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A Study of James - Lesson 4 - James 1:13-18

A Crucial Distinction: Trials vs. Temptation (1:13-16)
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.

God tests us, but He doesn't tempt us. As noted in an earlier lesson, the Greek word peirasmos has both meanings.

James is drawing a crucial distinction here—God places tests in our path as opportunities for obedience. But they are also opportunities for sin, and if we do not respond to the testing in the proper way, it becomes a temptation that leads us to sin. We must not blame God for the sin that results when we respond wrongly to the test He sends.

Paul speaks of the Law in a similar way:

Romans 7:12-13 – So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
Sin uses God's good gifts for evil. Sin causes us to disobey God's good and holy law—using something holy for an evil purpose. Likewise, our evil desire causes us to respond wrongly to the tests that God sends into our lives—using a good gift of God for an unholy purpose.
Who was the first person to blame God for his sin?
Genesis 3:11-12 – And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."


For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone – This raises a couple of questions…

Question:  If "God cannot be tempted by evil", then how could Jesus, who is God, have been tempted by Satan in the wilderness?

The way James is defining "temptation", it would seem that temptation necessarily leads to sin, but Jesus didn't sin, so what's going on here?

He was tested, not tempted—at least, in the way James is distinguishing between the two words. However, we must never assume that a test will necessarily be easy. Our Lord still felt hunger when Satan tempted Him to turn the stones into loaves of bread. In fact, obedience is often the unpleasant path in the short-term.
 

Question:  If God doesn't "tempt" anyone, then why, in the Lord's prayer, do we ask "Lead us not into temptation"? Why ask God not to do something He would never do?

Perhaps the petition has more the meaning "Lead us away from temptation" or "Give us the grace to resist temptation."

Or, it may have the meaning "Lead us not into testing". However, this would raise another question: If we are to rejoice in the tests that God sends—if they help to develop our trust and perseverance—then why would we ever pray that God "Lead us not into testing"? Perhaps the answer is that we ask God not to send the trial, but if He sends it anyway, then we are to respond to it with joyful trust and endurance, knowing that He has a good purpose for it.

Another possibility is that it means: "Don't place us in a trial that is beyond our ability to bear." But 1 Corinthians 10:13 guarantees that God will never allow us to be tempted to that degree—

1 Corinthians 10:13 – No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
Note that this passage assures us that we need never suppose that any temptation is just too much for us to bear. God does two things in every temptation:
  1. He limits the severity of the temptation to keep it within our ability to bear it.
  2. He provides the way of escape so that we can bear it.
When we recognize that our trials are sent by God, and that He will keep them within our ability to bear them, then we can have the confidence we need—confidence in God, that is—to faithfully endure each trial He sends.

How do we succumb to trials? Is it due to using our "free will" to make a bad decision?

James says that we succumb to trials by our "own evil desire". It is not so much "free will" as "evil desire" that causes us to fall into sin. We should never forget that our Adamic nature is not eradicated at regeneration—that the Christian life is a continual struggle between the flesh and the Spirit. It is not "free will" that wins this battle, but God's grace. We need to be constantly asking God for the grace we need as we diligently employ the means He has given us to grow in His grace: Bible Study, prayer, worship, exercise of love and compassion, hearing the preaching of the Word, meditating upon the Scriptures, etc.

each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed – James uses some interesting words here. "dragged away" (Grk: exelko) is a term often used in hunting and fishing to mean "to lure from its hiding place". "enticed" (Grk: deleazo) means "to catch by means of bait". Hence, Jay Adams' translation of verse 14 is quite literal…

James 1:14 – Instead, each one is tempted by his own desires; like a fish going after bait he is hooked and pulled up.
-- Jay E. Adams, The New Testament in Everyday English
The fish that goes after a baited hook is either too stupid to detect the hook, or else too hungry to care. We need to be acutely aware of the danger in succumbing to temptation—thinking of it as a baited hook, and diligently avoid it. Again, this involves maintaining a heavenly vantage point from which to view the trials we encounter. If our affections are set on heavenly things, we will not so easily be tempted to do evil…
Colossians 3:1-4 – Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death – This is the "life-cycle" of sin—another vivid word-picture used by James to teach us how desire leads to sin and death. It is reminiscent of Paul's statements about sin and death…
1 Corinthians 15:56-58 – The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
It is easiest to weed a garden when the weeds are small. Likewise, it is easiest to stop a sin in its beginning stages.

It is God who gives us the victory over sin and death, and so victory comes as we look to Him in patient trust, and seek from Him the grace we need to overcome trials and temptations. An athlete trains during the week for the big game on Sunday. So also consistency in our communion with God provides the needed preparation for trials.

Don't be deceived, my dear brothers – this is a solemn warning that we should take sin and temptation very seriously, and that we should be on guard against the deception arising from our sinful desires. Fish are often deceived by a baited hook—don't be like them.


God's Good Gifts: New Birth and Trials (1:17-18)
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

In contrast to the charge that God is the author of temptation and sin, James affirms instead that God is the Giver and Source of every good and perfect gift. He sends us trials, but these trials are meant to be good gifts, and that is what they are if we respond to them with joyful, trusting endurance. Likewise, God will provide the strength and wisdom to overcome trials if we abide in His grace and seek His help in time of need.

James reminds us that it was God who wrought our salvation when He chose to give us birth through the word of truth. James ascribes our salvation entirely to God, and not to ourselves in any way. This agrees with the teachings of Paul, Jesus and Peter—Salvation is of the Lord—all 100% of it!

good – (Grk: agathos) good, useful, pleasant, excellent, honorable.
perfect(Grk: teleios) finished, complete, perfect, mature.
above(Grk: anothen) from above, from a higher place, from the beginning, anew. See John 3:7.
lights(Grk: phos) the usual word for light or anything that emits light; fire, a star, a lamp.
shifting(Grk: trope) turning, as of the heavenly bodies.
shadows(Grk: aposkiasma) the shade cast by one object on another.
James seems to have in mind here a shadow cast by the sun—a shadow that shifts so slowly it seems unchanging unless we observe its progress throughout the day. James is assuring us that God never changes—not even slowly, like the sun's shadows. Our God is always a generous, giving Father to His beloved children. We don't have to worry that He will someday grow impatient or distracted. We can trust Him to always be ready to help in times of trial.
 
Malachi 3:6 – For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
Matthew 28:20 – … lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
chose(Grk: boulomai) to will deliberately, have a purpose, to desire. God gave us birth because He purposed to do this for us.
give us birth(Grk: apokueo) to bring forth from the womb, to give birth to, to produce.
Note that the figure of birth rules out our own choices, merit or willingness. Rather, just as parents purpose to have a child, so our heavenly Father purposed to bring forth life in us. Scripture often uses figures that emphasize the fact that salvation was not based on anything we willed or did, but is entirely God's purpose and doing—figures like birth (John 3:7; here), resurrection (Ephesians 2:4-5), creation (2 Corinthians 4:6), a heart transplant (Ezekiel 36:26), the fashioning of clay by a potter (Romans 9:21). Of course, Scripture also plainly denies that our willing or running had any part in our salvation…
Romans 9:15-16 – For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
James reminds us of the great gift of regeneration that God has freely, undeservedly given to us. This should encourage us to ask God for other graces we need, confident that He will give them freely.

through the word of truthThe Holy Spirit never acts independently of the Word of God. When God regenerates us (giving us "birth") by His Holy Spirit, He always does this in concert with His Word. It may be through the immediate preaching of the Word, through the reading of the Scriptures, the reading of a sermon or tract, the personal witness of a Christian, or by meditating upon the Word that has already been implanted in the heart. The indwelling Word of God is like a seed planted, and the Holy Spirit's regenerating ministry is like the sunshine and rain that causes the seed to sprout and grow.

1 Peter 1:23 – for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

John 17:17 – Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 10:17 – So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

firstfruits(Grk: aparche) the first portion of the harvest, firstlings. The Old Testament law required the Israelites to give the first of their harvest to the Lord. Christians are likewise distinguished from others, having been consecrated to the Lord.

of all He created – Christians are the first of God's "harvest", having been given His Spirit, and reconciled to Himself. In contrast, the rest of creation (i.e. plants, animals, climate, etc.) must await the day when we are glorified and our bodies are redeemed…

Romans 8:18-23 – For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Remembering God's ultimate purpose for us and for His creation should give us great hope and encouragement, enabling us to persevere through the trials of life.
 
 
 
Application
 1. Recognize that it is the testing, and not the temptation to fail the test, that comes from God.
 2. Don't allow sinful lusts to turn a testing into a temptation. Nip sin in the bud.
 3. Don't respond like a fish: Remember that the attractiveness of the potential sin is nothing more than a baited hook that waits to capture you in a sin—polluting your conscience, damaging your relationships, ruining your reputation and depriving you of your assurance.
 4. Recognize God as the generous, unchanging Giver of every good gift. Consider with joy that each trial is a loving gift that provides the opportunity to seek from Him the gifts of grace and wisdom we need to endure the trial.
 5. Remember that God freely, undeservedly gave you the precious gift of the new birth, and that we are but the firstfruits of creation—a mere foretaste of the unimaginable glory we will experience when He restores His entire creation—eliminating once and for all the sin, evil, pain and death that is so common today.

  
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