Bible Synapse
Does God tempt anyone?
Hard question · Who God is · raised by 4 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
God “cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man”; each person is enticed by his own desire.
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: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
The same Greek word is used of trials that strengthen faith: “count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations”.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
“God did tempt Abraham”; the WEB and BSB read “God tested Abraham”.
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
The Lord “moved David” to number Israel (see the entry on David’s census).
And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
Jeremiah complains, “O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived”.
O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
The objection
James 1:13 says that God “cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man”. Yet Genesis 22:1 says that “God did tempt Abraham”, 2 Samuel 24:1 says the Lord moved David to do wrong, and Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “lead us not into temptation”, as if God might.
The answer
The answer turns on the difference between testing someone and enticing him to sin. Genesis 22:1 uses the Hebrew nasah (H5254), which means ‘to test, to try’: it is the word used when the queen of Sheba came to test Solomon with hard questions (1 Kings 10:1). In 1611 English ‘tempt’ could still mean ‘test’, and modern versions read “God tested Abraham”. The test was meant to bring out and strengthen Abraham’s faith, never to make him sin, and God stopped it before Isaac was harmed.
The Greek of the New Testament has one word family for both ideas, peirazō and peirasmos (G3985, G3986), and James uses it in both senses in one chapter. He calls the trials that strengthen faith ‘temptations’ to be met with joy (1:2–3, 12); then he says that enticement to evil never comes from God but from a person’s own desire (1:13–14). So God tests his people, as he tested Israel in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2), but he never solicits anyone to sin.
“Lead us not into temptation” asks God not to bring us into trials where we might fall, and to “deliver us from evil” (or ‘from the evil one’). It is a plea for protection that trusts God’s goodness, as Paul says: “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able” (1 Corinthians 10:13). In David’s census Satan was the tempter (1 Chronicles 21:1); see the entry on that question.
Other answers Christians give
Jeremiah 20:7
Some lists add Jeremiah 20:7, “O Lord, thou hast deceived me”. The verb pathah (H6601) means ‘to persuade, entice’: Jeremiah complains that God overpowered his reluctance and called him to a ministry that brought him only mockery. It is a lament about his calling, not a claim that God tempted him to sin.
From the classic commentators
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 … but he never tempts or solicits them to sinJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible: James 1:13 (1746–63), at Bible Hub
In Hebrew, to tempt, and to try, or to prove, are expressed by the same word. Every trial is indeed a temptation, and tends to show the dispositions of the heart, whether holy or unholy. But God proved Abraham, not to draw him to sin, as Satan tempts.Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary: Genesis 22:1, at Bible Hub
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: James 1, at Bible Hub
- Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary: Genesis 22, at Bible Hub
- Strong’s Hebrew 5254, nasah (with Brown-Driver-Briggs), at Bible Hub
- Strong’s Greek 3985, peirazō, at Bible Hub