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  • Writer's pictureBible Brian

Why Jesus, as God, could be tempted


In James 1:13, we read that God cannot be tempted. This has become a "silver bullet" for anti-Trinitarians, who argue that, since Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus cannot, in fact, be God.


This argument stands or falls on what exactly is meant by "tempted". The word "tempt" is a homonym. That is, it is an identical word with more than one meaning. There are many such words in many different languages. The word "bear", for example, may be a noun, referring of course to a large omnivorous animal belonging to the ursidae family. Yet, when we read in the U.S. Constitution that "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed", we know that the Founding Fathers intended to preclude gun control, not that they wanted every American citizen to be able to run around de-limbing Baloo.


In the same way, there is more than one sense in which to "tempt" someone. That is why God, who cannot be tempted, was tempted in Massah:


"So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7).


You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah." (Deuteronomy 6:16).


No sane anti-Trinitarian is going to look at the temptation of the Lord in Massah and say "well, the Lord was tempted, therefore the Lord is not God". If you're going to use that reasoning, you may as well say there is no God in the Bible. Although, if I'm being completely honest, I would not put such an absurd leap past anti-Trinitarians.


So, if the Lord was tempted in Massah, and even commands us not to do it again, what gives James any right to say the Lord cannot be tempted? He actually goes on: "Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." (James 1:13-14).


We see, then, that temptation is not simply a matter of telling someone to do something evil. When Satan tempted Jesus, he wasn't doing anything he couldn't do directly to God. It is easy for literally anyone, even you or I, to pray "Lord, you say you flooded the whole Earth. Do it again. Oh, you promised you wouldn't? Kind of convenient. I guess you're really not that powerful." And that would be tempting God. But because God cannot be tempted, He would not answer that prayer even one time out of a billion.


What we see in the temptation event, then, is actually a point towards Jesus being God, because no matter how hard Satan tried, Jesus would not cave to His demands. In other words, what we see is the fulfillment of Philippians 2:5-11: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."


Now, it's worth noting that the translation you use may well affect how you read the above passage. What does it mean that Jesus "did not consider it robbery to be equal with God"? Well, in literally all cases, it means... He is equal with God. He is in the form of God. He is God. There's no getting around that. Unless you want to expunge Philippians from your Bible, you have no way to deny the divinity of Christ. But there's a reason some translations, such as the NIV or HCSB, simplify the phrase to "...did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage." Jesus, though He absolutely could have caved to the devil's demands and received His physical needs, wasn't some puppet for the devil to string up. His Godly nature wasn't for His own use. Rather, He had a mission: The reconciliation of God and man. Why? Because He is God and man! He is equal with God, existing in the very form of God, and yet He humbled Himself by becoming a man, even becoming obedient to death.


So we see that the temptation of Jesus, rather than showing He is not God, is actually one more reminder that He is. And only by confessing this can we be saved. All who confess Jesus as Lord will be saved, but all who will not believe in Him "...is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:18).

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