's Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. VIII (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), on James, p.
359. WHEDO , "3. Blessedness of enduring temptation; which
(temptation) comes not from God; from whom is the good alone, James
1:12-18. 12. Blessed is the manWhether of low DEGREE or rich.
Endureth Who not only suffers, undergoes, but endureth; that is,
bears up 9. against, and conquers temptation. ForIt is the most
glorious of triumphs. He it is who may (James 1:2) count it all
joy. TriedProved true by the tempting test. Crown of lifeHe becomes
more than a millionaire; he receives the crown of a heavenly
princea crown of lifefrom which he will never pass by death, and
which will never wither from him. The phrase crown of life does not
signify a crown possessed of or imbued with life; but a crown
consisting of life. The life, or glorious immortality, is itself
the crown. SCHAFF, "James 1:13. Let no man say when he is tempted.
The connexion is: if, instead of enduring the temptation, we yield
to it and are overcome by it, we must not lay the blame of our fall
from virtue upon God. Hitherto the word temptation has been used
chiefly in the sense of tests of character; here it denotes
solicitations to sin; and yet there is hardly any change of
meaning, as some think. These two views of temptation involve each
other; what is a test of character may also be a solicitation to
sin. Temptations may be considered as either external or internal.
The trials which occur in the course of life, the afflictions which
befall us, the persecutions to which religion may expose us, are
external temptations and tests of character. But when these draw
out our sinful desires and excite to sinful actions, they become
internal, and are solicitations to evil. In themselves, temptations
are not sins; when resisted and overcome, they are promoters of
virtue; it is in our voluntary yielding to the temptations, in the
consent of the will, that sin arises. I am tempted of God, or
rather, from God, denoting not the direct agency in the temptation,
but the source from which that agency PROCEEDS. It is improbable
that there is any reference here to the doctrine of the Pharisees
concerning fate; rather, the reference is to that common perversity
in human nature which attempts to throw the blame of our faults
upon God: that the temptations to which we were exposed, and in
consequence of which we fell, were occasioned by God, being caused
either by the circumstances in which His providence has placed us,
or by that temperament with which He has created us (cp. Genesis
3:12). for God cannot be tempted with evil. Some render these
words: God is unversed in evil thingsinexperienced in them; all
evil is completely foreign to His nature. neither tempteth he any
man: that is, to evil, to do what is wrong. God certainly tempts in
the sense of tries. But the design of the Divine trying is not to
excite to sin, not that sin should arise, but that it should be
overcome; He tries our virtues, in ORDER that they may be purified;
He designs by these trials our moral improvement. The external
tests of character may be from God; but the internal solicitations
to evil are from ourselves. PETT, "Let no man say when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot 10. be tempted with
evil, and he himself tempts no man. There is a play on the meaning
of temptation here. James has been speaking about testings and
trials, and he may well have heard some blame them on God. And he
has indeed made clear that that is partly true, for God allows His
people to be tested for their good. But ow he wants to make clear
that while God may test men He does not subject them to temptation
to sin. Where temptation to sin occurs it is not God Who is doing
it. One reason why that is so is because sin is foreign to God as
He is by nature. Thus He cannot be tempted with evil. He is above
and beyond it as the Holy One. Thus temptation to sin would be
outside the sphere of His holiness. It is something which He could
not conceivably do. But that then brings out another remarkable
fact, and that is that in becoming man in Jesus God did subject
Himself to temptation. He was tempted in all points as we are, and
yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15, compare also James 2:18). But that
does not APPLY to God as Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. And
He Himself tempts no man. James categorically DE IES that God
tempts men. It would be foreign to what He is. Thus we can never
seek to blame our sinfulness on God. It is all of man. Jewish
tradition concurs with this conclusion, Do not say, it is through
the Lord that I fell away -- it is He Who caused me to err (Sirach
15:11-12). For if someone did they would be putting the blame in
the wrong place. Verses 13-15 There Is One Kind Of Testing That Is
ot To Be Seen As Of God And That Is The Temptation To Sin. That
Springs From The Lusts Of The Human Heart And Leads To Death (James
1:13-15). James now moves from the trials of life to the idea of a
particular trial, that of temptation to sin. It would seem that
some were blaming their temptations to sin, and even their
sinfulness, on God, so he assures them that it is not God Who
tempts men to sin, but men who are tempted because of what they
are. They are led astray by their own sinful desires. And they are
to be aware that this kind of testing does not lead to the crown of
life, but to the dust of death (James 1:15). Analysis. A Let no man
say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be
tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no man (James 1:13). B But
each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and
enticed (James 1:14). C Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears
sin (James 1:15 a). D And the sin, when it is fullgrown (has come
to completeness), brings forth death (James 1:15 b). OTEhow this is
presented in the form of a sequence. First what is not the cause of
11. temptation (it is not God who causes man to be tempted), then
what is the cause of temptation (temptation is caused by mans own
desires and lusts), then the consequence of temptation, (mans lust
conceives and like a pregnant woman bears sin), then the
consequences of that sin (sin comes to completeness and, again like
a pregnant woman, brings forth death). HAMPTO 13-14, "Put The Blame
On Self In the first part of James 1:1-27, trials, or external
hardships are considered. Then, as Woods notes, James changes from
the noun form to a verb in his consideration of temptation. Woods
tells us the verb form means "solicit to do evil" and gives the
example of Satan tempting our Lord (Matthew 4:1-11). God will test
men, as we have ALREADY seen and the case of Abraham shows, but he
will not tempt men to sin (James 1:13). Adam, like some today,
tried to blame God for his temptation and sin (Genesis 3:12). James
clearly answers the challenge of Adam. otice the external trial
becomes an internal problem when we are drawn away of our own lust.
Adam tried to put the blame for his sin on Eve and Eve tried to
blame the devil (Genesis 3:13-16). James does not put the blame
upon Satan because ultimately it rests with us (James 1:14). The
devil will receive his punishment, but so will we because we are
responsible for our actions. Ezekiel recorded the Lord"s words when
he said, "The soul who sins shall die" (18:4). Similarly, Paul
writes, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to
what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10;
Galatians 6:7-8). COKE, "James 1:13. St. James had said so much
about the benefit of temptations, or trials, that he thought it
necessary to guard his readers against so dangerous a mistake, as
that of making God the author of sin, or ascribing temptations to
him, as they signify "a seducing men to what is evil:" In that
sense they PROCEED not from God, but from the lusts of men, which,
if complied with, end in death, instead of bringing men to a crown
of life. Though, therefore, trials may be ascribed to God, yet
temptation, in the bad sense of the word, cannot by any means be
ascribed to him. Sin and death proceed from the lusts and
wickedness of men; but God is not the author of evil; on the
contrary, He is, like the sun in the firmament, an U IVERSAL
Benefactor, and the author of all that is good: nay, he infinitely
excels the sun, as not being subject to any change or variation.The
Jewish converts were by the divine benignity brought first into the
Christian church; they therefore had peculiar reason to ascribe
goodness unto God, and to obey readily the precepts of the gospel;
governing their passions, bridling their tongues, manifesting their
meekness and charity, and doing every thing which the Christian
religion requires, through Divine grace. James 1:13-27. Let no man
sayI am tempted of God See on Genesis 22:1. Exodus 15:25; Exodus
16:4. Deuteronomy 8:2. "There are two senses of the word
temptation, says Dr. Heylin, according to the different ends
proposed; the one for trial, the other for 12. seduction: this last
is here intended. As God, by virtue of his boundless knowledge and
almighty power, is incapable of being tempted by evils, so likewise
he is of such perfect rectitude and benevolence, that he tempteth
not any man; that is, draws him not designedly into sin, nor lays
him, in any imaginable circumstances, under a moral necessity of
committing it." CO STABLE, "God is never the source of temptation.
He does not try to get us to sin, even though some people blame God
for their sins. He Himself is not even subject to temptation
because He is totally separate from sin and not susceptible to
evil. [ ote: Mayor, p. 53. See also his extended discussion of this
subject on pp. 195- 97.] The only sense in which God is responsible
for sin is that He permits other things to tempt us, namely, the
world, the flesh, and the devil (cf. JOB 1-2). James did not
mention this here. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Lead us not
into temptation" (Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:4). Jesus used a figure of
speech (i.e., litotes) in which He expressed a POSITIVE idea by
negating the contrary. Other examples of litotes are "not a few"
meaning many, and "no rare occurrence" meaning a frequent
occurence. James did not imply that God does lead us into
temptation. His point was that He can help us stay away from it.
Essentially Jesus meant we should ask God to allow us to experience
as little temptation as possible (cf. Mark 14:38). James was not
contradicting Jesus' teaching. "We all know only too many people
who have ceased to walk with God under the pressure of trouble or
tragedy ..." [ ote: Motyer, p. 50.] ELLICOTT, "For God cannot be
tempted with evil.We can see here a good instance of the excellence
of the old Geneva Bible, the first on several occasions to seize
the exact meaning of a passage which all the preceding versions had
missed. Our present rendering follows the Genevan exactly,
rejecting those of Wiclif. God is not a tempter of yuell things;
Tyndale, God tempteth not vnto evyll; and Cranmer, God cannot
tempte vnto euyll. either tempteth he any man.The trial comes of
Him, i.e., the Tempter is allowed; but so far, and no further. God
Himself is unversed of evils, and no possibility of temptation
remains with Him. Into the unseen splendour of His fulness no
thought of wrong can E TER; no foul thing wing its silent FLIGHT.
It were blasphemy, perilously near that of the Pharisees (Matthew
12:22-37) to think Gods kingdom could be so divided against itself,
that He, directly or indirectly, should seduce His subjects into
the revolt of sin. o; if we have one golden clue by which we may
feel our erring way out of the labyrinth of this lower world into
the belief and trust in God our Father for the life to come, it is
this: trials and temptations are permitted to strengthen usif we
willfor His mightier service. And, as compulsory homage would be
worthless to the loving Lord of all, voluntary must be found
instead, and proved and perfected. Herein is the Christian
conflict, and the secret of Gods ways with man. 13. AUTHOR U K OW ,
"The beatitude sounds good and lives good, but James knows the
human heart. In times of temptation it is a natural human tendency
to blame God. Putting the blame elsewhere is popular in our
culture. It is popular to blame God for all kinds of things that go
wrong. Great catastrophes are called acts of God. Nobody else can
cause them, and so it is assumed that God is behind the terrible
events that kill people by the thousands. We are prone to blame God
for our failure to endure, when suffering comes and we sin because
of it we are inclined to attribute the fault to God. But James says
we cannot blame God for failure in our life. God is never the
author of sin. God may test people with a view to approval; he
never tempts people to sin. He is not that kind of Lord. Now, we
need to distinguish between a test and a temptation, because the
Scripture makes that distinction. A test is an experience that God
brings into our life in order to build us. A temptation comes from
Satan. It is designed to cause us to sin. But the amazing thing is
that any circumstance can be either a test or a temptation,
depending upon our response Will Rogers once remarked that there
are two eras in American History - "the passing of the buffalo and
the passing of the buck." We look for anything and everything to
blame our troubles on. If it is not Mom & Dad, circumstances,
or "The Devil Made Me Do It", then it has to be God! It surely
can't be me! THE BLAMI G GOD THEOLOGY REJECTED. Pastor Thomas E.
Miles When Adam violated God's instruction and was confronted, he
was quick to point fingers at his wife. But, instructively, God did
not absolve him of responsibility. So, Adam was as much responsible
for his actions, as we are today accountable for ours. Why, because
we are free moral agents, capable of making independent decisions.
God wants you to know something today. He wants you to know
something about Himself and His love. He wants to show you His
mercy. He wants to rain down on you with love, blessings, and
victories so abundant that you cannot contain them all. God wants
you to know that it is time to stop blaming Him for all your
problems. He is not a God that should be blamed every time a child
dies, every time a man and woman divorce, or every time a son or
daughter gets hurt. He is not a God that should be blamed for
having caused a car accident. He is a God that should be given
praise, thanks and love for He created us to have all things and
have them more abundantly then what we could ever know what to do
with them. Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and
proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-
suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, If you will read the
Word of God, you will find that in every instance where it speaks
of Gods wrath, or the punishment of God, the hand of God in
revenge, you will find that it is in relation to Gods people
turning from Him and going into the wickedness and ways of the
world. You will see that it is the wickedness and evils of the
world that has 14. captured the heart and soul of the people, and
it is this world of decadence creating this hurt, sickness, and
feeling of being let down by God, or hurt by God. God said in the
very beginning that because of Adams fall that He would put Satan
in charge of this world and those that chose to live in this world,
live according to its principles and lies, would also suffer the
consequences of the falsehoods and destructiveness of Satan and his
imps. God is not giving the pain and the hurt to the people, Satan
is doing it...and yes, God is allowing it to happen, but only
because He said to man, I will give you the freedom of choice. I
will allow you to make the decision as to whom you will follow.
Moreover, it is this decision that is OURS--not Gods; He loves us
so much that He allows us to choose life or death. He does not
force us to choose Him. We are so willing to put the I out front
every time reward or praise is due, but, when blame is to be found,
we pull the I so quickly back and look for someone else to blame
for the troubles that have come upon us. No one else is to blame
other than us. No one else can make us do anything that we do not
want to do. We may not always like the things that we have to do,
or that we do, but we are the ones that make those decisions. I
cannot make a decision for you; you make the decision for you. I
may say things, or introduce something that might sway or change
your way of thinking. Alternatively, I may do something that helps
you to decide to do something, but that is still your decision, not
mine, you are the only one to blame or to praise for the outcome.
It isnt difficult to see a connection between adversity and
temptation. In the midst of adversity, we may be tempted to think
or act in a sinful manner. Many folks wrongly conclude that times
of stress somehow justify ungodly responses. There is a sinister
dimension to the words, I am tempted by God. It is one thing to
say, The devil made me do it; it is quite another to lay the blame
on God. You can see how one could twist reality to come to such a
conclusion. Their distorted logic would go something like this: God
is sovereign; He is in control of everything. God is the One who
brings adversity into the lives of His people. God has brought
adversity into my life. In such times of adversity, I am tempted to
act in an ungodly manner. If I yield to this temptation, I sin.
Therefore, God is the source of my temptation. If I fail, it must
be Gods fault, because He led me into temptation. It seems to me
that verses 13-18 take up the subject of the double-minded man,
mentioned in verse 8. The double-minded person wavers between
humble submission to God and prideful disobedience. It is that
proud disobedience which seems to underlie the logic that blames
God for our sin and names Him as the source of our temptation.
James speaks in very absolute terms in verses 13-18. He says that
one should never blame God for the temptation we face. He also says
that God cannot ever be tempted by evil, and that He never tempts
anyone with evil. God tests us, but He never tempts us.1 BIBLICAL
ILLUSTRATOR, "Let no man say, I am tempted of God The temptation
not from God I. 15. THE CHARACTER GIVEN OF GOD. 1. God cannot be
tempted of evil. (1) The absolute and infinite self-sufficiency of
His blessedness. That blessedness is altogether independent of
every other being whatever besides Himself. It is full: incapable
of either diminution or increase: springing as it does from the
infinite perfection of His own immutable nature. He can never have
anything for which to hope; and never anything to fear. (2) He is
placed beyond all such possibility by the absolute perfection of
His moral nature. God cannot be tempted with evil. His nature is
necessarily and infinitely opposed to everything of the kind; and
to such a nature what is sinful or impure never can present aught
capable of exerting even the remotest influence. 2. Neither
tempteth He any man. (1) God tempts no man, by presenting to him
inducements, motives, persuasives, to sin. (2) God tempts no man by
any direct inward influence; by infusing evil thoughts,
inclinations, and desires. (3) God tempteth not any man by placing
him in circumstances in which he is laid under a natural necessity
of stoning. II. Proceed we now to THE ADMONITION FOUNDED ON WHAT IS
SAID OF GOD Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of
God; for God tempteth no man: or to put it according to the order
of thought we have chosen to followGod cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempteth He any man: let no man therefore say, when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempteth He any man. It is because every such thought of
God is impious, that the saying is condemned as impious. The
delusion before us is one of the most fearful palliations of sin,
and opiates to the conscience, that the deceitful heart of man has
ever suggested. But, if conscience is allowed to speak in
sincerity, its utterance will beI am a voluntary sinner. No
extraneous force has kept me back from good; no such force has
compelled me to evil. I have followed my own inclinations. My heart
and my will have been in all the evil I have done. It is all my
own. 1. Let the unbelieving sinner beware of imagining that the
guilt of his rejecting the gospel lies anywhere else than with
himself. 2. There is one view in which you would do well to
remember God cannot be tempted with evil. He can never be induced
to act, in any step of His procedure, inconsistently with any
attribute of His character, or, in a single jot or tittle, to
sacrifice the claims of the purest moral rectitude. III. THE TRUE
NATURE OF TEMPTATION. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn
away of his own lust, and enticed. In this description temptation
is to be understood as relating to the state of the mind between
the moment of the first entrance of the sinful thought, and the
actual commission of the evil;the state of the mind while the
enticement is working within among the hidden desires and
appetencies of the heart, exerting there its seductive influence.
Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. This is
evidently meant to be emphatic. It refers back to the preceding
verseLet no man say, I am tempted of God: God tempteth not any man.
The lust by which he is tempted, is not of God: it is his own lust.
And all evil that is in man is his 16. own. Within our own hearts
are seated many evil desires. The devil needs not introduce them.
There they are. He acts upon them, no doubt, in his own mysterious
and insidious way. But the extraneous operations of a tempter are
not at all required to stir up their evil exercise. They work of
themselves. From all the objects around us, that are fitted to
gratify those desires, our senses are so many inlets of temptation
to our hearts. Nor are even our senses necessary to the admission
of temptation. The imagination can work independently of them, And
both in waking and in sleeping hours, many a time is it busy in
summoning tempting scenes before them. The principle of the words
before us may be applied alike to prosperity and adversity. In
adversity, our own lusts may tempt us to charge God foolishly, and
that too both in our hearts and with our lips; and thus to give
sinful indulgence to ungodly tempers of mind. Then again, in the
time of prosperity; our own lust may often tempt us to the abuse of
it. We may be led to forget God, at the very time when His
accumulated kindnesses give Him the stronger claim on our grateful
and devout remembrance. We may give, in our hearts, the place of
the Giver to His gifts. IV. THE FEARFUL CONSEQUENCES OF YIELDING TO
TEMPTATION. When lust hath conceived. The obvious meaning of the
figurative allusion is, that when the evil desire is admitted into
the mind, and, instead of being resisted, prayed against, and
driven out, is retained, fostered, indulged, and through dwelling
upon the object of it, grows in strength, and at length is fully
matured, it will come forth in action; as after the period of
gestation and growth, the child in the womb comes to the birth. The
lust, having thus conceived, bringeth forth sin; that is, produces
practical transgression sin in the lifeactual departure from the
way of Gods commandments. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. That Gods righteousness may not only condemn justly,
but appear as condemning justly, the sentence is thus connected
with the act with the effect and manifestation of the evil
principle. But the very language implies that the sin did not begin
with the act: it is finished in the act; and the evil of the act
concentrates in it all the previous evil of the thoughts, desires,
and motives from which it arose, and by which it was ultimately
matured into action. The deaththat death which is the wages of
sinfollows on the commission of it, as surely as, in nature, the
birth follows the conception. V. THE IMPORTANCE OF FORMING AND
CHERISHING RIGHT, AND OF AVOIDING WRONG, CONCEPTIONS ON THIS
SUBJECT. Do not err, my beloved brethren. It is as if the apostle
had saidBeware of mistakes here. And certainly there are few
subjects on which it is of more essential consequence to have
correct ideas, or on which misapprehensions are more perilous. The
thought that is specially reprobated in the passage which has been
under review is one which cannot fail to affect all the principles,
and feelings, and practices of the Christian life. It affects our
views of God: and these lie at the foundation of all religion.
According as they are right or wrong, must our religion be right or
wrong, it must equally affect our views of ourselvesof ourselves as
sinners; inasmuch as all the penitential humiliation, all the
contrite broken- heartedness, on account of our sins, which we ever
ought to feel, lose entirely their ground, and are inevitably gone,
the moment we say, or think, that we are tempted of Godthat in any
way our sin and guilt are attributable to Him. It must, in the same
way, affect our conceptions of sin itself; of its exceeding
sinfulness and unutterable guilt. And thus it will affect our views
of our need of a Saviour; and especially of such a Saviour, and
such a salvation, as the gospel reveals. 1. Let believers be
impressed with the necessity of unceasing vigilance over their own
hearts. Their worst enemies are in their own bosoms. 2. Let all
consider the necessity of the heart being right with God. It is
only in a holy 17. heart, a heart renewed by the Spirit, a heart of
which the lusts are laid under arrest, and crucified, that He can
dwell. 3. Ponder seriously the certain consequences of unrepented
and unforgiven sin: and by immediate recourse to the Cross, and to
the blood there shed for the remission of sins, shun the fearful
end which otherwise awaits you. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.) The workings of
sin I. IT REMINDS US OF THE DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. II. WE ARE
TAUGHT HOW SURELY THE EVIL PRINCIPLE WILL WORK IN THE HEART, IF
UNCHECKED AND UNRESTRAINED, TILL IT HAS BROUGHT FORTH FRUIT UNTO
DEATH. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust,
and enticed. It is the internal desire which gives temptation its
power over man. Were there no appetite for the intoxicating liquor,
the cup which contains it would be offered in vain. Were there no
covetous desire, the prospect of gain would be no temptation to
deviate from the path of rectitude. In every case it is the state
of the heart which gives to temptation its power to subdue. Its
suddenness may surprise into transgression, but when its success is
owing entirely to this circumstance, repentance may be expected
quickly to arise. The case supposed in the text is not of this
nature. The temptation is embraced and followed. The sinner is
drawn away of his own lust and enticed to his ruin. The stronger
the sinful propensity has become by indulgence, the greater is the
power which every corresponding temptation has to overcome him. He
is the less disposed, and therefore the less able to resist.
Pleasure in some form is the bait that hides the hook by which he
is drawn and enticed. The death which is the end of sin will
therefore be of as long duration as the life which is the fruit of
holiness. It will not be an arbitrary undeserved punishment, but
the wages of sin, its proper desert. Such is the death which sic,
when it is finished, bringeth forth. III. WE LEARN HOW EASILY GOD
CAN BRING SIN TO LIGHT. Should sin escape detection in this life,
we know that nothing can be concealed from the eye of God, who will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the
counsels of all hearts. The day shall declare every mans work of
what sort it is. Every one must give an account of himself to God,
must narrate his own proceedings, and unfold his own character,
before an assembled universe. IV. THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPRESSING THE
FIRST RISINGS OF EVIL IN THE HEART, AND GUARDING AGAINST THE FIRST
STEP IN A WRONG COURSE. V. WE LEARN THAT NOTHING CAN BE MORE WRONG
THAN FOR ANY MAN TO THROW THE BLAME OF HIS SINS UPON GOD. Let no
man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. The all-wise, pure,
perfect, self-sufficient, almighty Creator and Ruler of the
universe can be under no temptation to evil, neither can He place
temptation in the way of any one to induce him to sin. This would
be to act in direct contrariety to His own nature. A wicked man may
say, If God has given me such passions how can I help being led
astray by them? God has not given you such passions; you have given
them to yourself. The desires He gave you were needful to the great
purposes of human existence. Without them the powers of man could
not be called into action. You have perverted them, and allowed
them to gain the mastery over reason, conscience, and religion.
Suppose a friend recommended to you a servant whom he had uniformly
found, after a long trial, faithful and obedient, and you had
spoiled that servant, after taking him into your service, by 18.
every unwarrantable indulgence, till he had tyrannised over you,
and wasted your property, would you have any right to complain of
your friend for recommending him, would not the blame rest entirely
with yourself? Everything becomes a temptation to a depraved
heartprosperity or adversity; wealth or poverty; success or
disappointment. On the other hand, All things work together for
good to them that love God, and are the called according to His
purpose. VI. Finally, WE LEARN, THAT SUCH BEING THE DEPRAVITY OF
MAN, THERE IS NO SECURITY FROM THE RUIN WHICH SIN WILL INEVITABLY
BITING UPON THE TRANSGRESSOR, BUT IN THAT COMPLETE RENOVATION OF
OUR NATURE WHICH IN SCRIPTURE IS CALLED REGENERATIONA NEW CREATION.
That which is born of the flesh is fleshcorrupt in its tendencies.
But, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed
remaineth in him; and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
(Essex Remembrancer.) The sinners progress Archbishop Trench points
out that many words, which when first used bad an innocent and even
commendable meaning, have come by use to carry a doubtful or
malignant sense; and in this degradation of our words he sees a
proof and illustration of human depravity. The word temptation,
both in Greek and English, is a case in point. According to its
derivation and original use, the word simply means test, whatever
tends to excite, to draw out and bring to the surface, the hidden
contents of the heart, whatever serves to indicate the ruling bent.
But in process of time the word has come to have a darker
significance. For if there is much that is good in us, there is
also much that is evil. And because, in their intercourse with each
other, men are too often bent on provoking that which is evil in
each other, rather than on eliciting and strengthening that which
is good, the word temptation has sunk from its original plane, and
has come to signify mainly such testings and trials of character as
are designed to draw out the evil that is in us; trials and tests
skilfully adapted to our besetting infirmities, and likely to
develop the lower and baser qualities of our nature. It is because
of this double meaning of the word that we meet in Scripture such
apparently contradictory phrases as, Lead us not into temptation,
and, Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. It is
in this double meaning of the word, moreover, that we find the key
to the apparently contradictory statements that God does tempt men,
and that He does not tempt them. He does tempt us all in the sense
that He puts us all to the proof, and compels us at times to see
what manner of men we are. But if, in this sense, God tempts every
man, there is a sense in which He tempts no man. For it is never
the design of the trials to which He puts us to bring out and
confirm that which is evil in us. It is always His purpose to bring
out and confirm that which is good in us; or, if He show us wherein
we are weak, it is not that we may remain weak and foolish, but
that we may seek and find strength and wisdom in Him. When we have
fallen into temptation, in the bad sense of that wordwhen, that is,
we have yielded to an evil influence, and have suffered our baser
passions to be excitedwe are apt to say, I am tempted of God, to
plead: Well, after all, He made me what I am. Am I to blame for my
passionate temperament, or for the strength and fierceness of my
desires? Or, again, we say: Circumstances were against me. The
opportunity was too tempting, my need or my craving was too
importunate, to be resisted. And are not our circumstances and
condition appointed by Him? Thus we charge God foolishly, knowing
and feeling all the while that it is we ourselves who are to blame
whenever the lower part of our nature is 19. permitted a supremacy
against which the higher part protests. God tempts no man, affirms
St. James, and assigns as a reason, for God is unversed in evil,
or, God is incapable of evil, or, God is untemptable with evil; for
in these three several ways this one word is translated. His
implied argument is sufficiently clear, however we may render his
words. What he assumes is, Every one who tempts another to do evil
must have some evil in his own nature. But there is no shadow or
taint of evil in God, and therefore it is impossible that God
should tempt any man. But if the evil temptations we have to
encounter do not come from God, whence do they come? St. James
replies, Every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own
lust, and enticedthe mans lust being here conceived of as a harlot
who lavishes her blandishments upon him; then the lust, having
conceived, bringeth forth sin; and the sin, when it is mature,
bringeth forth death. The origin of sin is in mans own breast, in
his own hot and extravagant desires for any kind of temporal or
sensual good; and the apostle traces the sinners career through the
successive steps that lead down to death. 1. First, the man is
drawn aside. James conceives of him as occupied with his daily
task, busily discharging the duties of his daily calling. While be
is thus engaged, a craving for some unlawful or excessive
gratification, for a gain that cannot be honestly secured, or an
indulgence which cannot be taken soberly and in the fear of God,
springs up within his mind. The craving haunts his mind, and takes
form in it. He bends his regards on it, and is drawn towards it. At
first, perhaps, his will is firm, and he refuses to yield to its
attraction. But the craving is very strong; it touches him at his
weak point. And when it comes back to him again and again, it
swells and grows into what St. James calls a lust. It is his own
lust, the passion most native to him, and most potent with such as
hethe love of gain, or the love of rule, or the love of
distinction, or some affection of a baser strain. For a time tie
may resist its fascination; but ere long his work is laid aside,
the claims of duty are neglected, the warnings of conscience
unheeded. All he means is to get a nearer view of this strange,
alluring visitor, to lift its veil, to see what it is like and for
what intent it beckons him away. And so he takes his first step: he
is drawn aside from the clear and beaten path of duty. 2. Then he
is enticed, allured, as the Greek word implies, with pleasant
baits. His craving waxes stronger, the object of desire more
attractive, as he advances. All specious excusesall that moralists
have allowed or bold transgressors have claimedare urged upon him,
until at last his scruples are overborne, and he yields himself a
willing captive to his lust. 3. Then lust conceives. The will
consents to the wish the evil desire grows toward an evil deed. He
can know no rest till his craving be gratified. The good work in
which he was occupied looks tame and wearisome to him. He is
fevered by passion, and absorbed in 2:4. Having conceived, lust
bringeth forth sin. The bad purpose has become a bad deed, and the
bad deed is followed by its natural results. Coming to the light,
his evil deeds may be reproved. When the sin is born, the man may
recognise his guilt. He may repent, and be forgiven and restored.
5. But if he do not turn and repent, the last step will be taken,
and sin, being matured, will bring forth death. Action will grow
into habit, the sinful action into a habit of sinning. As sin grows
and matures, it will rob him of his energy. He will no longer make
a stand against temptation. He will wholly surrender himself to his
lust, until all that makes him man dies out of him, and only the
fierce, brutal craving remains. Hogarth has left us a familiar
series of pictures entitled The Rakes Progress, in which the career
of a profligate spendthrift is sketched from its 20. commencement
to its close. Were I an artist, I would paint you a similar series
on a kindred but wider themethe Sinners Progress. (S. Cox, D. D.)
Temptations to evil not from God Now, affliction is an evil of
which God Himself is the author, very consistently with the perfect
purity of His nature, and with the tenderest compassion for His
servants: Whom He loveth, He rebuketh and chasteneth; and the
design is worthy of supreme goodness as well as rectitude, for it
is to try the virtues of the afflicted in order to strengthen them,
that they may be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the
appearing of Jesus Christ (1Pe_1:7). But there is another kind of
temptation here spoken of, of which God is not the author or cause.
The meaning of this, certainly, is a solicitation to sin; when the
intention is not to prove the sincerity of feeble virtue in order
to confirm and increase it, but to subvert and destroy it; to draw
the weak and unwary into wickedness which leadeth to their ruin.
This is what the perfectly holy and good God is not capable of. I.
THAT GOD IN ALL HIS WORKS AND WAYS, THE WHOLE OF HIS ADMINISTRATION
TOWARDS MANKIND, STANDETH PERFECTLY CLEAR OF TEMPTING THEM TO MORAL
EVIL. He is not in the least degree, or by a fair construction, in
any part of His conduct, accessary to any one of their offences.
But all religion resteth upon this principle, utterly inconsistent
with His tempting any man or any creature, that God is only pleased
with rational agents doing that which is right, and displeased with
their doing what is wrong in a moral sense: if that be denied,
piety is entirely subverted, and all practice of virtue on the
foundation of piety. A being who is wholly incapable of any moral
turpitude, cannot solicit any others to it, nor give them the least
countenance in it, which must always necessarily suppose a corrupt
affection. Another of the Divine attributes is goodness, equally
essential to his character, but if God be good, He cannot tempt any
man. 2. Let us proceed to consider the works of God which relate to
man, and we shall be convinced that far from having a tendency, or
showing a design, to draw him into sin, which is tempting him, on
the contrary, they provide against it in the best manner. And,
first, if we look into the human constitution, which is the work of
God, this sense of right and wrong discovereth itself early; it is
not the result of mature reflection, close reasoning, and long
study, but it plainly appeareth that the gracious author of our
being intended to prevent us with it, that we should not be led
astray before our arriving at the full exercise of our
understanding. To this sense of good and evil, there is added in
our constitution a strong enforcement of the choice, and the
practice of the former, in that high pleasure of self-approbation
which is naturally and inseparably annexed to it. Must it not be
acknowledged, then, that the frame of our nature prompteth to the
practice of virtue at its proper end, and that the designing cause
of it did not intend to tempt us to evil, but to provide against
our being tempted? It is true that liberty is a part of the
constitution, which importeth a power of doing evil, and by which
it is that we are rendered capable of it. This, as well as the
other capacities of our nature, is derived from God; but there is
no rational profence for alleging that gift to be a temptation,
because liberty is not an inclination to evil, but merely the minds
power of determining itself to that, or the contrary, according as
the motives to the one or the other should appear strongest; and
that the author of the constitution hath cast the balance on the
side of virtue, we may see from what hath been already said, since
tie hath given us virtuous instincts, with a 21. sense of moral
obligations, and added a very powerful sanction to them. Besides,
liberty is absolutely necessary to the practice of virtue, as well
as to the being of moral evil; nor could we without it have been
capable of rational happiness. 3. Again, if we consider the
administration of providence, and the Divine conduct towards all
men, we shall find that the same design is regularly pursued by
methods becoming the wisdom of God, and best suited to our
condition; the design, I mean, not of tempting us to sin, but
preserving us from it. As God sent men into the world, a species of
rational beings, fitted by the excellent faculties wherewith He
endued them for rendering Him very important service, and enjoying
a great measure of happiness, so He constantly careth for that
favourite workmanship of His hands. Of all the nations of men who
are made to dwell on the face of the earth, none are without
witness of their Makers mercies, for He continually doth them good,
sending them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, and filling
their hearts with food and gladness. Now if such kindness be the
character of the Divine administration, what is the tendency of it?
Is it to tempt men, to lead them to sin, which is rebellion against
Himself, and against their own reason? But when men had wilfully
corrupted their ways, and turned the bounty of God into
lasciviousness, Providence hath sometimes interposed in a different
manner, that is, by awful judgments suddenly spread over nations or
cities. 4. And, lastly, if we consider the revelation of the
gospel, and that whole Divine scheme contained in it, which God in
love to mankind hath formed for our salvation, we must see that the
whole design of it is directly opposite to the design of tempting;
it is to turn every one of us from our iniquities. But for the
general tenor of the Divine administration towards men, it
designedly favoureth their escape from temptations, and directeth
them to the paths of virtue (1Co_10:13). Some, indeed, to shun the
dangerous mistake of imputing sin and temptation to God as in any
respect its cause, have run into the opposite equally absurd
extreme of withdrawing moral evil altogether from under Gods
government of the world, and deriving it from an original
independent evil principle; which scheme, as it destroyeth the true
notion of vice representing it not as the voluntary act of
imperfect intelligent beings, but as flowing from an independent
necessity of nature. The generality of Christians, owning the unity
of God, do also acknowledge His perfect purity and goodness, and in
words, at least, deny Him to be the author of sin: but I am afraid
the opinions received among some of them are not perfectly
consistent with these true principles. For instance, to represent
the nature of men as so corrupted, without any personal fault of
theirs, that they are under a fatal necessity of sinning, and that
it is utterly impossible for them to do anything which is good.
What thoughts can a man have of this, but that it is the appointed
condition of his being, to be resolved ultimately into the will of
his Maker, just like the shortness of his understanding, the
imperfection of his senses, or even the frailty of his body? The
counsels of God concerning mens sins, and the agency of His
providence about them, not in overruling the issue, but in
ascertaining and by its influence determining them, as intending
events, ought also to be considered with the utmost caution. 1.
And, first of all, that God is not tempted with evil, neither
tempteth any man, tendeth to preserve in our minds the highest
esteem and reverence for Him. It is not possible for us to have a
veneration for a tempter. 2. This doctrine tendeth to beget and
confirm in us an utter abhorrence of sin, because it is the thing
God hateth, and will have nothing to do, no kind of 22.
communication with it. II. The second instruction relating to
temptations, now to be considered, amounteth to this, that the true
and most useful account of the origin of sin to every particular
person, that which really is the spring of prevailing temptation,
Is HIS OWN LUST; but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of
his own lust and enticed. 1. Wbat is meant by lust. To understand
this we must look into the inferior part of the human constitution.
Since it pleased God to form man as he is, compounded of flesh and
spirit, it was necessary there should be in his nature affections
suitable to both. This leadeth us to a true notion of what the
apostle calleth lust; it signifieth the whole of those affections
and passions which take their rise from the body and the animal
part of our nature, and which terminate in the enjoyments and
conveniences of our present state, as distinguished from the moral
powers and pleasures of the mind, and the perfection of them, which
requireth our chief application as being our principal concern and
ultimate happiness. That inferior part of our constitution, in
itself innocent and necessary for such beings, yet giveth the
occasion whereby we, abusing our liberty, are drawn away and
enticed to evil by various ways; such as, vehement desires beyond
the real value of the objects; an immoderate indulgence in the
gratification of those desires, either in instances which are
prohibited by reason and the laws of God, or even within the
licensed kinds, above the proper limits which the end of such
gratification hath fixed; all tending to weaken the devout and
virtuous affections which are the glory of our nature and the
distinguishing excellence of man. Other affections also tempt us,
as sorrow, which often through our weakness exceedeth in proportion
the event which is the occasion of it. 2. To consider how men are
tempted by lust, being drawn away and enticed. And here what I
would principally observe is, that lusts are only the occasions or
temptations to moral evil, not necessitating causes. The mind is
free, and voluntarily determineth itself upon the suggestions of
appetites and passions, not irresistibly governed by them; to say
otherwise, is to reproach the constitution and the author of it;
and for men to lay upon Him the blame of their own faults, which
yet their consciences cannot help taking to themselves. Let us
reflect on what passeth in our own heart on such occasions, to
which none of us can be strangers; and we shall be convinced that
we have the power of controlling the inclinations and tendencies
which arise in our mind, or not consenting to them, and a power of
suspending our consent till we have farther considered the motives
of action, and that this is a power often exerted by us. The most
vehement desires of meat and drink are resisted upon an
apprehension of danger; the love of money and the love of honour
are checked, and their strongest solicitations sometimes utterly
denied, through the superior force of contrary passions, or upon
motives of conscience. 3. To show, that in the account which the
text giveth, we may rest our inquiry, as to all the valuable
purposes of it, concerning the origin of sin in ourselves. The true
end of such inquiry is our preservation and deliverance from sin,
that we may know how to avoid it, or repent of it when committed;
excepting so far as they contribute to those ends, speculations
about it are curious but unprofitable. What I have just now hinted
directeth us to the proper application of this subject. 1. And,
first, upon a review of the whole progress of temptation from the
first 23. occasion of it to the last unhappy effect, the finishing
of sin, which, I suppose, we are all agreed is the just object of
our deepest concern, we may see what judgment is to be made, and
where we ought to lay the blame. 2. From this doctrine of the
apostle which I have endeavoured to explain, we see where our
greatest danger is of being led into sin, and whence the most
powerful and prevailing temptations arise, that is, from the lusts
of the heart. 3. And therefore, thirdly, if we would maintain our
integrity, let us keep the strictest watch over our own appetites
and passions, and here place our strongest, for it will be the most
effectual defence. (J. Abernethy, D. D.) The sins of men not
chargeable upon God, but upon themselves Next to the belief of a
God, and His providence, there is nothing more fundamentally
necessary to the practice of a good life than the belief of these
two principles. First, that God is not the author of sin, that He
is in no way accessary to our faults, either by tempting or forcing
us to the commission of them. For if He were, they would not
properly be sins, for sin is a contradiction to the will of God;
but supposing men to be either tempted or necessitated thereto,
that which we call sin would either be a mere passive obedience to
the will of God, or an active compliance with it, but neither way a
contradiction to it. Nor could these actions be justly punished;
for all punishment supposeth a fault, and a fault supposeth liberty
and freedom from force and necessity; so that no man can be justly
punished for that which he cannot help, and no man can help that
which he is necessitated to. And though there were no force in the
case, but only temptation, yet it would be unreasonable for the
same person to tempt and punish. Secondly, that every mans fault
lies at his own door, and he has reason enough to blame himself for
all the evil that he does. And this is that which makes men
properly guilty, that when they have done amiss, they are conscious
to themselves it was their own act. I. THAT GOD DOTH NOT TEMPT ANY
MAN TO SIN. 1. The proposition which the apostle here rejects, and
that is, that God tempts men, Let no man say when he is tempted, I
am tempted of God. Now, that we may the more distinctly understand
the meaning of the proposition, which the apostle here rejects, it
will be very requisite to consider what temptation is, and the
several sorts and kinds of it. Temptation does always imply
something of danger. And men are thus tempted, either from
themselves, or by others; by others, chiefly these two ways. First,
By direct and downright persuasion to sin. And to be sure God
tempts no man this way. He offers no arguments to man to persuade
him to sin; He nowhere proposeth either reward or impunity to
sinners; but, on the contrary, gives all imaginable encouragement
to obedience, and threatens the transgression of His law with most
dreadful punishments. Secondly, men are likewise tempted, by being
brought into such circumstances, as will greatly endanger their
falling into sin, though none persuade them to it. The allurements
of the world are strong temptations; riches, honours, and pleasures
are the occasions and incentives to many lusts. And, on the other
hand, the evils and calamities of this world, especially if they
threaten or fall upon men in any degree of extremity, are strong
temptations to human nature. That the providence of God does order,
or at least permit, men to be brought into these circumstances
which are such dangerous temptations to sin, no man can doubt, that
believes His providence to be concerned in the affairs of the
world. All the difficulty is, how far the apostle does here intend
to exempt God from a 24. hand in these temptations. Now, for the
clearer understanding of this it will be requsiite to consider the
several ends which those who tempt others may have in tempting
them; and all temptation is for one of these three reasons. First,
for the exercise and improvement of mens graces and virtues. And
this is the end which God always aims at, in bringing good men, or
permitting them to be brought, into dangerous temptations. And this
certainly is no disparagement to the providence of God, to permit
men to be thus tempted, when He permits it for no other end but to
make them better men, and thereby to prepare them for a greater
reward. And this happy issue of temptations to good men the
providence of God secures to them either by proportioning the
temptation to their strength; or if it exceed that, by ministering
new strength and support to them, by the secret aids of His Holy
Spirit. And where God doth secure men against temptations, or
support them under them, it is no reflection at all upon the
goodness or justice of His providence to permit them to be thus
tempted. Secondly, God permits others to be thus tempted, by way of
judgement and punishment, for some former great sins and
provocations which they have been guilty of (Isa_6:10). So likewise
(Rom_1:24) God is said to have given up the idolatrous heathen to
uncleanness, to vile and unnatural lusts (Rom_1:28; 2Th_2:11). But
it is observable, that, in all these places which I have mentioned,
God is said to give men up to the power of temptation, as a
punishment of some former great crimes and provocations. And it is
not unjust with God thus to deal with men, to leave them to the
power of temptation, when they had first wilfully forsaken Him; and
in this case God doth not tempt men to sin, but leaves them to
themselves, to be tempted by their own hearts lusts; and if they
yield and are conquered, it is their own fault. Thirdly, the last
end of temptation which I mentioned is to try men, with a direct
purpose and intention to seduce men to sin. Thus wicked men tempt
others, and thus the devil tempts men. But thus God tempts no man;
and in this sense it is that the apostle means that no man when he
is tempted, is tempted of God. God hath no design to seduce any man
to sin. 2. I now proceed to the second thing which I propounded to
consider, viz., the manner in which the apostle rejects this
proposition, Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of
God. By which manner of speaking he insinuates two things. First,
that men are apt to lay their faults upon God. For when he says,
Let no man say so, he intimates that men were apt to say thus. It
is not unlikely that men might lay the fault upon Gods providence,
which exposed them to these difficult trials, and thereby tempted
them to forsake their religion. But however this be, we find it
very natural to men to transfer their faults upon others. They
think it is a mitigation of their faults, if they did not proceed
only from themselves, but from the violence and instigation of
others. But, especially, men are very glad to lay their faults upon
God, because He is a full and sufficient excuse, nothing being to
be blamed that comes from Him. Secondly, this manner of speech,
which the apostle here useth, doth insinuate further to us, that it
is not only a false, but an impious assertion, to say that God
tempts men to sin. 3. Third thing I propounded to consider; namely,
The reason or argument which the apostle brings against this
impious suggestion; that God cannot be tempted with evil; and
therefore no man can imagine that He should tempt any man to it.
First, consider the strength and force of this argument: andFirst,
we will consider the proposition upon which this argument is built,
and that in, that God cannot be tempted by evil. He is out of the
reach of any temptation to evil. For, first, He hath no temptation
to it from His own inclination. The holy and pure nature of God is
at the greatest distance from evil, and at the greatest contrariety
to it. He is so far from having any 25. inclination to evil, that
it is the only thing in the world to which He hath an
irreconcilable antipathy (Psa_5:4; Hab_1:13). Secondly, there is no
allurement in the object to stir up any inclination to Him towards
it. Thirdly, neither are there external motives and considerations
that can be imagined to tempt God to it. All arguments that have
any temptation are founded either in the hope of gaining some
benefit, or in the fear of falling into some mischief or
inconvenience. Now the Divine nature, being perfectly happy, and
perfectly secured in its own happiness, is out of the reach of any
of these temptations. 2. Consider the consequences that clearly
follow from it, that because God cannot be tempted with evil,
therefore He cannot tempt any man to it. For why should He desire
to draw men into that which He Himself abhors, and which is so
contrary to His own nature and disposition? Bad men tempt others to
sin, to make them like themselves, and that with one of these two
designs; either for the comfort or pleasure of company, or for the
countenance of it, that there may be some kind of apology and
excuse for them. And when the devil tempts men to sin, it is either
out of direct malice to God, or out of envy to men. But the Divine
nature is full of goodness, and delights in the happiness of all
His creatures. His own incomparable felicity has placed Him as much
above any temptation to envying others as above any occasion of
being contemned by them. Now, in this method of arguing, the
apostle teacheth us one of the surest ways of reasoning in
religion; namely, from the natural notions which men have of God.
Inferences: First, let us beware of all such doctrines as do any
ways tend to make God the author of sin; either by laying a
necessity upon men of sinning, or by laying secret design to tempt
and seduce men to sin. We find that the holy men in Scripture are
very careful to remove all thought and suspicion of this from God.
Elihu (Job_36:3), before he would argue about Gods providence with
Job, he resolves, in the first place, to attribute nothing to God
that is unworthy of Him. I will (says he) ascribe righteousness to
my Maker. So likewise St. Paul What shall we say then? Is the law
sin? God forbid (Rom_7:7). Is the law sin? that is, hath God given
men a law to this end, that He might draw them into sin? Far be it
from Him. Is Christ the minister of sin? God forbid (Gal_2:17).
Secondly, let not us tempt any man to sin. All piety pretends to be
an imitation of God; therefore let us endeavour to be like Him in
this. Thirdly, since God tempts no man, let us not tempt Him. There
is frequent mention in Scripture of mens tempting God, i.e., trying
Him, as it were, whether He will do anything for their sakes that
is misbecoming His goodness, and wisdom, and faithfulness, or any
other of His perfections. Thus the Israelites are said to have
tempted God in the wilderness forty years together, and, in that
space, more remarkably ten times. So likewise if we be negligent in
our callings, whereby we should provide for our families, if we
lavish away that which we should lay up for them, and then depend
upon the providence of God to supply them, and take, care of them,
we tempt God to that which is unworthy of Him; which is to give
approbation to our folly, and countenance our sloth and
carelessness. II. THAT EVERY MAN IS HIS OWN GREATEST TEMPTER. BUut
every man is tempted, when he is drawn aside of his own lust, and
enticed. In which words the apostle gives us a true account of the
prevalency of temptation upon men. It is not because God has any
design to ensnare men in sin; but their own vicious inclinations
seduce them to that which is evil. To instance in the particular
temptations the apostle was speaking of, persecution and suffering
for the cause of religion, to avoid which many did then forsake the
truth, and apostatise from their Christian profession. They had an
26. inordinate affection for the ease and pleasure of this life,
and their unwillingness to part with these was a great temptation
to them to quit their religion; by this bait they were caught, when
it came to the trial. And thus it is proportionably in all other
sorts of temptations. Men are betrayed by themselves. First, that
as the apostle doth here acquit God from any hand in tempting men
to sin, so he does not ascribe the prevalency and efficacy of
temptation to the devil. I shall here consider how far the devil by
his temptations is the cause of the sins which men, by compliance
with those temptations, are drawn into. First, it is certain that
the devil is very active and busy to minister to them the occasion
of sin, and temptations to it. Secondly, the devil does not only
present to men the temptations and occasions of sin; but when he is
permitted to make nearer approaches to them, does excite and stir
them up to comply with these temptations, and to yield to them. And
there is reason, from what is said in Scripture, to believe that
the devil, in some cases, hath a more immediate power and influence
upon the minds of men, to excite them to sin, and, where he
discovers a very bad inclination or resolution, to help it forward
(John Act_5:3). Thirdly, but for all this the devil can force no
man to sin; his temptations may move and excite men to sin, but
that they were prevalent and effectual proceeds from our own will
and consent; it is our own lusts closing with his temptations that
produce sin. Fourthly, from what hath been said it appears that
though the devil be frequently accessary to the sins of men, yet we
ourselves are the authors of them; he tempts us many times to sin,
but it is we that commit it. I am far from thinking that the devil
tempts men to all the evil that they do. I rather think that the
greatest part of the wickedness that is committed in the world
springs from the evil motions of mens own minds. Mens own lusts are
generally to them the worst devil of the two, and do more strongly
incline them to sin than any devil without them can tempt them to
it. Others, after he has made them sure, and put them into the way
of it, will go on of themselves, and are as mad of sinning, as
forward to destroy themselves, as the devil himself could wish; so
that he can hardly tempt men to any wickedness which he does not
find them inclined to of themselves. So that we may reasonably
conclude that there is a great deal of wickedness committed in the
world which the devil hath no immediate hand in. Second
observation, that he ascribes the efficacy and success of
temptation to the lusts and vicious inclinations of men, which
seduce them to a consent and compliance with the temptations which
are afforded to them. Every man is tempted when he is drawn aside
of his own lust, and enticed. Lay the blame of mens sins chiefly
upon themselves, and that chiefly upon these two accounts: First,
the lusts of men are in a great measure voluntary. By the lusts of
men I mean their irregular and vicious inclinations. Nay, and after
this it is still our own fault if we do not mortify our lusts; for
if we would hearken to-the counsel of God, and obey His calls to
repentance, and sincerely beg His grace and Holy Spirit to this
purpose, we might yet recover ourselves, and by the Spirit mortify
the deeds of the flesh. Secondly, God hath put it in our power to
resist these temptations, and overcome them; so that it is our own
fault if we yield to them, and be overcome by them. First, it is
naturally in our power to resist many sorts of temptations. If we
do but make use of our natural reason, and those considerations
which are common and obvious to men, we may easily resist the
temptations to a great many sins. Secondly, the grace of God puts
it into our power, if we do not neglect it, and be not wanting to
ourselves, to resist any temptation that may happen to us; and what
the grace of God puts into our power, is as truly in our power as
what we can do ourselves. Learn: First, not to think to excuse
ourselves by laying the blame of our sins upon the temptation of
the devil. Secondly, from hence we learn what reason we have to
pray to God, that He would not lead us into temptation, i.e., not
permit us to fall into it; for, in the phrase of the Scripture, God
is many times said to do these things which His providence permits
to be done. Thirdly, from hence we may learn the best way to 27.
disarm temptations, and to take away the power of them; and that is
by mortifying our lusts and subduing our vicious inclinations.
(Abp. Tillotson.) Transferring the blame of sin 1. Man is apt to
transfer the guilt of his own miscarriages. (1):Beware of these
vain pretences. Silence and owning of guilt is far more becoming;
God is most glorified when the creatures lay aside their shifts.
(2) Learn that all these excuses are vain and frivolous, they will
not hold with God. 2