James 1:13-16 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. (14) But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (15) Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (16) Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
One of the challenges with the English language is that there are words that have multiple meanings and can be misinterpreted if the context is not fully understood, or as in the case with these verses, the original word is not interpreted correctly. In verse 12 we learn that our faith is proven when we endure temptations from the Lord. Then here in verse 13 we are told that no man can be tempted by God because he can not tempt us with evil.
Without going into a long word study, what we find is the word “temptation” in verse 12 (kjv) means to go through a trial or proving process. It is the process of testing through fire to see the genuineness of ones faith. On the contrary, the word here in verse 13 “tempted” means to test ones faith maliciously or to tempt into sinful behavior.
The Bible is filled with stories of God testing the faith of a particular person or even an entire people group. We think of Abraham and Isaac as one example of a test of faith. Another would be Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the book of Daniel. Jesus tested Peter pertaining to the love he had for his Savior in John 21. In all the accounts of testing we see in the Bible from the Lord, none of them are sinful or would ever cause a person to sin. God will never tempt you or me to commit any form of sin in order to test our faith.
James lays out the process of temptation and sin in these verses. Often we will hear of a person saying, or we have said it ourselves, “I fell into this or that sin.” A friend commits adultery and they say they were caught off guard in the moment. Someone bursts out into anger and blames someone else for their poor behavior. Or you or I become critical and judgmental of another person and spread rumors before we really get any of the facts about a situation, only later to find we were mistaken.
Sin doesn’t just happen. It is an outpouring of the heart that starts with a flicker and ends often with a fire that is difficult to extinguish. James says that it begins with a simple luring of our heart. It begins when we allow something of the flesh to entice us to the point that we begin to find that desire far greater than Christ Himself. A lustful look, the feeling of power and control, whatever it is, the Devil knows just how to set the lure out there in each one of our lives, tempting us to bite. At that moment we have a choice… “Am I going to pass on the lure allowing the power of Christ to fill me, or am I going to bite!”
We all experience temptation, but in His grace, God won’t allow us to be tempted beyond our strength and will always provide a way of escape. temptation is common to all men, but we need to remember, it never comes from the Lord. He buffers it (See the book of Job), but he does not ever tempt us into sin.
Once the Devil tempts us with the lure, if we bite then we give into sin. We are surrendering our will to the will of the devil and the desire we have in our flesh takes over in our lives. The word conceive in this verse (15) means to seize, or to take one as a prisoner. When we allow sin to be conceived, or birthed, we now have become a slave to sin. Rather than being free in Christ, we are back into old patterns and behaviors that have kept us in bondage prior to our new life in Christ.
Christ didn’t come to bring us a life of bondage and a list of rules to follow, he came to set those captive in their sin free! Free from the shame and guilt that comes from sin. Free from the death that unrepentant sin brings those who live in it. Free from the lure that so easily entices us. We all have a choice. We can give into the deception and lures of the evil one or we can walk daily in the power of Christ and resist the devil and all his ways.
Prayer
Lord, Help me today to say “No!” to the devil and his temptations. I desire to walk in your spirit today and find my hope and freedom in Christ alone. Amen