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Writer's pictureBible Brian

3 senses of temptation: Can God be tempted?


There is an apparent contradiction in the Bible regarding the possibility of tempting God. James tells us that God cannot be tempted, and yet Jesus certainly was tempted. This leads sceptics to claim there is a contradiction in the Bible, and anti-Trinitarians to claim that Jesus cannot be God.


The solution is fairly simple. The word "tempt" is a homonym. There are three senses in which temptation can legitimately be used. Temptation goes in two directions. In James, the direction is internal. He tells us that each one is tempted when they are drawn away by their own desires.


This is why I have chosen a bacon sandwich as the header image. I cannot be tempted to eat one. This is because I am one of the few people I know who does not like bacon. I don't like the taste, I don't like the texture, I don't even like the smell. Thus, you can try all you like, you will never tempt me to eat a bacon sandwich.


But can you try? Of course. You can cook the bacon right in front of me, you can waft the smell towards my nose, you can tell me it's very tasty, you can wave it in front of me, these are all tempting acts. This is the sense in which Jesus was tempted in the desert. Satan tempted Him to do things He couldn't be tempted to do.


But what about the third sense I mentioned? I said it goes in two directions, but in three senses. Let's go back to the sandwich. I don't like bacon, so what do you suppose would be happening in my mind if you kept annoying me with one? I confess to being a short tempered man. If you repeatedly tempted me with a bacon sandwich, I wouldn't be tempted to eat it, I'd be tempted to shout at you. This is a sense in which God can certainly be tempted, as He was in Massah (Deuteronomy 6:16). When you rebel against God, He can be tempted to punish you for it.


Thus, there are three senses in which temptation can be used. The first is the external act of trying to cause someone to take a certain action. The second is their internal desire to take that action. The third is provocation. Anyone can tempt God in the sense that you can try to convince Him to do something. No one can tempt Him in the sense that He will sin, or tolerate sin, because He simply doesn't want to. But wrath? You can definitely summon that upon yourself. God is patient enough that this is not easy, but He is just enough that He will not tolerate sin for long. There is no contradiction here, neither is the Trinity refuted.

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