James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted of evil, and He Himself tempts no one.” The Greek word for “tempted” here also means tried, tested. The Greek word for trials or trial in verses 2 and 12 is peirasmos, and for tempted is peirazo. The two words are very close, both meaning to try, to test, to prove. To be tried, tested, proved, by outward environmental suffering is a trial (v. 2). To be tried, tested, proved, by inward lustful enticing is a temptation (v. 14). The trial is dealt with in verses 2 through 12; the temptation is dealt with in verses 13 through 21. As for the trial, we should endure it by loving the Lord to obtain the blessing—the crown of life. As for temptation, we should resist it by receiving the implanted word to obtain salvation, the salvation of our soul (v. 21).
In verse 13 James says that God cannot be tempted of evil and that He Himself tempts no one. Here “tempted” in Greek is apeirastos, untried, hence, not temptable, not to be tempted, incapable of being tempted. The Greek word for “tempt” here is peirazo. The Devil, not God, is the tempter (Matt. 4:3; 1 Thes. 3:5).
In verses 14 and 15 James continues, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lust; then the lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin; and the sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.” The tempter, the Devil, is the begetting father of sin (1 John 3:8, 10), who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14) through sin (1 Cor. 15:56). He injected sin into Adam, through which death passed to all men (Rom. 5:12).
In our Christian life we are tried by two categories of things. The first category is positive, and the second category is negative. The first category includes trials and sufferings that test and prove us. Persecution, suffering, and a poor environment try us, test us, and prove where we stand before God. The second category, which is negative, includes temptation. For example, your colleagues at work may be used by Satan to tempt you to engage in a certain form of worldly activity. You may also be tempted in many other ways. Perhaps a neighbor has bought a new car. When you see that car, you desire to have one like it. This is a temptation.
Like trials, temptations also test us and prove us. To be tested by outward environmental suffering is a trial, but to be tested by the enticing of inward lust is a temptation. The invitation to engage in worldly activities or the sight of someone’s new car may stir the lust within us. This is not a trial; it is a temptation. We need to endure trials, but we need to resist temptation. In order to endure trials, we need wisdom. However, wisdom is not sufficient for us to resist temptation. In order to resist temptation, we need the divine life.
In our Christian life temptations are more frequent than trials. We may have trials periodically, but we may have temptations daily, even hourly. Sometimes temptations come one after another. For instance, at school a young person may be tempted when he sees a classmate with a special kind of pen. Immediately, he is tempted and desires to have a pen like that one.
The reason something like a pen can become a temptation to us is that we have the “germs” of lust within us. If we did not have these germs in us, nothing could be a temptation to us. It is the lust in us that causes so many things to be temptations to us. What we need to resist is not actually the thing that tempts us, but the lust within us. As we have pointed out, wisdom is not sufficient for this. We may have wisdom, yet not have the power to resist lust. If we would resist the lust in us, we need another life, the life of God.
As we shall see, verse 18 says that our Father has brought us forth, regenerated us, by the word of truth, which is the word of divine reality. When we heard the gospel, we heard the word of God’s reality. When we received this word, we were reborn. Through the divine birth the divine life was imparted into our being. Now we not only possess the divine life, but we are enjoying this life with its divine nature. This life is the strength, the inner power, by which we can resist the germs of lust that are within us.