The Source of Temptation

The Devil made me do it…

Flip Wilson made popular the phrase “The devil made me do it” as you can see at the link above.  But the reality is that we have no one to blame but ourselves when we fall into sin.  It’s a harsh reality, but it’s our own sinful desires that carry us away.

The struggle with temptation is one of the most frustrating things in life. Even those outside the church understand the struggle with temptation, but many write it off as simply a weakness, an impulse we can’t fight, or something “the devil made me do.” 

If “the devil made me do it” is not correct then who IS doing the tempting?  

Before we can improve ANY habit or trait about ourselves we must first acknowledge where we are starting from.  We must acknowledge we have a fallen human nature that will always pull us toward sin, our Selfish, Inward Nature that seeks self gratification above ANYTHING or anyone else.  But in Christ we do not have to give in to temptation.

Today we look in the book of James, Chapter 1, verses 13-18.  This book was written by James, an important leader of the church in Jerusalem. It was written to a specific group of believers who had been scattered from Jerusalem during the persecution that followed the stoning of Stephen. These believers were separated from the church and from leaders like James. The faith of many of these believers had become a mere formality, merely another set of popular “rules” to follow, so James wrote to challenge this superficial faith that had developed. 

James 1:13

13 No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone.

James tells us flat our that God does not tempt anyone to sin. Believers were confused over the nature of temptations and trials and had questions about how to distinguish between the two.

The people in James’s day were not very different from people today. God, unfortunately, receives the blame for many of the things people suffer through, though He is in no way responsible. Many find it all too easy to fault God, (or the Devil) for our temptations and trials when, in fact, God has nothing to do with them. Think about it for a minute.  If God is whole, perfect, complete and nothing but Love and goodness, then how would it be POSSIBLE for such completeness to ALSO serve as a tempter?  God cannot tempt anyone and cannot be tempted Himself.

The confusion stems from the usage of a single Greek word. In the first twelve verses of the letter, James discussed trials that a believer will sometimes walk through using the noun form denoting specific circumstances God can use to grow a person’s faith. Then, beginning in verse 13, James used the verbal form of the same word centering the discussion on temptations to do evil. 

In the first twelve verses of chapter 1, James insisted that God would indeed test His children, but then he made clear that God never tempts His people to sin. A test is “a small vessel used in assaying precious metals” and is derived from Latin meaning “earthen pot” and is related to a similar word indicating “piece of burned Clay, earthen pot, shell”, thus “the connecting notion is ‘ascertaining the quality of a metal by melting it in a pot”, a “test” the etymology of the word tells us.

To “tempt” is “to draw or entice to evil or sin (harm)” and away from God’s law (guidance). It is a variant of a Latin word meaning “to handle, touch, try”.  Wasn’t that the same temptation in the Garden of Eden, basically “try it, you’ll LIKE it….” (To quote an old commercial).  

So while testing IS something that routinely occurs in our lives to one degree or another, God does NOT tempt us to make a choice that is against God’s law or guidance.  I like how it was phrased in something I once read:  “there is a universal law of non-interference.  NOTHING in the universe can make us choose anything against our will.  The CHOICE is ours even though the circumstances may not be of our choice.”  Circumstances NOT of our own choosing will certainly affect us from time to time in life, but how we CHOOSE to respond to those circumstances is ENTIRELY of our own choosing.  

James demonstrated a remarkable understanding of human nature because he suspected that the one going through the trial would blame God for being tempted and for then giving in to the temptation. It’s human nature to look to shift the blame. In the recording of the fall of man in Genesis 3, the woman blamed the serpent for her sin, while the man blamed the woman and ultimately God. No one wanted to be accountable for their own behavior.  

Rather than owning our failures and sins, we often hear questions raised like, “Why did God allow this?” Or “Why did God do that?” There is something within our fallen nature that makes it difficult for us to accept our own faults. The result is that we often incorrectly believe our trials are a provocation to sin. In other words, we can falsely believe that God is setting us up for failure. But HOW can the God who IS Love possibly set any of his creations up to intentionally fail?  Because of God’s holy character, He cannot be influenced by evil, nor is it possible for him to tempt His creatures. There is merely the choice to CHOOSE God’s law and guidance OR the ABSENCE of the choice to choose God’s law and guidance.  Or to state it another way there is only God and the ABSENCE of God…the CHOICE IS YOURS.

Temptation is the direct result of internal forces within the believer. The believer himself is the source. In other words, there is some flaw within the person that, under the right circumstances and with the right push, can lead us to being tempted. When tempted, we often seek someone to blame because we can’t shake our prideful attitudes long enough to admit that we are the problem. It’s the devil’s fault. It’s the woman’s fault. It’s God’s fault. 

James clearly shows that none of these are true. It’s the individual’s fault. People are flawed and within them dwells all sorts of moral inadequacies that often fall to the lure of temptation as he shows us in the next verses.

James 1:14-15

14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

James answered the question, “Who, then, is responsible when we fall?” God is not responsible. It’s not even the devil who is responsible. The simple answer is, we are. James asserted that man himself is responsible for his own choices in the temptations he faces.  He didn’t assign blame to any external force or person. 

Fleshly desires too often result in people being drawn away and enticed. The Greek words underlying the terms “drawn away” and “enticed” are fishing terms. When fishing, the astute fisherman will select the proper lure for the particular fish he’s targeting. The fish is drawn out of its safe hiding place due to the attractiveness of the lure being used. 

In this illustration, James presented that the person could either desire God’s good pleasure or seek out corrupt desires. This concepts shed new light to Jesus’ statement that he would make his disciples “fishers of men.”  Jesus basically pointed out that his disciples would seek to “draw away and entice” humans BACK to God’s good pleasure.  Note there is no mention of Satan or any demonic force at work, though such a “fishing lure” can certainly be cast by Satan and his ilk. A person is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Uncontrolled desire often results in sin. So James emphasized the power of desire. 

We human beings have a tendency to blame the devil for all of our problems. Certainly, he plays his part in tempting us, but James wanted his readers to recognize it is a person’s own desires that ultimately drag them into sin. We are responsible for what we allow to influence us and for our choices. James was taking dead aim at our fleshly desires. It is not true that God is causing us to be tempted. Giving in to temptation is an internal failure, a heart issue. Our desires must be ordered according to God’s will. Otherwise, we can be our own worst enemy. 

The progression of evil goes through three stages: desire, sin, death. James used the process of birth to illustrate his point. The word translated conceived means “to become pregnant.” The desire innate within the person joins with the outward temptation and produces sin. Desire is born in the heart. It is not placed there by God or the devil; it is there because of the person’s fleshly desires, that is, those desires not in keeping with the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

Desire itself is not a sin, nor is temptation. There isn’t sin until the two are joined and acted upon, whether in thought or deed. One can avoid the sin by refusing to give in to the tempting desire. But after the desire is conceived, sin becomes the offspring of that evil union. Sin then becomes alive in the self and, if allowed, will grow and become stronger. When sin is allowed to go unchecked, it eventually will produce death. 

For the believer, this is a sense of guilt and alienation from God. The poor soul struggles within himself. His heart is divided and at odds with God. To be clear, James was not suggesting that only when sin has reached a certain point would there be the consequence of death. The penalty for sin of any kind is a spiritual death of sorts. James was simply charting the progression that occurs when a believer yields to temptation. 

Before we conclude with verses 16-18 let me share an illustration with you:

Imagine a group of people in a circle around a campfire facing away from the light looking into the darkness.  They can not see each other,  they can not see the fire, but they can see that they can't see very far and they can see weird shadows cast by the light dancing on the surroundings.   After a time it becomes easy to focus on the "dark things", the fearful things and feel the aloneness of the dark.

But when we remember that all we need do is turn around and we can see the light.  We can even see across the campfire to those opposite us in the circle as the light illuminates their faces.  We can KNOW that we are not alone.  We can enjoy the light of fellowship around that warming glow of the campfire.  Now the darkness seems less full of fearful things and we feel less "alone."

We are all familiar with "the valley of the shadow of death".  But have you ever noticed that  death is described as a shadow.   Have you ever considered that you only see a shadow when you are looking away from the light source that casts the shadow. It is humanity’s choice to turn back towards the light source like turning around at the campfire. The "light source" is constant, only the shadows "dance".  

Choose  to focus your mind upon the light source and not the dancing shadows which are but the absence of the light source.  This is what James teaches us in the next passage.

James 1:16-18

16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 

18 By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

James issued a warning, loud and clear: “Stop being deceived.” James encouraged the believers to develop a wholehearted trust in God and be careful not to fall into the snare of believing that God would intentionally put anything into their lives to lead them astray. They must be on constant guard against self-deception. And make no mistake about it: God does not tempt. He will never entice anyone to do evil. That would mean that he would be pushing one AWAY from God and the God of Love seeks to attract humanity through being the true giver of every good and perfect gift. Every good thing comes from God and God is the source of all goodness. All good gifts come from above, not from below where they can be corrupted and misappropriated through evil desires. Nothing withheld from God’s children or prohibited by God’s Word is good, no matter how attractive the lure may be to a person. 

God is described as One who does not change. The shifting shadows refer to the alternating of light and shadow. In other words, there is change in the shifting shadows. The shadows dance and seem to move the farther away from the light source they are cast, but the source of light stays fixed…the campfire doesn’t move about. 

Verse 18 references the new birth. God always works in a constructive manner rather than a destructive one. He chose to give us birth by the word of truth, the gospel. A spiritual birth is in view here, not a natural birth. The regeneration of the believer is the ultimate example of the fact that nothing but good comes from the Father. In keeping with his conception theme, James said that God, by His choice, gave us birth. Again, conception can only take place when two come together. In this case, it is God’s will and our will. When those two come together, a new birth takes place. 

At first we don’t understand. We are spiritually incapable of understanding. But then God begins to do a work in us through His Word when certain parts of it begin to convict us. We then gain an understanding of what God has done for us in salvation. Throughout our lives we have and are given the opportunity to exhibit our character and display our fidelity to God’s law and guidance.  It is not for the purposes of luring us into moving AWAY from God, rather it is for displaying our adherence TO God.  When we fall into temptation and chose to act upon it We have no one to blame but ourselves when we fall into sin.