2. (James 1:13-16) How temptation comes and works
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Up to this point, James has been focused on how a man of faith should address trials and tests. James attributes the source of these trials to the LORD. God brings tests as a way to reveal or expose our degree of spiritual maturity. We are taught God's ways by His Spirit living and working in us. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Galatians 2:20).
But at this point in the letter, James needs to make an important distinction between these external tests by God brought for our benefit and the inward temptations that are not the result of God. They are natural products of our sinful nature. They are still a reality and we must face them. Like the external tests, we must face them with godly wisdom and respond to them according to that wisdom.
Let no one say when he is tempted: Notice the wording. James does not say "if" he is tempted. By using the word "when", James emphasizes the reality of temptations. There are a universal experience; this is a certainty. We will all face temptations. When we experience temptations, we could be confused about their source. Earlier, James taught that the trials are tests brought by God. So, now we might think incorrectly that temptations to sin are also God-ordained tests as well.
I am being tempted by God: Temptations do not originate with God. James gives us an important principle to understand why we can know this. First, God is not tempted by evil. The Greek word translated as evil is apeiratos, which means untemptable. Another way to say it is God has no experience with evil. He has not had a relationship with it; evil is a foreign, unknown thing to God. When James says God is not tempted by evil, James means God does not give in to evil and participate in it. This is an important distinction because we know the Book of Hebrews teaches us that Jesus was tempted, and we need to appreciate the distinction.
"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrew 4:15)
In James, the issues are whether God has ever come to know and experience evil by succumbing to temptation. He has not. In Hebrews, the issue is whether God in Christ had the opportunity to give in to temptation. He had the opportunity, but He never gave in. So, God is not tempted by evil; therefore, He does not tempt us.
This leads us to another important principle: God does not tempt us because He is not experienced in sin. We must have experienced something for ourselves before we can share it with others. When it comes to sin, we share what we know. Sin moves from person to person. After Eve was deceived by Satan and disobeyed God in the Garden, what was the very next thing she chose to do? She shared her sin with her husband. Having been tempted by sin, she now became a source of temptation for others. If we give in to evil temptations, making it a part of who we are, we may become an instrument for the enemy to pass it on to others. If we gossip, others may follow. If we judge, others will judge us. If we are undisciplined, unrestrained, and uncontrolled, we become the seed for similar behaviors in others. But, if we refrain from giving into temptations, by the Spirit's power working within us, we move away from that familiarity and become less likely to share it.
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust: Since God is not the source of our temptations, where do these internal tests come from? They come from our own lusts. James outlines a sequence by which temptations take hold and cause us to sin. The process has three steps. James uses the analogy of childbirth to explain the process.
First, the starting point is lust that draws us away and entices us. The words in Greek mean to lure with bait. One can think of a fish enticed by bait and lured to it. The bait is something outside ourselves. But something inside us is attracted to that bait, even though God's will is not met by that attraction. Back to the fish example, we use bait to lie to the fish. The fish thinks the bait is something good, a morsel of food which will strengthen the fish and make it grow. But, in reality, the bait is a danger to the fish despite the fact that it looks attractive. James's message is the same here. Our lust is drawn by the attractiveness of some kind of bait, but in the end, the attraction is built on a lie. The lie is what makes our drawing away turn to sin. We are choosing to accept the lie rather than God's wisdom and truth.
So, step one of the temptation process is the giving in to a lust for something that appears desirable, but in fact, it is dangerous. To use the childbirth analogy, we could say that the giving in to lustful desires is like becoming pregnant. It begins a process which has an inevitable conclusion. The effects of that process are not necessarily visible for a while, but, over time, the effect grows into something visible. As we give in to our lusts and enjoy the bait, it may seem good for a while, but the seed of sin is just growing.
Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin: Interestingly, James is teaching that the true sin of our lives is found in our response to lust and not in the temptation itself. I can be tempted to lustful thoughts as I look at my neighbor's brand new car, but I do not sin until I give in to covetousness and entertain those thoughts. Then, I have been carried away by a desire, and it has conceived sin in me. I had a choice to rely on the Spirit and turn away from the desire and the temptation, but if I take the bait, I enter into sin. James compares this moment to the birthing process. Giving into lustful desires conceives the birth of sin.
When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death: Finally, when sin is birthed, it brings forth death. Once sin is born, it takes on its own life and development like a child. But, just like a human life, the end of its course is death. Likewise, sin brings forth death. But, what is the death James is talking about? First, we must remember that this letter is written to believers about godly living. It is a letter of sanctification and not salvation. So the death must be a statement of consequence for the believer and not the eternal death which comes upon a non-believer.
So, what are the kinds of death possible for the believer who gives in to lust and pursues sin? One obvious answer is physical death. When God's people choose a life of sin over one of obedience, they are testing God's patience. And in some cases, God will visit physical death upon believers who continue in a life of disobedience.
The second kind of death in which a believer may suffer is in the sense of how James used the word "life" earlier in verse 12. James offers as a reward for successfully facing trials the "crown of life". His use of the word "death" here is an intentional contrast to the life of that crown. Remember, the crown is not a reward for salvation but is for persevering through trials. So, if we fail the test of inward trials, that sin will conceive a "death" in us in the sense that it risks losing the crown of life, our reward.
Consider Paul's words when speaking about the consequences for a member of the Corinthian church who was giving in to lust and willfully sinning. "For I, on my part, though absent in the body but present in the spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1 Corinthians 5:3-5). In this case, the brother was engaged in a sexual relationship with his father's wife. Paul used his apostolic authority to bring that person consequence according to God's will. As Paul says, we know this believer's place in heaven was secure because he gained it by faith and not works. Good works cannot earn our salvation, and similarly, evil works cannot forfeit our salvation. But, Paul says, this man must suffer the destruction of his flesh (most likely some kind of untimely death) for the protection of the church and the saving of his spirit.
Football analogy:
Think of the body of Christ as a football team. We are all in the game of life playing a part for Christ who is leading us, training us, calling the plays and evaluating our performances. The team is striving to move in a common direction under the LORD'S guidance. Our role is to listen to the coach and do as He says. But, if someone on the team is stubbornly refusing to follow the LORD'S direction, that player begins to hurt the team. Eventually, the LORD has no choice but to bench that player. He is always a member of the team, but he may be taken out of the game to ensure the success of the team and to prevent the individual from doing any more harm to himself and his teammates.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren: Do not take the bait. The deception that our lusts lead to good things and cannot hurt us is a lie. Do not accept the lie. Know the truth. Satan's great strategy in temptation is to convince us that the pursuit of our corrupt desires will somehow produce life and goodness for us. If we remember that Satan only comes to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10:10), then we can more effectively resist the deceptions of temptation. The world is full of bait, but the good gifts are from above.
3. (James 1:17-18) God's goodness stands in contrast to the temptations we face
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above: The English phrasing of the Greek does not do the words justice. In Greek, the words for given and gift are different. The first emphasizes the process of delivering good things. The second emphasizes the result, a gift received. A better translation might be, "The giving of good things always originates in Heaven, and the good things you receive have all come from Heaven." Simply put, anything that is truly good is of God and must originate with Him and be given by Him. Nothing outside God's will and purpose is considered good. Look to God for what is good in your life, have eyes for eternity and set your mind on the things above.
The Father of lights: James refers to God as the Father of lights, a term found no where else in the Bible. However, the term is used in other Jewish writing such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The ancient Greek actually reads "The Father of the lights." The specific lights are the celestial bodies which light up the sky, both during the day and night. The sun and the moon never stop giving light, even when we cannot see them. When night comes, the darkness is not the fault of the sun; it shines as brightly as before. Instead, the earth has turned from the sun, and then darkness comes.
So, James is reminding us that God created everything in the universe, especially the Light which represents His goodness. And there is no variation in His nature such that He could never shift from being light to being a shadow (i.e., darkness). ("This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all" 1 John 1:5.) We can trust God to be our source of good and know that if something is evil or temping us to sin, it is not of God.
In the exercise of His will He brought us forth: The term brought forth in Greek is a polite way of saying childbirth. James is describing our new birth, and it happened as a result of God's will. He purposed our rebirth and brought it about. It happened as a product of the word of God.
Consider what this means. If God stepped into our sinful lives and brought us to an awareness of Him even before we knew Him, then doesn't that say something about God's intent?
"For I am confident of this very thing, the He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).
James's encouragement to us is to trust that if God started something in us, then He must be prepared to continue that work. We can take hope and encouragement by that, and seek His wisdom and intervention in times of temptations, trusting He will answer those prayers to bring us out of that moment. But our willful response to Him is part of the process as well. We were all chosen by God, justified by God and will all be glorified, but whether we reach spiritual maturity remains an open question. It all depends on our willingness to yield to the Spirit's direction.
So that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures: In the previous verses, James tells us what the lust of man brings forth--sin and death. Here, he tells us what the will of God brings--salvation to us as a kind of first fruits of His creatures. James may refer to his own generation when he calls them first fruits, especially as this is being mainly written to Christians from a Jewish background. The fact that these Christians from a Jewish background are first fruits (Deuteronomy 26:1-4) shows that James expected a subsequent and greater harvest of Christians from a Gentile background.
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