Troy a servant of God and theLord Jesus Christ
James 1:13; When tempted, no one should say,"God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor dose he tempt anyone.
*James comes now to another temptation. Having spoken of outward trails, he now speaks about inner temptation, so that he might correct a blasphemous error about their origin. Clearly, those outer trials are from God; but these inner trials, or temptations to sin, are altogether inconsistent with the purity and holiness of God's nature, as the apostle shows us here and in the following verses.
*WHEN TENPTED, NO ONE SHOULD SAY.
That is, when tempted to sin, for this is how the word is used in scripture. The Greek word used here means temptations to sin, just as the Greek word used in verse. (2) mans trials. Thus the devils called "THE TEMPTER", in matthew 4:3; and in the Lord's prayer that we may not be lead "into temptation." So this verse means when one is tempted-that is,either In word or thought, for a thought is the saying of the heart. Some who dare not to whisper such blasphemy certainly imagine it. The apostle implies that the creature is apt to say, to have some excuse or other.
*"GOD IS TEMPTING ME."
That is, it was he who enticed or forced me into evil.
*FOR GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED BY EVIL."
The reason here is drawn from the unchangeable holiness of God; he cannot any way be tempted into evil. Some read it actively-"he is not the tempter of evil"; but this would be a repetition of the last clause. Some translate it as,"God is not the tempter of evil people but only of the good, through afflictions"; but this dose not agree with the original phrase, for it dose not refer to evil people, but simply, without an article to evil things. To sum up, God cannot by any thing external or internal be drawn into any evil.
*NOR DOSE HE TEMPT ANYONE.
That is, God dose not seduce anyone. God wants everyone to conform to his holy nature.
NOTES ON VERSE 13
Note 1. No one should say. Man is inclined to blame others for his own wrongs. Thus Aaron blamed the people for his evil action (see EXODUS 32:23-24)
1. Beware of these vain deceptions silence and owning up to being guilty is far better. God is glorified when people stop being deceitful. It is best to have nothing to say, nothing but confession of sin.
2. Learn that excuses cut no ice with God. Ignorance is no excused by wrong teaching. When "a blind man leads a blind man," not one, but "both fall into a pit"(Matthew 15:14)-the blind guide and the blind follower. Saul was rejected as King for obeying the voice of the people rather than the Lord (1 Samuel 15:23).
Note 2. People, rather than admitting their guilt, blame God. They think,"It is foolish to blame Satan-to say, I was tempted by Satan." If there was no Satan to tempt us, we would tempt ourselves. It is useless to blame others-" I was tempted by others." But it is blasphemous to blame God and say," "I am tempted by God." People would do anything rather than think badly of themselves, for it is man's disposition to be "clean in his eyes"(Proverbs 16:2,KJV). So beware of this wickedness of putting sin upon God. The more natural this is for us, the more we should heed James exhortation. We blame God for our evils and sins in various ways:
1. We do this when we blame his providence, the state of things, the times, and the people around us. Adam said, "The woman you put he hear with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it"(GENESIS 3:12). Note that this obliquely reflects on God: "The woman you put here with me." So many plead their distractions. But God sends us miseries not to make us worse, but to make us better, as Paul seems to argue in 1 Corinthians 10:13-14.
2. We blame God for our evils when we ascribe sin to the defect in divine grace. People say they could do nothing else; God gave them no more grace (Proverbs 19:3).
3. People blame God for their own sins when they blame all their misfortunes on fate and their birth stars; these are mindless attacks on God himself, under the guise of reflection on his creation.
4. People blame God for their own sins when they are angry without knowing why. Their conscience prick them, and they fret and fume without knowing why. They want to blame God but dare not, as was the case with David himself:" David was angry because the Lord's wrath had broken out against Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:8). He was angry but could not tell who he was angry with. He should have been angry with his own folly wicked men display anger:" they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their King and their God" (Isaiah 8:21)
5. People blame God for their own sins most of all when they think he makes any suggestion to the soul to persuade it and incline it to evil. Satan may come and give evil counsel to the soul, but God dose not.
6. People blame God for their own sins when they misunderstand his decrees, as if they forced you to sin. Men will say,"Who can help you?" God wanted it to be like this. "God dose not give you an evil habits; these are from yourself.
Note 3. FOR GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED BY EVIL.
God is so immutably good and holy that he is above the we're of temptation. Men soon warp and vary, but he cannot be tempted. People foolishly compare God with creature; because we can be tempted, they think God can also.
Habakkuk 1:13:"Your eyes are too pure to look on evil."
We should tremble, as we are so easily tempted! How can you stand before God who cannot be tempted? There are two applications of this note:
1. It is incentive for closer communion with God. A believer participates in the divine nature ( 2 Peter 1:4 ). The more of the divine nature you have, the more you can withstand temptations. We easily fall because we have more of man in us than of God. If all memory of sin and Satan were abolished, man himself would become his own devil.
2. Use this thought in your temptations. When natural thoughts rise in us, thoughts against God's purity, say this: surely God cannot be the author of sin.
Note 4. NOR DOSE HE TEMPT ANYONE.
The Lord is no tempter; the author of everything good cannot be the author of sin. God tempts no one; people tempt each other in many ways:
1. When you add your authority to countenancing sin. Jeroboam made Israel sin (1 Kings 16:26): the guilt of a whole nation lay on his shoulders. Israel ruined him, and he ruined Israel. So also "Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites"(2 Chronicles 33:9). Note that he "LED" them.
2. Through persuasion people pander to others' lust: "With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him; first he began to waver, and then he could no longer resist.
3. People who encourages others in their evil ways, calling evil good and good evil, are like ahab's prophets. They cry " Peace, peace!" To a soul utterly sunk in a pit of perdition. How far these are from the nature of God. God tempts no one; but these people are devils in the shape of men. Their work empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error (2 Peter 2:18)
Overview
We have to take responsibility for our own action, it is important to know that the Lord God is not the tempter and my personal belief is that in most cases its our own lustful desires, we give Satan way to much credit for things of our on doings. I believe Satan becomes our fall guy, our excuse not to be held accountable for our action. By know means am I excluding him from the process of temptation. But there are a lot of people that need to quite passing the buck and start facing there error's, start standing up for their wrongs, this complexed but simple act would find more people realizing the need for Jesus Christ!
I hope this has been helpful, may the Lord God bless you and keep you in His tender mercies
Yort ( Troy ):wink:
